regarding the assembly
the body of Christ is not
an institution or a tradition of men
This
page is dedicated to those who are seeking a genuine walk with
the LORD and meaningful fellowship with the body of Christ.
There is absolutely no desire to cast aspersions on believers in
the "institutional" church nor to flaunt our decision to walk
with
the LORD outside it. We're not attempting to direct believers
"out" because that would be counter productive,
seeing that Christ alone is the Head of the church and the true
head of every believer. |
House
Church· Simple Church· Organic Church· Home Church·
Open
Fellowship·
House to House·
Biblical Church -
Whatever you call it, it's not to be institutionalized
It's not
the building-----it's the body. |
House Church
Sites and Links - Scroll down |
Articles for gatherings,
House Church, etc. |
The
traditional worship setting is both the inspiration for
faith
and fellowship, and the barrier to it. Due only to Word and
Sacrament -- God’s ideas -- is
there any faith to be shared or
truth to articulate. However, the very setting in which this is
received
instills the fear of expressing it informally."
...
Paul G. Johnson (1931- ), Buried Alive [1968]
[not necessarily an endorsement of all of Dr. Johnson's
beliefs!] |
A site for the dissemination of information,
encouragement,
and exhortation.
Continuing
Daily
For the local areas,
information is posted regarding
upcoming opportunities for
fellowship and meetings
for the purpose of building
the body of Christ.
|
Biblical
Church house-church.org
presented by
the Chigwell Christian Fellowship
with Beresford Job
Listen for yourself. The Traditions Series
in the list of "tape studies" will literally
change your life. Once you hear these talks,
you will never again see "the church" the same.
Your thinking will be transformed and your life
truly will be changed. |
Christian Unplugged -- church_movie
this site also has some great articles... the emphasis of
this site is exposing
the fallacy of the meet-my-wants-driven-churches-institutions
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More
Reading... Articles, etc.
"REVOLUTION" -
An
Extract.
-From George Barna's
book.
As we journey together, I want to show you what our
research has
uncovered regarding a growing sub-nation of people,
already well
over 20 million strong, who are what we call
Revolutionaries.
What "established systems" are they seeking to "overthow
or
repudiate" and "thoroughly replace," in Webster's
words?
They have no use for churches that play religious
games, whether
those games are worship services that drone on
without the
presence of God or ministry programs that bear no
spiritual fruit.
Revolutionaries eschew ministries that compromise or
soft sell our
sinful nature to expand organizational turf.
They refuse to follow
people in ministry in leadership positions who cast
a personal
vision rather than God's, or who seek popularity
rather than the
proclamation of truth in their public statements, or
who are more
concerned about their own legacy than that of Jesus
Christ. They
refuse to donate one more dollar to man-made
monuments that
mark their own achievements and guarantee their
place in history.
They are unimpressed by accredited degrees and
endowed chairs
in Christian colleges and seminaries that produce
young people
incapable of defending the Bible or unwilling to
devote their life to
serving others. And Revolutionaries are
embarrassed by language
that promises Christian love and holiness but turns
out to be all
sizzle and no substance.
In fact, many Revolutionaries have been active in
good churches
that have biblical preaching, people coming to
Christ and being
baptized, a full roster of interesting classes and
programs, and a
congregation packed with nice people. There is
nothing overtly
wrong with anything taking place at such churches.
But
Revolutionaries innately realize that it is just not
enough to go with
the flow. The experience provided through their
church, although
better than average, still seems flat. They
are seeking a faith
experience that is more robust and awe-inspiring, a
spiritual
journey that prioritizes transformation at every
turn, something
worthy of the Creator whom their faith reflects...
Revolutionaries zealously pursue an intimate
relationship with God,
which Jesus Christ promised we could have through
Him...
In this book I will describe what The Barna Group
has learned about
this under-the-radar but seminal renaissance of
faith that will
remake the religious contours of this country over
the coming quarter-century.
[Barna goes on to predict the complete re-shaping of
the way
people experience "church" in America]:
Whereas "Christian community" has generally been
limited to the
relationships facilitated within a congregation, the
Revolution is
bursting open the walls of the worldwide
Church to birth a truly
international network of relationships...
The U.S. will see a reduction in the number of
churches, as
presently configured (i.e. congregational-formatted
ministries).
Church service attendance will drop...
Donations to churches will
drop... Churches' already limited political
and cultural influence
will diminish even further at the same time that
Christians will
exert greater influence through more disparate
mechanisms.
Fewer church programs will be sustained in favor of
more
communal experiences among Christians...
