Category: Books / Videos

This is another excerpt from The Other Half of Church by Jim Wilder & Michel Hendricks. This book is not your typical house church book but it is highly recommended. You can get a taste by reading the excerpt below. You can read the first excerpt on Joy here.

Whole-brained Christianity makes full use of truth and relationship. Half-brained Christianity parks on the truth and leaves the relational soil untended.

Jesus wants a church with healthy soil that keeps relationships in the center. Each of the four ingredients of healthy soil is relational. Joy is what I feel when my brain senses that you are happy to be with me. Hesed is our family attachment of joyful love. Group identity is our corporate map of who we are and how we act as children of the living God. Our culture of correction leaves no man or woman behind. When someone forgets who they are, we bring them back gently to their true self. Healthy soil is relational through and through.

By building a foundation of relational joy, love, and identity, we create an environment where we naturally and regularly witness transformation. We expect radical change when people join our community. As we reintroduce right-brain practices into our discipleship-along with the traditional left-brain spiritual disciplines we are using the full-brain power that God gave us to form our character. The Great Commission displaces the great omission as our people learn to obey Jesus with heart and mind. All of us eagerly accept correction when we stop acting like ourselves.

People choose to be involved in a particular Christian community for many reasons. The primary attraction of a full-brained community is our joy and love. People might not remark, “Their teaching is so good.” “I love the music there.” “That pastor is such a good teacher.” Instead, they might say, “These people love each other so much.” “This room is filled with joy.” “I want to be like them.” Love is the centerpiece of everything a full-brained church does. A church planted in rich relational soil may be less visually stimulating than other churches, but it is relationally stimulating. Being stimulated by love and joy is more important than being stimulated by other factors.

Unlike most Christian leaders, the relational pastor intentionally stays small. People are not impressed by this pastor, except by his humility and maturity. A full-brained community is impressed by Jesus alone and sees any attempt to magnify another person as an opportunity to offer a gentle rebuke. In a healthy church, people talk about Jesus all the time. They seldom talk about the pastor, and this is as it should be. Jesus is large and in charge. The pastor is but one of many people in a community where all faithfully complete the assignments Jesus gave them.

Pastors and other leaders stay small and act like trainers-laser focused on creating a relational environment that fosters transformation. Instead of looking only at attendance, giving, or other numbers, they also focus intently on bringing their people to maturity.

Much has been written of the exploits of the heroes of World War II, but what do you know about the drill sergeants who trained them in boot camp? Who was Beethoven’s childhood piano teacher? Who first instructed Serena Williams how to hit a tennis ball? Who taught Lionel Messi to dribble a soccer ball? Trainers are seldom famous. A relational pastor remains largely unknown outside the church. His flock is thankful for the maturity they are developing. Pastors who refuse to be magnified know that their example will encourage the next generation of pastors to stay small-just like Jesus taught.

We can mistake the inflated pastor for a great leader if we believe the world’s definition of greatness. Jesus operates under a different rubric. We find Him adjusting the disciples’ definition when He catches them arguing about who is the greatest. The disciples are debating about which of them would be the biggest winner in the kingdom of heaven. They no doubt have images in their minds of what that looked like, but Jesus flips their picture upside down.

Jesus corrects the disciples by saying, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35 ESV). Apparently, the disciples cannot accept this adjustment. It was too big of a stretch. Jesus must repeat His upside-down definition several times.

On another occasion Jesus calls a little child, placing the child in the middle of the disciples. The men probably looked at each other and wondered what Jesus was doing. With the child standing in the middle He explains, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3-4). Jesus gives them a visual picture of a small child and basically says, “This is what greatness looks like.” He also brings group identity into the picture. We stop acting like members of God’s kingdom when we inflate ourselves and seek to be great.

Unfortunately, we often build and arrange our churches in ways that can magnify the leader. During many services, the church leader is elevated, standing above the crowd. Do families act like this? We hang large screens above the stage to magnify their face as the Teacher. Their enormous image looms above us as we listen to them disperse wisdom. Do families act like this? The use of video magnification in a church may be necessary, but pastors should simultaneously be modeling “image shrinkification” more often. Leaders are not exempt from Jesus’ upside-down definition of greatness. We, pastors, should be willing to rethink what we do and why we do it.

Emotionally mature leaders always keep relationships more important than ministry. They never sacrifice their congregation’s hesed attachments in order to “do great things.” The horse remains firmly in front of the cart, and every task or ministry they perform from abundant hesed.

