House2House MAG - Issue - 6

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Upcoming Events
HOUSE2HOUSE CONFERENCES
ONTARIO HOUSE CHURCH CONFERENCE Tony and Felicity Dale will be conducting a two-day, interactive seminar on house church planting April 12th and 13th, 2002 in Ontario, Canada. For More Information Contact: Phone: (519) 766-8463 (office of Guelph Vineyard Fellowship) Fax: (519) 766-9666 ROBERT FITTS ON HOME BIBLE COLLEGES IN MICHIGAN Robert will be conducting a one-day training conference on Home Bible Colleges and Healing Rooms at Church of Our Saviour, Negaunee, MI beginning at 9 A.M. EST on May 4, 2002. For More Information Contact: Chuck Tooman, P.O. Box 467, 44 Snowfield Rd, Negaunee, MI 49866. Tel. (0) 906-475-5515, (H) 906-228-3788. Fax 906-475-6122, or ctoo467@aol.com. HEARING PROPHETICALLY, ACTING APOSTOLICALLY - CHRIS DAZA (The Importance of the Prophetic in Rapid Church Planting) April 4th- 6th, 2002 - Location T.B.A. (D/FW or Denver likely) Chris Daza, part of Wolfgang Simsons apostolic team, from Switzerland/Germany will be teaching on the importance of the prophetic in rapid church planting. For More Information Contact: House2House Magazine (512) 282-2322 or visit us online at www.house2house.tv
PRESENT TESTIMONY MINISTRIES CONFERENCES

CHURCH LIFE CONFERENCE - FRANK VIOLA March 26th-30th, 2002-Ireland (in the Drogheda Co Louth area) For More Information Contact: Frank Viola by e-mail: FViola3891@aol.com
DOVE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCES

SPIRITUAL FATHERING & MOTHERING SEMINARS - LARRY KREIDER (DCFI) March 22nd & 23rd-West Milford, NJ April 12th & 13th-Williston, VT April 26th & 27th-Richmond, VA May 3rd & 4th-Bristol, IN CALLED TOGETHER SEMINAR - STEVE PROKOPCHAK (DCFI) July 12th & 13th, 2002 - Manheim SMALL GROUP LEADERS COUNSELING BASICS - STEVE PROKOPCHAK (DCFI) May 3rd & 4th, 2002 - Columbus (Hilliard), OH TRAINING FOR ELDERS IN THE LOCAL CHURCH - LARRY KREIDER, RON MYER, & BRIAN SAUDER (DCFI) March 1st & 2nd, 2002 - Lititz, PA FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DCFI CONFERENCES CONTACT: DOVE Christian Fellowship International Phone: (800) 848-5892, e-mail: dcfi@dcfi.org, website: www.dcfi.org
Visit www.house2house.tv for the latest details H2H does not specically endorse or recommend the conferences listed above. These listings are provided as a service to our readers.
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COVER STORY
Where In The World Is The Church?

Tony Dale brings a vivid reminder to bring church with you, wherever you go!
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FINANCING THE WORK 17 True Apostles Neil Cole examines who should be paid in a church planting movement. Financing Ministry The harvest is ripe, the time is now! John White discusses the Christians responsibility to fund church planters. To Tithe or Not to Tithe, That is the Question Jonathan and Tony Dale go head-tohead on the tithing debate. CHURCH PLANTING MOVEMENTS 11 House Churches Planted by Radio The surprising effect of Christian Radio in the Middle East A House Church is Planted A couple from Madras, South India shares a story of the beginning of a house church The Role of the Prophetic Read about the effect of the prophetic and apostolic in Uganda Risk of Evangelism Mike McNichols attempts to take Christian faith out of the box An Excerpt from House Church Networks by Larry Kreider A glimpse at what house churches are doing in China, and a look at the practicality of house churches Report from Robert Fitts Robert Fitts tells about the development of his 4H Vision 5 Editorial: Jesus Commands Us to Go Tony Dale encourages us to become more active in bringing others to Christ. Letters to the Editor Book Review Revolution in World Missions by K. P. Yohannan Report on Denver Conference Werent able to attend this November 2001 Conference? Heres the recap! Sheepcomics.com A delightful, amusing, thought-provoking look at church experiences. Postcard from the Edge Starting house churches in Guyaquil: take a look at what God is doing in Ecuador Lucas On Life - Angry from Chichester Jeff Lucas rants about the crime of painting Jesus in boring colors
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MISSIONS 12 The Great Commission Victor Choudhrie spurs us on to get out of our comfort zones and start making disciples! Church Organization and Incorporation Dr. John Reinhold examines an availbable framework to provide tax/ legal structures for house church? Missionary Church Planting Joe Boyd reminds us that God is a missionary God
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DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 1 4 Upcoming Events How to Reach Us
Copyright 2002, by House2House Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved. House2House is issued 6 times a year on a donation basis by House2House Ministries, 1019 Meredith, Austin, TX 78748, USA.
Printed in the USA
HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
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HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE ISSUE 6 Mission Statement: We are pursuing the rapid advancement of the kingdom of God by saturating and transforming communities with radical, home-based, church planting movements. Editor Tony Dale Editorial Assistant Holly Urbach Office Manager Sandra Hatley Staff Photographer Michelle Reed Editorial Board: Felicity Dale Tony Dale Jim Mellon David Underwood Advisory Board: Derek Brown Kings Churches, U.K. Frank Viola Present Testimony Ministry John Reinhold Christian Care Medi-Share Jim Rutz Open Church Ministries Andrew Jones Boaz Project, N.Z. Mike Steele Dawn Ministries John White House Church Coach Nate Krupp Author Robert Fitts ABC Bible Schools Lynn Reddick Open Church Ministries Linda Reddick Open Church Ministries Jeff Lucas Evangelical Alliance, U.K. Wolfgang Simson Kingdom Ministries, Switzerland The views and opinions expressed by contributing authors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of this magazine or our board members.
HOW TO REACH US
H2H SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION/PROBLEMS/ADDRESS CHANGES H2H Subscription Services 1019 Meredith Drive, Austin, TX 78748 USA Website: www.house2house.tv Email: subscriptions@house2house.tv Phone: (512) 282-2322 Fax: (512) 292-5700 EDITORIAL INQUIRIES AND PERMISSIONS If you have an article to submit, an idea or a suggestion, or you would like permission to reprint an article, please visit us online at www.house2house.tv or contact: Sandra Hatley Editorial Assistant E-mail: shatley@house2house.tv Phone: (512) 282-2322 x111 Fax: (512) 292-5700 Reprint Permissions: If you are making copies for friends or church, you have blanket permission to make up to 100 copies. Please include the phrase Copied from House2House Magazineused by permission. For any other use, please request permission. Every attempt will be made to grant requests, but we need to protect the rights of our authors. NEED BACK ISSUES OF HOUSE2HOUSE OR A BULK ORDER FOR YOUR CONFERENCE OR OTHER EVENT? Visit us online at www.house2house.tv or Call (512) 282-2322 to get free copies GRAPHICS INQUIRIES If you have questions about artwork, graphics, or would like to send samples of your art or photography, please visit us online at www.house2house.tv or contact: Sandra Hatley E-mail: shatley@house2house.tv Phone: (512) 282-2322 x111 Fax: (512) 292-5700 ADVERTISING If you would like information about advertising in H2H or have questions or concerns about our advertisements, contact: Jonathan Dale E-mail: jdale@house2house.tv Phone: (512) 282-2322 x104 Fax: (512) 292-5700 INTERESTED IN HAVING A CONFERENCE IN YOUR AREA? H2H will try to direct you to teams of people around the country who are available to help those in your area catch a vision for what God is doing through house churches. Contact: Sandra Hatley E-mail: shatley@house2house.tvPhone: (512) 282-2322 x111 Fax: (512) 292-5700
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FROM THE EDITOR
Jesus Commands Us to Go
Jesus commands us to go, It should be the exception if we stay. Its no wonder were moving so slow, When Gods children refuse to obey, Feeling so called to stay. From the song by Keith Green, Jesus Commands Us to Go After seeing the pictures of the terrible floods in Mozambique in February 2000, and knowing the desperate needs of the villagers from our friendship with Rolland and Heidi Baker, I decided I had to go and see if I could help. One month later, sleep-depleted and bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes, I returned with a conviction that I must find a way to encourage other medical people to go out to serve the Lord and the people of Mozambique. So I produced a simple video from the footage that I had taken. It was while listening to music to provide a soundtrack for the video that I came across these startling words of the Keith Green song written above. I was brought up as the child of missionaries. All of my life I had heard stories about how people were called by the Lord to various parts of the world. The usual story was along the lines of, I told the Lord I would go anywhere but China. Here I was in Taiwan (Republic of China) listening to them, and thinking, I guess I should never tell the Lord that I wont go to a particular place, or else I will probably end up there! Generations of Christians have been challenged to respond to the call. But are they listening in vain? Why should we be listening for something that the Lord has already made plain in His word? Do I need a call to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? So how should this work out in the daily life of the American believer and the American house churches? Would the answer not come back to our priorities? I have heard it said that you could make a pretty good judgment of a person by watching where they spend their money. I feel that the same can be said of house churches in this country. We do not, within the various house church movements, have much need for finances internally. Most of the house churches are needing neither to support a building nor full time staff. Maybe within some of the larger networks of home churches that are emerging in some cities and regions, there will be a need to support various Ephesians 4 ministries that God is raising up. A number of articles in this issue explore this area and will help all of us to come to more clearly Biblical standards. But what of the vast majority of situations? Do we really need to see most giving within house church circles being spent on ourselves? Do we need to put such a focus on taking care of the needs of the saints that we end up neglecting the poor and the lost? If our priorities became more like the priorities of the Lordto bring good news to the poor, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to visit those who are in prison, to take care of widows and orphansperhaps then we would begin to see our world, our sphere of influence touched. We should have the passion of Paul, as expressed in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, For Christs love compels us . . . [so] that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. It is this passion which drives the Victor Choudhries of this world (see his article, Great Commission - India Style) to lay down their position, prestige, and money so as to reach their world for Christ. It is this willingness to die to self that allows a John Mulinde (see Part 1 of Wolfgang Simsons Uganda Story in this issue) to believe that his nation can be reached for the Lord. The cry of John Knox, the great Presbyterian reformer, comes to us again through the ages, Give me Scotland or I die. Amy Carmichael, a wonderful missionary of a by-gone era, wrote an incredible story of Christians making daisy-chains on the edge of a beautiful meadow that overlooked the ocean, while the lost were walking in blindness right over the cliff. We didnt even hear their cries as they fell over the edge! Today, so many Christians are more concerned about the boat, the weekend house (for which they miss 2 out of 4 weekends with their Christian brothers and sisters), cozy fellowship with Christian friends, Monday night football, coaching the Little League team, and a myriad of other good things, that there is neither time nor money left for the vital things. As a famous tract of another era said, Others may, you cannot. Not if youre serious about reaching your world!
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I loved the whole issue. This magazine has been a Godsend and a great encouragement to us. It is so refreshing to read articles that make sense and that ring true in your spirit. - Val Schuetze
THIS IS AWESOME Dear Editor, Things here are very intense. Our houses are filled every night. We are deciding how to break and multiply soon. We are equipping leaders with our vision and how to facilitate 2:42 groups. Sunday night, before celebration, a guy approached me asking for prayer for a financial need, along with other life situations which have been difficult for him. Rather than pray for him, we took an offering right there in the lobby of the church. People threw money into a little basket as God led each one. One man needed $150 to pay rent. Well, I dont believe in just meeting needs for people. We need to bless people abundantly more than they could ever imaginethis is the heart of God. We handed him over $300, and he wept the rest of the night as we worshipped. People are really catching on to giving as God leads. Well, many more are catching the vision in our city, though many others are confused and dont understand. We are taking ground by the grace of Jesus Christ, and its really exciting. Nathan Edwardson Redding, CA 6 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 WE ARE NOT ALONE Dear Editor, House2House magazine has been a huge blessing to us! When the Lord was dealing with Mike and I to start a house church, we had absolutely no idea there was even one out there (silly us!) until we mentioned what was on our heart to a friend, and she gave me a copy of the magazine that she just happened to get with some home schooling supplies. When I read it, I was floored on how the Lord had spoken the same thing to so many people without any of us knowing about the others!! We have planted our first house church and pray God will bless the work and multiply it. As far as I know, we are the ONLY house church in our area. If we woke up and discovered that we were part of something so big, while thinking there was no one else, there may be many still out there thinking they are alone as well. Nettie Cross Yorktown, VA INSTITUTIONALIZED HOUSE CHURCH? Dear Editor, Some of us have worked too hard at home church. We have worked at it as if it were a business and analyzed every aspect of it. Really, we have not moved too far from the institutional church. Weve just removed the building and the pastor, replaced the board with elders and wondered, Is this all there is to church? If youre feeling this way, then church is still an organization and not an organism, though we try to deny it. Heres a little reality check. What would be left of your home church if you took away your service time? Would the body continue to function? If these fall by the wayside because Sunday morning (or Saturday night) is taken away, then you still have an organization. However, if some or all continue, then you definitely have an organism growing. If you want to grow an organism, look for the signs of life, and cultivate them. Home church wont be far behind. John Mathison Lockport, NY
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

