House church is up and running…and we aren’t running it!
For everyone who is wondering what we have been up to and how everything is coming along in our ministry efforts, here is a quick update on our church family.
We have completed the transition to simple church, house church, (so many labels)and we are currently meeting in one another’s homes. We began as Hope Chapel about a year and a half ago in a building graciously loaned to us by a former ministry partner. We as a family have decided to forego alliance with a denomination and I myself have determined that I should forfeit my credentials and resign from my current denomination. There are a few reasons for this but none of them being a conflict or disagreement with anyone involved, it is just simply; this is where Jesus has led us.
We began our transition on a fateful day about a year ago when I determined that we would do a true communion service sitting together breaking bread and eating a full meal following the New Testament pattern. In the midst of all of this something became readily apparent and profoundly moving; the Father’s desire for His children. As we joined together and sat eating and sharing, singing, praying and teaching interactively ; we began “being the church” instead of attending another “church meeting”. We as a family quickly determined that this is how we would continue to meet as a family and as we have the Lord has been so faithful in providing like minded brothers and sisters and His Word (1Corinthians 14 and Ephesians 4) to confirm that we were following His leading. A few things began to occur within our family:
1.) We genuinely began to speak into one another’s lives, walking together and rubbing up against one another throughout the week.
2.) Pressure to “perform”, “plan” and organize disappeared. We go no further than we would plan to have house guests, which is what we are doing.
3.) Ugly stuff came up; it is difficult to hide who you are when you are living lives in a family of 15-20 people.
4.) People began to tell one another the things they used to only tell the “pastor”.
5.) People have the freedom to bring a word, sing a song, read a poem or anything else the Lord has placed on their hearts.
6.) The Holy Spirit’s gifting has begun to become evident in each person and people began to manifest those gifting(s).
7.) We are not pressured by financial obligations or salaries and each person can keep their own tithes and offerings until the lord moves them to give them to a ministry or person God has placed on their hearts.
8.) Special teaching when required has become interactive and meaningful, but not a one man show.
9.) We have begun to believe that Jesus can orchestrate our gatherings.
We are far from perfecting ourselves or believing that we have found a “new thing”, but what we have found has blessed us all beyond measure. We have found Him again in the midst of everything, and that is sufficient. It seems so simple to some of us but the reality is exactly what He said it would be; He will build His church. There is an under swell in the Bride that is God sent and we are at the beginnings of something very special in the Body of Christ.
I have come to the place where all my ministry training and experience have revealed themselves as hay and stubble. I have come to a place where discipleship has become living life together instead of a curriculum or program. I have come to a place of striving to make Jesus preeminent in everything I do and I let Him surround me with people with the same pursuit. No programs, building projects, no entertainment, no egos, no salaries, no organizations, nothing man devised is permitted in this place; and it is a good place.
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We have perfected none of this, but we continue to walk towards Him together and allowing Him to change us. We cannot fix one another but we can fix our eyes on Him together.
