northphoenixhousechurch.com

I recently came across a couple of posts by Buff Scott, Jr. and have added them below. The first one is entitled The Early Believers vs. Today’s Believers and the second one is entitled Why Are House Meetings Springing Up All Over The Board? At 96 years old, Buff is still producing weekly Reformation Rumblings electronic newsletters. If you’d like to be added to his email list please contact me.

The early believers won the world without Theological Seminaries, Missionary Societies, clergy, elaborate and expensive edifices, or any of the other “artifacts” and baggage that burden us today. They changed lifestyles without throwing a rock, burning a building, drawing a sword, or parading down Main Street in Jerusalem with pedophiles, losers, and so-called “transgenders.” 

 Their resurrection message to the unregenerate was simple, “Repent, and turn to God!” The new reign welcomed everyone-yes, even homosexuals and prostitutes and drunkards and thieves and swindlers. In the congregation at Corinth, there were recovering homosexuals, prostitutes, thieves, drunkards, and swindlers [I Cor. 6:9-11]. They had been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

If we intend to influence the world with the message of salvation, we must struggle for reform within our sectarian establishments and partisan religions.  For if we do not opt for reform we will face defeat before we “fire the first shot.”

The religious Establishment couldn’t be any more warped if the Lord had commanded it. The world will not nor cannot be won to Messiah Jesus as long as she is the cause instead of the solution. Nor can the world be conquered for the Captain of our salvation by exerting most of our efforts parroting the party’s clichés or adding more theological waste to our partisan rostrums. The slate must be cleaned, reformed, renewed, and reshaped before receiving our marching orders. Then and only then will we be able and ready to give the battle cry!

If apostles Peter and Paul had endeavored to spread the message of the risen Christ while agreeing with and furthering the sects of their day, their efforts to transform the world would not have survived.  If we hope to achieve reformation, we must reach beyond the established order and ecclesiastical structures. The activities,  movements,  and  efforts of the first believers were unskilled, ordinary, unsophisticated, and informal-although serious and edifying. Our contemporary arrangement is perplexing, rehearsed, organized to the brim, ritualistic, formulistic, and boring. It is, in truth, self-destructive.

More and more disillusioned believers are suspending “going to church” and switching to house meetings instead. Their reasons vary, but it is safe to say that all of them are tired of being programmed by a solo speaker-professional elitist-who downloads their spiritual food week after week.

I was driven to write a few words about this subject because of a piece that appeared in the January (2010) issue of Newsweek. Lisa Miller says in Finding Spirituality at Home, “[Believers] mistrust authority and institutional hierarchy.” This, according to her, seems to be the principal reason so many are abandoning the big churches in favor of house meetings-commonly called “house churches” (a term I dislike). And some of the big churches are hurting. They are not hurting in spirit, but in the pocketbook!

I agree with Ms. Miller’s diagnosis that it is mainly because of mistrust of authority and institutional hierarchy that so many are walking away from institutional religion and the big churches. There are other reasons as well.

• Believers are sick of meaningless liturgy-stand, sit, bow, sing, contribute. These rituals, rites, and formalities are totally empty of any coherent and edifying message, and they do nothing but breed disheartened believers. Truth-seeking believers long for a family-like atmosphere where everyone is free and encouraged to verbalize, share, mutually participate, and where no one is dressed up like he’s on his way to a Halloween party.
• Believers are finally recognizing that once they formally “place their membership” with a church or denomination, they get caught up in all of their projects and programs. Many have begun to realize that the Christian community has moved from compassion to project. As a result, she has lost her anchor.
• Most believers who are walking away from established churches are aware that Satan is shouting “Hallelujah” when 85-percent of church contributions is squandered on materialistic projects and programs and only 15-percent go to support evangelism and to alleviate the needs of the destitute. These were the only two undertakings the early believers contributed their money to-evangelism and alleviating the poverty of the destitute.
• Believers are also becoming more aware that “church conversion,” as opposed to heart conversion, is not the way of salvation. Religion and church have polluted the stream flowing from the river of life. On a personal note, I ceased long ago trying to convert anyone to any of the modern-day religions or to any of the numerous sects. I now point them in the direction of Jesus only, because 2000 years ago there were no church factions for believers to join. They identified themselves with other believers of a common cause, thus forming Christian congregations or communities. None of the early believers were afflicted with “mad church disease.” And none were church addicts.
• As the apostles and first believers were not Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Mormons, Catholics, or associated with any of the other sects that sprinkle our current partisan landscape, recovering church addicts are also free of these schisms. These religious parties did not exist in the apostles’ time. Therefore recovering church addicts will not be formally aligned with any of these except to work within for reform.
• If Jesus were on earth in the flesh today, I’m confident He would view our present-day religious institutions as He viewed those of His time. He worked among partisan systems for reform while not joining any of them. And so it is with recovering church addicts-work within and among partisan groups, whenever possible, without subscribing to any of them.

