Category: House Church


Caught

Filed Under: Church Life, Discipleship, House Church, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 2 Comments
March 24, 2012
Caught not Taught

Did you ever have a class in integrity? Did it help?

We’ve all heard the saying Christianity is caught not taught. It’s true, but we hear it so often that it is easy to ignore. What does “Christianity caught” look like? How is that different than a taught version?

Here’s how I think Christianity is caught. How did you become a member of your family? After all, don’t you not only reflect your national culture, be it Australian, British, Spanish or American, but participate in your family’s culture? Some families argue and “get it all out.” Others would be horrified by such behavior and would rather be silent and let the tension blow over. We all reflect our family’s culture. Yet, I’d be willing to wager that none of us have had a class in Jones Family Culture 101. We have probably never had our parents sit us down at the kitchen table, ask us to take out our notebook and begin to lecture on how this family works, point by point.

How then do we catch our family culture? We observe it, mostly tacitly. We participate in it without even thinking about it. We discuss issues and end up being persuaded that this is the right way to do things. And, we observe others outside of our family subculture and feel uncomfortable when they end up violating our family norms. In short, it is absorbed through participation.

Here’s an example. I led a guy to the Lord a few years ago. We’ll call him David. My friends and I began to meet at David’s house with some of David’s family and friends to disciple them. One of the things my friends and I did, without really thinking about it, was to pray for people while putting our hands on their shoulders. We also asked before we did this and when the person agreed, we all got up as a group, gathered around and prayed.

One day David’s family asked my friends and me out to lunch in a nice restaurant. They wanted us to meet one of their friends, who I will call Jake, so we could have spiritual influence in Jake’s life. In the course of the conversation David, now about a month or two old in the Lord, asked Jake if we could pray for him. Keep in mind this is in a crowded restaurant. Jake liked that idea. Before we knew it David had jumped to his feet, put his hand on Jake’s shoulder and began to pray out loud (which of course, we also had modeled to him).

I never intentionally taught David this was “the” way to pray. But I did model it for him. Had he been a bit older in the Lord, it is likely his understanding of the practice of prayer would have been much more nuanced. I was intentionally discipling David. But that really didn’t amount to much more than bring up a subject with his family and friends and discussing it and investigating the subject in the Bible or ministering to them in some way. Yet, David, his wife and friends learned quite a bit beyond the “subject matter.” In fact, they probably learned much more through participant observation than through intentional teaching.

Let me make another observation about catching our faith. When someone doesn’t “catch” something from us, it is doubtful that it was specifically because we failed to have a formal class it the subject. If they didn’t catch it, it was because they didn’t want to catch it, or had not observed it enough to fully yet grasp it. But I personally doubt that it had anything to do with lack of formal class time.

Here’s yet a further observation about catching our faith (and giving it away). I can’t think of a single issue in our faith, including formal doctrine that can’t be caught instead of taught. In fact, in my opinion, teaching in a classroom format often ends up causing the subject matter to only be caught in the head and ends up missing the heart.

  • How much of your faith has really been caught?
  • The things you were taught, how deeply are they integrated into your heart, not merely your head?
  • Could it be that we teach formally because that’s what we’ve caught from others? Isn’t that ironic?
  • What would a discipleship ambiance look like that forsook “formal” teaching? Could it still develop excellent disciples of Christ, teaching them to observe all that He commanded?
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Two Listening Stories

Filed Under: Church Life, House Church, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — Leave a comment
February 18, 2012

Lois’ Story

When Lois asked how much the answer was specific.

We were on our way to a house church conference in Dallas from El Paso. After it was over we would be spending the night with a college roommate. She had been unemployed for quite some time and is a single mom. It was a desperate situation. I asked the Lord if we should give her an offering while we were there. He said yes, so I asked how much. “$700″ He said. Interesting enough was that I hadn’t given an offering in a couple months so most of it was already set aside. I took the rest out of savings and put it in an envelope. Before we left her home we handed her the money. Amidst bubbly hugs and exclamations she says asked if she could count it and disappears into her bedroom. She came back out crying. She needed $600 in just 2 days before she would have been kicked out of her apartment. What is comical is that after we left she was trying to track us down to give us back the $100. “I miscounted!” she says. “You can have $100 back”. Laughing, I said, “No, I was planning to buy you groceries! Go get some food!” I love how the Lord meets the needs of those in the body. I know God would not have left her homeless, but I was privileged to be a part of His plan. I was blessed by being in on His blessing!