EVERYDAY GIFTS Dear Editor, Sometime back, the Lord had me look again at Eph. 4:8He gave gifts unto menand I realized that is only a partial thought. The completed thought is found where that quote came from, Ps. 68:18: And he received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Why give the gifts? That the Lord God might dwell among them! We have been brainwashed to think the gifts are for the inside of the four walls of a church building, when in fact the gifts are to be demonstrated among the rebellious: in the workplace and the marketplace. At that time the Lord told me to look at Acts 18:1-3, to look at Paula tent maker setting up shop in Corintha businessman! He would likely have made tents for the Isthmian games held every 2 years there, doing part advertising, part manufacturing, and part marketing. And then the Lord spoke to me: The gift of apostle in the church is called entrepreneur in the world. Anonymous Received by email NO LEADERSHIP: NO DISCIPLES Dear Editor, First, let me thank you for your wonderful magazine on house churches. Although the majority of articles I have wholeheartedly enjoyed, there have been a few that have really bothered me (not just because I cant take another perspective, but because I believe the views expressed are destructive to the furtherance of church planting and the church in general). I am speaking of the articles that seem to downplay the importance of leadership and church government in church planting. I have witnessed firsthand and have been involved in socalled house churches with no leadership, no government, no vision, and no responsibility. This all equals no DISCIPLES. Our commission is to make disciples, not just plant churches (although I believe healthy house churches make disciples). House churches are not just about fellowship and food. Please dont needlessly undermine the credibility of the house church movement by running one-sided articles that are full of holes (such as the one entitled The Dramatic Lack of Attention Given to Leadership in the New Testament by Frank Viola). Ephesians 4:11 and following tells us God-given leaders are to help the children grow up and no longer be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. God gave these gifts to the body and the house churches are full of these people. How will they ever be released to function if they are despised and considered useless? Jon Palmer Rockwall, TX DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES Dear Editor, I loved the whole issue. This magazine has been a Godsend and a great encouragement to us. It is so refreshing to read articles that make sense and that ring true in your spirit. I loved it that you left room for different perspectives so it didnt seem like there was only ONE locked-in way to lead. Thanks for a great magazine! Val Schuetze Received by email Dear Editor, Starting a home church has been on our hearts and minds for about a year but we didnt know how to get started. Then the card came in the home school packet and we visited your website and subscribed to your magazine. We cant wait to get the magazines! Debbie Hamilton Mesquite, TX Some of our more mature readers may remember a series of letters from a senior demon called Screwtape to his nephew, Wormwood, instructing him on how to render Christians ineffective. House2House has recently acquired possession of letters supposedly written by another demon named C. D. Screw, instructing his subordinate, Dryrot, on some of these principles. We will publish them from time to time, as they become relevant. (With apologies to C. S. Lewis) Dear Dryrot, You need to be on the lookout. You are letting some things slip through the cracks. I am getting reports that some of those Christians that meet in small groups have stopped gazing at their navels and have actually started reaching out. This must be stopped at all costs! There could be nothing more devastating to our cause than Christians realizing that their most important work in this world is freeing those people we hold in captivity! Remind them of the importance of everyone in the small group being problem-free before they bring others in. If you can keep them inward-looking the battle is nearly won. If that does not work, make sure that all they try and do is attract Christians who are perfectly happy in their own churches. They can call it growing greener grass if they like! As long as our Enemys kingdom does not expand, we do not have too much to worry about. I know I can rely on you. C. D. Screw
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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE CHURCH?

by Tony Dale
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We evangelicals pride ourselves on our scriptural foundations and sound theology, but time and again we have missed the essence of what the Bible teaches about the most fundamental things. Nowhere in The Book do we find parachurch, which means beside church or, in the minds of some, not really church. If para-church describes anything, it is the work of the Holy Spirit, who comes alongside the church! The phrase has been conjured up to keep at bay those who seem to threaten what possessive and sometimes hierarchical church leaders have come to regard as their domain. In Gods eyes theres one church; para-church really is church too! John Noble, British Pioneer Leader, writing in his new book, The Shaking, to be published in the UK in February of 2002.
Cathy, who is sitting over on the other side of the room, is a teacher of 4th graders. I wonder if that training is transferable to the church context? Mike is an attorney, dealing with major corporations who are bankrupt. Could any of his legal experience be used in church life? Jim is a businessman who owned a chain of retail optical stores. Im sure there is nothing in his background that would be of much use in the Kingdom of God. NOT! Im a doctor. Does this mean that the only thing that God can use me for is the practice of medicine? Tell that to Luke! By concentrating power and authority into the hands of a special or professional class, usually called clergy, the church has marginalized and thereby rendered ineffective most of its members. How well I remember the frustration of being an experienced professional, leading teams of people in my medical practice, and competent to set up conferences for physicians from all over the country, but apparently not competent enough to teach a Sunday school class at the church. Something is wrong with this picture. It is interesting, quoting again from John Nobles book, The Shaking, that by rising up and endorsing His apostolic team as church, Jesus set a precedent for all time, which we have ignored throughout history to our cost. We have marginalized the God-given missionary or growth forces within the church and labeled them para-church. Much of the real impetus for church growth and maturation has come through the so-called para-church organizations, because we tend to force the apostolic and prophetic types out of our churches that prefer a pastor dominated form of leadership. The result is vision-depleted churches, tending to the needs of their members, rather than Spiritinspired assemblies, reaching out to deal with the needs of the world. The reality is that much of the need of the world can be more effectively dealt with outside of the confines of church, rather than within the walls (or homes) of much of what currently passes as church. John and Marion are family doctors in Plymouth. As they listened to the Holy Spirits prompting, they realized that many elderly patients, among others, were coming out of the hospital to a lonely
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and often unwelcoming environment. A person might be well enough to leave the hospital, but on his or her own, still be unable to go shopping or do the laundry. So, they began arranging for volunteers from their church to take patients home from hospital admissions, and to assess what further help the person might need now that they were out of the hospital. From doing some shopping to picking up the convalescing for church meetings, these volunteers became the church beyond the walls. Over a period of time, the local social services began using John and Marions volunteers from a wide array of hospitals to help with most of the discharged patients in that district. This is church in the marketplace. Another medical friend of ours decided to keep track of all of the patients that he spoke to about the Lord for the first time over the course of a year. At the end of the year, this is what he found: just over 50 patients had actually given their lives to the Lord the first time that he spoke to them about Jesus in his medical office. Another 50 had given their lives to the Lord on a second or subsequent visit during the year of this study. An additional 50 had been spoken to about the Lord, but had not yet responded to the message. Over a hundred lives had been meaningfully and radically touched by God in his office that year. This is church at work. I had a friend named Pam, a skilled nurse, who was also a natural evangelist. She came to my medical practice to stand in for another member of staff who needed to be on an extended maternity leave. There was a six-week period while Pam was working with me that we saw at least a patient a day give their lives to the Lord.
Every day! This is church in the medical practice. It is not that God just wants to raise up church in any and every place where He sends His people. He also wants to raise up apostolic and prophetic leadership to demonstrate His divine love and power to a world that
is waiting to see Gods Word become flesh. Victor Choudhrie is such an apostolic figure. This highly successful and acclaimed cancer surgeon was also the Dean of one of the best-known medical schools in India when God told him to leave medicine and start planting churches. With no theological background and no church planting experience, he was forced into the only textbook he knew on the sub-
ject, namely, the book of Acts. Now, 8 years later, there are 3,000 churches and 100,000 people who are a part of those churches that were started through Victors obedience to the Holy Spirit. This is apostolic work, the ascended Christ building his church. Patrick Dixon was a chest physician who found himself caught up in the growing AIDS crisis that hit Britain in the mid 80s. Caring passionately about the patients and about the public health aspects of this emerging crisis, Patrick applied himself to his patients humanitarian needs and to Britains apparent blindness to the seriousness of the AIDS problem. Out of this concern grew the largest of the British AIDS charities. But this was not to be the end of Patricks story. Having seen what happens when one is open to pointing the way to the future, Patrick has developed into one of the best-known lecturers and forecasters of business and economic trends in Britain. He finds himself widely in demand to speak to major corporations across the world to help them understand the times in which we live. This is prophetic work, Christ speaking into the marketplace. In our own limited way, Felicity and I have seen the power of Christ in the marketplace of business. Unable to practice medicine in America because our British licensing is not accepted over here, we moved into business. A few years ago we started an evangelistic Bible study with some of our business colleagues. We invited 12 friends to join us for a weekly study in the book of Proverbs so we could explore together what the wisest man who ever lived had to say about wealth and finance. Over the course of the next HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 9
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year all 12 came to Christ. This is church. This is the risen Christ reaching into peoples lives, where they are, and meeting them at their place of need. If you are looking for the apostolic and prophetic people in church, you may be looking in the wrong place. Many, marginalized by their churches, are nevertheless reaching out in ways that only the Holy Spirit could have initiated and are demonstrating how to bring church to the people, rather than people to church. Jesus never told us to go and get the people to come. He told us to come to Him so that He could send us out. As Keith Green so eloquently put it in one of his songs, Jesus commands us to go; it takes a call to stay. The businessman is as called as the evangelist, the university professor as called as the pastor. And whats more, the businessman and the professor can probably support themselves in the process. It is an entirely Greek philosophy, which gives rise to the impression that somehow it is more spiritual to be pastoring than to be creating profits. For example, in our own situation over the past year, we could provide not only work for a number of people, but also the finances for mission trips for ourselves over a 3-month period, and for the training programs of over 100 church planters in other countries. The nature of the apostolic is to be entrepreneurial. Paul wanted to labor where no one else had gone before. He was not looking to build on another mans foundation or to be supported by another persons labor. For him it was a matter of pride that he could 10 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
find a way to bring the gospel to people without charge. Many in the business community are an incredible example of what the Romans 12 ministry of giving is all
about. Rich Devos, the owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team, not only models how to maturely manage and give away millions of dollars to inner city missions, but also has devoted his time and talents as Chairman of the Board of Gospel Films, helping it reach millions for Christ through film. Bill Britt is a wellknown distributor/leader within the net-
work marketing world. He wisely teaches why it is probably best never to give more than 10% of any single ministrys budget through your own personal giving, so as not to cause that ministry to place its dependence on you. He also follows it up with a powerful teaching ministry to his huge network of distributors to make sure that they know the only way they can be truly successful is to have Jesus as the center of their lives and businesses. Through his marketing network, hundreds of thousands have come to Christ. This too is church. Time and space does not permit us to look at the huge number of other examples of the entrepreneurs who are extending the Kingdom of God. Full Gospel Businessmens Fellowship International (FGBMFI) never viewed itself as anything more than a para-church organization. But its chapters in cities across the world are actually more church for many people who attend them, than the actual churches that they go to on Sundays. A campus group may not be comfortable calling itself church, because it may be viewed as competing with the real churches off campus. But does that make it any less church in the Biblical sense? Christ is calling the church to get out of the walls and into the world. It is when He is lifted up in the marketplace that the people will see Him and be drawn unto Him. This article is available as an attractive booklet for you to give to friends and business associates. Please call (512) 282-2322 or visit our online store at www.house2house.tv.
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CHURCH PL ANTING MOVEMENTS
House Churches Planted by Radio