So may house meetings increase! And may the systems that enslaved believers for centuries decrease and finally self-abort. And to God be the glory.

Below is an excerpt of a treatise by John M. Bland from 1995. His thoughts below are under the subtitle The Human Tendency Toward Irresponsibility. You can read the entire 85 pages here free. I struggled a bit on whether or not I should post this. The second half of his treatise has strong Cessationist ideology which I don’t agree with. The first half, however, is really inciteful and I would hope you would take time to read the excerpt below and the first half of his treatise.

“Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, Look, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations…. And the Lord said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (1 Samuel 8:4-5,7,).”

The above scripture is an excellent illustration of the human tendency to ascribe to someone else one’s own God-given responsibilities. Yahweh had founded a theocratic (God ruled) nation of priests. He had chosen them to be special. He had delivered them from the rule of Pharaoh and given them equality under His reign as defined below.

“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And you will be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:4-6).”

History shows they were faithful to God for only a short period of time. They failed to obey God in driving out the inhabitants of the land. They quit inquiring into the will of God from the Levitical priests. The comment in Judges 17:6, is this. “At that time there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. Because they had rejected God’s rule, He sold them into the hands of oppressors. From time to time, God found it merciful to raise up a deliverer. They would rally around this judge and with God’s help conquer the enemy. Generally, they were called to personally participate in the war.

This was the background of things when Samuel, the last judge, was enfeebled with age. Israel was still surrounded with enemies. The people were weary of their responsibilities to confront these adversaries. They gave two reasons for their request for a king. The first is stated in the above introductory verse – that they could be like the surrounding nations. It takes courage and fortitude to be different. It takes commitment to an ideal to take a stand. It requires sacrifice to battle. From this perspective, you can understand their insistence on having a king even after the negatives were iterated. We want a king anyway, they said,

“…that we may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles (1 Samuel 8:19-20).”

Now we’re getting to the most important reason for their insistence. They were tired of fighting. They were glad – with some hesitation – to let others carry their responsibilities. God had warned them about the nature of kings. “They will tax you.” “They will make servants out of your children.” “They will take your sons for soldiers.” “They will make your daughters perfumers and cooks.” Etceteras! “Yeah,” they replied, “we can understand that but what is that to us?” “Give us a king!” (paraphrase mine)

Who were these responsibility shirkers? These were the elders, the older people. These were the ones whom God wished to be shepherds of His citizens: those that had the weight of age and
experience. It was going to be their sons who would end up paying the cost of their folly. It was their daughters that would be tyrannized by the kings that would follow. It was the issue of their loins that would have to give up their hard earned money to the king and his court. It was their offspring who would weep and toil in a land of captivity while they “rested with their fathers.” The consequences of their demand was far reaching and enduring and they had no Scriptural right to relinquish their responsibilities to those “who would be kings”. In doing so, God accused them of rejecting Him.

This Old Testament passage illustrates the constant human disposition to make excuses and avoid personal responsibility. Adam was the first to blame someone else for his rebellion. He ended up blaming both God and his wife. In the instance of Israel, after God gave in to their wish and granted them a “substitute”, their first king Saul “shirked” his responsibility to carry out God’s desire and then blamed the people (1 Samuel 15).

In modern day vernacular we would say “let George do it”. Well, you say, that was then and this is now. Are we, the heirs of New Testament Christianity, guilty of the same?

Below is an excerpt of an interview by The Wittenberg Door. Juan Carlos Ortiz was asked about church structure and church renewal. The interview was conducted in 1980 but his responses are still relevant today.

Door: In your books you also talk a lot about church renewal. Can you describe the renewal that went on in your own church?

Ortiz: We had experienced tremendous numerical growth in our church. But we discovered that we were running the church like a business. We were promoting Christ like we would promote a product, like we would promote Coca-Cola…We realized that simply increasing the number of people that attend church is not growth-cemeteries grow that way too.

One of the things we did right away was to change the focus of our message. Instead of urging people to come to Christ for all the blessings they would receive, we began to talk about Christ as Lord. We began to preach that people should come to Christ for Christ alone, not for a miracle, a blessing, or even heaven. We simply went back to preaching the person of Christ.

Door: What is your concept of church structure?

Ortiz: Jesus did not come to start an institution. He never intended to buy a piece of land and build a headquarters. We have to ask the Spirit today how to meet the needs of today. I must say that all structures are a hindrance to people in their search for God. If people have to accept Christ plus a pipe organ, the piano, the program, the television ministry, millions will reject Christ.

So often when a person comes into the church structure, it alienates them from their family and friends. Anything that takes the place of the Lord is wrong. For lots of people the structure takes the place of Jesus. They become meeting-centered instead of Christ-centered.

