Last weekend a friend gave me a copy of House2House Issue 9. Marc had a snippet from it about Jesus centric life which caught my attention already. But there is still something about having the paper in your hand which a screen can't emulate.
Skimming through this magazine was like a breath of fresh air (or like breathing the breath).
The message is - just follow the call to be church, now, where we are. We do not need a building, we do not need a priest or pastor, we, the people of God, are the priests, we do not need programmes. Least of all do we need a denomination or an institution. Love Jesus, hear His voice and go for it!
There are short articles by some of the modern heroes of the church - including Floyd McClung, John Eldredge and John and Carol Arnott.
It is fascinating to read how Floyd McClung has moved on from his YWAM years in Amsterdam to become a team leader at Metro Christian Fellowship, Kansas. And to learn that Metro has transformed to become a movement of communities.
Some quotes:
John Eldredge:
Be kind, for everyone you know is facing a great battle. (Philo of Alexandria)
A true community is something you’ll have to fight for. You’ll have to fight to get one, and you’ll have to fight to keep it afloat. But you fight for it as you bail out a life raft during a storm at sea. You want this thing to work. You need this thing to work. You can’t ditch it and jump back on the cruise ship. This is the church; this is all you have. Without it, you’ll go down. Or back to captivity. This is the reason those small house fellowships thrive in other countries: they need each other. There are no other options.
Suddenly, all those one another’s in Scripture make sense. Love one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Forgive one another. Acts of kindness become deeply meaningful because we know we are at war. Knowing full well that we all are facing battles of our own, we give one another the benefit of the doubt.
John Arnott:
The Church is You
In spite of man’s attempts to organize and institutionalize the church, it has thrived through the centuries because Jesus’ eternal life is in its people. I believe the church fulfilled the mission of Jesus better when it was unorganized, decentralized and even persecuted. Back then it depended more upon the foundation of Jesus as the Anointed One than on structure, and it was a supernatural church!We are a Kingdom of kings and priests. We relate directly to the King of kings and Lord of lords. We pray directly to Him. We hear His voice directly to us and are each His divinely appointed ambassadors. This is not to say that there are not offices in the local churches of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. However, these are not titles, but functions. These are servant leaders who equip others to also become anointed ones. How often we have interpreted these ministries to be hierarchical positions. And notice how the more we grow with political and financial power, the less dependent we become on Him.
The church’s finest hour is upon us. Don’t disqualify yourself any more. Stop listening to people telling you that you can’t. Jesus is saying you can, and I am telling you that you can. Follow your desire as a “little anointed one” who carries Jesus’ love and power and just go for it. Just do it!
Floyd McClung:
Holy Frustration
I was ready for change. It was 1980, and I was leading a street ministry reaching dropouts and runaways in Amsterdam. That “holy frustration” with the way we were doing church caused me to question everything that was branded church.I was taught we should not start new churches, and so we sent our converts to local churches. We were putting our spiritual sons and daughters up for adoption without their consent. The institutional churches didn’t know what to do with them, and the kids didn’t want to join the institutional churches anyway. We lost many of them.
Through my experience of “holy frustration” with the church, I was led to ask two simple questions, perhaps the most important questions I have ever asked God: “What is church?” and “What is Your purpose for the church?”
My Father taught me that church is family. We are the family of God on earth, the overflow of the family of God in heaven. We are invited to enjoy family at its best: we get to belong, we are unconditionally accepted, we know with certainty we are loved, we receive a new identity, and we learn to be secure in the discipline of our Father. Jesus did not die for the idea of world evangelization; He died to create a family of sons and daughters.
References
Waking the Dead, John Eldredge
Ransomed Heart Ministries
