Now five years later, I continue to meet with some of these people. What is going on? New standards of conduct and doctrines are creeping into some of the networks, stifling the movement and causing networks to become nothing more than large, different-looking ministries. What do I see happening in America? Just look at some of the stuff coming out; what is actually happening already - standards of conduct or the way house church is to be done. What is the focus of our meeting; why do we meet? Unfortunately we are still trying to "build the church". God said that He would build His Church. I believe that we are guilty of walking past some scriptures that we should look at. We must not be selective in our reading. There needs to be change in the "Church". We need to get back to servant leadership and empowerment of all the believers to "go and be like Jesus". We are to disciple people into intimacy with God and cause them to walk into the fullness of Christ. When we start telling people how they must meet and what they must do, we are in danger of becoming what we hate. Paul sent letters to "city" or "regional" Church. Did they then send the letter to every house? How did all hear? I am sure at times it did go house to house, but I also know that at times it was read to a whole group of people, because as people, we will always find the easiest way to do things. In some communities and places, each house, in others the community of God in the city. Paul talked of appointing elders over cities or regions, never houses.

What am I saying? Freedom. People need to have Freedom to have meetings and do both large and small groups. There must be the freedom to have one speaker who is traveling through, or two or three in your home, or large meetings type of schedule. Freedom to not plan anything or at times to plan meticulously.

I have stated and continue to state, God never told us to "go plant churches". God said that we were to go preach, make disciples (bring others into intimacy and right standing with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to the point that they begin to walk in the fullness of Christ, just like Him), heal the sick and cast out demons. HE SAID THAT HE WOULD BUILD HIS CHURCH. Paul states that we are to preach the true Gospel of Spirit and Power. No where does it say that there is any set way to meet together. We need both small and large. When we leave the freedom to meet as you desire and just make one thing clear, the idea is to Go-show Jesus to be who He says He is, then preach. We need to be about servant leadership and empowerment of the Church. We need to bring people in line with God's purpose. We need to show the believers their responsibility to be sons and how to walk that out. Everywhere in the world people want to see the power in their lives, they want a Gospel that is true for them that unites them with Jesus to do the works He did. Leaders are sent to show people how to walk in intimacy that produces the power in them, then there is supernatural going and power as they pray and cry after God's purpose. That is what we are here for.

I liked what the Chinese brothers said in the latest edition of H@H.. Page 20. That to me sums up my goal and life. No Power, No Gospel. Don't do anything till Jesus shows up and does something, then preach. With no outreach that is producing these results, what are we doing? We are to live out the book of Acts. The book of Acts is about reaching the lost, spreading the Gospel, not worrying about how our meetings look. I see a lot of house churches who have the same things old style churches have -- a "Pentecostal experience" during the meeting, usually following some kind of worship time. Then, what happens when the people leave the meeting "after meeting with God and having a wonderful experience"? NOTHING. No multiplication, no new believers, no miracles in their neighborhoods, no hunger for lost souls. They still do not have a heart for God's purpose. Their only concern is about how they will look as they meet the next week and will God be a part of the meetings? Will we experience His presence as we gather? This is not the key. God always inhabits the praises of His people. The true key or measuring stick we use should be: How is His presence affecting your community, your work, your family and friends? Are the ones who gather together seeing miracles in the world around them that show Jesus as a result of your meetings? If not, I would say, you have missed it. God is about seeking and saving the lost, and destroying the works of the devil - He does not care how or where you meet, what He is interested in is how are your meetings affecting your community and the Kingdom.

Look at the Israelites and the Promised Land. When they lost sight of God's purpose, they refused to enter the Promised Land because of Giants. Our promised land is the nations or peoples of the earth. These "people of God" lived out their lives in God's presence, had his provision, saw His Glory day and night, had clothes that never wore out, and ate fresh food each day. They still died in their sin-the sin of unbelief-because they lost sight of God's purpose. These people were never sick, the miracles they saw were not enough to save them because the got focused on their comfort with God. What is the difference of "where" we are comfortable- in our houses or in big buildings? Both are the wrong place if we forget God's purpose.-reaching the lost and destroying the works of the devil. Only in going do we really get to see the miraculous we crave. It can only be found in doing God's purpose. It will never be found in form.