A whole-brained church releases transformed disciples into the world like cottonwood seeds in the Colorado wind. Invigorated disciples plant new life in the culture wherever they land. Jesus dispersed His disciples around the world after training them for three years. These disciples and their spiritual descendants changed the fabric of the world. Likewise, we pastors do not focus on changing the world ourselves. Instead, we are trainers who focus on building Christlike character into our people. If we do our job well, our people will change the world.

Subscribe below to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.

Bursting Wineskins is a short (75 page) book by Mack Cunningham describing his search for a more Biblical Church life. The excerpt below reflects on the question of whether you are needed or not.

There is a final important passage of Scripture that has much to say about how God wants Christ’s church to function on this earth. It is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. Here is the text.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

Verses 12 and 13 emphasize that there is only one body because we have all been baptized into Christ by the same Holy Spirit. It has already been noted how far we have strayed from this heavenly reality.

But in spite of this oneness, there are different parts to this body. Verses 14 to 19 declare this important truth. This diversity was intended by God to create an important aspect of interdependence on each other in the body of Christ because the body of Christ needs different parts in order to effectively carry out multiple tasks. As vs. 17 states, ‘If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of smelling?’ Thus vs. 19 concludes, ‘If all were a single member, where would the body be?’ Obviously, it would not be able to function as it should. Vs. 22 goes even further when it states that ‘the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are necessary’.

But let us be frank about modern church life. Do we feel indispensable to what goes on in our local assembly, or could the whole organization get along fine without us? Who would run the sound system and coordinate the overheads? Who would staff the Sunday school classes? Who would organize and show up for a church building workday? Do these activities seem indispensable to you? There is only one very important contribution that each believer makes in most local churches and that is their tithe. Without regular tithing, a full-time staff and maintenance of a building could not be supported. This would put an end to that local church’s existence.

Congregations are becoming increasingly unstable as families choose where to attend depending on personal need fulfillment. This transience is partly due to the modern church’s structure that communicates they want you to keep showing up but really don’t have any dire need of you, just your tithe. Any need for each other is usually generated by friendships that are formed and social life that is shared among members. To actually value and rely on another believer’s spiritual qualities and gifts is rare. Unity in the body of Christ has been seriously undermined by one part of the body communicating to another part, in effect, ‘I have no need of you’ (vs. 21).

There must be something more that each believer is to contribute to the body that makes each one very necessary. Verses 21 through 26 point out that there is a problem with human perception when it comes to how important each part of the body is. Those we see as ‘weaker’ are indispensable. They are more important than we naturally think. Therefore, those we deem less honorable are to be honored more than those we would naturally give more honor to. This is not a psychological ploy to make everybody feel better about themselves. Nor is it sociological manipulation to maintain equanimity. It is wise counsel given to congregations to combat our natural ways of evaluating people and tune into the spiritual value that each believer possesses. Unfortunately, modern church life has ignored this counsel and heaps praise on those who already are ‘more honored’-typically these are pastors and worship leaders. I suppose one could try to give more honor to the ‘laity, but it would seem trite to heap praise on someone for their faithfulness in passing out bulletins.

The last two verses (25 & 26) emphasize how connected each part of the body of Christ is to all the other parts. We are to show the same care for one another. When one suffers, we all suffer. When one is honored, we all rejoice together. Frankly, my own sense of connection to other believers varies, depending on how involved I am with them. It could be that this is another time when the phrase ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ applies. There is a spiritual connectivity that exists in Christ’s universal church that we are dimly aware of in our earthly church life.

Our natural tendencies as to how we evaluate people and engage with them are to be changed in light of who we now are in Christ. It is very challenging to see our local fellowship as actual members of the body of Christ and not just a social gathering. We gravitate to, and spend time with, those we like or admire with little thought of others. And we don’t see the hidden giftedness in most of our fellow believers because we are functioning in a church structure that inhibits our spiritual growth and expression.

Our appreciation of, and how we value, other believers would certainly increase as we saw their spiritual giftedness in action. We would look afresh at others if we saw the Holy Spirit impact the church through them. Up to this point I have focused on how we meet together. One can hopefully see how important a ‘testimony time’ is when we gather. We can share how the Holy Spirit has been working through us and impacting us personally during the week. This kind of sharing certainly is important in gaining insight into other believers and increasing our appreciation of them. But this kind of sharing rarely takes place in mid-week meetings, let alone any Sunday service.