H2H recently received an email from one of our readers, who shared the following information about the effect that Christian radio is having in the Middle East.
ver 500 new churches have been planted through radio. Experts estimate that the Arabic-speaking nations in the Middle East, with a total of 280 million inhabitants, have a total of 1,500 evangelical churches. That is in strong contrast to Switzerland, with its 1,200 evangelical churches for 8 million inhabitants, or Houston, Texas, with 3,000 churches for 4 million inhabitants. The number of evangelical churches in the Middle East remained approximately constant for a long time, because various factors made it difficult to plant new churches. In early 1997, Swedish radio mission IBRA-Radio began programming specifically for church planting: The Church without Walls and The Church in My House. This programming is very different from traditional evangelistic radio programs, because it is targeted not only at single listeners, but provides instruction in planting house churches, and includes recordings of Arabic-speaking house churches. Staff at the station report dramatic developments: in the last 4 years, some 500 churches have begun, mainly house churches. The number is based on letters from listeners who report the planting of a house church. We may assume that a significant number of additional house churches have been planted, which have not announced their presence for security reasons; Christians are repressed and brutally persecuted in some nations. One member of staff estimates that there could be another 500 house churches in
addition to the known number. Statistically, this is the most significant missionary development in the Middle East in the last 5 years, says one observer. A program titled Signs and Wonders has almost as many listeners as The Church in My House. Arabicspeaking moderators explain supernatural experiences such as dreams, visions and healings through prayer to Jesus. This is a hot topic in our region. People from all over the Middle East call us, telling how they were healed through prayer in Jesus name, says a staff member. Muslim listeners often call to tell us about dreams and visions of Jesus, wanting to know what that means for them, according to one of the producers. In one North African village, the entire population meets regularly for church services. In another North African nation, only 20 Christians were known until 1996. In 1997, however, various factors initiated completely unexpected developments. We have received reports that some 200 people have turned to Jesus in the last two years, increasing the number of Christians tenfold in a very short period. Christian radio played a significant role here too. To Subscribe: Send a blank email message to prayernet-subscribe@usprayercenter.org. PrayerNet is a bi-weekly e-mail newsletter containing prayer reports, requests, and instruction from the US PRAYER CENTER. PrayerNet, designed and edited by Alice Smith, is offered free of charge. Circulate it freely. Copyright 2001, U.S. PRAYER CENTER HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 11
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This article, taken from a talk given in India by Victor Choudhrie, gives some idea why the church there is growing at such an incredible rate. Too often, for us in the West, the Great Commission has become the great omission. We need to be willing to get out of our comfort zones and apply these principles!
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his is a special period of apostolic grace for India. Everything we call church is changing. The church is changing from pastoral ministries to apostolic and prophetic ministries. The church is changing from Sunday services to everyday worship. The church is changing from one-man shows to an every-person royal priesthood. God said, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh, on men and women, young and old, everyone (Acts 2:17-18). Hallelujah! Big changes are taking place. Church is changing from a single worship building to every house being a house of God. Church is changing from congregation models to house church models, from large congregations to where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am present there. Church is changing from a traditional worship pattern to an open system. In I Corinthians 14:26, the original Greek rendering everyone comes three times. Everyone participates. It is a participating church. Church is changing. Why? Because God is pouring out His Spirit, so the church has to be ready for change. When the Israelites were in the wilderness for forty years, they had a tabernacle that was the meeting place between God and the people. The people knew when God was present because of the cloud. Every now and then the cloud would move, and the people would know God had moved. If they stayed in that place with their tabernacle, God would no longer be there. So as soon as they saw the cloud moving, they were ready to move. We have to go where God takes us. Right now, God is moving very fast, and if we dont move with God, well be left behind. We have to learn to identify when God is moving, and then we have to follow. I know two fellows working in a small town. God told them to move inside the temple complex, so they rented a small room there, and every day they go around the temple prayer-walking. Everybody thinks they are Hindus. Last time we spoke, they told me they had baptized six Hindus right there inside the temple! You go where the Lord tells you. If He tells 14 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
you to go to a Hindu temple, you go there. The luxury of just going to church on Sundays is over, because Jesus never said, Go to church on Sundays. Lets look at the Great Commission. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, I will build my church, and then He gave the Great Commission later in 28:18-19. All power
in heaven and earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded. You must know the Great Commission! Jesus is saying, Go! Go and make disciples of all nations. Going is very important. God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12:1, Abram, lets go! He had to go 1,000 km away from where he was living. Abraham said, Thats too far away for me, and anyhow, its all desert. God said, If you come with Me, I will bless you so much, Abraham, that you will be a blessing to many nations. But the first condition is, Lets
go! Ive got my family, my friends and all these animals; how will I go? He sounds like a good Christian. I asked one pastor how things were going. He replied, Very bad! Everybody comes to me and says, We must go preaching, but we are not willing to walk. You get us some vehicles. So I ask how many people are willing to go. They ask those who are willing to go to raise their hands, and they say, Twenty-five people will go on Wednesday at 5 oclock. So the pastor gets two vans, and it is 5 oclock on Wednesday and nobody has come. By 5:30 only three people have come. At 6 oclock, five people have come and they say, We must go and find out what happened to the other people. All of the five leave, and at 7 oclock there are only three people. Two vans, three people, and one of them is the driver! Sound familiar? God is saying, Abraham, are you willing to go? Well do business. If you dont go, the whole matter is finished. Jesus came to go. In Luke 4:43 He said, This is why I have come, to go. In Mark 1:38, He states, This is what I have been sent for. I have been sent to go. That is what Jesus is saying. This is not once-a-month evangelism. If you want to be His disciple, every day, every day you must go. If you are willing to go, God is willing to do business with you. If you are not willing to go, it is finished. You will not go where you want to go; you will go where God goes. You will go where the cloud goes. You will not go as a Christian family and sit there and have some nice tea and crumpets. You will go, and God will take you. Our God is a going God. Secondly, He says, Go and make disciples of all nations. When you go and preach, dont come back after preaching. If you go and just preach, it is incomplete. If you go and just distribute literature, it is incomplete. If you go and have a nice meeting in a village and then come back, it is incomplete. Jesus said to make disciples. Who do you disciple? All nations! You disciple all nations! How many nations in the world? How will you know when you have finished discipling them if you dont know how many there are? There are at least 25,000 people
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groups in the world, and the number is growing every day. Jesus said, I will build My church. You will disciple, I will build my church. You see the problem now? We are building the church, and we are not making disciples. Jesus is building His church, and we should be making disciples. Jesus never said, Go and save souls. Yes, He is interested in saving souls, but the command that He gave is to go and make disciples of all nations. What does it mean to disciple a whole nation? When leaders disciple people from their own community, who then disciple others from their community, we say a nation is being reached. When a tribal group is discipling their own people and have started a church planting movement among them, we say a nation is reached. Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all nations, and I will build my church. What is the third thing? Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Whom do you baptize? The disciples? You baptize nations. You make disciples of nations and baptize whole nations. God has a big vision. God is great, and then we make Him small by having a small vision. So now when you have discipled a nation, and you have baptized a nation, you come to the fourth thing. You teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded. You have to get them ready for ministry. In Ephesians 4:12, Jesus says you have to equip the saints. He has given the five-fold ministries of apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists to the church. These gifted people will equip the church, and they equip them for different kinds of ministry. They release the five-fold ministries, but also others, such as ministries of helps and social ministries. God is not just interested in saving souls. He wants the whole creation to be saved, the whole world to be redeemed. It is not just spiritual transformation. Nations will be transformed. There should be no poor people; everyone should have a good
place to live. Nobody should be sick. For example, statistically, the more Christians there are in a district, the higher the literacy rate. The whole of creation has to change and become beautiful like the Garden of Eden. When the kingdom of God comes to an area through various ministries, it becomes a beautiful place to liveheaven on earth. If you make people obedient, the land will be healed. II Chronicles 7:14 says, If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, I will heal their land. So we know that is what God wants to do. If we are obedient
to God, God will heal this nation. If our country will change from being an idolworshipping country and start worshipping the one true living God, God will heal and bless this nation. Poverty will disappear. Exploitation will disappear, and well live in peace and harmony. The final part is, As the Father sent me, so send I you (John 17:18). So the fifth function is to send people. What does the church need to do? Go and preach the gospel to every nation. In Mark 16:15 it says, Go and preach the gospel to every creature. So, you go and preach. If you preach the gospel to one hundred people, maybe ten will return and want to know more about Jesus. They become seekers. So, these ten people you disciple. Then out of these ten, two or three will say, Yes, we are willing to be baptized. From these your church starts, because Jesus says, Where two or
three are gathered in My name, there I am. Then you equip this church. When this church is equipped, it is the bride of Christ. When a little girl is born, she has all the potential to become a bride one day. And when she is ready, you send her out. You dont keep the girl forever in your home. The same is true with the church. When they are ready, you send them out. Only then is it a mature church. A mature church prepares and then sends people out. You dont make people sit there for two, five, or ten years. If it takes you that long, you are a bad teacher. Everyone in the congregation has to be turned into a teacher. Heb 5:12 says By now you should be teachers. If people are sitting in your church week after week, month after month, year after year, then they have not become teachers; they are milk-drinking babies. Next time you go to church, you watch. The pastor will go up to the pulpit, and then everyone will sit in front of him looking at him. Their mouths are open, and he is feeding them with the bottle. After they have been fed, they get hungry again, and the next week the pastor will feed them again. So it goes on, week after week, and they permanently remain milk-drinking babies! The church has to change from being a come church to being a go church. How do you know the difference? After the nice praise and worship service and the Bible passage and a very sleepy sermon by the pastor, he will make the announcements. Listen very carefully, because it will tell you the difference between a come church and a go church. He will say, Monday, brothers meeting; come. Tuesday, sisters meeting; come. Wednesday, youth meeting; come. Sunday, of course you must come, and bring your offerings also. Thats a come church. Its not Jesus church. Jesus says, Go and make disciples of all nations. Jesus says, Go. You make disciples. I will build My church, and it will be My church because it will be a go church. HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 15
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eaching the whole world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been the ultimate goal of the church ever since the resurrection and ascension of our Lord. However, after nearly 2,000 years, approximately half the population of the world remains unreached with the Gospel, the majority in Asian countries that have closed their doors to traditional mission activity. How, then, will these people hear the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ? K.P. Yohannan answers that question in his book Revolution in World Missions. Woven throughout the book is his own personal story of how God brought him from a remote Indian village to become the founder of an international mission organization. He shares with the reader his passion and vision to reach the unreached through native missionaries. Yohannan is convinced that a new era, a revolution in mission strategy, is needed in order to reach the lost billions of Asia. While he acknowledges that God still calls people to cross-cultural ministry, as He always has, he argues that there are numerous issuesBiblical teaching, cultural understanding, political realities, success in evangelism, and cost effectiveness that point to a shift in priority. The focus should be on sending Asian (not Western) missionaries to bring salvation to those in their own regions who are without Christ. But the book has much more to offer than another perspective on missionary work; it offers individual believers an opportunity to grow deeper in their walk with God through sharing His heart for the lost world, and by living prayerfully and sacrificially in the light of eternity. Revolution in World Missions can be ordered free of charge from Gospel for Asia at www.gfa.org; or 1-800-WIN-ASIA; or 1800 Golden Trail Court, Carrollton, TX 75007.
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SPECIAL SECTION
In This Special Section we examine who should be paid in a church planting movement. As various respected authors present different views, we encourage you to read with an open mind and then turn to the scriptures and seek the Lord to help you make your own decisions.
True Apostles Neil Cole
believe that two things have dictated much of the theology of church financing. We are heavily influenced by the Old Testament principles of supporting a centralized religious government. Frankly, I believe we draw much from the Old Testament for the very reason that we need to support a centralized religious institution. The New Testament is found lacking in that regard. This is not to say that the New Testament is lacking in content about finances. In fact, principles of financial stewardship are voluminous in the New Testament. Jesus spoke more about money than about heaven and hell, but the New Testament does away with the centralized religious institution. All of us are priests. As I have studied the New Testament, with this question in mind, I have discovered that there are only two roles where individuals are expected to make their living being supported by the church. If we could only pay two roles in the church today, which two would we choose? Senior pastors and missionaries? Pastors and worship leaders? Denominational executives and pastors? If push comes to shove, Id probably want to include a gifted secretary in the mix, but thats more reflective of my own weakness than of any understanding of the Bible. I am confident that whatever two roles we would choose, they would not be the two mentioned in the New Testament. THE ROLE OF THE APOSTLE In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul makes a case for his right to make his living from the preaching of the gospel just as the other apostles were doing. He even cites the Lord as the source of the directive (v. 14), perhaps a reference to His commissioning HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 17
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of the twelve and the seventy to take no purse with them, for a laborer is worthy of his wages (Matt. 10:9-10; Luke 10:4). Paul and Barnabas, however, gave up their right for such payment and chose rather to work to support themselves. Paul worked as a tent maker while starting the church in Corinth, at least until others arrived to help in its support, so as not to be a burden to the emerging church. The extent of this article does not allow for a full explanation of the role of an apostle (apostolos, the Greek word translated apostle means one sent on a mission as a representative or a special envoy). It is enough to note that this particular passage makes reference to proclaiming the gospel to those who have not yet been won to Christ. They are the ones who lay a foundation for the expanding church in every region and among every tribe and nation. Such a role is not limited to a single church in a given region, but is commissioned to the churching of an entire region. They are not likely to manage an existing church, but to lay the foundation for others to build upon, and then to go do it again somewhere else. This role is actually defined as having a right to make a living from the preaching of the good news (vv. 3-9). It is important to note, however, that this right can be laid aside and surrendered for the sake of the church, as Paul and Barnabas chose to do. This right should never be demanded to the detriment of the church. Have we hurt the church by making her responsible to employ her leaders like a business? I believe the answer to this question is yes, in many ways. Besides draining her of resources, perhaps the worst harm is how we have segregated the body into a professional class that does the ministry and a nonprofessional class that works hard to pay them. THE WIDOW INDEED The second role defined in the New Testament as needing full time support is what Paul calls the widow indeed in 1 Timothy 5:3-16 Paul delineates clearly what the qualifications are for this role and what the job description is. She is to be at least 60 years old, have no family to support her and to have been faithful in serving the Lord and His people. It appears as though she is to actually make a pledge to serve the Lord and not to be remarried, and for this reason younger women 18 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
are exempt from this role. Her sole job description is to continually pray, night and day. Wow! I wonder what our churches would be like if we had apostles starting churches all the time in new areas and among new peoples, and the churches were supported by full-time prayer warriors-night and day! I cant think of a better investment in kingdom resources.
would want us to get away from such a function. Hed much rather we pay a fulltime staff person to keep our youth entertained and focused while the adults have fellowship and teaching. Could it be that the enemy is more threatened by this old woman than the highly educated professional pastor?! Ouch!!! Paul makes one thing clear in this passage that he also pointed out in 1 Cor-
If you are not willing to shepard the flock without pay, then you are not qualified to do so for pa Church would actually be investing in spiritual endeavors of kingdom expansion, and we would be investing in spiritual battle with full-time prayers and intercession. In this cast-aside society where people are routinely brushed off as not being valuable because of a lack of vocation or a handicap of sorts, this principle could make a huge difference. In Gods economy there are no useless Christians who are welfare cases. I can see why Satan inthians 9 the role is not to be a burden to the church if it can be helped (v. 16). Weve grown accustomed to seeing the church as a burden to the pastor, but Paul saw things the other way around. DOUBLE HONOR TO THE PREACHERS AND TEACHERS Paul does go on to mention giving double honor to elders, and especially those who work hard at preaching and
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teaching. I am in favor of giving honor and double honor to godly elders who shepherd, mentor and teach the churches. However, I have a hard time interpreting double honor as a full-time salary and benefits. We have come up with the word honorarium based on this expression in the New Testament. When we present a speaker with a financial token of appreciation I actually think we are closer to Pauls
Testament is to release the servant to be able to fulfill a specific need in the church. I also think that the precedent is that the servant will have already been performing the service before the honor is given, rather than it becoming a condition of service in advance. WHAT ABOUT PASTORS? Should we pay pastors to shepherd the church? We have so many godly people who would be without income if we put a stop to this. So many have spent lots of money and gone deep into debt to prepare professionally to be pastors. What would become of this investment if we no longer paid pastors? The scope of this article will not allow us to satisfactorily cover this question. I will however say this: it is in the context of shepherding sheep that our Lord Himself makes a contrast between those who are true shepherds and those who are merely hirelings. If youre not willing to shepherd the flock without pay, then youre not qualified to do so for pay. If you cant lay your paycheck down for the sheep, you certainly wont lay your life down for them. In the context of organic churching, where churches are intentionally smaller, more intimate and rapidly reproducing, there is not a need to pay someone to pastor. The bar for ministry is down low enough that it is easy to shepherd 10 to 20 people without needing to be paid to do so. In such a context, the whole body is more easily mobilized to serve, and ministry is not as dependent on a single professional leader. While it is not a sin for a church to employ someone, I do think it may not be the best investment of kingdom resources. It is investing in our weaknesses and throwing more fuel on the separation of the clergy and the laity, which is a dichotomy not found in the New Testament. A huge pool of anointed, under-appreciated and, certainly, underused servants are sitting in pews every week. Perhaps its time we look at the church in a different light and start asking some critical questions. Neil Cole is an experienced church planter and pastor. He works with CMA doing church planting, and resourcing church leaders with ministry tools to reproduce disciples, ministries, leaders, and churches.
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Financing The Work