Just look at all of scripture in the NT. They met in big meetings in every city that Paul went to. Stephen and Phillip conducted big meetings, anywhere there are Christians even though they meet in houses they always try to find a place where they can meet in bigger groups at times to express the need to be a part of more than themselves or their small group. At least one time Paul spoke all night. not two or three speaking just Paul. I hear from the Chinese brothers at times from people I meet who have been there and I am always hearing them talk of secret meetings in the wood of several small groups getting together to celebrate. We as people like to feel a part of something that is bigger and has more of an influence. WE NEED BOTH. We, in this present move of God, need to be advocates of obedience and power; Servant leadership and empowerment of the believer to change their community through the supernatural presence of Jesus in signs and wonders. Then teach them how to continue in the Faith. Standing against the enemy of our souls. We need to be Biblical Christianity to them. If we have no power and only form to give, we need to shut up.

The key to what we are looking for and what all those leaving the "traditional or whatever church" looking for -- His Presence. Nothing else will do. It will need to be more than a feeling or a new form in our meetings. God always speaks to us even in our sins. But, do we have His purpose, His heart for the lost and for the enemy? What are we doing? Will we end up wandering around in His presence and still die in our sin?

Every where I go I see miracles and church change in spite of how they meet through the empowerment of the believers. I get to watch others walk in the miraculous. Most of what I see happens through those i am empowering and imparting to. Most change how they meet because of God's presence that shows up. Whether they are traditional or house church. There is a change when they find Jesus purpose and presence. They end up doing small groups because of the Power of the Spirit on individuals and not just one person. Many also continue to meet in large groups. I don't think God cares.

My Goal remains the same as always: to know Him and be known by Him. I want to walk with Him. So do many others, and I don't think they are looking for form.

-Neil

Maurice's Response

Neil,

How dare you send out such a personal, passionate and convicting e-mail. And yes, I took it personally! I have learned not to argue with you when you are right (which is often). Thanks, bro, for putting into words what many of us have been feeling but not saying. Since I can’t argue with what you have said, at least allow me to squander considerable time and space making some personal observations regarding what you have said about the "house church movement" (such as it is, or isn’t) in America. I don’t want to respond "point-by-point" to what you have said. Rather, I want to share some thoughts and observations which your e-mail has stimulated in me.

First, I’m reminded of the musical "My Fair Lady" and one of my favorite scenes in which Professor Henry Higgins sings "Why Can’t The English Teach Their Children How To Speak". At one point he makes the observation, "The French don’t care what they say so long as they pronounce it correctly" (anyone familiar with French culture died with laughter at that line). When it comes to church, even house church, Professor Higgins could correctly observe that "The American Christians don’t care what they do, so long as they organize it correctly." Feel free to add your own variation here, but the point is the same. American believers, for the most part, are obsessed with "form" over "substance". And the Holy Spirit is free to move, so long as His actions are approved by the board of Directors, He does nothing the IRS would not approve of, and is consistent with Roberts Rules of Order.

Second, your passionate observations highlight a point of on-going debate, namely, is Christianity a Church in search of a mission, or is it a mission in need of a church? Alan Hirsch (whose thinking you have mirrored) said it this way: "It isn’t that the church has a mission; the reality is that the mission has a church". American/Western Christianity has mistaken and confused church for mission; form for purpose. The Church (i.e., the "form") has become the mission, so we build really big ones and invite as many people as possible to come to them. To put it in fancy "theological" terms, our ecclesiology (our view of church) has determined our missiology (our purpose in this world) at the expense of our Christology (i.e., who is Jesus and why did He come?). As a result we have become the Church of Laodicea, filled with tepid believers who are there to find a good experience along with their best life now, who mistake blindness for sight, poverty for wealth and nakedness for clothes, while Jesus (whose church it is) stands outside of His own church, knocking and seeking admission to the house which He built at the price of His broken body and shed blood. And yes, this can be as true of house churches as of any other form of church that has mistaken form for mission.

Third, many of us in the house church movement (such as it is . . .) like to point to the house church movement in China and say to ourselves (and to others), "That’s our model". But the reality is that we have fallen for the age-old rubric which says, "If we do what they did (they met in house churches), we’ll get what they got (a house church movement)". But the underground house church of China is not like the church in America. Whereas much of the church in America (yes, house churches, too) is like the Church of Laodicea, the church of China is like the Church of Smyrna. The Church of Smyrna is one of only two churches out of the seven churches of Asia which Jesus does not rebuke. Why? Their problem wasn’t lack of love (Ephesus), compromise (Pergamum), tolerating witchcraft (Thyatira), living off their dead reputation (Sardis) or being luke-warm (Laodicea). No, the church of Smyrna was facing torture and death. Men facing pain, suffering and death need no rebuke. They need encouragement and a prize worth dying for, which is exactly what Jesus gave them: "Fear not . . . . Be faithful unto death . . . And I will give you the crown of life." Like the Chinese brothers you referred to, the Church of China has learned through a generation of suffering that no power means no gospel, regardless of where you meet.