But some giftedness is manifest outside the local gatherings in the communal activities we have and the secular activities we are involved in. It is there that the Holy Spirit does most of His work through us. But if we don’t get involved with other believers outside our gathering together, we will never see their spiritual side in action. That is why our Kingdom life together has to be more than a series of meetings. Time must be invested in order to foster intimate relationships. But the individualistic and self-centered lifestyles of the modern church do not foster development of intimate relationships.

Let me sum up the line of reasoning I have put forth in this chapter. Each believer in Christ has value and has an indispensable function in the church. But most believers don’t recognize this value in themselves, let alone others. There are three main reasons this is the case. First, there is very little opportunity for giftedness to be demonstrated in the modern church system. Second, no time is allowed for saints to give testimonies of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in their lives or share any edifying verses from scripture. And third, our individual lifestyles minimize the time we need to get together outside the normal meetings in order to get to know one another. Hopefully, it is becoming clearer to my reader that this is not something that can be corrected by trying harder or being more aware. There needs to be a structural change in how we fundamentally ‘do church’ and prioritize our personal lives in order to address these kinds of problems.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.

I took a chance when I purchased The Other Half of Church by Jim Wilder & Michel Hendricks, but how often can you get advice from a Neurotheologian? This book is terrific and I would recommend it to everyone. Below is an excerpt about the benefits of joy. I posted a second excerpt that you can read here.

As I studied more about the role of joy in spiritual formation, I saw the benefits piling up. When Jim told me that he discovered the importance of joy and brought it to his counseling practice, he saw drastic changes in the lives of his patients. His clinic treated difficult cases that other clinics and churches had given up on, and most patients arrived to their first session in a state of severely low joy. Previously, the clinic would need to hospitalize a large percentage of these patients during their treatment. Their counseling sessions would send them into such deep trauma that they could no longer function. Jim and the other therapists had come to accept that hospitalization was a normal part of recovery.

Once the clinic started focusing on building patients’ joy before treating their trauma, hospitalization rates plummeted to almost zero. They were filling up their clients’ gas tanks with joy fuel before beginning the heavy work of trauma recovery. Trying to do emotionally taxing work with an empty tank is like running a marathon without having eaten food for a month. Eventually your body will shut down for lack of energy. Jim’s patients would emotionally collapse. We run the same danger in our churches and families when we do not build our joy together as a part of ministry. We eventually drain our tanks and run on empty.

Joy helps us regulate our emotions and endure suffering. Jesus refused to relinquish joy in the midst of His suffering on the cross. When we are able to stay relationally connected to others and God, we experience joy while we suffer. Joy does not remove our pain, but it gives us the strength to endure. Remember that joy is relational, so “joy in suffering” means that God and our community are glad to be with us in our distress. They do not allow us to suffer alone. We are able to bear our suffering like Jesus, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2 NASB).

Contrary to what some preachers say in their sermons on Jesus’ “seven last words,” He never lost touch of His Father’s face shining on Him as He was tortured and humiliated. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). He could see through the angry faces in the crowd to the kind and steady gaze of His Father. His joy sustained Him. The author of Hebrews exhorts us to handle our suffering the same way, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” (12:2 NASB). Jesus’ face helps us persevere through the pain of life.

It is important to remember that joy is not strictly an emotion. We might refer to it as a supra-emotion because it can go on top of and connect with other emotions. For example, if I lose my job, this is usually not considered a joyful occasion. Instead, I am probably feeling some combination of sadness, fear, and anger. However, when I experience these unpleasant emotions and can simultaneously feel that God is with me, I have added joy into the mix. If I have close friends who are also happy to be with me in my loss, my joy magnifies even more. Now I’m feeling sad and joyful. Fearful and joyful. Angry and joyful. Joy does not replace the unpleasant emotions; instead it combines with my emotions to keep me relationally connected in distress.

The importance of joy to our brain highlights the fact that we must suffer in community. We were not meant to suffer alone. We need to lean on God and on our people in times of distress. We naturally do this when a family member dies. Everyone comes together in order to share the sadness. We tell stories about the deceased. We eat together. We sit in silence. We are joyful (not happy) because we want to suffer together. This is the definition of joy: I want to be with you. Joy is relational in its essence.