Tim’s Story

Tim's time didn't work out quite like he planned.

My 10 year old son and I grabbed a basketball and went across the street to shoot some hoops. As we approached the court we saw a black man in a wheel chair in the court with a basketball in his lap. As we drew closer I observed this man had cerebral palsy and could barely move his hands. He greeted us with a giant smile and a drooling invitation to play ball with him.

I’m a little frustrated internally since I am here to play real ball with my son. As we interacted a few statements I noticed on his key chain around his neck was written WWJD. I asked him if he knew what that meant. In his difficult to understand speech he said What Would Jesus Do. I asked him, Do you know Jesus? He beamed and answered “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” I was stunned. I am now over my frustration. I realize I am experiencing a messenger so unusual, he must be sent by God.

I learn his name is Malcolm. I ask him where he goes to church. He winces and says he goes to a place in San Jose but they don’t like him. When he asks questions they seem annoyed. To myself, I know exactly what he’s talking about. I am now struggling whether to tell him about the fellowship that meets in my home across the street. I have thoughts of reaching our upscale neighborhood but think that would not work well if he were there. This is obviously a thought from my flesh. I hear God say, “Invite him to your home you fool. There may be blessings you have no idea about.” The Spirit wins the battle and I invite him to this new fellowship where questions and participation from anyone are welcome because that is what the Bible instructs God’s people to do. He says he’ll come. I tell him I’ll need to make a ramp to get him inside.

Over the next four years Malcolm joins in with our fellowship and we connect like no other relationship I have ever experienced where he teaches me and I teach him. If I were to recount all the things we did and learned together it would take a book. The biggest thing I learned was what it means to “wash one another’s feet”. It’s a lesson that cannot be taught AND learned in a sanctuary, a seminary, or Sunday school room. It can only be learned in that live situation where Jesus presents us with an unexpected action that requires great humility and long suffering, and we respond in obedience and joy. Yes, there were thousands of blessings for me and many others, including my young boys watching their father teach them by example about washing feet.

  • What did you learn from Lois’ story or from Tim’s story?
  • The voice of God is not always audible, what other forms can it take?
  • God spoke very specifically to Lois, including the amount of money she was to offer? Does God communicate with you this specifically? What would it take to increase the accuracy of our listening?
  • God asked Tim to do something that went against his first inclination. How do we know when to respond logically and when to go against our inclinations?
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Letters to the House Church Movement

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Church Life, Church Planting, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Recommended Books, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 2 Comments
February 7, 2012

Click here to order Letters to the House Church Movement.

Some books are practical, some are theoretical; both have their place. Rad Zdero’s book Letters to the House Church Movement is strongly practical; while reflecting a deep understanding of the paradigms under which house churches and house church networks really work (theoretical).

Rad is a house church planter and network organizer in Canada; what we in the house church movement would call an apostle. He is also an astute theologian, though he might not call himself that. As such, he has had plenty of correspondence over the years, which touches on the real nuts and bolts issues that house churches face. By sharing his real letters with us he doesn’t paint house churches in some romantic glow. This is a warts and all look at what house church practice is really like.

Here is a sampling of the kinds of issues and questions Rad deals with.

  • What are actual house church meetings really like?
  • How do house churches deal practically with problem people?
  • How do you deal with the house church radicals who have a chip on their shoulder about traditional churches?
  • How do house churches multiply and how do they deal with missions?
  • What are the real problems (not the imagined problems of those who have never experienced house church) that house churches face? How should they be dealt with?
  • What does leadership look like in house churches? What is the role of elders and apostles? What does that word “apostle” actually mean in a house church setting?
  • What is the role of women in house church?
  • How do house churches answer the common criticisms that they face? What is their biblical backing for these answers?
  • How do house churches group themselves into networks and how does that all work?
  • What is their relationship with more traditional churches?
  • What is house church spirituality like?

