Parousia Weekly Update Letter For The Week of  April 6, 2005 

"When a prophet is accepted and deified, his message is lost. The prophet is only useful so long as he is stoned as a public nuisance calling us to repentance, disturbing our comfortable routines, breaking our respectable idols, shattering our sacred conventions" (A. G. Gardiner as quoted by Arthur Wallis, "In The Day of Thy Power").

In This Issue:

Post Cards From The Edge of a Post Christian Post Modern Culture

House Church Reflections On A Kingdom, A People & A River

Up-Coming House Church Conference With Wolfgang Simson

Pentecost Fasting & Prayer Covenant

Dear Friends,  

Sorry I’m running late this week (arrgh!), but that’s life.  

Blessings,

Maurice  

Post Cards From The Edge of a Post Christian Post Modern Culture 

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it, I see everything else."-C.S. Lewis  

Church Priorities for 2005 Vary Considerably

( Ventura , CA ) - Church analysts have noted that most congregations operate independently of the ideas and efforts of other churches. That absence of consensus emerged in the data from a new study conducted by The Barna Group ( Ventura , California ) regarding the ministry priorities of Protestant churches. When a nationally representative sample of 614 Senior Pastors was asked to identify the top three ministry priorities for their church in the coming year, not a single ministry emphasis was listed by even half of the church leaders. Overall, twelve different ministry emphases were listed by at least 3% of the pastors, aligned in three distinct levels of priority. The most frequently mentioned priorities were discipleship and spiritual development (47%); evangelism and outreach (46%); and preaching (35%). The second level of priorities included congregational care efforts, such as visitation and counseling (24%); worship (19%); ministry to teenagers and young adults (17%); missions (15%); community service (15%); ministry to children (13%); and congregational fellowship (11%). The lowest priorities among the dozen ministries described by pastors were ministry to families (4%) and prayer (3%). (To view the entire article go to www.barna.org)

Fired for Mentioning Christ in Christmas E-Mail

(AgapePress) - A longtime volunteer with the Southwest Florida Department of Juvenile Justice claims he was fired for mentioning Jesus Christ in a return message that he sent out on his government e-mail account. David Correa says he has not only been fired from his post with the Juvenile Justice Department, but has also been removed from his paid position as coordinator of the Naples Neighborhood Accountability Board. His former employer, Circuit Manager Frank Busbee, allegedly dismissed Correa after he sent out a return e-mail message in December to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, encouraging the group to "remember to keep Christ in Christmas." According to Correa, Busbee was "screaming and yelling over the phone" and was not willing to rethink the decision to terminate the volunteer worker, who felt that the use of the word "Christ" at Christmas time "should not evoke such a strong emotion from a person -- especially a person who is in charge of a juvenile justice department." The Florida man adds, "If anything, you would think someone involved in that area would believe in Christ and would have no problem with someone quoting Christ." He is calling on his former boss to apologize publicly for the alleged firing. "Why he took offense at my use of the word 'Christ' I still can't ever understand," Correa says. "Up to that time he and I had gotten along well. I occasionally recruited volunteers and interns and mentors for the Department of Juvenile Justice, and -- up to that time -- everyone was satisfied with what I was doing." Busbee declined to comment on the controversy. However, a spokesman for Juvenile Justice Secretary Anthony Schembri says the Southwest Florida Juvenile Detention Center School had "performance issues" with Correa.

Gay Attempt to Rewrite History in Philadelphia

(AgapePress) A Pennsylvania traditional-values group is blasting a decision to attempt to rewrite history in Philadelphia . The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has voted to approve a historical marker at Philadelphia 's Independence Hall to recognize a homosexual demonstration that took place in the city in 1965. Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania says that pro-homosexual march was not a historical event for Philadelphia and does not meet any criteria to be granted that status. Gramley says this is the homosexual agenda at work. "The homosexual activists are rewriting history -- and it's a definite slap in the faces of our founding fathers," she says. The activist explains that Independence Hall carries special significance for the citizens of Pennsylvania as well as for all Americans: the beginning of the nation's struggle against England and English rule. But for homosexual activists to "take this symbol [Independence Hall] and tack onto it a plaque commemorating a 1965 homosexual protest is an affront to all Americans who know what our history really is," she states. Gramley says homosexual activists continue to portray themselves as victims of civil rights violations, which she calls an "insult" to any black American who lived through the civil rights movement.  