Joy is the foundation for a secure bond with God. When I trust that God is happy to be with me’ and is smiling at me, this joy naturally removes fear from the relationship. A goal we have in our bond with God is to nurture a loving relationship until it has no fear. One of Jesus’ disciples explains it well: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Joy is the path to a fearless love for God.

Our identity is built and formed by joy-bonded relationships. The identity center in our brain grows in response to joy, which helps us act like ourselves in all situations. In a performance-based relationship or community, our identity becomes distorted because we feel the need to perform. When we put on a pretend self, our joy starts decreasing. We can build joy only with our true self. When churches foster a performance-based environment that encourages us to simply put on a happy face when we are suffering, it will quickly run out of joy.

I have already mentioned that joy helps us experience God’s presence in our bodies. I could keep listing more benefits, but let me quote a book Jim coauthored:

“When we are the sparkle in someone’s eyes, their face lights up with a smile when they see us. We feel joy. From the moment we are born, joy shapes the chemistry, structure and growth of our brain. Joy lays the foundation for how well we will handle relationships, emotions, pain and pleasure throughout our lifetime. Joy creates an identity that is stable and consistent over time. Joy gives us the freedom to share our hearts with God and others. Expressing our joyful identity creates space for others to belong. Joy gives us the freedom to live without masks because, in spite of our weaknesses, we know we are loved. We are not afraid of our vulnerabilities or exposure. Joy gives us the freedom from fear to live from the heart Jesus gave us. We discover increasing delight in becoming the people God knew we could be.”

God designed us to live on a rich diet of joy-filled relationships. Communities that take joy building seriously will experience all of the benefits listed above and more. Since joy happens when people are glad to be together, take a moment to remember your own experience in joyful groups. Have you seen any of these benefits of joy?

I feel like I belong
I feel more stable when things go wrong
It is easier to be myself
I feel free to share my heart with God and others

Subscribe below to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.

What does biblical church leadership look like and how does it function? This is probably the number one question I get asked. Biblical Church Leadership by Beresford Job is one of the best books I can recommend concerning this topic. Below is a short excerpt concerning eldership.

We must make an extremely important point now by way of a vital qualification. Although we are seeing that permanent, local church leadership (eldership, as scripture terms it) carries no executive or positional authority, we are not saying that it is therefore merely “a token affair.” As already established, the major default of biblical church leadership, in contrast with leadership as found in most unbiblical churches, is that of invisibility, as opposed to being high profile, and visitors to such a church would not, under normal circumstances, know if there were any elders or not, let alone who they might be. Remember, there are no services led from the front in a biblical church because, as we have seen, all present are free to take part as the Spirit leads them. Indeed, being also home-based, there isn’t even a front for anyone to be up at anyhow, and people are just sitting around in a circle in someone’s sitting room. Furthermore, any elders present just think of themselves as being “one of the lads” and would not for one moment be sitting there thinking in terms of them being a leader. However, this is not to say than any elder present would shrink from taking a lead if any developing situation required it, and as publicly as necessary too.

The fact that church government is consensual does not in the slightest mean that elders do not know when to step forward, or when they must be somewhat more definitive than usual about something, or when it is appropriate for them to give a strong lead concerning anything that is pressing. They would also, in any such circumstances, expect the church to give serious consideration indeed to anything they were saying as a result. As I have already noted, there may be times when there is no consensus over an issue that just cannot be shelved and, in such cases, if the eldership has a clear idea of the necessary way forward, then the church would be strongly advised to go that way. Being also guardians of the church, as we have also already clearly seen, elders have the serious duty of protecting it from attack, from both outside and from within, however the attack might manifest itself. We earlier saw what Paul wrote to Titus concerning elders, that an elder “…must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine, and refute those who oppose it.” (Titus 1:9) The Greek word Paul uses means “to refute in such a way as to put the person to shame.” Indeed, it is appropriate to think of elders, and church leaders more widely, by making a parallel comparison with Jesus being designated both as the Lamb of God and as the Lion of Judah. Wise and godly church leaders fully realise that there is a time to roar, just as there is a time for gentleness. This is the type of wisdom and discretion that (even more-so than the other leadership qualifications) primarily defines them, and stems from exceptional character and sound, godly living.