I could go on because Rad covers a lot of important ground just by answering real letters and emails he has received over the years. He does this graciously, openly, humbly, yet with a frankness and clarity I find refreshing. He doesn’t beat around the bush, but he is kind. I like that.

Who would profit from a book like this? First of all, any house church practitioner. Because Rad has long experience and the churches and networks he is dealing with are well organized and mature (or maturing), he has lots to say to us. Reading this book might show us some things we are missing.

However, I think this book would be good for people who are curious about house churches but have never experienced them or haven’t experienced them broadly enough to really know how they work. I would also include those who are critics of house church. My own experience with critics is that they are usually unaware of the reality and are often responding to their own imagined fears or some bad experience with an unhealthy house church practitioner (see bullet point three). It’s OK to criticize but that should come from an extensive enough knowledge that the critic isn’t just setting up a straw man and knocking it down. Rad gives the answers to the key criticisms that an experienced house church apostle of a large network would give. It’s best to get these answers from someone who actually knows what they are talking about from real experience.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely, in fact I’m going to recommend it to one of the house churches I’m involved with. I think reading this book will give the Holy Spirit a chance to speak to us about what He wants us to do next.

  • Have you even experienced house church? What was that like, good or bad?
  • What questions do you have about how house churches work?
  • If you are a house church practitioner, what problems do you fact? Where do you need to grow? I’d suspect this book would be a good resource for you.
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Don’t Forsake Fellowship

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Church History, House Church, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 10 Comments
July 30, 2011

Is this what Heb. 10:24-25 is talking about?

Hebrews 10:25 is a famous verse. Most of us have it memorized, or at least the phrase “don’t forsake the assembling of ourselves together. However, I suspect the way that verse is commonly used is not really what the writer of Hebrews was trying to communicate.

For most of my Christian life this verse was taken to mean, “you must go to church.” At one point in my formal ministry life I even had my leader tell me, “Any time the doors of the church are open you are expected to be there unless you are traveling for ministry. That’s because the Bible says we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.” And, it was made clear if he ever found out that the church had a meeting, and I wasn’t there, I would be disciplined.

Really? Is that what that verse is talking about? Was the writer of Hebrews really suggesting that any time the congregation meets we are supposed to be there? Does it really make sense to turn this into a legalism about congregating formally? I don’t think so. Frankly, I think this verse is really much more powerful when understood in its context (historical and textual).

The Historical Context

The Epistle to the Hebrews was probably written in AD 63 or 64. What was the Church like then? Keep in mind that this was just 30+ years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The Church had no formal congregational leadership, in didn’t even meet in congregations, the way we think of them. The Church was just a loose relationally based network of people. They knew other Christians who knew other Christians. They did tend to meet. Just like college kids who know each other tend to ‘hang out’ together. And, sometimes, they did this in a scheduled way. In fact, it was common to meet on the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection. But that wasn’t a rule, just a tendency. However, Christianity wasn’t conceived by these people as a series of formal meetings, in a house or anywhere else. It was a covenantal life with Jesus and a deep communal, relational life with others who knew Jesus. Oh, and by the way, lets get together on Sunday, but I’ll probably see you sooner. These people tended to be passionate about Jesus and wanted to spread His Kingdom. In fact, it was common for them to be highly focused on those types of issues. Meeting together in a planned way wasn’t high on their priority list.

Textual Context

This verse should be read at least as a whole sentence. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. This is given in the context of continuing to encourage each other to be doing good deeds, but, in doing so, don’t give up meeting together.

I think with these two contexts in mind it is better to understand the passage more like this. Hey guys, it is great you are out turning the world upside down for Jesus, keep up the good work. However, some of you are so intent on doing good deeds for Jesus that you are in danger of drying up spiritually. You need each other, if nothing more, for the encouragement. Don’t stop meeting together, it isn’t good for your soul.

We have strayed so far from this ambiance that we can’t even really conceive to what the writer was getting at. We see Christianity as a series of formal meetings. That was never the intention. We certainly do need to be encouraged toward love and good deeds, because so few Christians nowadays are doing much along these lines at all. We tend to get together quite regularly, but it is just to hear a lecture and see a show (or if house church Christians, to have a nice little meeting in a house). It doesn’t prepare us to be thrust back out into the harvest. We usually don’t even bother to try. Our souls are in danger of drying up, but not for lack of being with other Christians; it’s for lack of really living Christianity as it was designed by God. I think John was right when he told the Ephesians, “You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first (Rev. 2:4-5).”