House Church Reflections On A Kingdom, A People & A River

 

Which of these two declarations do you think is biblical:

 

“The kingdom of the church is at hand, repent and get involved!”  or

 

“The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news!”

 

Which one have you been working and living by? I have been pondering this concept for some months and have come to the conclusion that the first declaration appears to be the motto of most believers today. But the second declaration (from Mark 1:14 -15) is the biblical one. And there in lies a story and a challenge.  

The Kingdom of God Vs. The Church of The Nativity  

I’ve never been to Israel , but not out of a lack of desire. So, I’ve never actually visited the “Church of the Nativity” in Bethlehem . But I have seen numerous documentaries and spoken with friends who have been there. It is a basilica built over the location where the Emperor Constantine’s wife believed that Jesus was born (whether or not she got it right I can’t say). If you actually want a glimpse of the alleged scene of the nativity you must get down on all fours in a space about the size of a fireplace and peer down a hole in the floor. Jesus was born in a stable, probably a cave in a hillside. That’s the simplicity of the Kingdom of God ; God born as a babe and laid in a feeding trough (a “manger”) among stable animals. But it’s tough to attract worshippers and sell religious memorabilia around a cave. So we “complicate” the Kingdom by building basilicas to house the teeming worshippers. And before long, the Kingdom of God becomes lost, obscured by the edifice, available only in rare glimpses down dark passage ways where once a stable stood. In the final analysis, much of modern Christianity, resembles a basilica more than a stable. Simplicity has given way to complexity, and the Kingdom of God has been lost amidst programs guaranteed to fill our basilicas with teeming masses once again, people so busy in the gift shop that they no longer bother asking where the stable might be found (or why God chose a stable over a basilica or a palace for His Son’s nativity). “The church is at hand,” we declare, “Repent and believe the good news.”  

One of my over-arching purposes in this newsletter, as in our new House Church equipping book, is to begin thinking and talking “kingdom” rather than “church.”  Why? Because our Post Modern culture has, for the most part, rejected the message of  “The kingdom of the church is at hand.” It is time for us to return to that message which first transformed the world: “The Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news!” It is time for us to return to kingdom values.  

I recently received an e-mail from Dr. Ralph Neighbor of cell church fame. I think he nailed it regarding this issue. Here’s what he said: “The Kingdom of God is a superficial concept to us. “Seek first the Kingdom and all these will be added” is a shibboleth we scarcely ponder. Especially in the Western society where mother becomes a chauffer for the children’s sports and dance lessons and Dad (according to Good Housekeeping Magazine) talks no more than 7 minutes a day, face to face, with his own children. It is time for Kingdom people to select a lifestyle that has eternity in view rather than sports, shopping, vacations, and TV specials. The Cell should be a thick insulation of Kingdom community, a protection that embraces individual families with clear commitments to look after other’s interests. We make fine atheists out of our children when we say, “My family comes first in my life and my God and my church come later in my priorities.” Compartmentalization of life is a curse. We relegate life into professional and leisure blocks of time and then carve up the leisure blocks according to circumstances, rather than by eternal values and priorities.The reason the cell church is exploding in South Africa is because they were cut off from the rest of us because of Apartheid and did not, until recently, experience the prosperity of the churches in the rest of the world. My friend At Boshoff in 1997 heard me lecture for 3 days, went back to his church of 300 and fired all the leadership. He told them they would have to earn back their positions only after forming cells and harvesting the lost. He now has 19,000 in the mother church and a total of 50,000 in churches they have planted all over South Africa plus Germany , England , and the USA . The reason the cell church in El Salvador numbers 125,000 in that little nation is because their cell members see the Kingdom clearly. And now Dion Robert in the Ivory Coast numbers 185,000 (that figure can be documented!) because his people live, eat, breathe, and exist for the Kingdom life they have found in their cells.”  