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e not qualified to do so for pay.
intent in this passage. To be fair, Paul does refer to a worker worthy of his wages which is a quote from the Old Testament and from Jesus as well; however, it is probably in reference to paying for a days hire rather than a yearly salary. We should definitely be generous in sharing all good things with those who teach us (Gal. 6:6), but the goal is always the strengthening of the church, not the sapping of her strength. I think that the principle of the New
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SPECIAL SECTION
Financing Ministry
by John White
critical element in the development of the house church movement in the United States will be a change in our financial paradigm. In traditional church, money is given by church members to pay for such things as the building, salaries for the church staff, various programs, missions, etc. The house church movement offers an opportunity to re-examine Biblical values regarding the use of money for ministry. Probably the most important single passage dealing with this topic is 1 Cor. 9:1-18. The following is a commentary on these verses with a view to discerning principles for financing ministry. This article would be best read with your Bible open to the passage under examination. (Note: Gordon Fees commentary, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, has been particularly helpful in this study.) Paul (9:1-2): You are asking if I really am an apostle. I will give you a clear answer to your question. With unexpected vigor, Paul suddenly unleashes a torrent of rhetorical questions . . . (Fee, p. 394) These questions give us a clue as to the context. Some within the Corinthian church were questioning if Paul was really an apostle. His implied answer: Of course I am! Paul (9:3-6): I have three questions that I will ask you. Your answers will prove that I am truly an apostle. In a series of cascading questions Paul plays variations on a single theme: his right to their material support . . . most likely his failure to take support has been used against him to call his apostolic authenticity into question (Fee, p. 398-399). Their reasoning may have gone something like this: Apostles are supported financially. You are not receiving financial support from us. Therefore, you are not an apostle. Paul responds by saying, in effect, Let me review for you the rights of an apostle, and ask you (rhetorically) if this doesnt apply to me. Paul lists three rights of an apostle. The word right (exousia) carries the idea of appropriate authority, that is, these are things that are considered appropriate for an apostle. 1. Dont we have the right to food and drink? (v. 4). Implied answer: Of course we do! 2. Dont we have the right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? (v. 5). Implied answer: Of course we do! (Here we have a revealing glimpse into the actual financial practice of the New Testament church towards apostles.) 3. Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living? (v. 6). The implication is that the problem for the Corinthians is not simply that he took no support from them, but that he supported himself in the demeaning fashion of working at a trade. Paul (9:7-14): In order to validate the concept of financial support for apostles beyond a shadow of a doubt, I will give you four supporting arguments. I want you to be completely convinced about this. 1. Verse 7: Arguments from everyday life. Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Implied answer: No one! And neither should apostles. Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Implied answer: No one! And neither should apostles. Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? Implied 20 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? Implied answer: No one! And neither should apostles.
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answer: No one! And neither should apostles. In everyday life one expects to be sustained by ones labors. So with the apostle. He should expect to be sustained from his produce or flock - the church owes its existence to him (Fee, p. 405). 2. Verses 8 - 12: Argument from Scripture. What Christians call the Old Testament was considered the Word of God by the Jews of the NT era, so an appeal to its words is an appeal to the authority of God Himself (Fee, p. 406). when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest; that is, they should fully expect to share in the material benefits of their labors. Paul thus applies the analogy of the threshing ox to yet another analogy from farming, both of which together make the point that he has the right to their material support (Fee, p. 408-409). 3. Verse 13: Argument from the example of the temple. Both in Jewish and pagan temples, the priests who served in making the sacrifices shared in the sacrificial food itself (Fee, p. 412). 4. Verse 14: Argument from the very words of Jesus. Paul clinches the argument by referring to the words of Jesus Himself (Lk. 10:7; Mt. 10:10). Whereas Jesus spoke this as a proverb, Paul has raised it to the level of a command: This is the way things are to be done regarding the financing of apostles. Comments on tent making. Martin Luther once remarked that the church is like a drunken horseman. Prop him up on one side, and he falls off on the other. Nowhere is this truer than with church finance. In the traditional church environment, there have been many problems with money. Perhaps the most pervasive is that the concept of salaried church staff has resulted in perpetuating the clergy/laity divide. As a result of reacting to the abuses, many in the house church movement are in danger of falling off the other side. The thinking is that if there are no fulltime workers and everyone is a tent maker,
we will be kept safe from the development of house church clergy. Tent making: the exception to New Testament practice. As we have seen in the commentary above, both Jesus and Paul taught that the laborer is worthy of his wages. This teaching was implemented by the early church through the financial support of the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas (1 Cor. 9:5). In some situations, it was necessary for the apostles to support themselves through non-ministry work (i.e., tent making). However, this practice is clearly the exception and not the rule. Paul chose
this means of financial support in Corinth (Acts 18:3; 1 Cor. 9:12, 15-18) so as not to be a hindrance to that church. However, even in Corinth Paul received at least some of his support from the church - just not the church in Corinth. I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and
will continue to do so (2 Cor. 11:8-9). In Thessalonica, Paul also chose to make an exception to the normal pattern and support himself from non-ministry work. Again, the reason was because of the immaturity of the church. In this case, the Christians were lazy, and Paul realized that he needed to show them how to work. The more normal and mature church is modeled by the Philippians. Even after Paul had left town, they repeatedly sent him gifts. He points out that this is not so much to his benefit (God will supply all his needs) but for their profit (Phil. 4:15 19). Tent making: a potential hindrance to the work of the Kingdom. While there may be occasional situations where tent making is necessary because of the immaturity of a particular church, the work of the Kingdom would be greatly restricted if this became the normal practice for apostles. The Lords motivation in all of this is the harvest. The harvest is ripe! The time is now! As every farmer knows, when the harvest is ripe, every available manhour must be freed up to bring that harvest in. Those who have been chosen to be apostles (sent ones) must be released to work from sun up to sun down. The idea that the majority of the workers would work all day making tents with only an hour or two at the end of the day to harvest the grain would have been appalling to the farmer. Perhaps there will be extenuating circumstances that will require a few workers to function like this. However, reducing every apostle (church planter) to tent-making status would cripple the harvest workforce. Adopting the farmers mentality: ITS ABOUT THE HARVEST! Releasing thousands of full-time apostles (skilled and gifted house church planters) is by far the best strategy for starting a million house churches in the U.S. in this decade. This can be accomplished if millions of believers come to understand the Biblical value of funding these apostolic harvesters. This thoroughly Biblical concept must be once again understood, taught and practiced by the church. HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 21
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TITHING IS A BASIC CONCEPT OF New Testament Christianity, isnt it? Most Western Christians accept the concept of tithing to their local church as Gods chosen method of ministry and missions support. But what does the Bible have to say? The first reference to tithing in the Bible occurs when Abraham gave a tithe of the spoils of war to Melchizedek, the king of Salem (Gen 14:18-20). In Hebrews, Paul mentions this and infers that the tithe was being given to a higher authority through the priesthood of Melchizedek. Tithing as homage occurs again in Genesis 28:22 where Jacob promises to give a tenth to God when he returns home safely. Both of these tithes appear to have been given spontaneously to honor God, not as the result of a command or request from God.1 The Book of Exodus required giving firstfruits (Exodus 23:16, 19). Sometimes, firstfruits and tithing appear to be identical (Deut. 26:1-14). 2 However, in Nehemiah they are separated: And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the first fruits, and for the tithes (Neh. 12:44). In Numbers 18:19-21, the priests were awarded the tithe, as they would not be receiving any land from which to live. They then, in turn, gave a tenth of the tithe that they had received. So, what was the purpose for the tithe? In Deuteronomy 14:22-26, the Jews are instructed to bring their tithes together for a huge feast. If it was too far to bring the tithe (the food), then they could sell it, and bring the money with them and buy whatever their soul lusteth after[!]including sheep, oxen, wine or strong drink. Every third year, tithes remained in the hometown and were given to the Levite, alien, orphan, and widow (vv. 28-29). Deuteronomy says that the reason for the feast was to learn to fear the Lord thy God always (14:23). Bakers Theological Dictionary notes that Tithing indicated Israels devotion to God, but the people did not always give as they 22 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
should. Withholding tithes and offerings was regarded as robbing God, but great prosperity was promised if they would obey (Mal. 3:8-12).3 Bakers goes on to say that, When Jesus came, He focused man on the attitudes of the heart. He criticized some who went so far as to tithe tiny grains of spice not because they tithed, but because they neglected the weightier matters of the law (Matt. 23:23).4 In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee was not justified by his religious following of the law (the tithe is specifically mentioned). In stark contrast, the tax collector was justified by the confession of his sin and the sacrifice of Christ, even though he did not follow the letter of the law (Luke 18:9-14). In another passage, Jesus was not impressed by the large donations of the Pharisees, but rather by the sacrificial giving of a poor widow (Mark 12:41-44). Nowhere does the New Testament require Christians to tithe in the sense of giving ten percent, but it does teach many principles associated with Old Testament tithing. Those who minister are entitled to receive support 5 (1 Cor. 9:14). The poor and needy should be cared for (1 Cor. 16:1; Gal. 2:10). Those who give can trust God, the source of all that is given (2 Cor. 9:10), to supply their needs (2 Cor. 9:8; Phil. 4:19). Giving should be done joyously (2 Cor. 9:7).6 Jesus regarded stewardship of finances as an indication of trustworthiness with spiritual things (Luke 16:11). So, did the New Testament church give an exact tithe? Pauls language and instructions suggest that giving should be voluntary, and that there is no set percentage. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give . . . (2 Cor. 9:7). Early Christians gave directly to the need. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Juda . . . and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and
Saul (Acts 11:29). The believers set aside money each week as God prospered them in order to send it to the believers at Jerusalem, so they would not have to take up an offering when Paul was with them (1 Cor. 16:2). Paul emphasized the attitude of the heart, For God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). They also understood that they would reap in accordance with what they sowed (2 Cor. 9:6). We can choose not to give and, in effect, be robbing God. But, do we really want to risk missing out on what God wants to do through us? Giving a tenth of our increase may be a great place to start, but it is more important that we learn to respond to the direction of the Holy Spirit concerning our giving, and recognize that we are only stewards of everything we have, including our very lives (Romans 12:1-2).7 Jonathan Dale is part of the Editorial Team of House2House Magazine. Footnotes: 1-4,6. Bakers Theological Dictionary 5. A support that Paul turned down. 7. It is interesting to note that, when Samuel warned Israel against taking a king, his main argument was that the king would require a tithe of everything they had in order to support and sustain his kingdom (1 Samuel 8:15-17).
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WHICHEVER SIDE OF THE debate you find yourself supporting in the question of tithing, there is unanimous agreement that the New Testament teaches that all giving should first come out of a complete giving of ourselves. This is so beautifully expressed in 2 Cor. 8:5, Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to us for whatever directions God might give them. The questions on tithing arise out of the practicality of how we demonstrate our obedience to and love of the Lord in the matter of our finances. When I was young, my missionary parents taught me to always put one tenth of what the Lord gave me, however that money came, back into the hands of God. This would be an example of Gal 3:24 in action, Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian and teacher to lead us until Christ came. So now, through faith in Christ, we are made right with God. But note how it goes on in verse 25, But now that faith in Christ has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian. Wouldnt this make it very clear that once we come into a position of faith, we no longer need the schoolmaster, but rather, we now have the principles internalized in such a way that we can live out the practicality. So, lets look for a moment at the question of whether or not tithing is law. Tithing preceded the law by hundreds
of years. Abraham tithed of what God had given him by giving one tenth of all that he had to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a shadowy priest, mentioned in the New Testament only in the book of Hebrews, and may represent a pre-incarnate expression of Christ. Even before the law had been given, Abraham knew that he was to give a tenth of all he had to the Lord. Tithing represents our understanding that everything is the Lords, and we are just giving back to Him what He requires. It is a way God uses to keep us mindful of the fact that all we have comes from Him. Psalm 24:1 states, The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof, the world and they who dwell therein. We demonstrate our adherence to that principle when we obey Leviticus 27:30, And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lords: it is holy unto the Lord. Jesus not only appeared to adhere to the tithe, but He specifically alluded to it in a context where He made it plain to us that He expects us to maintain it also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone (emphasis mine). It is hard to ignore His plain command that we are not to leave the other undone. It is not clear if His comments only applied to the Pharisees as under the law or should be seen as a specific endorsement of the tithe. We know Paul encouraged giving, and his instructions to the early Christians to collect money in advance of his coming and on a consistent, weekly, basis shows that Paul was not averse to using a structured approach to giving. Even if one accepts that tithing is more clearly an O.T. principle, does it not stand as a good starting place for the N.T. believer? It is just a tool to bring us to the
place where we genuinely live, knowing that all we have is the Lords. It is unlikely to me that, living under the better covenant as described in Hebrews, we are going to give less to God. Many have taught, based on the passage in Malachi 3, that the tithe should be brought in to the storehouse. It is clear that the O.T. believer would bring his tithe to the temple in many cases. It is not clear that this was N.T. practice. It appears more likely that the tithes and offerings were used to support the needy and widows, to support those in traveling ministry, etc. Probably decisions on the use of the money collected were made either locally, by each home church, or by traveling ministries, such as Pauls, who let them know of major needs elsewhere. Tithing is a practical starting place for the N.T. believer. Believers through the ages have found it liberating to begin giving with a tithe in recognition that all that we have is from the Lord. It is a simple, yet profound, place of obedience and faith. For those on a very low, fixed income, tithing says, in effect, Lord, I cant survive on 100% of what I get, let alone 90%. By giving you this 10% I am saying, I trust You, Lord, to provide for me. For those who have large incomes, tithing becomes a way to check if we are holding on to our money, or if we really recognize that everything we have belongs to Him. Tony Dale is the Editor of House2House magazine. He lives with his wife, Felicity, in Austin Texas. He also owns a succesful business, which helps people without insurance who are struggling with medical bills. Let us know what you think about this issue. Visit www.house2house.tv and send us a Letter to the Editor. Maybe youll be in the next issue of House2House.
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et me narrate the planting of a house church just before Christmas 2001, here in Madras, S. India. Every year, Time Magazine selects one person and calls them Person of the Year. Jesus Christ is seeking the Person of the Daythe man or woman of peace. While sending the disciples, Jesus planned to find the man of peace of each locality to target that place for the Kingdom of God. In fact, we have the unique opportunity of locating and discovering many men or women of peace and designating such people for the day that the Lord flings them into harvest, as per His divine timing. It is December 23rd, 2001, 4:45 p.m. The climate is chilly and windy. My 13-year-old son, and I were invited by the man of peace to start a house church at his roadside abode. Mr. George, the person of the day, is 50 years old. Deserted by his wife, his business bankrupt, he is now the caretaker of the cycle/scooter stand at Anna Nagar West Bus Terminus, Madras. We like to have worship, songs, readings, and meditation on the lines of 1 Corinthians 14:26. So, George selected Psalm 24, and we had a time of sharing. Only the three of us were present on that day. We fulfilled the promise of Jesus, wherever two or three are present, Jesus promised that He is with us. We also looked into 1 Timothy 2: 1 - 3, to pray for all. George, being at the cycle/scooter stand, connects with many people every day and has the chance to implement these Biblical truths. We like to operate this house church during lunch and dinner breaks. Cafes are nearby, and we can have tea any time. Before launching this house church, we had a series of prayer walksbinding the strong man, blessing the people of this locality, praying to the Lord of the harvest to send the laborer or man of peace. This is the Lords doing. We rejoice in this. In church planting, Shalem and Mary HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 5
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SPECIAL SECTION
Church Organization and Incorporation