It is not, therefore, the case that biblical church leadership, such as I am advocating for, is in any way token, or merely some kind of toothless rubber stamp. Elders may not have executive or positional authority, but they have still been recognised by their church as having been fitted by God for the task because of their exemplary Christian walk. They have therefore been recognised precisely because they have proved themselves over the years, by personal example, to those they lead, and that, as I have already stated, gives them something arguably even more powerful than executive authority; and that is moral authority. It is the moral authority of being able to freely and effectively carry people along with them because of the profound trust engendered between all those concerned over the many months and years of close, personal fellowship.

Beresford Job can be reached at…

Website: www.housechurch.co.uk
 Blog: beresfordjob.wordpress.com
 Email: talk2ccf@hotmail.com

Don’t miss a post, sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter below.

If you’re a good swimmer you might want to take a deep dive into The Pastor Does He Exist? by David H.J. Gay. This book, at about 350 pages is not for everyone. However, if you like church history, this book contains details of how the church fathers introduced error and how future generations exacerbated this error.

The great causality in the corruption of the New Testament system, about which I have been writing, is not church life, or men. Far from it. Most damage has been done to nothing less than the glory of the person of the Lord Christ himself. Really? Yes, indeed!

The grievous consequence of this pastor business, the grievous error in it, is not some technical point of church order and structure. Certainly not. No! Rather it is this: When men invent a third order of minister, when they invent the notion of the pastor, they are in fact – albeit unwittingly – fulfilling a basic instinct ingrained in fallen man; namely, the need of every sinner to find a priest to represent him before God, and a visible priest at that. The widespread existence of a priesthood is no accident. Men and women all over the world, in all sorts of cultures, in every culture, crave a priest. It takes various forms, but the craving is there.

Let me stick with Christendom. How rife is the need for a priest in Christendom! I say ‘need’, but throughout Christendom, men demand, crave, hanker after such an individual. Many think they need a priest for their babies as they enter the world, so that he, with his ministrations, can get these babies right with God, will give them their so-called Christian name by sprinkling drops of water on them, and muttering some hocus-pocus over them. Some of these babies as they grow up, take it further. They need a priest – or even a bishop – to confirm their spiritual status in some way or another, and bestow the Holy Spirit upon them through the laying on of his hands. They need a priest to administer the communion to them. They need a priest to make their marriage ‘proper’. They need a priest to offer them words of comfort when they pass through affliction. They need a priest to absolve them from their sins. They need a priest to tell them the words of God. Above all. they need a priest who will make sure that all is well at their death, and will ensure their safe and certain passage to the realms of bliss. Men hanker after a priest, I say; they crave the comforts of a professional minister and his religious ministrations. At all stages of life, they want a priest to perform the rites of passage for them.

Reader, do not make the mistake of thinking the above paragraph applies only to those churches which openly speak about having a priest. Far, far from it! Many believers and churches are guilty of it in some form or another – not excluding those who are most vehement in their dislike of the word ‘priest’. Of course, most dramatically is it seen in the Roman abomination, with its so-called Vicar of Christ, and his priestly legions. But, distressing to report, the principle is not only a feature of Popery. It is alive and kicking in the evangelical world. Oh, we may have jettisoned the gaudy trappings of medievalism, yes, but we have replaced them with our own Reformed and evangelical trappings and props, right enough!

My point is, by breaking Christ’s ordinances on this subject, evangelicals (including the Reformed) pander to this craving. Ordinary – what a dreadful word – ordinary believers, so they are told, are lay people; they really do need a member of the special class – one of the clerics – to lead and preside over their worship, to minister holy things to and for them.

And it is but a short step from this for the ordinary people to let their clerics ‘do’ their worship on their behalf. Ordinary Christians cannot be expected to learn directly from God’s word, can they? They need the professional expert, the man of God, the Lord’s servant, the Lord’s sent-servant, the Lord’s anointed to teach them, don’t they? They need a professional minister to pray for them, not infrequently to pronounce (if not to bestow – but not, as it should be, to ask) God’s blessing on them as they leave the meeting house. It is not unknown for Reformed or evangelical men to pronounce the aaronic benediction (Num. 6:24-26) upon a congregation at the close of a service, even with uplifted hands, palms facing the congregation – copying Aaron who addressed the people, not God, with this benediction (Num. 6:23). Do such men not fear they might be trespassing on Christ’s prerogative (Luke 24:50)? Or, worse, are they aping him? No man today has this right or power. If 2 Corinthians 13:14 is thought to justify it though it needs proof that Paul was not simply praying there – it was an apostolic blessing. Compare Romans 1:7; 15:13; 16:20,25-27; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 16:23; Galatians 1:3-5; 6:18, for example.