  • Why do you think Christianity is so different than it was in the first centuries?
  • Have the changes from what we used to be to what we have become made us more effective for God’s purposes?
  • Church is much more complicated, formal and structured that it was at first. Has that made it more spiritual?
  • What would happen if we went back to the way things were at first? Would you enjoy that or hate it? Would it be easier to spread the Kingdom or harder?
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Is Organic Church a Fad?

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Church History, House Church, Organic Church, Simple Church, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 8 Comments
July 25, 2011

Is organic church only a fad?

Is organic church just the latest fad, in restless Western Christendom, to find a way out of our decline? When I was in Spain, every new idea was greeted with a roll of the eyes. The Spanish church leaders had “had it up to here” with the Americans coming with the next new fad that was going to revolutionize the church. Some missionaries wanted to introduce rock music or at least electric guitars. Others assured them that their para-church organization had the cool technique that would change Spain from resistance to responsiveness. Others were sure that if we could just go against the current, and adopt some of the look and feel of the emergent church, Spanish youth would flock to them. And cells, let’s not forget about cells. If we just have cell groups in our church we can change the situation over night. All of this was met with a shrug of the shoulders, a roll of the eyes and a rather cynical puff of breath…and with good reason.

We Americans have a bad habit of jumping on bandwagons until the next more colorful, exciting bandwagon comes along. We loved the new, the exciting, the trendy. Just give us the new technique in three easy steps, and we are ready to take it to the world…until it doesn’t work as advertized. Then we just look for a bandwagon that will go from zero to sixty miles per hour in 6 seconds flat, or one to which we can just add water and have an instant effective church. In other words, we just look for the next cool technique. My Spanish brethren had us Americans figured out and they were pretty tired of it.

While I am sensitive, and more than a bit in agreement with my Spanish brethren, as well as others around the world who have “had it up to here” with the faddish, the trendy and the instant; I’d like to offer another perspective. What would happen if we stopped looking at changes in the Church in the last 200 years, or so (more particularly in the last 40), as a series of unique changes and looked for the hand of the Holy Spirit in a long term trend? What if cell church didn’t stand alone from emergent church or the rise of para-church organizations? What if all of this was really a step by step process under the guidance of the Holy Spirit? In other words, what if the Holy Spirit is moving us in a direction, not skipping around randomly?

Here’s the long term trend I see in Western Christendom’s response to the Holy Spirit (at least some important steps along the way).

  • The 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings (1730-40’s – 1800-1820’s): Beginning of the easing of the clergy’s stranglehold on all ministry and the awakening of the heart to supernatural power in religious experience.
  • The foreign missions movement and the rise of para-church organizations (1780’s to present): re-acknowledgement of our role and responsibility in the Great Commission.
  • The Pentecostal Movement (1906-Present): Recognition of the, importance, intimacy and power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Cell Church (1970’s to present): recognition of the power of small intimate groups.
  • Emergent Church: (1990’s- present) recognition of the need for an expression of Christianity that makes sense in the postmodern world.
  • House Church (1950 [China], 2000 [West]-present): a return to New Testament’s simple ecclesiology and the God given organic design of the Church. This gives an adequate structure to allow for sustained viral movement of the Gospel.[1]

Note how each step builds on the predecessors to for the needed structure, insight, practice or behavior to accomplish what God is asking those involved to do. I don’t believe any of the subsequent steps could have occurred without the previous ones already in place.

As with all movements of God, these are both divine movements and human. Each has its strengths while reflecting human frailty and error. And, as with any time one tries to note historical trends; this is an over simplification. I’ve expressed these in simple steps for clarity; not for pinpoint historical accuracy. Nevertheless, I believe God is at work and we need to take a long term historical perspective and join with Him in what He is doing.