To some, this will sound like the Great Fall of the
Church. To
Revolutionaries, it will be the Great Reawakening of
the Church.
New scenarios do not mean mayhem and dissipation.
In this
case, they represent a new day in which the Church
can truly be
the Church--different than what we know today, but
more
responsive to and reflective of God.
-------------------------------------------------
'Roger' [from the Denver House church Gathering]
adds:
When I consider how widely read Barna is by
traditional church
leaders, I predict this book (due out in October)
will rock some worlds.
The New Revolutionaries:
I have so much to write, having returned from the
House Church
conference in Denver, and so little time right now.
One highlight
was Thom Black, from the Barna Research Group, who
shared
some incredible facts about what is happening in the
church of
America. I will quote from Wolfgang Simson
(who was at the
conference) who summarized this information in his
Friday Fax:
"Revolution", George Barna's new book, will be
published in
September. Barna leads a church research institute,
and is
currently the most-quoted person in the
Christian church in the
USA because of his statistical work. To summarize
the book's
most important conclusions:
* The number of Christians attending local church in the USA
is
declining rapidly. Today, 70% of Christians attend
traditional
churches, but this will sink to 30-35% in 20 years;
* The number of followers of Jesus who do not attend a local
church will grow from 30% to 70% in the next 20
years;
* Alternative fellowship forms (house church/simple church,
post-modern churches etc.), currently home for 5% of
USA
Christians, will grow to make up 30-35%; another
30-35% will live
out their faith in the fields of media, arts and
culture; the remaining
5% of Christians attending non-traditional forms of
church will have
a family-based spiritual life;
* Conclusion: a minority group presently not even noticed by
many will become the mainstream of North American
Christianity
in only two decades.
We received a pre-manuscript of this book and it
will rock the
church world. Barna describes this growing group of
Christians
that no longer attend traditional churches as
"revolutionaries." He
goes on to describe them in a very positive
light.....
-----------------------------------------
George Barna's website-
www.barna.org
-----------------------------------------
To subscribe, send a "subscribe" email to-
prophetic@revivalschool.com
OR send
*ANY*
email to-
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To send material for consideration for publication,
send to-
prophetic@revivalschool.com
VISIT
OUR SITES ON THE NET:
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SUPERSITE -
http://www.revivalschool.com
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MODERATOR:
Andrew
Strom, PO Box 9852, Kansas City, MO 64134, USA.
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There are, I should say, four elements in a
redemptive community. It is personal, with things
happening between people as well as to and in them
individually; it is compassionate, always eager to
help, observant but non judgmental toward others,
breathing out hope and concern; it is creative, with
imagination about each one in the group and its work
as a whole, watching for authentic new vision coming
from any of them; and it is expectant, always
seeking to offer to God open and believing hearts
and minds through which He can work out His will,
either in the sometimes startling miracles He gives
or in steady purpose through long stretches where
there is no special "opening". It may fairly be said
that unless one enmeshes himself in this "redemptive
fellowship" of the church, he lessens his chances of
steady growth and effectiveness, in his Christian
life and experience.
.. Samuel M. Shoemaker (1893-1963)
The Experiment of Faith [1957] |
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Then spoke Jesus to the multitude,
and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore
whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and
do; but do not ye after their works: for they say,
and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and
grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them
with one of their fingers. But all their works
they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their
phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments, And love the uppermost rooms at
feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
And greetings in the markets, and to be called of
men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi:
for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are
brethren. And call no man your father upon the
earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Neither be ye called masters: for one is your
Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest
among you shall be your servant. And whosoever
shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that
shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23.1-12
I'd
rather see a sermon than hear one any day;
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell
the way.
Edgar
Guest |
The
task to which we are called is not the sacrifice
of any principle in which we firmly believe. It
is rather to return to Christ not a figure of
the imagination, but the Christ of the
Scriptures and to listen to His voice in
obedience, to discover afresh what is the Truth.
All unpretentious Bible study, every effort to
disseminate a true scriptural theology, and
every earnest prayer is part of the task of
promoting that unity which is truly Christian.
