What I Love About My House Church (September 2011 Edition)
Our House Church at Sean's Birthday Party. Circa August 2010.
Have you ever met the guy who no matter how good things get, he always thinks they can be better? You know the guy…he’s the one on your team at work who after the project has been finished, still thinks it could be just a little bit better. Even if something’s perfect he can see the downside of the good thing. He’s the guy who’s never satisfied.
Well, that guy is me. And because that guy is me, sometimes I have to work to maintain an attitude of thankfulness and appreciation. This reality is especially important and necessary when it relates to my work with a group of people. To aid myself in that important work I submit to you, my loyal readers and to the larger interwebs, the first ten things that I love about my house church:
- My house church is generous. This is true on a corporate level as well as an individual level. Corporately almost all of our money goes to someone besides us. I’ve watched as those in our midst who steward our corporate finances have made tough, sacrificial choices about how our corporate money is spent. I’ve watched individuals in our family dig deep in their pockets for the sake of the nations, the lost, and one another. I think there is something in our sacrifice that is pleasing to God.
- My house church is discreet. This may strike you as odd, but I’ve been a part of other churches where it was okay to talk negatively about another brother or sister openly. We’ve never made a rule about not exposing each other, but somehow we’ve become a people who don’t. I had a mentor of mine who interacts with our church tell me the other day “Whenever someone from your house church talks about a problem they’re having, they are incredibly careful never to name the person they’re having a problem with.” I think our love for one another shows through in this.
- My house church hears the voice of Jesus. They really, really hear the voice of Jesus. I mean, really! I can’t tell you the number of times that someone has visited our church and has wound up weeping because Jesus is addressing the real issues of their heart through someone who is prophesying. Sometimes these people aren’t even believers! This is especially amazing to me because we didn’t have a ton of extremely prophetic people in our midst in the beginning. However that happened, it’s been because of Jesus and it’s been an organic transformation.
- My house church loves the Presence of Jesus. I’ve been a part of a lot of churches who love Jesus but hate it when He does miracles a way they don’t expect. My house church loves the presence of Jesus and isn’t offended when He does something that is outside of someone’s grid. I’m absolutely blessed that my church loves Jesus no matter how He comes to us.
- My house church isn’t bitter. I’ve met lots of people who are bitter at the institutional church. But the people who are part of our house church love the rest of the body. They attend events with other believers from other churches. They learn from the institutional church, they serve it, and they do it with a heart of gladness. And none of it (at least that I know of) is out of a desire to “convert” people to our house church. This may not seem like a big deal, but to do something different without becoming bitter is incredibly difficult in our age.
- My house church knows one another. Not much more needs to be said on this topic. We know each other. We know each other’s strengths and we know each other’s weaknesses. I’ve been in larger churches and house churches where people didn’t know each other, but somehow we’ve come to know each other and not forsake each other at the same time. This fact, as humble as it is, is still amazing to me.
- My house church is full of brothers who tell me truth about me. There is an incredible lack of truth-telling in the body of Christ currently, mostly because we lack courage and conviction. But because my house church knows me (see #6) and because they love me, the guys in my church have consistently and lovingly confronted me about issues in my own heart. They’re not always right about a topic when they confront me (but more often they are), but every time they tell me the truth, I know they love me and are sent by a Father who loves His children (Hebrews 12:5-11).
- My house church wrestles with difficult truths and their practical applications. There have been multiple times where I’ve seen our church wrestle with a difficult or controversial concept. Some of the concepts have been truth and some have been outright heresy. But in both cases, my spiritual family has dug into the Bible and wrestled with both the truth itself and the practical outworkings of believing the teaching in question. In every situation this has benefited and matured our church.
- My house church legitimately supports the life movement. But they do it in a way that is more than just lip service or a political agenda. They pray for the lives of unborn children. They reach into their pockets (see #1) and provide for children that are unwanted. One couple in our church is on the verge of our church’s first adoption and a second family in our church just got approved as a foster care couple. The folks in my house church are laying down their lives for the sake of children no one else wants and I believe they touch a part of God’s heart every time they do.