  • Has it ever occurred to you to take a long term perspective of what God may be doing in history?
  • Did you ever notice how any of these historical trends were related to each other?
  • Denominations often tend to get stuck in the forms and practices associated with their foundation. What happens when this happens?
  • Where do you sense God moving you in this overall movement of the Spirit?
[1] This is the premise of my book Viral Jesus: Recapturing the Contagious Power of the Gospel. The book will be released 2/2/12 by Chrisma House.

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The Shirtless Guy

Filed Under: Christendom, Discipleship, House Church, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 2 Comments
July 20, 2011

Ed Stetzer recently wrote a blog Leadership Lessons from the Shirtless Guy (and Why It Makes Me Think of Neil Cole).

I won’t rewrite his blog, since did a great job the first time. But, I do think this video is not only funny but says a lot about what real leadership in a movement is like.

  • Are you currently involved in something that is exciting and may become a movement or is a movement?
  • Are you willing to be the shirtless guy?
  • Where are you in this paradigm, the shirtless guy, the first follower, the crowd?
  • What lessons about leadership can you learn from this video? Is this leadership as you have come to know it in the church?
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Where’s Jesus?

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Christendom, Church History, House Church, Jesus is Lord by rossrohde — Leave a comment
July 14, 2011

Government appointed Bishop Guo

On July 14, 2011 the AP posted an article: China’s Catholic church ordains another bishop: China’s government-backed Catholic church on Thursday ordained a third bishop without the pope’s approval in eight months, despite a Vatican appeal to Chinese leaders….read the rest of the article here.

How can China appoint Catholic Bishops, you may be asking? Well, as far as the Chinese Government is concerned, they severed ties with the Catholic Church in 1951. From that point on, they formed the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. This was a church, Catholic in practice, but which was actually a branch of the Chinese government. The government did exactly the same thing with the Chinese Protestants naming the government controlled Protestant church the Three Self Patriotic Movement. In both of these churches the Chinese government appoints all levels of leadership from Bishops to priests, from Three Self Denominational Leadership to pastors.

Of course from the Traditional Roman Catholic point of view this is absolute heresy; only the pope has the right to appoint bishops. This is no small matter to the Chinese government, either, which views the pope making such decisions as foreign interference in Chinese business. At stake is who controls the Church, who is its head?

Most of the readers of this blog come from a Protestant background (Greetings my followers from the Chinese Government: may Jesus bless you!). About now you are pretty incensed by both the Catholic Church and the Chinese government. How dare the pope, a mere man, think he is in charge of the Church? How dare some secular government try to control the Church? But, frankly, most of the Protestants need to get off their high horse. Who appoints the pastor in Protestant churches? In some denominations they are appointed by the denomination, in others by the elders of the local church, in others by the congregation…in other words by men (or men and women as the case may be). How is that much different than what the Catholics does? So, who is the Head of the Church? Note the change in capitalization.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Eph. 4:15-16)

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23).

What is it called when we say one thing and do another? What then, should it be called when we say that Jesus is the Head of the Church and we actually let men control it? What happens when we espouse Jesus as Lord, as a doctrine, but actually live under the control and rule of men or act as the ruler ourselves? The headship and lordship of Jesus should not be a mere doctrine, it should be a lifestyle. And we shouldn’t criticize the Chinese Communist Government or the Roman Catholic Church until we take a glaring beam out of our own eye. To see how Jesus can actually lead a church and be her Lord read Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church.

What then is my suggestion? Let’s get beam out of our own eye, not merely in what we say, but how we actually live our lives under Christ our Lord. Then we can honestly be concerned for the human abuse of the Church by the Chinese Government, the Catholic Church and the vast majority of Protestants.

  • Why do you think it is so easy to not realize how out of sync our practice is with our espoused doctrine?
  • Now that you know a little bit of the history can you see why the Chinese house church movement got stated?
  • Of the four branches of the Chinese church in 1951 (Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, The Three Self Patriotic Movement, The Roman Catholic Chinese Church and the Chinese House Church Movement [in order of size]) did you know the house church movement was by far he smallest ?
  • Did you know that the Chinese House Church Movement has grown from around 100,000 to probably over 100 million since that time; becoming by far the biggest branch of the Chinese Church?
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I Don’t Want to Die

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, House Church, Spiritual Life, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
May 30, 2011

Can hardship be a blessing?

