A Kingdom

A Kingdom, A People & A River

A New Paradigm For the Post Modern House Church Movement

Parousia Weekly Update Letter For The Week of September 30, 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 Christi an Post Modern Culture
A Kingdom, A People and A River
The Emerging Church & the Challenge of Free Range Chickens (“And we’re the chickens.”)
A House Church Manifesto & A Call To The 5-Fold Ministry
Update Regarding The Move

Dear Friends,

Please let me begin by apologizing for not posting the Equipping Workbook as promised in the last newsletter. Two things happened. First, right after I wrote that e-mail I re-wrote a couple of Modules and made some significant changes. Second, I discovered that when converted to PDF it was a 122 Meg file (!!) which didn’t even reproduce some of the paragraph graphics (etc.). It was most frustrating. The good news is that the Workbook is now 99% done and we are circulating proof copies. I’ll keep you posted.

‘Nuff intro.

Blessings,
Maurice

Post Cards From The Edge of a Post Christi an Post Modern Culture

"I believe in Christi anity 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

ACLU defends polygamy
Legal group backs 'freedom of choice'

The president of the American Civil Liberties Union says polygamy is among the "fundamental rights" that her organization will continue to defend. During a question-and-answer session after a speech at Yale University , ACLU president Nadine Strossen stated that her organization has "defended the right of individuals to engage in polygamy," reported AgapePress, noting that the comments cited by the Yale Daily News received little attention. The student paper said Strossen was responding to a "student's question about gay marriage, bigamy, and polygamy." The ACLU chief said her organization defends "the freedom of choice for mature, consenting individuals," making it "the guardian of liberty ... defend[ing] the fundamental rights of all people." Some opponents of same-sex marriage -- including, notably, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. -- have argued that its acceptance will create a slipperly slope, leading to the sanctioning of other types of relationships, including polygamy. Crawford Broadcasting radio talk-show host Paul McGuire says the ACLU "has declared legal war on the traditional family." "Now the ACLU is defending polygamy," he said, according to AgapePress. "You know, there are male and female lawyers who wake up in the morning and are actually proud of being ACLU lawyers. But I think the majority of Americans view ACLU lawyers as people who hate America and who want to destroy all Judeo- Christi an values and beliefs." McGuire asserts Strossen's organization seems "to only defend things that tear down the fabric of society." National Review correspondent Ramesh Ponnuru says the ACLU might be defending a right for people to establish households in this way without necessarily fighting for governmental recognition of polygamous marriages. "Even if so," Ponnuru concludes, "it is hard to see how the ACLU, on its own principles, could stop short of demanding a change to the marriage laws to allow for polygamy." Strossen, president of the ACLU since 1991, also serves as acting professor of law at New York Law School and is the author of "Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex & the Fight for Women's Rights." www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44977

The Emerging Church & the Challenge of Free Range Chickens (“And we’re the chickens.”)

I recently received a phone call from someone interested in house church. He had been out ot the traditional church for many years. After spending considerable time on our website he called and asked for a meeting. I agreed and suggested a time and place. When he failed to show for our meeting I assumed he would call and we would reschedule. A couple of days later I received the following e-mail:

Dear Mr. Smith..
I contacted you last Thursday p.m. to find out about your home gatherings. We were not able to connect on Saturday for coffee and interview..(possible speculation on my part)... As I have spent more time going through your web site I now see that we have very much a different perspective and vision on how God has moved in the past and thus present and future...my wife and I have seen what god is after in his people for many years... What our spirits so yearn for is a gathering of the saints returning to a simplicity of devotion to the person of Jesus Christ...that was my reason for contacting you... I cannot embrace the building of yet another organization or network... I do not see in any past move of God, Him using any organization ..non-profit or otherwise to bring about his purposes...thank you for your time...in Christ...

Welcome to one of the challenges confronting “the emerging church,” and specifically the house church movement. I call it the challenge of “free range chickens.” If you haven’t seen the animated movie “Chicken Run” you should go rent a copy. It’s a hoot! The chickens discover that they are destined to become chicken pot pies and hatch a plan to escape from the farm. Their vision: to become free range chickens. No farm. No attachments. No responsibilities. Live off the land. Do as they please.