by Dr. E. John Reinhold
dont have to have an ordination certificate on the wall to marry and bury. All you have to be is available to the Lord to minister to those He will direct your way. Dr. E. John Reinhold, is a part of the H2H Board of Reference and the founder and president of The Christian Care Ministry, used by thousands as an alternative to health insurance. He has recently been asked to provide guidance and vision to the American Evangelistic Association, mentioned in the above article. His vision is to see this organization both thrust out thousands of laborers into the harvest, and provide the administrative and legal framework in which they, and any others who value this legal and IRS-acceptable approach, may operate. For more information, contact the A.E.A. directly at 1-888-JAMES 5:14 (1-888-526-3751). HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 25 From the editor: We frequently receive questions as to the legality of house churches applying for tax exempt status. Clearly, the primary issues here are theological rather than legal. Some feel that house churches should not be applying for state-sanctioned status (i.e. tax deductibility). Others feel that it is not only appropriate, but actually a better stewardship to use the tax deductibility that is made available by the government to any churches that want to fulfill the legal requirements for this. We wanted to make the following information available to any who would like to avail themselves of it.
ime Magazine n or woman of r the Kingdom signating such
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believe there are tens of thousands of Christians who will not allow the Lord to use them, because they are conditioned to believe that only professional clergy are trained to do the work. On the same basis, many churches that could be claiming tax exempt status are not doing so, even though it would be completely appropriate and legitimate according to our current tax code. A.E.A. (American Evangelistic Association) was founded as an Association of Churches in 1954. Over 8,000 pastors have been ordained who have served throughout the USA and the world. The A.E.A. can provide church leaders with a uniform (we call them Ministering Elders), a game plan (Communities of Care handbook), referees (A.E.A. guidance), and send them into the field (the world) to do it. The reality? You dont have to preach to minister in the name of the Lord. You dont have to make a living from ministering. You dont have to be a seminary graduate to minister. You
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The Role of the Prophetic

by Wolfgang Simson
ne of our challenges as we seek to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit is to learn to listen prophetically - then act apostolically. Were you ever wondering just how to do that? Jesus, sent on an apostolic mission by God to recover for Him the heart of what has been stolen by the archenemy, embarks us on a mission very similar to His own: As the Father sent me, so I send you. The similarity of our mission with His mission requires a likeness of means to see just that happen. And, honestly, is it happening? A good question to ask ourselves periodically is, Just how apostolic is what we are doing right now? One of the most consistently overlooked aspects of the apostolic mission of Jesus was that He never dared to say anything unless He heard the Father say it, and He never did anything unless He saw the Father do it (John chapter 5). That means, in everything to listen to Gods voice, and do what he says, or, as I call it, listen prophetically, and act apostolically. SMOKESCREEN PREVENTING REAL UNDERSTANDING When we hear words like apostolic or prophetic, quite a number of us are not as excited as we know we should be, because many of us have a hurting story to tell. The hurt comes in when people use the language, but dont walk it. Unfulfilled hope makes the heart sick, says a telling proverb, and heartache caused by unfulfilled hope for revival, growth, health, and money has gripped a broad stream of the people of God. Plus, much of what has been called the prophetic has been unrelated to the greater apostolic agendas of God for and through the nations, and has produced a host of meetings high on adrenaline and the pursuit of self, but low on apostolic substance. Paul would classify much of what is called apostolic as superapostolic - imposing, blunt, denomination building. This causes division in the Body of Christ into modern versions of the followers of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and Christ, producing effeminate, immature fans of human gurus, rather than mature disciples of Jesus achieving their apostolic commission in a way that honors the Lamb. There has been a lot of shameless preaching of Self, with self-proclaimed apostles and prophets anointing each other, just exactly as Paul tells us not to do (2 Cor. 10:12). There have been paranoid versions of using Gods people to build our own In Prayer pyramids and kingdoms, hierarchical perversions of a true five-fold ministry, and just too much non-apostolic and pseudo-prophetic hype, bordering on Christian witchcraft. All of this is a kind of orchestrated and cheap do this and God will surely do that nonsense, trying to achieve Gods ends without using Gods means. In short, a powerful smokescreen has been put out by Gods enemy, so that the true apostolic and prophetic moves, voices and developments shall be overlooked and swamped in a mass of good-looking messages, 26 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
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all vying for our attention. The result is bewilderment, unrest, insecurity, and a quiet, trembling fear in the camp, while the Goliaths of today are rambling, Is God really with us, or has He gone abroad? Just the right time for Jesus to step onto the scene, and mind you, again in a different form than His disciples expected Him to, as we see in Mark, chapter 16. Most church growth and planting today occurs in the nonWest. Most miracles happen in small villages, almost according to the rule: the smaller the name, the bigger the miracle. The more poverty and persecution, the more blessed the church seems to be, just as Christ promised in Matthew 5-7. The Church is blessed in the sense of having gone through the fire, being crucified with Christ, in terms of passion born in tears, where yes, the meek are inheriting the earth! Does it really surprise us that God is teaching His people today mostly by apostles and prophets from the non-Western world? There are powerful prophetic and apostolic voices from China and India, Indonesia, the Middle East, and from Africa. Take Uganda, for example.
experts, or Gods word? God has a good plan for our nation, and a holy purpose. Not many listened to this voice - let me repeat thatnot many listened to his voice at all, but those who did, remained for prayer. Amongst those was a young man, John Mulinde. In 1986, God gave me a special mission, reports Mulinde, Stand up and travel through the country, calling Christians to prayer; every Christian
The government saw no way out, so it called church leaders together, admitting their predicament and asked, Can you find a ray of hope in this situation?
house should become a house of prayer. Work with everyone; fill the nation with prayer. Before setting off as part of a team, Mulinde fasted for 90 days, which is a medical impossibility. Hundreds of Christians fasted for 60 days, thousands for 40 days, and a national intercession is now in full swing, with a prayer net for every geographical area and social group, for banks, hospitals, and schools. Not only the President, but also 64 of the 240 members of Parliament have become Christians. Round-the-clock prayer groups have formed in many areas. Many Christians have felt Gods call to stand in the gap, pray, fast and seek Gods face, bent on hearing Gods voice in all this, and then go do what He says. The result was a movement, which has since taken hold of the whole nation, bringing so obvious a change that it startled many, including the W.H.O. Transformation is the change from a historic low point, in which the nation is scarred by death and decay, to the point at which the full life
WHAT IS GOD DOING IN UGANDA? Only 15 years ago, the world had written Uganda off as a hopeless case. The results of Idi Amins plundering, his successor Milton Obotes reign of violence, and the brutal civil war of 1980 85 were an economy on the edge of collapse, the country bleeding from a thousand wounds, with inflation rampant at 380% to 1000%. Tourism was threatened, and the Western embassies withdrew one after the other. Then came AIDS. World Health Organization experts predicted that the nation would collapse in 1997, with one third of the population dead, another third suffering, and the remaining third too weak to maintain the economy. The government saw no way out, so it called church leaders together, admitting their predicament and asked, Can you find a ray of hope in this situation? One old man spoke a prophetic word into the midst of this situation: Whose report should we believe: the W.H.O.
of Christ is incarnated, says American strategy consultant, Jack Dennison. That is exactly what seems to be happening in Uganda. When the gospel arrived in Uganda in 1877, there was both a radical breakthrough and a spiritual battle. The first 36 Ugandan martyrs died at the hand of King Mwanga in 1886, but that did not hinder what is now seen as the roots of the East African revival, which started around 1920 in Uganda and Rwanda. In 1971, Moslem General Idi Amin took over the government, starting an unprecedented and brutal persecution of all opponents, particularly Christians. He declared Uganda to be an Islamic state in 1975, despite the fact that only 3% of the population was Moslem. Amin invited Libyas Gaddafi and Saudi Arabias King Faisal to a 4-day ceremony, in which thousands of sheep and goats were ritually sacrificed. The Christians reacted by fleeing and prayer, and formed jungle churches with 24-hour prayer. All differences between the denominations disappeared. Someones exact creed was not important, as long as they could pray, Mulinde remembers. The return of peace after Amins deposal in 1979 also brought a reduction in Christians devotion to prayer, allowing complacency and indifference to set in. The church had falsely believed Amin to have been the enemy. After recognizing the mistake, an increasing number of Christians joined a nationwide prayer and fasting initiative, with two aims: to unite themselves under Gods aims for the nation, and to disarm, in prayer, the demonic powers behind their acute problems. NEW COVENANT WITH THE LIVING GOD If Christians unite in a selfless quest for Gods purposes for the nation, it seems to be Gods joy to speak to and direct His people. Listening to prophetic direction and then doing what God says, has become one of the hallmarks of the current move of God in Uganda. Once, God spoke to Mulinde to go HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 27
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to Israel. Upon his arrival, God started to speak to him about His plans for Uganda, and arranged a 14-day-long solemn assembly to repent for the sins of the nations from the President to the beggar. It is almost as if God is still testing His prophets to see whether they are ready to be His bellhops, ready to go bury that belt at the Euphrates, or lie down on their side for 90 days and announce a rain no one else can see. If they stop mixing Gods messages with their own and stop advancing their issues over Gods, we will see God coming through again and again. Sure enough, at the end of a tearful, 14-day time of repentance, Ugandas President Museveni repealed Amins Islamic covenant. He also gave the national flag to a group of intercessors as a prophetic symbol during a conference, re-dedicating the nation to the God of the Bible. That act broke a dam. Uncovering corruption, Mulinde challenged the President to take more action against the tide of corruption in the nation. We have our police and our system, but we cannot change peoples hearts. That is the job of the church, replied Museveni. Together with the Christians, a public campaign for integrity and morality was started, which has spread throughout the nation. Museveni even appointed a Cabinet Minister for Ethics and Integrity, a born-again Christian, who started an investigation into bribery. Her appointment was sharply criticized by a number of Members of Parliament, and there have already been two attempts on her life. However, as a result of the Presidents backing and the prayers of many churches for the campaign, a growing number of corrupt officials have fallen from grace, and several high-ranking politicians have been forced to step down from office. AIDS: VALUES AND CONDOMS The government and churches united in a dual strategy to combat AIDScondoms and moral change through ethical renewal and a return to Biblical values with phenomenal success. Uganda is the only nation in Africa in which the AIDS rate is decreasing; the dark predictions turned out to be false, and the W.H.O., facing a mystery, is investigating the 28 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
Ugandan phenomenon. INFLATION UNDER CONTROL The inflation rate has now dropped from 380% to between 6% and 8%. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank view Uganda as a prime example of economic recovery in Africa.
more were caught just as they were about to ritually murder a 16-year-old girl. Interestingly, journalists were present at each discovery, and were able to publish photographs of the events. There was a national outcry, and people recognized that serious occult practices are in no way harmless hobbies, but that which God describes them as: idolatry and Satanic, drawing thousands of people into their bands and away from God. In the radio and other media, Christians and the government have declared war on occult practices and Satanism. Christians are being encouraged to localize witches and shamans, and to pray for their salvation or that they will disappear. We are not far from a ban on occult practices in Uganda, he says. CHRISTIANS PRAY, FORTUNE TELLERS CENTER CLOSES An Anglican bishop had decided to hold an evangelistic week, together with other churches and movements unusual for the traditional denominational thinking in Uganda, says Mulinde. They chose a large square for the events, which was also the location of one of the most influential fortune-teller centers in Uganda, to which people from all over the nation traveled. The evangelistic events lasted a week, the Christians praying with outstretched arms against the center. There were also prophecies, spoken into the microphone and heard in the center, that the center would no longer exist at the end of the year. The fortune-tellers and shamans were extremely angry, and started to call on their demons with drums and ritual fires. Only a few months later, the government ordered the center to be cleared, and bulldozers arrived to demolish it. CONNECTION BETWEEN OCCULT PRACTICES AND CHURCH GROWTH Mulinde continues, In one area in Uganda, ritual circumcisions have been performed every two years for the last two centuries, with an associated carnival. People regularly fall into ecstasy during these ceremonies, are possessed by spirits, and some rivers only flow during these times. The followers smear themselves with the mud from these rivers, and travel
NEW UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANS God is drawing Christians of all confessions together to a new unity, the Uganda Christian Alliance, according to Mulinde. The UCA is a network of ministries with the aim of making disciples of the whole nation, and serving other nations. WILL WITCH DOCTORS SOON BE BANNED? One of Ugandas main troubles, says John Mulinde, is the widespread use of magic in all its forms. The population knew that the ceremonies involved blood and even human sacrifice, and that women and children were regularly sexually abused, but there had been no clear proof. We began to pray that God would take away the veil and reveal the truth about the occult practices. Only a short time later, the first witch doctor was caught red handed with the body of a 5-year-old girl who had been decapitated for a ritual. A little later, five human skulls were found in another witch doctors house, and two
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throughout the entire land, celebrating the carnival. This causes a regular ebb and flow for the regions churches. In the year between the circumcision rituals, they gain members, and in the year of the rituals, there is a notable decrease in the number of members, and a surprising number of Christians fall away. When we heard of these things, we decided to go against the demonic powers behind the phenomenon in prayer. A prophet predicted that the rituals would not take place the following year. Indeed, during the next ceremony, none of the people were possessed, the rivers remained dry, the carnival was cancelled, and the churches have been growing continuously ever since. SEEK GOD, NOT THE SOLUTION OF YOUR PROBLEMS Mulinde says, God is telling many leaders throughout the nation, Do not pray against the nations problems. That will solve them, but others will rise in their place. Pray that Uganda finds its redemptive purpose, and I will take care of the problems. Become one with Gods purpose for your nation, and God will take care of the problems, almost as a side effect. When people hear what God is doing in Uganda today, they consider it impossible. But Ugandas example demonstrates that God can turn impossible situations around, and reveal Himself as the living God in the midst of immense problems. One of the keys is that Christians learn to truly seek Gods face - and then do what He says - locally, regionally, nationally and even globally. Should you be interested in this current move of God, you can contact John Mulinde at World Trumpet Mission, PO Box 8085, Kampala, Uganda, tel (+256)-41-232813, fax (+256)-41-271862, e-mail trumpet@starcom.co.ug. To order the video National Transformation -What God is Doing in Uganda by Swiss Prayer leader Ueli Haldemann Fax+497745-5850 or e-mail Uhaldemann@t-online.de. The video is available in German or English.
Southern House Church Conference