I often hear the same question over and over. Why can the house church planting movement grow in places like China and India but we in the West are not experiencing the same power and growth? The answer to the question is complex. First, there is a church planting movement in the West, even in America: see Is there a Church Planting Movement in America? by Neil Cole. So we are seeing the beginnings of a house church planting movement, but honestly, it doesn’t have the same power or fruitfulness yet as do our brothers in places like China and India. So, let me restate the question: why don’t we have the same power that our brethren in India and China have? I believe the answer to that question is going to be a bit uncomfortable. If you can’t stand hearing uncomfortable things, you can stop reading this blog now and instead go HERE.

For those of you who have made it to this paragraph, I’m going to offer you what I believe is a gift from God. It is the gift of brokenness. It is the gift that Jesus talks about in the beatitudes when he says blessed are the poor in Spirit. It is the gift that the prodigal son received by squandering every good thing he had by foolish living, but in the process found his father in a new way. It is the gift that the communist government of China has given our beloved brethren in China through cruel persecution and that our respected brethren in India have received through poverty and persecution. God, in his infinite mercy has given our brethren in those places a gift. It is the gift of being taken to that abject place where someone has to rely on God alone to survive.

Our brethren in India and China are probably not going to tell you that they enjoy abject poverty or being persecuted, even martyred. They’re going to tell you that it is awful. But they can also tell you story after story of what it is like to be at the point of having no human recourse and meeting Jesus who more than meets their need. And, they can tell you the stories of the fruit of such a life. So while they hate the pain of poverty and persecution, they are abundantly aware of the good that comes out of it. And the good that comes out of it is Jesus himself. It is the life of being broken to the point our only real recourse is Jesus and nothing more than Jesus. That is being taken to the point of real humility, of being poor in Spirit, and often that comes through real poverty, not having enough to eat the next day.

We in the West, and I honestly include myself in this group; really don’t want to actually go there. We’d like to romanticize it, just as long as we don’t have to actually experience it.  We really don’t want to actually get broken. We want to read about someone else who got broken, bore the fruit and admire them. But we don’t want to actually live there ourselves. And, because we don’t want to actually be broken, we haven’t allowed God to take us were he wants to take us…abject dependence and humility; in a word brokenness.

We want to replace poverty of spirit and sometimes the actual poverty that goes with it with cool techniques. We want to live our self sufficient Western lifestyle and still bear fruit like those who look only to Jesus for their sufficiency. We want someone to tell us how to do it (techniques) without the brokenness that goes with it. I’m sorry but the nut has to be cracked before it can germinate. Or, as Jesus said in John 12:23-25, the seed has to die to bear fruit. And, if we (and I do include myself in this) are honest with ourselves, we don’t want to die.

But our situation in the West is far different than the reality our brethren in the Philippines, Africa, Latin America, India or China face. We, at least those who are the privileged in our own society, have quite a bit of security. And the security that comes from good educations, suburban living, insurance etc, etc. isolates us from the God who wants to provide for us. Our brethren in other places have to live there no matter what. Most of us in Western societies are going to have to go there voluntarily. So our way of getting there is, in some ways more difficult. I’m not belittling our financially less fortunate brethren. I’m just saying we have a different set of obstacles to overcome.

If we really want to see the power and fruitfulness that our brethren enjoy, we are going to have to voluntarily embrace the pain of humility and brokenness. In the West that is going to look different for each individual. Some God is going to call to give up suburbia and move to the inner city. Others God will call to give up all their wealth and embrace intentional poverty like the rich young ruler in Matthew 19: 16-28. That was what God asked of St. Francis of Assisi.  But he won’t call all of us to that; it’s individual and it will be voluntary. Other’s he will call away from the security of our positions, titles and status. Others he will call to live by faith not by a paycheck. Others it will be moving to a place we do not particularly like (overseas, or a different state or different neighborhood), or away from the security of our family; or taking our children to a place that is less than ideal. To some it will be a call to living in community. It will be individual. It is not a cookie cutter experience. We will find out the thing or things that God is calling us to through intimacy with Him. But those He calls he disciplines. If we want to follow Him, we have to take up a cross. We in the West need to embrace the hardship of discipline and the discipline of hardship; because without it we will never bear the fruit that we all long for.