Rather than having deacons and elders, who function like the members of a board, and a minister, who functions like the president of the board, you strive for a group of people who become friends. Just like the disciples-they work together, love one another, and take care of one another.

Door: When we hear the word discipleship we think of a strong authority figure who becomes the discipler while exercising control over the disciplee, if there is such a word.

Ortiz: I would not use the word authority. That could be dangerous. I would use the word love. In my house, for instance, there is authority, but we never use the word. Authority is like soap, the more you use it, the less you have. The more you say you are the boss, the less authority you have. There is a kind of authority that lives in love, but we’re talking about a love relationship, not a military relationship.

Door: What are the signs of immaturity in the church today?

Ortiz: [One] evidence of immaturity in the church is the need for rules and laws. Children live by rules. They take a bath or brush their teeth because they are told to do it…Suppose the Lord tells me to eat an orange. So I eat the orange and sincerely believe that God has led me. Tomorrow, the Lord tells me to eat an orange again. So what happens? The next day I write down a rule to eat an orange every day. And do you see what that does? Now I don’t need the Spirit anymore. I have a law instead. Laws kill life. Laws stop growth. You end up staying with a concept, a principle, or a doctrine rather than life. What we did yesterday in the Spirit, we do today in the flesh.

Door: Can you summarize your suggestions for helping the church become a healthy and viable expression of Christ today?

Ortiz: We need to clean the church of all that is not essential or necessary. So we don’t need to waste our time on shakeable things like buildings. Buildings are just monuments to the people that build them. They are a symbol of division in the church. They are a symbol of the church’s self-centeredness.

We should strive toward a very simple structure of the church that could go underground any minute. Nobody on the payroll. No secretaries. No letters to write. We should create a church that can live through relationships so that we are connected person to person. And we can attain that by dividing our churches into small cell groups where people can build each other up.

If the church is always singing the same hymns, saying the same prayers, performing the same liturgy, and giving the same messages, it is because there is no growth. The wineskins of the church have to be elastic so we can always put in new wine.

I’ve been doing some study on fishing nets and found this very insightful article by Carol S. Wimmer. I have included some excerpts from her article below but I would suggest you read the entire article, she makes some great points. You can find the article here and you can check out other articles and her website here.

An organizational structure defines and determines how all participants will view themselves within the organization. If this belief holds any measure of truth, then the church’s structural image is as important as her purpose for existing. If the church is to succeed in her mission, then she must know what her mission is, as well as the way in which she will structure herself.

The original organization of justice-centered leadership had no physical temple or church building where people gathered, lit oil lamps, or sang songs for an hour of worship each week. Instead, worshiping God and honoring the guidelines established for good living became a way of life. This was the baby bride’s purpose-to provide a WAY of life that honored God-a way of life rooted exclusively in a just society that addresses the care of neighbor by addressing the needs of each neighbor.

The pyramidal model strokes the egos of many pharaoh-type people in this world. Powerful people love to build empires of social control more than networks of social justice. Power is an addictive type of yeast that grows inside the human ego. Through dominance and a rigid legalistic system of religious laws, the power that comes with casting out anyone who doesn’t obey the rules established by their leaders seduced Israel’s leaders. Seduction is particularly easy when the elected leaders believe they speak for God or have the authority to speak for God.

It is humanity’s desire to select our default image of the pyramid whenever we organize ourselves in camps, groups, temples, or congregations. That choice causes humankind to miss God’s way of life for our entire species. We simply cannot give up our sinful desire to be mini-gods who prefer control over neighbor, rather than care of neighbor as we care for ourselves.

When thinking about the new image of the church of tomorrow, I suggest the Bride of Christ won’t be dressing herself in a pyramidal shaped structure. Once she fully heals from her present hemorrhaging, she will begin to make, spread, and cast nets.

Thousands upon thousands of human nets cast out upon the spiritual waters of neighborhoods, villages, towns, cities and geographic regions around the world. When Christians learn the art of net making and teach the art to others who want to learn, people will live in equitable, justice-centered societies. But first, the hemorrhaging woman must finally reach out her hand and touch the fringe of Jesus cloak. Then humankind will finally realize the kingdom of heaven on the earth.

In theory, the original net-like model created peaceful, non-violent, justice-oriented, grassroots governance. Imagine people governing themselves in the absence of any authoritarian pharaohs! When implemented effectively, the result would be an equitably-balanced society-a kingdom of heaven on earth. Hence, Jesus placed an image in the minds of his followers saying, “the kingdom of heaven is like a net,” Matthew 13:47. He also called fishermen into his inner circle because they knew how to construct fishing nets. When he called his disciples, he told them they would fish for people-those who are committed to an equitable way of life.

Don’t miss a blog