For many ‘ordinary’ believers, in their need, their professional pastor counsels them. In their ignorance, he guides them. In their sin, he intercedes for them. Nothing wrong with this, of course. Except… when the pastor takes the place of Christ. And, not infrequently, he does. Hackles will rise at this, but I say it again. For the ‘ordinary’ believer, too often the visible pastor is more real than the invisible Christ. Yet all these vital ministries belong to Christ. They are properly his, and only his. He is the Pastor of his people. But, once the human priest has got his feet under the table, he will eventually replace the Son of God.

Don’t miss a blog. Sign up below for my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.

Below is the second excerpt from Safe Houses of Hope & Prayer by R. Maurice Smith. You can find out more about Maurice by going to his website risingrivermedia.org. The first excerpt can be accessed by clicking here.

I would dare say that most Christians in traditional institutional churches never achieve or experience genuine fellowship (what I would prefer to call genuine community). Why? Because genuine fellowship is messy, takes work and requires perseverance. For time pressed leaders, it is much easier to teach people to death with impressive Bible notes in PowerPoint presentations than it is to work through the personal issues which stand in the way of genuine community. And lectures you can control are easier than dialogues which you can’t.

Our English word translated “fellowship” is the Greek word koinonia which comes from the Greek word koine, meaning “common.” Fellowship is the holding of certain things in common. In the life of the organic house church it is a mutual sharing of our lives together. We share a common life in the Kingdom of God and drink from a common River of His Spirit in the bond of Christ.

The desire for genuine koinonia was not new in the ancient world, nor was it exclusively Christian. The Classical Greek philosophers had envisioned a utopian fellowship that they described as koinonia. But all classical attempts to achieve this koinonia by human effort had failed miserably. But now, through the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God had accomplished in the Church and the Kingdom of God what the efforts of men throughout the ages had never achieved: genuine fellowship. And this fellowship, this genuine koinonia, was manifested in the organic house churches of the New Testament where believers shared their lives with one another. They shared meals together in one another’s homes. They prayed together, endured persecution together, worshiped together and, at times, they even died together. They preferred one another’s company above all others and gave sacrificially to meet each other’s needs. To express it in contemporary terms for today, these early house churches were made up of people who loved to hang out together. They shared an affinity an attraction based on common interests – that surpassed the natural – it was supernatural. True koinonia or fellowship means that as Christians we share a common life in the Kingdom of God.

A quick word is in order at this point about genuine koinonia or community versus pseudo-community. In genuine community the reality is that baggage happens and this frequently results in conflicts. But mature believers look past the conflict and work together to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2) and help each other unpack their baggage and resolve their conflicts. Unfortunately, this is a new experience for many people who have only experienced the pseudo-community of most churches (traditional and otherwise).

In his excellent book The Different Drum Dr. M. Scott Peck describes pseudo-community this way:

“The essential dynamic of pseudo-community is conflict avoidance. The absence of conflict in a group is not by itself diagnostic. Genuine community may experience lovely and sometimes lengthy periods free from conflict. But that is because they have learned how to deal with conflict rather than avoid it. Pseudo-community is conflict-avoiding; true community is conflict resolving.”

Genuine community, genuine koinonia requires intimacy, vulnerability and conflict resolution with both God and men. Genuine koinonia requires a willingness to work through differences, baggage and conflict. If we are to be successful as organic house churches and as Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer, then we must pursue genuine community in our house churches and create a safe place where it can take place.

Sign up for my bi-monthy blogs below. Thank you.

I really enjoyed reading Safe Houses of Hope & Prayer by R. Maurice Smith. His writing is down to earth, comedic and full of wisdom. The excerpt below addresses how relational gatherings can transform messy people. You can find out more about R. Maurice Smith by going to risingrivermedia.org. Another excerpt from this book can be accessed here.

Let’s face reality, shall we. For several years now I have taught a simple maxim in our house church network: “Life is Messy.” If we look with honest eyes we quickly see that people’s lives are a mess. Their families are a mess; their marriages are a mess; their finances are a mess. And that messiness is most often (but not always) caused by sin and its ripple effects. This is true of the non-Christian as well as for the believer. For those of us seeking a Jesus-shaped spirituality in organic house church, our challenge is how to respond to the messiness of life (particularly other people’s lives) when it shows up in our living room. Over the years we have had just about everything from divorce to demonic manifestations show up in our living room. That’s the challenge (and the blessing) of organic house church. But the messiness of life raises issues of how we deal with issues of sin and its consequences in the lives of those around us as we seek to lead people into the Kingdom of God.