June 14 - 16, 2002
21 Workshops
Tony Dale
Keynote Speaker
Editor of House2House Magazine
www.ntrf.org www.geocities.com/dantrotter
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SPECIAL REPORT
Report on Denver Conference

by John White
n November 27 and 28, Wolfgang Simson, along with his friends, Bruno Bayer (Switzerland) and Chris Daza (Malawi), led our conference here in Denver with about 70-80 people. For those who were not able to attend, I want to pass on some of my observations about the conference. VISION Wolf began by asking the question, If you do for the next 10 years what you have done for the last 10 years, what
Wolfgang exhorted, You wont train people for the harvest unless you believe there will be a harvest. HOW? The key to 1 million new house churches is not some massive new organizational structure. Rather, it is the organic growth of the Body of Christ. (Roland Allen talks about this in his classic book, The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church.) An important part of the Lords provision for this kind of growth is described in Eph. 4:7-16. Specifically, He has provided five kinds of gifts (v. 7-8) to equip His Body. Sometimes these are called the five-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers). These servant-leaders, working together, are Gods tools to prepare His Body for the harvest. If house churches are like the cells in a body, the five-fold ministry gifts are like the bloodstream that circulates, bringing nourishment and refreshment to the cells. At our conference, we focused on two of these gifts: prophet and apostle. The role of the prophet is not primarily to prophesy. Rather, it is to equip (coach, train, encourage) the Body to function in this gift, which is defined as,
difference will it make?His challenge was that in the next 10 years we adopt the harvest mentality that we see in Jesus in Luke 10:1-2. There is evidence of a great harvest all around the world (185,000 become Christians every day), and he challenged us to plan for 1 million new house churches in the U.S. in the next decade. 32 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
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to listen to God on behalf of another. Goal of the gift: to strengthen, encourage and comfort (1 Cor. 14:3), either an individual or the whole church. If Jesus is the Master of Ceremonies when our house churches meet, then prophecy is a way that we find out what His agenda is for the meeting. Programs are what we do when we dont know how to prophesy. Prophecy is also a vital key to house church planting, because it helps identify
find these people and pour oil on them. Around the world, most churches are being planted by women, young people, business people (many of whom were driven off by the church), and family fathers over the age of 40. How to run a house church conference: One of the best things about our conference was that we divided everyone into one of seven groups, and met as temporary house churches at several points during our time there. One of the speakers would teach on a subject, and then we
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the man of peace (Lk. 10:6), and it demonstrates the supernatural reality of God (Jn. 4:19, 29, 39). This gift breaks up the hard ground where church planting has been difficult. The world today is hungry to hear from God, and to see demonstrations of His power. Consider the intense interest in counterfeits like psychics and mediums. Also, consider the huge response to Harry Potter (and, now, Lord of the Rings). Apostles are defined as the sent ones. The purpose of the gift: to plant and nurture churches. An apostle is not an authoritarian leader who wants everyone to come under his ministry. Rather, an apostle is a weeping father crying out for his sons to overtake him in ministry. True apostles consistently give away or release their best people. Where to find apostles: Many apostles have been overlooked or dismissed by the current church. We need to
would meet with our house church and practice what had been taught. The thought occurred to me that we must make sure that house church conferences reflect house church values. This means that house church conferences will be quite different from traditional church conferences. Key values: let Jesus bring the agenda at each session, less largegroup teaching and more small-group interaction and practice, focus on equipping, vs. informing, and set high values for relationships. I hope this report gives you some feel for our conference. All in all, I believe it was a great help in inspiring, training and networking people who are feeling called to the multiplication of New Testament churches. If you want to learn more, the tapes are available at the House2House website (http:// www.house2house.tv/). HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 33
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A Vroom With A View

This strip was inspired by a short newspaper article I read a few years ago. In the city where I lived at the time was a very large church with a large building. This church was about to embark on building an even larger building costing many millions of dollars.* In this article, one of the churchs leaders described the great new outreach potential the new building would provide. A question occurred to me after I read that article. What is the relationship between a church buildings size and that churchs ability to reach the lost? The answer is none. There really isnt a relationship between building size and outreach potential. At least not until we force a relationship to exist. Are church buildings wrong in and of themselves? No. But lets not give them credit for being anything more than they really are. They are simply structures which allow a lot of people to be in one place and out of the weather. And it seems, from this sheeps perspective, that they may be preventing the Gospel as much or more than they are promoting it. Webshepherd sheepcomics.com
*Editors Note: According to Dr. Lynn Reddick quoting David Barrett in the World Christian Encyclopedia, the institutional church in the United States spends $1,551,466 for each new convert.
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MISSIONS
Missionary Church Planting

by Joe Boyd
ot long ago I sat across a table from a British missionary friend of mine in a suburban Las Vegas Starbucks. We swapped stories about our Kingdom adventures and convictions. Richard and I spoke passionately about our desires to see all of the peoples of the world reached with the gospel. It sparked a question in me: From a missionary perspective, I asked, what makes a people group reached? His reply verbalized a previously held, yet unspoken, conviction of mine. A people group is considered reached when a church starts another church without the help of an outside group. Then we have a church planting movement . . . the goal of every missionary. His words that day allowed me to better answer the two fundamental questions about my individual existence: Who am I? and Why am I here? I am a missionary, loved and sent by Christ to Las Vegas. I am here to see a church planting movement sweep throughout my city. Such a simple revelation shows us what perhaps the most important area of study is for any church planter. A church planter is fundamentally a missiologist, a student of missions. If our theology (what we believe about God) determines our ecclesiology (what we believe about church), then we must first realize that our God is a missionary God who sends His people into the entire world. This understanding, though simple, can radically challenge many of the presuppositions that we make about what we have commonly called church in North America. Consider how the following missional ideas may challenge our current concepts about church life: The Church is the sign, foretaste and agent of the Kingdom of God. The Church is not the Kingdom of God, but submits to the Kingdom as its sign, foretaste, and agent. The Church is a particularly eschatological phenomenon. This means that the church belongs to the last days (the eschaton). These last days began with the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ and will be completed upon His Second Coming. The Church exists in the interim days between the beginning and the end of the eschaton. The Church is a pilgrim people on a voyage toward the complete and final reign of God. The Church is the sign of the Kingdom in that it points people toward the rule of God. The Church is the witness of the reality that the Kingdom of God HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 35
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is both already alive among us, and will one day fully come. In this regard, the Church exists to proclaim Jesus and His Kingdom to the world. The Church is the foretaste of the Kingdom in that it contains the true people of God. Though the Kingdom has not come fully, it has come already. The rule and love of God is experienced and understood within the local church in a real and dynamic way. The Church is the agent of the Kingdom in that it does the work of the Kingdom. God normally chooses His people to do His work. With this understanding, the Church truly incarnates King Jesus and becomes His Body. The people of God function as the hands, feet, and voice of Christ to those who are both near and far from Him. The Church is a counter-cultural community sent to a specific culture. The Church exists as a community of Jesus-followers. This community, however, is normally, if not always, counter-cultural to the dominant structures of the time and place where the Church exists. Members of the Church allow themselves to be led only by God (their true Lord), not by the philosophy, economy or politics of their culture. More often than not, the ways of Jesus are different from the dominant worldview being lived out by the people of any culture. As a general rule, when the Church becomes too central or cozy with the powers that be, it loses its marginalityits true power as the eschatological sign of the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the Church should desire a marginal place in society. It creates its own cultural norms, which are often counter to the norms of an anthropocentric1 worldview. The Church strives to live true to the teachings of Jesus and to model His faithfulness to the world. If Jesus was marginalized, persecuted and hated (and He was), those who follow Him should expect the same treatment. Contrary to popular sentiment, the Church grows in a more substantial way when it retains its position at the margins of society. The Church dies when it converts to culture. However, the Church cannot afford to ignore the culture in which it lives as resident aliens. Since the Church is a missional community and mouthpiece 36 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
for the Kingdom, it should familiarize itself with culture so that it may indigenize the gospel of Jesus in a way that allows sinners an opportunity to repent and accept life. The opposite fallacy of converting to culture is ignoring culture. The Church is the organic family of God. The Church is the family of God, not His company or business. The members of the Church are sons and daughters of their Father, God, and brothers and sisters of one another. The leader of the Church is the head of the family, Jesus. The Church at its best operates more like an organism than an organization. It contains structure, but it is structured through spiritual direction and giftedness, not according to the cultural methods of the day. The Church, the Body of Christ, grows organically, similar to the way a natural body grows physically. Churches grow optimally when they multiply and give birth to new churches. This multiplication growth, sometimes called a church planting movement, allows the Church to expand in all directions while giving each individual church the opportunity to remain small enough to be an intimate, holistic community of faith. This understanding allows churches to exist naturally without the need for professional clergy, sanctified buildings, and large budgets. Joe Boyd works with the Apex House Church movement in Las Vegas, Nevada, and with The Barnabas Project. Since 1999, they have planted house churches in Las Vegas. Contact them at http://www.apexchurch.org or http:// www.barnabasproject.org 1. anthropocentric \An`thro*po*centric\, a. [Gr. ? man + ? center.] Assuming man as the center or ultimate end; applied to theories of the universe or of any part of it, as the solar system. Draper.
Visit www.house2house.tv/fridayfax.htm to subscribe to Wolfgang Simsons FridayFax with exciting stories of what God is doing around the world.
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The Organic Church Planters GREENHOUSE provides a supportive environment for Christian leaders who have chosen to function in ways similar to the apostolic role of the New Testament. It is for leaders who arent just interested in planting a church but rather, in churching a region. It is for those who are willing to get their hands dirty in the soil of lost people. It is for those wanting to make a globalocal impact from the ground up!
UPCOMING GREENHOUSES
Las Vegas, NV - May 24th-26th 2002 LA, CA- June 28th-30th 2002 Phoenix, AZ October 11th-13th 2002
For more information please contact: Church Multiplication Associates 1965 E. 21st Street Signal Hill, CA 90806 (562) 961-1962 (562) 961-1982 (fax)
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House Church Networks
New Release! A church for a new generation. This book tells how house church networks are tailormade for todays generation. They will work together with existing churches to show the transforming power of Christ to our communities. By Larry Kreider, 120 pages: $9.99 Larrys book will help you break into quite new and exciting territory. Wolfgang Simson
Spiritual Fathers and Mothers Training with Larry Kreider