O.K., I’ll resist the nearly-overwhelming temptation to draw analogies between the movie and the church (analogies for which I would suffer greatly at the hands of those who don’t share my sense of humor!). So, here’s my unvarnished point. Much of what I presently see in the house church movement, as illustrated by the above e-mail, looks suspiciously like free range Christi ans. Having escaped the clutches of the institutional church farm they are intent upon becoming (or remaining) free range Christi ans. No institution. No organization. No responsibilities. No leadership. Live off the land. Just us and Jesus. Do as we please.

But I don’t believe that is true elsewhere in the world. We are all somewhat awestruck by reports of house church networks around the world. I think of one such network in China with upwards of 10 million people in the network. But notice something. The network, its participants and its leadership are known and identifiable (otherwise, how would anyone know that there are ten million people in it?). There is some level of organization, accountability and leadership. There is also something else there that we here in America and the West don’t have – PERSECUTION. When there is no external crisis or pressure, free range chickens, like free range Christi ans, can survive on their own (assuming of course that simple survival is the goal). But serious external pressure changes all that. Do you know what you call a free-range chicken under pressure? LUNCH!

I believe that this “free range” situation will probably change very soon. I certainly hope (& pray ) that God does not use the “external pressure” of persecution, but neither can I rule it out as a realistic possibility. This week I received word thru Tony Dale of House 2 House that Time magazine is preparing a major article on house church. I’m not sure whether that’s a blessing or something else. The external pressure of national attention, popularity and scrutiny could have a dramatic effect upon a nascent movement like house churches in America (nascent as opposed to mature or established). Personally, I believe that the external pressure which is about to be unleashed on the house church movement may well be the pressure created by the spiritual wildfire of revival and spiritual awakening. I call this the pressure of ‘running with the horses’:

“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5)

Whatever the coming pressure might be, I believe that God is about to cause the house church movement to “grow up” quickly. The house church made up of independent “free range chickens” is an endangered species whose days are numbered. No genuine movement is sustainable long-term without some degree of organization, co-operation, mutual accountability and identifiable leadership. It is time to overcome and move past our fears of creating another “hierarchy” or “denomination” and move ahead with the calling to become a genuine house church movement.

My publishing of a “House Church Manifesto” several weeks back (available on our website) was a modest step away from house churches made up of free range chickens toward becoming a house church movement that has an identifiable purpose and strategy of working together as networks of house churches to bring the Kingdom of God to our community through house church ministry. And this brings me to my next point . . .

A House Church Manifesto & A Call To The 5-Fold Ministry

One of the comments made by Wolfgang Simson which sparked and urged me to write the Manifesto was a question he asked: “How do we prepare for a spiritual wildfire.” If we believe that God is preparing to unleash a spiritual wildfire which will result in the planting of thousands of new house churches, then what steps can we take now to prepare ourselves for that time? The Manifesto was an answer to that question. One of the propositions of my Manifesto (Proposition #7) dealt with the need for what I referred to as a “School of the 5-Fold.” Let me repeat that proposition here and then I want to discuss it:

Proposition # 7: We need to embrace a genuine 5-Fold ministry of gifted apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers and encourage them to function as teams and to multiply themselves strategically. In addition to Proposition #1 and the raising up of the Apostolic, we need to encourage and facilitate the formation of 5-fold teams which work and function together and exercise their giftings among the growing network of house churches. The 5-Fold needs to model among themselves the House Church values they seek to teach and impart to the House Churches. Simply put, how can they promote the unity of the body in the bond of peace if they themselves are not unified. To facilitate this we need a “School of the 5-Fold” in which the 5-Fold Ministry people interact with one another and learn how to compliment each other’s unique gift and calling for the greater edification (building up) of the church. House churches, on the other hand, including their elders and deacons, need to acknowledge the validity of and the need for this ministry and invite the 5-Fold teams to visit them on a regular basis and impart God’s heart, strategy, vision, encouragement and teaching. 5-Fold people without house churches are like generals without armies. While house churches without the ministry of the 5-Fold giftings are like companies of soldiers without strategic instruction or equipping on where they fit in the greater battle plan for our city and our region. And the 5-Fold ministry teams, as they visit and interact with the various house churches, need to be looking for, calling out, raising up and anointing new 5-Fold teams, thereby multiplying the leadership for the next phase of church growth. Felicity Dale shared a cautionary observation regarding 5-fold ministry teams which deserves attention: “Obviously the 5 different ministries functioned in the NT, but I am not convinced they functioned in 5-fold teams, at least not as a set and permanent team. I am concerned if we build a doctrine or practice on a single verse. Maybe my caution comes from our experiences in the UK where we saw such teams formed across the nation and becoming a source of division in what was then known as the house church movement (I am of Paul, I am of Cephas etc.). All the different house churches belonged ‘under’ one 5-fold ministry team or another. In the NT, it appears to be a much more fluid thing, and maybe that is what you are meaning. A prophet was needed, and Agabus happened to be around.” Felicity’s concern is valid. People tend to polarize around personalities. Part of any “School of the 5-Fold” should include specific cautions against this type of “I am of Cephas” thinking, which I believe is the responsibility of the 5-Fold to recognize and teach against. The idea of “fluidity” is also good, sort of a 5-Fold “mix and match” approach to teaming up with various gifted people. One of the purposes of the “School of the 5-Fold” would be to build a degree of “working trust” among various 5-Fold people which can only come about by spending time together, pray ing together and sharing each other’s lives.

I believe that one of the things we should be doing now in preparation for the coming pressure of a spiritual wildfire is to begin gathering together those individuals, potential leaders, who already sense God’s gifting and call to the 5-fold ministry: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. If leadership in the emerging church of “house church” is truly relational (as opposed to positional), then we need to begin building those relationships now. This would be the purpose of calling together those 5-fold leadership people who are already aware of their gift and calling. We need to spend time eating together, worshipping together, pray ing together, ministering together and building relationships of recognition & respect (I recognize and respect God’s gift and calling in your life), communication and mutual trust (I trust you to minister along side me or even in my stead within the house churches entrusted to my care). Think for a moment. If you and your house church(es) needed a clean & trustworthy prophetic voice to come and minister, who would you call on? If you needed a pastoral voice to come and address a pastoral issue in the midst of your house churches, who would you call? Here’s the answer: you would call those people whom you know and trust because you have walked together and built relationships. Right? This in a nut-shell would be the purpose of such a “School of the 5-fold. And it’s time we got started.

So, here’s the call. I want to convene our first six-week “School of the 5-Fold.” If you are an “emerging church” (house church, market place, campus church, etc.) person who believes that God is gifting and calling you into 5-fold ministry, YOU ARE INVITED! My plan is simple. We are going to meet one (1) night per week for six (6) weeks (please, we are either free range chickens who can’t or won’t commit ourselves for 6 weeks of seeking God for this movement, or we can find a way to make the time, and perhaps have our lives and ministries transformed). I am looking at Friday evenings at 6:00 PM (until we get done). We will do a potluck meal together, worship together, pray together, challenge one another regarding what God is doing in our midst and minister to one another. Everyone who comes will get a copy of my newly-completed house church equipping workbook, and we are going to ask God to give us a strategy for multiplying house churches in our area and show us where and how we fit into what He is doing. The commitment is only for 6 weeks. At the end of that time we will go home and spend some time pray ing over and applying what we have learned. I am hopeful that each of us will go out and find one or two more 5-fold people who share our gift & calling, build a relationship with them, and then bring them to the next “School of the 5-Fold” six weeks later. Leaders multiplying leaders.

If this interests you please contact me. You can call me at (509) 276-6469 or e-mail me at Maurice_Smith@parousianetwork.com.

The day of free range chickens is quickly passing. It’s time to prepare to “run with the horses” and to prepare for the coming spiritual wildfire of revival and house church.

Update Regarding The Move

This is a quick update for those of you who have asked about our upcoming move (November 1). No, we do not yet know where God would have us go, but we are looking & pray ing. We are in discussions concerning some possibilities, but nothing solid yet. Please keep us in your pray ers. We are doing fine and believe that God never leads us simply to bring us to a “dead-end.” That’s why it’s called a walk of “faith” rather than “sight”.