- My house church is serious about the Great Commission happening in the nations. Since the beginning we’ve always talked about how the Gospel has to go to the nations. Several years later six of us have gone as part of our church. That’s about half of our spiritual family. Other’s have given shamelessly to our cause (see #1), prayed for us while we were away, and listened to our stories when we returned. I would not be surprised if ten years down the road 75% of the people who are part of church currently have been to another nation and several of them are living in Africa, working to bring the Gospel to places it’s never been.
So, that’s my house church. I love them all as people, but these are some things I can say the Lord has done in us. Now, what about your house church? What are some of the things the Lord has done in your midst?
Photo Credit: Cedar Rapids House Church Network by Brandi Sawyer and Bryan Hamilton
Three Things that Hinder a Movement
I’ve been listening to a phenomenal set of interviews by Steve Addison that are part of his “Movements That Change the World” podcast. Steve is interviewing “Barney,” a missionary and church planter that has helped spark a movement in an undisclosed third world nation.
In his fourth interview, “Barney” is describing the wider context in which movements happen. Near the end of the interview, Barney talks about three different things that work their way in and distort the DNA of a church multiplication movement. Most of us would expect these things to be things like heresy or sin. What’s shocking about the things that he lists is they are things that well-intentioned people want to do for successful ministries. What does Barney say hinders movements?
- Buildings- According to Barney, church planting movements happen in all sorts of unconventional places: houses, restaurants, wherever people gather. When someone comes in and builds a building for the movement, the focus shifts from starting multiple churches in many people’s homes to getting as many people to come to the building as possible.
- External Funding- When money comes in from outside of the movement, it can cause the movement to embrace activities that in can’t sustain on its own financially. This can cause the church receiving funding to not be responsible for the resourcing of it’s own activities. Financial independence is crucial in the life of movements.
- Non-Practical Training- Probably the most seductive of the three, this typically happens when someone comes in and offers to build a bible college to train workers. The reality, though, is that this training takes people away from a more hands-on, obedience based training already happening within a movement.
Pretty interesting. Now, here’s the real question: these realities cause movements to slow in the third world. Is it possible that they hinder us as well? If so, why haven’t we noticed it before? Share your thoughts in the comment section!
Photo Credit: Social Media Patterns (Energy Minimized / No Overlap) by KentBye
Financing A Kingdom Revolution
For those who missed it, Andrew Jones of TallSkinnyKiwi fame wrote about the unseen financiers who supported the Protestant Reformation. Jones writes about different important “Kingdom Investors” who at various points gave significant amounts of money and resources to aid the spread of the Reformation. Reading the post, I was struck again by the need for a financial revolution that undergirds every genuine move of God.
Wolfgang Simson will be the first person to tell you that much of what you’ve heard about money in church is wrong. We often teach about money in a way that causes us to put all of our hopes in non-Kingdom financial principles. However one thing that remains true is that all Empires (including the Kingdom of God, which is the empire we belong to) have a financial system in place to fund their activities. Not all money given to a church is used well, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t use our finances to further this Kingdom revolution.
The truth is that all of us have a part to play in financing the advancement of the Kingdom. I remember reading Brother Yun’s book Living Waters where he described offerings that the Chinese house churches would take for members being sent off as missionaries. Some of the members of the house churches were so broken because they didn’t have money to contribute that as they wept, they would place themselves in the offering sack as pledge to devote their whole selves to the cause global evangelism.
This is the kind of giving that moves forward the Kingdom: Financial giving that flows from a life fully given over to Jesus. That’s what makes the testimony of the early church so powerful. They were continually giving everything extra they had to the cause of Jesus and His Kingdom. This enabled the poor to be taken care of and the Gospel to continue to spread through the apostles and others. Today the Kingdom of God continues to spread, but it does so with little access to the funds that could so enable to spread quickly and without the financial sacrifice that is characteristic of an apostolic movement.
So how do we finance a Kingdom revolution? It begins with giving our very selves to God and letting our finances reflect that level of sacrifice. In our next post we’ll look at where those finances need to flow to. But today, let me ask you this question: What do you think holds us back from joining God in financing the advancement of the Kingdom?
Photo Credit: International Money Pile in Cash and Coins by epSos.de
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 