On a related note, we in the house church movement like to refer to ourselves as an Acts 2:41-47 movement (By the way, in his book on leadership, Bill Hybels calls Willow Creek an Acts 2 church too!). But are we really? Acts Chapter 2 breaks into three blocks: Acts 2:1-13 describes the "Spiritual Outpouring"; Acts 2: 14-40 describes the "Preaching"; and Acts 2:41-47 describes the "Resulting Form" (i.e., a network of house churches which met "house-to-house"). There you have it: Outpouring, Preaching & Organization. But we in America insist on doing it exactly backwards: first we organize, second we preach, and third we expect a spiritual outpouring. We genuinely think that the right form combined with the right message will produce a spiritual outpouring. We really don’t "get it". Say, did you hear what happened at the Crystal Cathedral on Palm Sunday? Stunt cyclist Evel Knievel shared his testimony of becoming a Christian. By the time he was done much of the place was in tears. So they gave an "invitation" and between 500 & 800 people came forward to be baptized on the spot! You can read all about it at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/aprilweb-only/115-43.0.html . I think God does things like that just to "mess with us" and to keep us humble!

Fourth, you mentioned the dreaded "D" word - "Denomination". I have heard some house church leaders argue that we shouldn’t work to build house church networks because that could be the first step toward becoming a house church (drum roll please) "denomination." I’m sorry, but to my thinking that’s somewhat akin to saying we should avoid marriage because marriage could be the first step toward infidelity and divorce. I am NOT in favor of founding any new denominations, house church or otherwise. But it is fascinating to discover that nearly every major denomination you can name today was born out of a move of God’s Spirit. The Methodist Church was born out of the Evangelical Awakening of the 1700s in England. The Disciples of Christ were born out of the Second Great Awakening of the early 1800s on the American frontier. Nearly all of the Pentecostal denominations you can name today were born out of that great outpouring of 1904-1907 when it made a brief stop at an abandoned livery-stable-turned-church on Azusa Street. Calvary Chapel was born out of the Jesus Movement when a hippie by the name of Lonnie Frisbee showed up on the doorstep of Chuck Smith, pastor of a little community church in Costa Mesa, CA,, and the Spirit of God fell on that Church through Lonnie’s ministry to hippies. A similar thing happened when Lonnie left Chuck Smith’s church and partnered up with the pastor of a Calvary satellite church, named John Wimber. And Campus Crusade for Christ (my own alma mater) was born as an outreach by six people living in the rented home of J. Edwin Orr on the outskirts of the UCLA campus in California. The River of God flowed, a movement was born and today Campus Crusade is one of the largest evangelical ministries in America. Is that good or bad? You decide. And the river flows on.

Here’s my "punchline". After years of studying the history of revival I have slowly come to a sobering conclusion. Here it is. Every move of God in the history of the Church begins as a river (yep, back to the River of Ezekiel 47) and leaves behind in its wake a collection of swimming pools (substitute "denominations" or "ministries" or whatever makes you feel good). How does this relate to the house church movement in America & the west today? Here’s my "take" on the situation. God-in-Christ is on a mission of redemption in our day, and He is looking for a church which He can use to accomplish that mission. As part of His mission and purpose He is raising up house churches as the new vessel or channel to receive what He is about to pour out by way of spiritual outpouring and renewal. As this outpouring unfolds, new house churches will be born and these will network together into new house church networks. Is there a "danger" that these could become "denominations"? Yes. But that "danger" is the risk we must accept in order to fully participate in what God wants to do. The potential blessing outweighs the potential risk . . . sort of like marriage.

During the 1980s and 1990s Argentina experienced a revival, an "open heavens" if you will. But I remember Wolfgang Simson talking about the revival and how when they looked at the long-term growth of the Church in Argentina, it was under 4%. Why? They were unprepared to capture and preserve the fruit of that spiritual outpouring. And are we any more prepared than they were should God in His mercy grant us the same "open heavens" here in America?

And the River flows on . . .