  • Do you believe we can bear abundant fruit without the discipline and hardship that goes with it? Do you believe we can skip bearing a cross by embracing the right techniques?
  • Do you agree that in the West our calling to die will be more individual than in other places where hardship is a given?
  • What do you sense God calling you to and have your embraced that call or do you find responding difficult?
  • What do you think is the difference between the hardship of discipline and the discipline of hardship?
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Made to Reproduce

Filed Under: Christendom, Church Life, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life by rossrohde — 5 Comments
April 16, 2011

Reproduction is built into God's organic design

One of the distinctive features of organic churches that clearly differentiate them from more traditional (legacy) churches is that organic churches are made to reproduce. This is a matter of design, not a happenstance.

Organic Church

A true organic church[1] is simple. Simple things are easy to reproduce. An organic church does not need trained clergy; in fact everyone can and should contribute. That’s easy to reproduce. Organic church is not intended to be controlled by humans but by Jesus himself (see: Authority: How Jesus Leads a Church). Wherever you go, Jesus is there. All you need are some Christians and Jesus. That’s easy to reproduce.

In reality an organic church is based on God’s organic design of His creation. Reproduction is built into its design. Just like in Gen. 1:12: The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. In God’s organic design, everything reproduces according to its kind. So, churches reproduce new churches, believers reproduce new believers, elders (mature Christians) reproduce more mature Christians by shepherding the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3), apostles reproduce apostles, teachers reproduce teachers, etc. None of this requires special, expensive training, resources or materials, let alone expensive buildings. It requires attentive Christians, the Bible and a creative God; nothing more.

Legacy Churches

Legacy churches, in contrast, are not simple, nor are they easy to reproduce. They require special trained clergy. How expensive is it to train a seminary trained leader? That’s neither rapid nor easy reproduction. Nor does this seminary trained leadership lead to higher quality of believers. In reality, because the clergy do most of the work for a consumeristic “laity” we much more commonly end up with weak, church attendees, rather than vibrant reproducing Christians. In any given legacy church, how many of the “laity” have won others to Christ? How common is it?

Buildings are very expensive to buy and maintain. Nor do they contribute in any significant way to making more vibrant disciples of Jesus. There is not a single thing that can be done in a dedicated church building that makes for a more mature disciple of Jesus that can’t be done in a home, a restaurant or a park. That’s not easy or cheap to reproduce.

In legacy churches things don’t reproduce according to their kind. Leaders don’t normally reproduce new leaders. Instead churches find there major leaders outside of the church by hiring them. Most people aren’t involved in the discipleship process both being developed by more mature Christians and reproducing the life of Jesus in others. It happens, but it is very rare.

How many legacy churches do you know that have reproduced themselves even one time? If they did reproduce themselves, how much did it cost? Did it lead to reproduction of other churches? Does it consistently reproduce high quality disciples of Christ who are themselves highly reproductive?

The answer to these questions, in the vast majority of cases, is that legacy churches, with all their good intentions, don’t reproduce easily; nor do they tend to consistently reproduce actual reproductive disciples of Christ. And this ineffectiveness is very expensive. The problems (lack or reproducibility, lack of quality discipleship, and exorbitant cost) are built into the design.

  • Other than tradition, can you think of a good reason why we are so addicted to the institutionalized structure of our churches?
  • What strategic advantages can you see in legacy churches?
  • Do you think legacy churches consistently produce more mature disciples? If so, how?
  • Do you think any advantage a legacy church might provide is worth the exorbitant cost and lack of reproducibility?
[1] This is as opposed to a smaller version of a legacy church meeting in a house. Wolfgang Simson calls this a church in a house, not a house church. John White calls this same phenomenon “Honey I shrunk the church.”