Generally speaking, there are two basic ways such messes can be addressed: 1) We can attempt to create religious rules (“Do these ten things and God will love you and we may let you back into our house church!”) designed and intended to clean up messes and prevent sin, or 2) we can seek God for the inward transformation of the heart and life which overflows in obedience to God.

The choice between these two approaches for dealing with issues of sin and the messiness of people’s lives, the choice between outward religious conformity to rules versus trusting God for the inward spiritual transformation of the individual, will eventually confront every organic house church. And how you respond will define your ministry and your walk.

I want to urge you to believe God for the inward spiritual transformation of people’s hearts, in spite of the messiness of their lives, rather than allowing yourself to walk in a spirit of control and religious legalism. Every ministry, including the organic house church which meets in your house, will eventually be defined by two things: What it stands against, and what it stands for. As organic house churches and Safe Houses of Hope And Prayer, we must stand against sin and the kingdom of darkness in all of its manifestations, and against any spirit of control and outward religious conformity which believes and teaches that you can fight spiritual darkness with man-made religious rules. We stand for the Kingdom of God in all of its righteousness and holiness, and for the genuine spiritual transformation of the individual heart which will overflow in obedience to God.

Here is where life gets complicated and messy. You see, in order to deal with or prevent the sins which they see in others, people and ministries are constantly tempted to create rules of outward religious conformity. We fail to comprehend Paul’s description of the Law in 2 Corinthians 3 as representing a ministry of death and which offers only a fleeting, temporary glory. All too often we fail to realize that, if the Law of God brought only death and condemnation, any laws and rules of men can only do worse! Religious legalism is like fools gold. In the end it is a worthless disappointment, but one which leads many people astray before the truth is discovered.

But because men are sometimes desperate for any kind of glory, however fleeting, they will pursue even a temporary and fading glory which they can control, rather than a greater abounding glory which only God by His Spirit can give. And there’s the rub. A religion-shaped spirituality made up of legalism and outward religious conformity places trust in ourselves to conquer sin and to clean up life’s messes by our own efforts. But a Jesus-shaped spirituality seeking spiritual transformation must always trust God, for He alone gives His Spirit without measure.

What does this mean for Safe Houses of Hope And Prayer and organic house church? And why is this an issue? It means that in both word and deed our message MUST be that we are not here to call anyone to obey our set of rules. We are here to proclaim the Kingdom of God and liberty to the captives. We are here to proclaim that God wants to transform people from the inside out, to deliver them from the ministry of death and condemnation and to introduce them to the abiding and abounding glory of God in the face of Christ. To the extent that we impose our man-made rules of outward religious conformity, we short-circuit the work of God’s Spirit and offer the fool’s gold of believing that personal transformation will come as the result of keeping a set of rules.

Sign up below to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Blessings.

Timothy Germain has created this great little PDF, 69 pages with images and graphics. Solid material and easy reading that can be sent to a friend to introduce them to House Church. This can also be used as a study guide for current groups. The PDF is free to download. I have also included a sample page below.

You can find out more about Tim by going to ekklesiajourney.com. Tim is also on Facebook and YouTube.

Never miss a post. Sign up for my bi-monthly newsletter below. Thank you.

I’ve read a few books by Stephen E. Atkerson and it seems his model of House Church or Small Church is a bit of a mystery to me. The Second edition of New Testament Church Dynamics was published in 2024 and contains some interesting concepts not found in most books on the subject. I hope he has success and people do life well under his ministry, but I can’t recommend his book. You can read some excerpts below.

Aberrant Theology
The lure of a participatory meeting might attract those looking to promote an eccentric doctrine. This is another situation where leaders are needed. Timothy, stationed in Ephesus and temporarily functioning as an elder, was to “charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine” (1Ti 1:3). One qualification for an elder is that he must “be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9). Similarly, Titus was told: “Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you” (Titus 2:15). John warned about a known deceiver: “Do not receive him into your house” (2Jn 1:10). The prevention and correction of error is one reason elders are needed.

One way to filter out doctrinal error is for the church to have an official statement of faith. Remarks made during the church meeting must be consistent with the belief statement. Members with odd beliefs should not be free to publicly express them. In addition, only brothers who are in good standing with the church should be allowed to share. Each week, an announcement should be made that only church members are permitted to speak. The leaders are the gatekeepers for would-be speakers.