We must not envisage Christian Unity as
consisting of far-off and doubtful schemes, but
as something very nigh which affects us all. If
we are really to seek for Christian Unity, we
must be prepared to pay the cost. For it must be
based upon love, and love is always costly. It
will never be attained until there is "far more
humility, far more thought, far more
self-sacrifice, and far more prayer, than there
is at present." (Streeter) If we are right in
the conclusion that such disunion as has been
sinful in the history of the Church has been due
to pride, self-assertion, and contempt for God's
Word and commandment, then it follows that the
way to the unity which God wills through
humility, love of the brethren, and obedience to
the Divine Revelation. When Christians pray to
be shown where they have been wrong, proud,
complaisant, or censorious, and to be put right;
when they meet for common counsel and study of
the Word, in the spirit of obedience and
prepared to subject their individual opinions to
the guidance of the Spirit; where the strong are
willing to foster and strengthen the weak; and
where all are seeking the common good rather
than their own sectional interests: then the
pathway to unity will become plain, and God will
grant His blessing.
... G. T. Manley, Christian Unity [1945]
And then there are more
Articles around
the net
Some
time ago, I read an article that was so moving, so
instructive to me and was so descriptive of what I
was seeing in and of the Institution of Church---or
the institutional church: IC. I lost the
letter and the link and just came across the posting
again. Here is the article,
Church Exit
by Trish Woelk. I call it the "Church
Ornament" article. Perhaps you (as I was)
are/were deceived into thinking that the more you
*did* and the more you *served* demonstrated a
better walk, a more spiritual life---and now you
know or are coming to know the truth and it is this:
It's not what you do, it's who you are in JESUS---and the
ornaments are not who you are and don't make you
anything at all!
NOTE! The following articles
used to be on the Patriarch's website.
This is apparently no longer the same...
I will attempt to locate these very good
articles and post them here. For
the time being, I will leave these
titles---however, they are *dead* links.
The
Family Based Church; A
Call to Rebuild God's Temple;
Setting the Church Free;
The
Meeting of the Church
Here's a letter we received from a brother in Christ... gives you an
idea of fellowship.
He gave me permission to share it.
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD while I
live; I will sing praises to my God
while I have my being. Do not trust in princes,
In mortal man, in whom there is
no salvation.
(There is salvation in no one
else; for there is no other name
under heaven that has been given
among men by which we must be
saved - Acts 4:12)
His spirit departs, he returns
to the earth; In that very day his thoughts
perish. How blessed is he whose help is
the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his
God, Who made heaven and earth,
The sea and all that is in them;
(For by Him all things were
created, both in the heavens and
on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities--all
things have been created through
Him and for Him. - Col 1:16)
Who keeps faith forever; (If
we are faithless, He remains
faithful, for He cannot deny
Himself. - 2Ti 2:13) Who executes justice for the
oppressed;
(You know of Jesus of Nazareth,
how God anointed Him with the
Holy Spirit and with power, and
how He went about doing good and
healing all who were oppressed
by the devil, for God was with
Him. - Act 10:38)
Who gives food to the hungry.
(Ordering the people to sit down
on the grass, He took the five
loaves and the two fish, and
looking up toward heaven, He
blessed the food, and breaking
the loaves He gave them to the
disciples, and the disciples
gave them to the crowds, and
they all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up what was left
over of the broken pieces,
twelve full baskets. There were
about five thousand men who ate,
besides women and children. -
Mat 14:19-21)
The LORD sets the prisoners
free.
(But during the night an angel
of the Lord opened the gates of
the prison, and taking them out
he said, "Go, stand and speak to
the people in the temple the
whole message of this Life." Act
5:19-20)
The LORD opens the eyes of the
blind;
(He then answered, "Whether He
is a sinner, I do not know; one
thing I do know, that though I
was blind, now I see." - John
9:25)
The LORD raises up those who are
bowed down;
(But Peter said, "I do not
possess silver and gold, but
what I do have I give to you: In
the name of Jesus Christ the
Nazarene--walk!" And seizing him
by the right hand, he raised him
up; and immediately his feet and
his ankles were strengthened. -
Act 3:6-7)
The LORD loves the righteous;
The LORD protects the strangers;
("Then the King will say to
those on His right, 'Come, you
who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the
world. For I was hungry, and you
gave Me something to eat; I was
thirsty, and you gave Me
something to drink; I was a
stranger, and you invited Me in;
naked, and you clothed Me; I was
sick, and you visited Me; I was
in prison, and you came to Me.'"
Mat 25:34-36)
He supports the fatherless and
the widow,
(Pure and undefiled religion in
the sight of our God and Father
is this: to visit orphans and
widows in their distress, and to
keep oneself unstained by the
world. - Jam 1:27)
But He thwarts the way of the
wicked. The LORD will reign forever,
Your God, O Zion, to all
generations. Praise the LORD! -
Psalm 146
I just couldn't wait to
share this. God just really
drove the point home to me
tonight. Everything He said
He would do, Jesus did and
is doing! Abide in
Him! I love you
all, SeanK
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