Practical preparation for believers who want to have and become spiritual parents. Principles for a successful mentoring relationship!
New Release! Valuable lessons the modern church can learn from history. Examine how cell groups and house churches developed in the centuries since the Reformation. By Peter Bunton, 114 pages: $8.99
This book is a treasure. I have not seen another like it describing how small groups appear in church history throughout the generations. Larry Kreider
What History Teaches Us: Cell Groups and Video Training Complete group package can be used in six two-hour sessions or twelve House Churches
one-hour sessions. Includes 3 video tapes, 6 Participant Manuals, a Leaders Guide and a copy of The Cry for Spiritual Fathers and Mothers in a protective binder: $99 Live Seminar Held Friday evening and Saturday. 2002 dates include: March 22-23 West Milford, NJ; April 12-13 Williston, VT; April 26-27 Richmond, VA; May 3-4 Bristol, IN. Affordable Rates! $59 per person, Groups of 6 or more: $49 per person, Host Church: $39 per person. For information and more dates: www.dcfi.org
Compelling vision for authentic, nurturing relationships within todays church. Receive the challenge to both have and become a spiritual parent. A must read for house church leaders and those serious about making disciples. By Larry Kreider, 186 pages: $11.95
Spiritual Fathers and Mothers
Other Seminars
New! Training for Elders Cell-based Church Planting Clinic Counseling Basics for Small Group Leaders Fivefold Ministry Seminar Growing Healthy Cell Groups Seminar Premarriage Mentors Training Seminar Youth Cells & Youth Ministry Seminar
For information or to order Call 800-848-5892 Online www.dcfi.org

House to House, 1924 W. Main St., Ephrata, PA 17522 Email HTH@dcfi.org
MasterCard or Visa accepted
Saturday, April 20, 2002, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Author of the book Houses that Change the World, Wolfgang will be reporting on the house church movement around the world as well as presenting a theology of house churches. Wolfgang will be sharing many practical ideas people are using as the house church movement gathers momentum.
For Simson Seminar information

Call 800-848-5892 Online www.dcfi.org Email HTH@dcfi.org Sponsored by DOVE Christian Fellowship Intl
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Risk of Evangelism
aining
by Mike McNichols
who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance. Then they said to Him, Johns disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. Jesus said to them, You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. He also told them a parable: No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, The old is good. Right away, I am astounded by the way Jesus invites Levi (also called Matthew) to join Him. Its important to remember that Levi was a tax collector, who collected tax revenues from his fellow Jews on behalf of the Roman government. Most people considered him a self-serving mercenary. Typically, tax collectors made money by collecting more tax than was required and keeping the excess. So Levi was considered to be outside of traditional righteousness and Gods favor. He was a true sinner not one wrestling with normal human failure, but one intentionally ordering his life around wrongdoing. Jesus knew that Levi was a tax collector. Yet, He simply says to Levi, Follow menot, Tell me youre sorry, or Ask for forgiveness, or Shame on you, just, Follow me. Then Luke says that Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Jesus call, follow me, occurs a number of times in the four gospel accounts. It seems to be the primary way that Jesus invited people to connect their lives with His. Jesus call suggests that He was going somewhereafter all, people were to follow Him. For many of us this invitation seems too easy. Sometimes people keep Jesus at arms length because they dont feel as though they can give Him everything theyve got. I can relate to that, cant you? Yet Jesus invitation is simply to get up from what you are doing and follow Himgo where He is going, be where He is, to engage in relationship with Him. Luke says that Levi left everything. We might think that Levi just abandoned his entire life, except that in the very next scene Levi is having a banquet at his own house in Jesus honor. So the everything that Levi left was what he was doing with his life. His focus was on himself and the way he manipulated people around him. Apparently Levi was good at it, because he had a big house and could afford to throw a banquet. When Levi responded to Jesus invitation, what did Jesus do? Jesus went to Levis big housethe big house he got by ripping off his fellow Jewsand enjoyed a big banquet, hanging around with Levis no-account friends. Its no wonder that the religious leaders were upset. Wasnt Jesus just endorsing the lifestyles of these people? HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 39
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have observed, lately, that people very often reject a life of faithparticularly Christian faithbecause they equate that faith with distortions or caricatures that they see on television or have experienced with other people. Its not so much that they reject Jesus, but they reject a caricature of Him. On my own quest to encounter Jesus in a fresh way, I think I have found something very important about Him: He was not welcomed in the religious community. I find that Jesus is not very religious, though He did see Himself as authorized by God to bring forgiveness, healing, and wholeness to people. This means that those who worked overtime to keep their religious structures intact, found Him to be a threat to their sense of safety and tradition. Yet, Jesus was very much welcomed by those who were considered irreligious. There was something in Jesus they responded to, that connected with a deep place inside them. Jesus willingness to spend time with those people often surprised them, while it scandalized the religious observers. My quest took me to Luke 5:27-39, NRSV: After this He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth and He said to him, Follow Me. And he got up, left everything, and followed Him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered, Those
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When questioned by the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus told them that He had a purpose in spending time with Levi and his friends: He saw them as living their lives outside of Gods loveoutside of Gods goodness, His righteousnessand He came to call them back. Jesus came to heal them from the sickness of their own lives. Are we getting this? Jesus went to the people who needed Him the most. He looked at the least qualified of the people in His communitypeople whose lives clearly demonstrated they didnt deserve any good thing from Godand He invested Himself in them so that they might get well, that they might be restored to God. How wrong is that? Didnt Jesus understand that God doesnt like bad people? Didnt He know that the nicer you are, the more religious you are, the more on-track you are, the more God likes you? Apparently not. He made it his intention to get the sinners lives all over Him. He put Himself in the middle of their lives and shared His own life with them. Do we understand what kind of person Jesus is? Jesus is the one who goes where there are people who live as though there is no God, and destroys His own reputation and safety by bringing His life right into the middle of theirs. Jesus was clearly seen by people as a healer. What they didnt seem to expect was that He came to heal hearts and lives, as well as bodies. So, He went where the brokenhearted people were. He went to people who saw themselves as hopeless in Gods eyes. He came to make them whole people, who would come to be swept up in the wonder of Gods love. The religious leaders, once again, threw a fit over this. They kept picking away at Jesus, constantly looking for something to criticize. They asked Him why His disciples didnt fast and pray like the followers of John the Baptist. They may have found John to be offensive, but at least they liked the ascetic lives of his followers. Jesus now begins a series of rather puzzling statements. In response to the question of the religious leaders, Jesus compares Himself to a bridegroom and His disciples to a wedding party. In the Jewish culture, the time period surrounding a wedding was a time of engagement with one another, of celebration and activity. The context of these comments seems 40 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
Follow Me to suggest that the religious leaders were being sarcastic and referred to Levis friends as Jesus disciples. If that were the case, Jesus didnt hesitate to include them as part of His life. This would have been scandalous to the religious leaders! A Jewish teachera rabbiwas responsible for his followers. If this wild group of people-eating, drinking, carrying onwere the equivalent of his wedding party, then everything Jesus was doing was suspect. Where were His religious practices in the eyes of the public? How did He expect to gain community favor by spending His time with and
endorsing sinners and tax collectors? Jesus responds by pointing out that something new is happening. Of course, new is often a big problem. If you live with others, try changing the furniture around before they get home. See how much they like the idea of new. If you manage employees, change their work habits and see how immediately thrilled they are. Change the order of a worship gathering sometime, and watch deep concern wash over the peoples faces. Its human nature. Years ago my wife and I knew a kindly old Methodist minister who felt things were getting a little dull in his tiny church. So, just before leaving on vaca-
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tion, he decided to change the way they took communion. He was excited about it and found it personally refreshing. Upon his return, his church board had passed a resolution forbidding anyone for all eternity to change the way communion was done in that church. So much for innovation! Jesus recognized this dynamic. He knew that His actions seemed new to the religious community. It was new because He had claimed He could directly forgive peoples sins, because He brought physical healing to people, and because He spent His time in the company of people who were despised by the righteous. Jesus understood that new was a threatening force to that which was considered old. Heres what I think needs to be seen here: What Jesus brought was not something new in the sense that He invented it. What He did calling people to Him, seeking to bring healing, speaking out forgivenesswas Gods intention for humanity all along. Jesus actions were offensively new in contrast to the old practices and systems of the religious leaders. Religious systems are not necessarily bad things; its when the religious structures and systems become the point, rather than the vehicle for connecting with God. Jesus would not accommodate Himself to the religious system of the Pharisees and scribes. Their system kept them safe and kept others out. Jesus knew how people who were committed to their old systems responded to new things: they were like the ones accustomed to old wine; when they tasted something new, they said, The old is good. The Greek that Luke uses here can also be translated, The old is superior. If we believe that Jesus is realnot just an idea or a historical shadowthen how does He interact with us? Is it by assessing us as imperfect, broken, or
sinful, while waiting for us to measure up? Not this Jesus! This Jesus sees us for what we are and, in all of our weakness and failure, comes bringing us healing. Does Jesus show the face of God? I believe He does. That face is not one of anger and dismissal, but one shining with love and desiring to draw people into relationship with Him. That is also the face I am able to bring to the world. When I engage the people in my world the way Jesus did, then I show them an aspect of Gods character. Jesus was willing to take on the label, Friend of Sinners. That is where the risk of evangelism comes in, because when we pursue evangelism by following Jesus lead, any sense of personal religious reputation will be put on the line. In an effort to learn how Jesus still does this, I began frequenting a local pub near my office. I tried to meet people there for business lunches and made it my habit to eat there at least once a week, learning the names of each person working there. I befriended one guy who is on a very serious spiritual journey. We began to get together for coffee, talking about life, God, yoga, relationships, and anything else that came up. He suggested to me that we pull together some of his friends so that we might explore the big questions of life together. Within a few weeks he and his friends, along with me, my wife, and two of my friends, began having a weekly dinner at my house. The conversation wanders anywhere it wantsinevitably to places important to each person there. We continue to meet, and, sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit among us, I can almost see Jesus enjoying the company and drawing people toward Himself. This is not very religious activity. There is no Bible study, no evangelistic message, and no literature to peruse. This appears to be an invitation to enter the sacred space of Gods work, and I intend to watch each week for what He is doing. I am aware that my own reputation among my peers may be in question, since this is a pub-based set of relationships. I have come to believe that I have found Jesus at work there. Its a work that I dont want to miss.
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An Excerpt From House Church Networks

by Larry Kreider
In his new book, House Church Networks: A New Church for a New Generation, Larry Kreider shows how house churches are a major factor in reaching a lost world for the Lord. This excerpt from chapter 5 gives us just a little insight into what house churches are accomplishingin this instance, in China. It also shows how practically house churches deal with finances, meet others spiritual and physical needs, and take the Gospel to those who might never hear it otherwise. he revival in China today is considered the largest spiritual harvest since the time of the book of Acts. The Cultural Revolution, with its severe persecution of Christians, only fueled the revival. Today, an estimated 25,000 Chinese are becoming Christians every day through various house church movements that have sprung up throughout their nation. There are over 80 million believers in these unregistered house churches in China. In January 2001, I had the opportunity to minister to eighty key leaders of the underground church movements in China. It was life-changing for me. Meeting these humble men and women of God deeply moved me. I know one thing for sure: they taught me far more than I could teach them. Ninety-five percent of these leaders, many who had traveled four days by train to get to the secluded leadership training seminar, had been imprisoned for their faith. One elderly leader had just been released four days before. I was asked to teach on the Biblical truth of becoming spiritual fathers and mothers. After many of the sessions, these humble men and women of God stood, prayed and repented. It was such a humbling experience. They repented because they felt they were so caught up in the work of God, they were not focusing enough on the workers of God. This is a great lesson for all of us to learn. We can become so caught up in Gods work, including the starting of new house 42 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 churches, that we lose sight of our call from the Lord to be a spiritual father or mother to the next generation. The Chinese house church movement has made a commitment to the Lord concerning how the church will exist, even when they are freed from communism in the future. They have already made a decision that they will build no buildings. They want to keep their method of training and sending intact and not focus on constructing buildings, but on building people. They seek to accomplish this by: (1) not allowing any pastor to stay in one place for a long period of time, since this can create a dependency on leadership to do what all believers should be doingevangelizing and planting new churches, (2) continue their commitment to build and model teamwork, and (3) by keeping a tabernacle, rather than a temple mentality. Like the Israelites in the Old Testament, they will move when the cloud moves. When I asked the Chinese leadership if the people in their house churches tithed, they said, Yes. When I asked them if the house church pastors received support from the tithe, they smiled and informed me that only those individuals who are willing to be sent out as missionaries or apostolic leaders to other parts of China receive any financial support. This is also true of most house church leaders in North America. They either have a business or work at a job to support themselves and their families. They are tent makers like Aquila and Priscilla, who had a church in their home (Romans 16:3-5, 1 Corinthians 16:19). Only when they have the responsibility to oversee other house church leaders are leaders supported financially. Larry shares that this move of God is happening in many other places: Latin America, India, Cambodia, Nepal, and even within the Anglican Church in England. God is on the move and seems to be using house churches as a major player in what He is doing. To order House Church Networks: A New Church for a New Generation, please call DCFI at (800)848-5892 and mention House2House Magazine.
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Want to start a house church? Do we need thousands of them? Im Gonna Let it Shine!
(10 Million Lighthouses to Go)
Will get you there!

