The Supernatural Church
Right now I’m reading Visions Beyond the Veil by R.A. Baker. The book recounts an amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit that happened among a group of street children in a mission in China during the early part of the 20th century. Baker was the grandfather of Rolland Baker of IRIS Ministries fame.
As I read through the introduction I watched Mr. Baker defend the legitimacy of the supernatural encounters these children were having. I’m absolutely certain this was necessary, especially considering it had been a very short time since the things of the Spirit had gained any widespread acceptance. So when I saw this quote I had to share it. I think his words are as challenging and relevant today as they were then:
“Our Lord has gone. Where, oh, where is the Holy Spirit that has come to take His place; to carry on His uncompleted task; to work in the midst of His church in signs and wonders and gifts of the Holy Spirit? Has God died? If so, when? […] After all, is the Holy Spirit, this great power of Christ, the Christ whose words the wind and waves obeyed, whose words burst tombs, is this Great Substitute just a gentle influence? Where is the Holy Spirit Who shook and filled a whole house of praying disciples and through them shook a world?
These trances, visions, revelations, and supernatural manifestations are normal experiences in the supernaturally founded, supernaturally filled, and supernaturally directed Church of the New Testament, the only church the Bible tells or fortells anything about.” [Emphasis Mine]
What are your thoughts? Have you seen a church that looks like this? Share an experience in the comments below.
Photo Credit: I HOPE THIS DOESN’T MEAN THEIR ARE NO MIRACLES LEFT…! by JOPHIELsmiles
Food for Thought: Church Planting Movement Edition
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
Most of the following links are connected with the idea of seeing multiplying church movements birthed in the Earth. We’ll talk more about multiplying church movements shortly, but for now let’s just say that for the harvest at the end of the age to become a reality, God will need to begin to birth multiplying church movements here in the West and in the nations of the Earth. Their reality will fuel and sustain the great harvest.
Cesar, Man of Peace Ross Rohde gives the readers of his blog a down-to-earth current example of how men/women of peace can aid church planting. I’ve heard (and experienced) that when Jesus leads you to a person of peace, you can’t help but start a church. Starting a church without a person of peace is incredibly more difficult. In all of my reading, this is the most down-to-earth description of how an individual finds a person of peace and establishes a church. Ross blogs regularly at thejesusvirus.
To the Fourth Generation You really can’t beat first-hand information from people who are on the front lines of any ministry. Steve Addison got a chance to sit down with church planters who have seen the churches they’ve planted start daughter churches, granddaughter churches, and great-granddaughter churches. He combines all the insights from that time and presents the common themes in a three page PDF document. It’s a treasure. Steve blogs regularly about Christian movements at Movements That Change the World.
Passing It On and What is Sequentialism and Why Does it Prevent Multiplication? These are both posts by Felicity Dale, who with her husband gives leadership to the annual House Church conference that pulls together many house churches and house church movements in the nation. In “Passing It On” Felicity writes about the need for the taught to teach others in order to see church planting movements birthed. “What is Sequentialism and Why Does it Prevent Multiplication” focuses in on how our need to have everything right in a church or movement before we expand is often the reason why no growth happens. Both of these articles are extremely worth your time and can be found at Felicity’s blog Simply Church.
A Lesson in Unity Here, Kevin Matthews looks at the behavior of fire ants and how they swarm and then relates it to our need to operate in the same spirit of unity. This article at first might not seem very closely related to church planting movements but I can assure you that at their core, church planting movements operate in this way. They are led and built up by five-fold ministries that encourage this unified swarming. This is a great picture of how Christ builds an at once individual and yet unified body. You can check out more of Kevin’s writing at Kevin and Lorna’s Daily Devotional.
Photo Credit: Brain Food by The Wandering Angel at Flickr.
Wolves in the House: A Prophetic Dream
[Editor’s Note: From time to time I hope to publish dreams that are relevant not only to our house church but to the larger body of Christ. This dream which was shared in the meeting mentioned in my last post, was shared by Aroea, a member of our house church. You can check out my thoughts below.]
[My husband and I] were living in a nice house in a small town. A large car dealership had bought out a small business much to the town’s protest. The dealership assured the town that it would be fine and said they would keep the manager of the local business on as an act of good will. The towns people gave in but the dealership didn’t keep their word with the manager. In addition they were keeping a large pen of wolves in the town next to the fancy dealership. The people began to protest again. It was as if this had
happened before.
The slick talking agent from the dealership once again assured the people that everything would be fine and that the wolves were harmless. I knew differently. I also knew that the cattle in the fields were protected and so the wolves would be rummaging through our garbage cans and trying to get into our homes. I began to go around my house locking the doors. There were three doors upstairs and one downstairs. As I went around locking the doors I saw a black wolf cub in the backyard. He was beautiful against the snowy backdrop. I hurried downstairs to lock the last door and then started cleaning. Upon entering the storage room though I found the little wolf cub had made it into my house through the vents and was rummaging through my Christmas gifts. He’d also torn open a package of animal crackers. I quickly alpha-rolled the cub and made it lay in my arms, on it’s back like a baby.
Soon a couple people from town showed up and wanted to put me on the news. They were hoping to rally people against the dealership by showing how the wolf had made it’s way into my house. However I warned them we couldn’t. I knew that putting the cub on TV would actually work against us because it was so cute. The dealership would be able to argue that it had done no real damage and show how easily I had handled the cub. It would actually invoke sympathy for their cause. I was adamant that we could not fight them that way or it would backfire. I also knew that no matter how cute the cub looked (even to me) it was going to grow large and fierce.
Editor’s Thoughts: One of the things that struck me about this dream was the danger that false teachers and prophets will pose to the whole body of Christ at the end of the age. Obviously the wolf is a symbol of heresy that starts out small and “cute” but can grow into something much more dangerous. These wolves could get in through the smallest openings in a house (spiritual family) and prove deadly. The obvious argument (especially in early stages) is that these wolves are cute and harmless, but this lulls the people into a false sense of security.
How should we prepare to deal with false prophets, false teachers, and heresy? What does this mean for you and the church you are a part of? Is the Lord speaking to you about anything in this dream? The answers to any of these questions can be left by clicking “Leave A Comment” below this article.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 