Congregational Size
Meetings that are either too big (hundreds of people) or too small (fewer than ten or twenty) present hindrances to participation. The presence of too many people will be inimical to intimacy. It will intimidate the shy and inhibit sharing and accountability. Only a tiny fraction of those present in a big meeting would be able to share anyway (even if they had the courage). Too few contributions from people in a tiny congregation could make the meeting seem dull because of the absence of diversity of spiritual gifts. The typical first-century church, meeting in a wealthy person’s villa, might have sixty-five to seventy people in attendance. There were 120 in the upper room. Early church meetings comprised scores of people: not hundreds and, certainly, not thousands.

Overall I think Stephen promotes the idea of a small church in a building that allows others to speak and share a meal. This seems more of a hybrid between a typical organic church and the institutional church. Like I said above, if people are becoming more like Christ, then God bless them.

To receive my bi-monthly newsletter, sign up below. Thank you.

Secret Church by Maurice Smith is sobering, well written and important. Is the Church ready to face the darkness when the moral and spiritual lights go out? How does the Church prepare itself? I recommend this book and I look forward to reading other works by Maurice. The excerpt below is about getting started. Check out his website risingrivermedia.org.

“And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47).

When the Church was born in the Book of Acts, beginning at Pentecost, those early disciples had no idea how to “do” Church. Like you, they had NEVER “done” Secret Church, or any other kind of Church gathering. But by Acts Chapter 7, after a span of only a few weeks, those early disciples had recognized gifted leaders, assigned responsibilities according to gifts, callings and needs and organized thousands of new converts into a network of organic house churches, spread out all over Jerusalem. These “Secret Churches” met regularly from house-to-house, shared meals together and shared resources to help those in need (read the first seven chapters of Acts to get the whole picture). What is truly amazing, by modern “church growth” standards, is that they did it all without a budget, a building, a professionally trained staff, any “how to” manuals, any church planting or church growth workshops, and no worship team. And they did it all while enduring persecution, first from institutional Judaism and later from Rome itself. It was Simple Church. It was Organic Church. It was Secret Church. It later became an Underground Church. But most importantly, it was Effective Church, effective for the times in which they lived. How effective? So effective that they were accused of turning the Mediterranean world upside down (see Acts 17:6).

There’s an important point here. Secret Church isn’t about a program. Secret Church is a lifestyle; a lifestyle of being a disciple of the Kingdom, lived out in community with other disciples of the Kingdom. That was true of Secret Church in the 1st Century, and it is true of Secret Church today. It is somewhat ironic that as our civilization collapses and devolves into that same moral and spiritual paganism which characterized ancient Rome, God is calling His Church back to being the counter-cultural witness of 1st Century Secret Church. Your journey into Secret Church truly begins when you and I embrace the biblical truth that we don’t “go” to Church. We “are” the Church, a small manifestation of the Kingdom of God where ever we happen to be, starting in our homes.

American Christians seem to have a built-in “default” button. Press it and the average American Christian will show up at a building on Sunday morning at 11 AM looking for a bulletin and a program, ready to sit for an hour-or-so while “others” (paid professional staff) “do” Church. That isn’t church, not in the biblical sense. As A.W. Tozer described it a generation ago, and little has changed since.

“When we compare our present carefully programmed meetings with the New Testament we are reminded of the remark of a famous literary critic after he had read Alexander Pope’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey: ‘It is a beautiful poem, but it is not Homer.’ So the fast-paced, highly spiced, entertaining service of today may be a beautiful example of masterful programming – but it is not a Christian service. The two are leagues apart in almost every essential. About the only thing they have in common is the presence of a number of persons in one room. There the similarity ends and glaring dissimilarities begin.”

Secret Church doesn’t have a default button. If it did, when pushed, the result would be a potluck in someone’s home, worship together, ministry to each other based upon individual spiritual gifts and needs, and maybe even a discipleship study. The focus would be on building community, worshiping together, making disciples and finding ways to sow the seed of the Kingdom by serving those in need. Making the mental transition to Secret Church will take both time and intentional effort. And we may quickly discover that we have less time than we think. The urgency to move forward may well be determined by events which are beyond our control.

Don’t miss a post, sign up to receive my bi-monthly newsletter. Thank you.