This delightful new book by veteran strategist Jim Montgomery is not a handbook on how to start a house church. But it does show in simple yet powerful chapters how to develop the seedbed from which your house church and tens of thousands of them can spring up.
Reading this refreshing book that comes from the heart of God, lay men and women will see what a delightful experience becoming a Lighthouse in his or her neighborhood can be. You will learn how simply loving your neighbors, praying for them, caring for them in practical ways and ultimately sharing the gospel with them when they are asking questions can ultimately lead to the gathering of new converts. If your heart isnt breaking for your neighbors who are lost and headed for eternity without God, Im Gonna Let it Shine is the next book you ought to read. Youll discover you are living exactly where you are because God placed you there - to love your neighbors and show them the way to eternal life. Suggestion: Use this helpful book as a discussion guide in your house church or small group.
Evangelist Luis Palau Dr. Paul Cedar, Chairman, Mission America/The Lighthouse Movement
Yes, I want to read IM GONNA LET IT SHINE!

Retail price: $12.00 YOUR COST: $9.00 3 or more copies: $7.00 each Please make checks payable to: DAWN Ministries
Name _____________________________________________ No. of copies ________________ Address ______________________________________ State __________ Zip ______________ Check # ___________ Visa/MC # _______-_______-_______-_______ Exp. Date Mo___ Yr___ Signature __________________________________________________ Please mail to: DAWN MINISTRIES, 5775 N. Union Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 Phone: 719-548-7460 Fax: 719-548-7475
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Report From Robert Fitts

Note from the Editor: House2House Magazine is including this article/ report from Robert because we want you all to know about his ministry and availability. God is using this apostle of home churches to help envision and equip people all over North America. If you would like Robert to come to you, please respond directly to the address given at the end of the article.
believe God just gave me the final H for a 4H house church ministry that excites me through and through! For ten years I have labored in this ministry with a 1H Vision . . . House Church. Then, about two years ago, God added the second H . . . Home Bible Colleges. Now I had a 2H Vision. We have seen remarkable strength added to the house church vision through the addition of that second H. Then about a year ago, the Lord added the third H . . . Healing Rooms, John G. Lake style. That gave us a spiritual synergism that has caused exciting things to start happening wherever we start the healing rooms alongside house churches and home Bible colleges. After the healing rooms ministry was added, I felt the whole thing was complete. No room for anything else . . . but this morning, as I was talking to a friend on the phone, the fourth H marched right into the vision and took its place alongside House Churches, Home Bible Colleges, and Healing Rooms. That final H is Houses of Prayer! Houses of prayer and healing rooms are two very powerful and fruitful ministries that are beginning to multiply rapidly throughout the Body of Christ across America. We will be implementing a simplified form of both, learning from our brothers who are already involved in them, but allowing 44 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
the Holy Spirit to be unique in developing this new ministry with us in each local situation. Since the beginning of my ministry in my late teens, prayer has been my major emphasis. It has been the starting point and a basic mode of operation in all forms of our ministry down through the years. It has consistently been a major part of my teaching and writing ministry as well. Houses of prayer will fit perfectly into the total picture! Wherever we start a house church, we will also start the other three ministries. Wherever we start an ABC (AlphaOmega Bible College), in Gods time we will start the other three. Wherever we start the healing rooms, our goal will be to start house churches, houses of prayer, and home Bible colleges. Will you help us start one of these four ministries in your town, city, university, church, or home? Pray about it, and if God leads you to labor with us in this 4H Vision, contact us at Grace Fellowship, 76-6309 Haku Pl., Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 or via email to: RobertJoni@aol.com.
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Ecuador Guyaquil, d Linda Muse hurches in by J. Guy an g House C Startin

peace is anyone who opens their home and allows us to enter their home and hold the meetings (see Luke 10:1-9 for the principles and the model we seek to put into practice). We encourage the servant leaders to start as soon as they encounter the man of peace. Training of the servant leaders takes place simultaneously as they begin to hold meetings in the houses. We do not train them, and then send them out. We send them out, and train them as they are actually doing the church plant. Very early on, the friends, neighbors, and work associates of the man of peace are invited to the house meetings. The meetings themselves are more of an informal family gathering than a formal worship service. Each meeting basically has three parts: 1) An informal time of sharing, singing, reading Scripture, discussion of what was read and understood by the group; 2) A more structured time where a one-page discipleship lesson is shared in 20 - 30 minutes (interactive with everyone participating), where many of the lessons are evangelistically oriented; 3) A time of praying for individual needs and generally ministering one to another (this usually is also a time of sharing food/refreshments, fellowship, and celebrating together some event in the life of one present, etc.). During the week it becomes the servant-leaders responsibility to visit and follow-up on each of those people who have visited the house church meeting. We stress heavily the need to minister to real needs of the people, not to just invite them to house church meetings. We feel that genuine love for those who come is what wins them over to the cause of Christ. Therefore in our training we stress practical ministry to peopleloving them where they are. It usually isnt long before these people are loved into the Kingdom and begin to grow in HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 45
e call our church planting, La Iglesia en Tu Casa (The Church in Your House). LIETC began in July 2000. Our team is composed of seven Southern Baptist missionaries (IMB-SBC)all assigned to church planting. None of us plant churches; rather, we are catalysts for church planting. The reason for this is that, if we set out to plant a church, we individually might plant 1 - 2 new churches a year. But as church planting catalysts, the only limitation of churchstarts is the number of people who respond to the Lords call to go out and plant New Testament churches. Currently, we are related to some 70-plus house churches all begun in the past 12 - 18 months. Lay leaders, whom we call servant-leaders, lead all the house churches. At the moment, we are training over 50 new men and women who are likewise in various stages of starting new house churches. Our responsibility is to pray for, train, and initially assist the servant leaders in getting started. Once they begin, we leave them in the hands of the Lord. The servant leaders continue to be trained weekly in a separate setting for 4 - 6 months. We feel there are three requirements for anyone who wants to start a house church: 1) Willingness to lead in the house church meetings (especially in the beginning as they are being started with non-believers), 2) Willingness and commitment to visit, evangelize, and minister to the local community where the house church is being planted, and 3) Willingness to attend training at a center for help in how to do the basics of evangelism, discipleship, teaching, etc. (2-hrs/week). Initially, the only believers in the new church are the house church leaders. They begin by gathering in the home of a man of peace, seeking to win that family to Christ. The man of
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Christ as they continue to fellowship with one another. There is more to it than I have explained here, but basically that is the procedure that we use here to start churches. I dont know if the above would work in other places but the Lord is blessing here! We have made twelve observations as to why we believe the Lord is blessing church planting efforts in Guayaquil. Twelve Guiding Principles of La Iglesia en Tu Casa (LIETC), The Church in Your House: 1.) LIETC is built upon a foundation of prayer, which is the most important work in which we are engaged. 2.) LIETC is built upon the idea of mobilizing the laity. The laity is empowered to go and do tasks traditionally assigned only to trained professional clergy. 3.) LIETC is built upon the concept of taking the church to where the people are, rather than bringing the people to the church. 4.) LIETC crosses denominational lines and works with Great Commission Christians to plant New Testament churches. 5.) LIETC depends on God to provide the workers, free of recruitment or manipulation. 6.) LIETC is built upon the understanding that women are likewise called to plant churches. 7.) LIETC is built upon the understanding that it is Christs responsibility to build His church, not ours (Mt. 16:18). 8.) LIETC is built upon an understanding that the missionary task is primarily one of praying, modeling, teaching, training, and mentoring. 9.) LIETC is built upon the strategic use of locally available and reproducible communication media (radio, brochures, videos, copies, letters, tracts, cassettes, Bibles). We dont use anything that cant be reproduced locally by the people we are working with. 10.) LIETC is built upon the idea of church being more a family gathering held in a home setting, and less a traditional church service. 11.) LIETC is built on the twin pillars of prayer and visitation/evangelism. 12.) LIETC belongs to God, and He can do with it (us) as He pleases. 46 HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6
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L u c a s
have just read a very angry, screamingly irate letter. It appeared on the letters page of our local city newspaper, together with a whole raft of similar type epistles. The language in these missives is terse, sarcastic, and poisoned with bitterness. Clearly, there are a few people around here who are not at all happy. The local town planners are considering granting permission to put a new faade and extension on a beautiful Georgian building sitting majestically at the heart of the city. I put the newspaper down, and I am angry now too, but it has nothing to do with proud buildings. I am angry at the face, the faade that has been placed upon the most exciting and supremely beautiful person in all of history. We the church, the guardians and key holders of the kingdom of God, have done something incredible. We have painted Jesus in boring colors. We have taken the Most Lovely and turned Him into a wrinkled crone. This took great effort and ingenuity indeed. Forget the achievements of Mount Everest climbers and four-minute milers. Stifle your gasp as you ponder the speed of our computers that are cutting-edge technology today and junk metal tomorrow. These fade into nothing when compared with the accomplishment of the Christian Church. Angels must be faint with shock as they consider what we have done. We, the church, have made Jesus seem predictable and boring: a ho-hum deity who evokes little more than a yawn. Somehow we have managed to take the Author of color, dance, and variety, the Master of spontaneity and humour, the One who calls Himself The Life, and make Him look like a domesticated, tame godlet who may be vaguely admired, sentimentally remembered when troubles are rife, but who is a bland, insipid, vague, Galilean.
Angry From Chichester

So how did we manage it? We allowed Jesus to become the extraterrestrial baby in the manger, all white and pink, in a scene that is surely surreal. Mary, who for some reason chose to give birth while dressed as a blue nun, sits serenely with a glowing goldfish bowl on her head. Dear old Joseph is not often to be seen, but when he is, he looks slightly nervous. He doesnt usually have a goldfish bowl, but basks in the soft light of his virgin wifes halo. Baby Jesus does, of course, have the goldfish bowl, and though only ten minutes old, is miraculously sitting up, thanking the wise men and shepherds for coming to His little party. The soft, moonlit hay is a carpet on which stand placid, grinning farmyard animals, who may only be sheep, but seemed to have a grasp of Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiahs birth, and are jolly glad to be in on the moment. And what is it that the carol writer says of this bundle wrapped in swaddling cloths? And little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes So, this baby doesnt cry then. Perhaps He wanted to but, instead, smiled at His mother with eyes that said, Id normally be crying now as I could do with a change of the old swaddling cloths, but as Im the son of God, and theyre going to write a song about this moment, then perhaps I wont. Bunk! Of course Jesus cried. The popular portrayal of the nativity makes it all seem so irrelevant. It is a scene from another worlda million miles from the blood, guts, cold, disappointment, and Dear God, You arranged a virgin birth, but didnt You think to book us a room? type of feelings that may have flickered through the virgins mind. Stables stink: they are cold, damp stalls, where long shadows drape themselves around the place to create a morose,
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dingy half-light. Dirty, bedraggled hay is scattered upon a soggy earth floor, peppered with heaps of droppings. This is the glory of it all, Jesus, that You chose to come to our sweaty, squalid little world, a King born in a shed. How much closer to us could You come, and yet we call You irrelevant? And perhaps You are marked as boring, because we do not allow too much room for You in the church. Is that You I hear, knocking at the door of Your own house, Jesus? Are You just too unpredictable, too wild, too likely to upset our middle-class apple carts? Is that why we have so often designed church to be a well-honed mechanism engineered to keep You at a distance? And what about the message that You said was good news? Have we reduced the gospel call to a frozen, processed package, a heavenly Good Friday agreement, which guarantees a pardon from sin and a future in heaven? Isnt it supposed to be a warm invitation to a lifelong friendship with Jesus, a Companion and Leader for here and now? How did we reduce a banquet invitation to a legal deal struck with the judge, rather than as it should be, a homecoming to a Dad who always has the barbecue waiting? Jesus, we have done it. We have turned the rainbow into mud. We have turned the sun into a fluorescent tube. We have put a boring faade on You, the bright morning star. Do I sound angry? I am. Thats why Im writing a letter about it. This is it. Taken from the book, Lucas On Life. Published by WORD Publishing, U.K. Used with permission. Available from H2H. To order please call (512) 282-2322 or visit our online store at www.house2house.tv HOUSE2HOUSE MAGAZINE, ISSUE 6 47
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Issue 6 - Draft 3.

PRESENT TESTIMONY MINISTRIES CONFERENCES

DOVE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCES

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Where In The World Is The Church?

DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS 1 4 Upcoming Events How to Reach Us

Printed in the USA

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FROM THE EDITOR

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE CHURCH?

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CHURCH PL ANTING MOVEMENTS

House Churches Planted by Radio

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True Apostles Neil Cole

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Financing The Work

e not qualified to do so for pay.

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Church Organization and Incorporation

ime Magazine n or woman of r the Kingdom signating such

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CHURCH PL ANTING MOVEMENTS

The Role of the Prophetic

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Southern House Church Conference

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