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Important Lessons from India

Filed Under: Apostolic Ministry, Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, Evangelism, House Church, Meeting Together, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — 5 Comments
March 28, 2011

Indian Leadership Training

In my post You Have My Permission to Gossip I shared an excerpt from recent letter from Victor Choudhrie. Now I’d like to share all 12 of Victor’s points. It is interesting to note the difference of focus and emphasis between the Indian Church and what is common in the West. It should come as no surprise, after reading Victor’s points, about the coming feast of Pentecost that the Indian house church movement is growing explosively. They are doing it without tons of money. They are growing explosively even among illiterate people who can’t read their Bibles. Amazingly, that doesn’t even prevent them from becoming effective leaders. To see how that is done read Felicity Dale’s recent post written while visiting the Indian house church movement How illiterate women in India can teach advanced topics.

The house church movement in India (and other places like China, the Philippines and Indonesia) is growing explosively. They are producing healthy, vibrant Christians. They are rapidly reproducing networks of multi-generational churches starting with non-Christians. Every Christian is involved. They do this without paid, seminary trained clergy. It is common for them to baptize hundreds, if not thousands of new believers at one time. Let’s sum up. They grow explosively and have vibrant, on-fire Christians. This is far from the norm in the West. Isn’t it time we started learning from them, instead of assuming that they need our help? So here are some lessons from Victor. Learn from an experienced apostle who has learned from the Master. Learn to think like he does, instead of our typical unfruitful Western patterns.

One of 1,460 baptized in one day

1.      Pentecost is the Birthday of the church.

2.      Pentecost is a Harvest festival in Jewish calendar. Our Lord changed it into a harvest of souls.

3.      On this day the Holy Spirit came down like the tongues of fire on the disciples and they spoke in at least 16 understandable languages to people from every nation under the sun. (Acts 2:5)

4.      3000 families were baptized in one day, who immediately started meeting in homes where they had apostolic teaching, fellowship, broke bread and prayer. This resulted in signs and miracles, sharing of material blessings and daily addition of new souls. (Acts 2:37-47). Within a short time additional 5,000 families were added (Acts 4:4). Soon the new believers were upgraded and became disciples, who made more disciples and multiplied exponentially (Acts 6:1); and then there was daily multiplication of quality churches (Acts 16:5).

5.      The modern day Pentecostal movement was started by 18 Afro-American women in Azusa street in 1906. It has now multiplied into 600 million Pentecostals all over the world. Sadly the Pentecostal church does not know its history that it was started by women and continues to degrade women in the church based on distorted versions of Paul’s teachings.

6.      A house church does not need any special building, special day, special person to run it. Wherever two or three gather to gather to eat, meet and gossip the gospel, make disciples and multiply, is an authentic church because the Lord is present in their midst. (Matt. 18:18-20) House churches are biblical, historical, effective, productive, customizable, gender neutral and free.

7.      The best way to celebrate the birth day of the church is to replicate the original first Pentecost i.e. to reap a huge harvest of souls. Aim at baptizing at least 3000 souls. And why not, after all, you believe in a great and awesome God for whom nothing is impossible. You have more resources than Peter. He had no silver or gold, nor vehicle or mobile phone.

8.      Reaping a huge harvest requires abundant sowing, (2Cor. 9:6), watering, manuring, protecting from predators, etc. It will include fasting and praying and uniting with like minded people from neighboring churches.

9.      Every Christian is “ordained” to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptize, equip and send them on to do the same to the ends of the earth”. “As the Father has sent me so I send you”. There is a huge implementation gap. If just a few Christians obeyed this great command, the church will go ballistic. (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; John 20:21).

10.  The best way to fulfill that Command is to bring forth lasting fruit (John 15:16) which includes sharing the whole wisdom of God, baptizing and breaking bread from house to house. (Acts 20:20,27; 1Cor. 11:20-23).

11.  Your workplace, village and the community or business, wherever God has planted you to be a Tree of life, is your primary nuclear church and you are accountable for their souls.

12.  Aim to be a millionaire of souls. If you consider yourself ‘the least’ in the kingdom, then God can multiply you into a thousand within a short period of time. Isa. 60:22; Matt. 11:11; 1Cor. 1:26-31

  • Can you name three lessons you learned from Victor?
  • What did you note in the Indian way of doing things that is different from what you are doing? Can you ask the Holy Spirit how to apply that to your context?
  • What did you notice in Victor’s way of doing things (really the Master’s way) that cause the viral spread of the Kingdom?
  • Even Western house churches don’t really behave like this? What do you think is holding us back?
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