Amen! What about us? Do we live, eat, breathe, and exist for the Kingdom life we find in our home churches? If not, why not?  

Pentecost Fasting & Prayer Covenant (March 14 through May 15, 2005 )  

"What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is coming when we shall have nothing but God. Health and wealth and friends and hiding places will be swept away and we shall have only God. To the man of pseudo faith that is a terrifying thought, but to real faith it is one of the most comforting thoughts the heart can entertain." A. W. Tozer

Fasting is a means of trusting God (literally, for sustenance) and of waiting upon Him in prayer and intercession. For the believer, it represents "hungering and thirsting after righteousness" in a tangible and practical way. I pray that over the weeks ahead we will see God answer in powerful ways as we covenant together to meet every Friday before the Throne of Grace in concerted fasting and intercession for a fresh movement of God in our homes, our families, our ministries and our communities.

"Birthing Revival"

"And they said to him, "Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver." - Isaiah 37:3

"Shall I bring to the point of birth, and not give delivery? says the Lord. Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb? says your God." - Isaiah 66:9

We live in days of great spiritual distress, rebuke and rejection. Our culture seems determined to shed its Christian heritage like an old garment. Yet, it is in such distressing times that God often gives birth to new things which we did not expect. So it was in Hezekiah’s day when the southern Kingdom of Judah faced invasion and certain defeat. And so it is today as the Church appears on the verge of being overwhelmed by a cultural and moral collapse of epic proportions. God desires to give birth to a fresh move of His Spirit, and His Church is in the late stages of labor.

There is a reason why the process of giving birth is called "labor." It is hard, exhausting work. And there comes a critical point in child birth where a woman in labor feels so exhausted by the process that she may feel unable to continue and "there is no strength to deliver." To fail to give birth at this critical juncture would be catastrophic for both the child and the mother. It is at this critical point, when the actual delivery is in sight, that she must summon her last remaining will and strength in order to bring the nine month process to its glorious conclusion: Birth.

I believe that the Church is in the process of giving birth to a fresh and new move of God’s Spirit in genuine revival and renewal. It has been a long and exhausting process. We have now reached that critical moment just before birth when many workers and intercessors are weary and are tempted to say "there is no strength to deliver." Like child birth, birthing a revival is hard work. Since the mid 1990s when Campus Crusade for Christ and Bill Bright held the first of several fasting and prayer congresses, there have been numerous and repeated calls for God’s people to fast and pray and seek God for revival. But 8 years later many people are weary from labor and are tempted to ask, "Where’s the revival? And why should we go on?" And our response must be like that of the husband to his labor-weary wife, "Just a little longer. Now push!"

Fortunately, for all of us who are weary in this process of birthing revival, God has His message of hope and encouragement for us: "Shall I bring to the point of birth, and not give delivery . . . . or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?" For all of our labors, genuine revival is in reality a God-inspired event. It is God who ignites the fire of revival in the hearts of His people. It is the wind of His Spirit that breathes life upon the embers. It is God who calls His Church to "labor" with Him in this process of "birthing revival." And it is God who will bring His Kingdom purposes to the point of birth and give delivery.

As we walk through this Pentecost Fasting & Prayer Covenant Together let's agree together that this is the time for us, His Church, to labor with Him in this season of prayer, fasting and repentance, beseeching Him for the strength we need in these final hours to give birth to that move of His Spirit which He has purposed all along!  Let The River Flow!

Remember to fast and pray for your fellow house church planters around the world this Friday as you are able.

You can post a prayer request to this list by logging on to: http://www.organicconnection.org/Survey/Survey.asp
You can view all posted prayer requests by logging on to: http://www.organicconnection.org/Survey/SurveyResultsList.asp  

Up-Coming House Church Conference With Wolfgang Simson  

You are invited to hear Wolfgang Simson (author of Houses That Change The World) and his wife Mercy share what God is doing around the world through house churches. When:  Friday, Saturday & Sunday - April 22-24,   2005 . Register Now! And I’ll see you there! Conference updates & information will be posted on our website at www.parousianetwork.com.