The Pioneering Spirit Through The Five Fold in the 21st Century Church

 A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 16 – Snapshots of Tomorrow Today, Hunter says: “As churches in the 21st century make decisions, they will recognize that knowing and following the will of God is a challenge, particularly in changing times. They will give themselves permission to try and permission to fail. They will not see failure as final, but as a step toward learning. They will celebrate what they learn. They will focus on their victories and build on their achievements. They will recognize that decision-making is difficult. They will understand the greatest challenge is not what you decide, but how. They will recognize that, in a time of revival, Christians are pioneers. Pioneers are frequently required to retrace their steps because the direction they took for the last several weeks to find a pass through the mountains turned out only to be a box canyon, and they must now go back to their original point and try again. Everyone understands. This is what pioneers do. This is living by grace.”

To embrace the five fold, one has to have a pioneering spirit, for the five fold is a completely different mind set demanding an unique paradigm shift where relationships built on service is more important than the structure.  The idea of the priesthood of believers again being allowed to do the ministry of service is a new mind set.  Thinking of evangelism, pastoral shepherding, teaching through experience, listening then obeying the voice of God, living the Logos Word through revelation, and overseeing then releasing believers are passions and points of view, not institutional offices or religious titles.  Birthing, nurturing, teaching through experience, seeking revelation, and over sight are actions, not offices.  It will take a pioneer who is willing to serve others and be served by others who have different passions and points of view to be willing to die to self and lay down his life for his brethren.  These are the challenge of the 21^st century believer who embraces the five fold.

“Knowing and following the will of God” was “challenging” to the 20^th century believer when trying to minister out of his passion individually, but I believe will not be as difficult to the 21^st century believer when submitting to the other four different passions and points of view in the five fold who will discern God’s will in unity.  Strategies needed to fulfill that calling or direction will not be as hard to implement as whatever passion or gift can rise at the time needed while being supported by the other four passions. The “how” to do it will be easier since it is Holy Spirit lead, and supported by five different passions and gifting working in service in unity. This team work lead by the Holy Spirit will bring unity in the body of Christ.  The laying down of one’s life for his brethren will be the key.

Ecumenical Movement or Holy Spirit Movement in the 21st Century Church?

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 16 – Snapshots of Tomorrow Today, Hunter says: “Another characteristic of the church in the 21st century will be a different form of ecumenism. The old ecumenism tried (and failed) in the modern era. It was a move for churches to get together under one banner, one structure, one belief system on every detail — homogenize together to show unity. On the mission field, something very different occurs. When you visit a remote outpost of mission, like the Kalahari Desert in Botswana; or Almaty, Kazakhstan (in the far reaches of the former Soviet Union near the western border of China), the missionaries you meet work together toward the common goals of the Kingdom. They are Kingdom people first, but they respect their denominational distinctives. They work together and cooperate, yet retain unique distinctives, where they honestly disagree on the interpretation of Scripture. They recognize what I call bottom-line theology.”

During the 20^th century, I thought ecumenism as a joke.  I looked at the Council of Churches more as a political organization than I did a religious association.  Those involved with ecumenism always talked about “dialoguing” about their differences, but nothing ever happened with the dialogues.  The pages of the local Yellow Book phone book still has multiple sections under religion. 

The 21^st century features dialoguing in the form of texts, tweets, emails, blogs, and Skyping, alias social networking.  People are talking with one another not caring what “religious” label one has.  In fact in the Information section of Facebook, most people put “Christian” rather than Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. like their parents would have done in the last century.

I, too, use to believe that ecumenism meant one banner, one structure, and one belief system.  I have come to realize that the very diversity in the body of Christ that divided it is also its strength when the Church allows the Holy Spirit to work in it.  In the outdoor Jesus Rallies held in Pennsylvania in the ‘70’s, and attending a Spirit Renewal Conference in the Super Dome in New Orleans in the late ‘80’s, I had a taste of immersion in the Body of Christ where we fellowshipped and worshipped together not knowing or caring what religious labels we carried.  The Church is united when their only focus is on Jesus Christ.

Diversity is actually the Church’s strength because it then transcends culture and traditions.  The Church in Africa may express their musical form, language, and worship style differently than the Church in Europe or North America, but there is unity in worshiping Jesus Christ. 

If being “in Jesus” is a unifying factor, then the five fold may be a structure allowing individual diversity with unifying results. Ephesians 4:12 states the purpose of the five fold is"to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  The five fold is to help believers, the priesthood of believers, to “grow up”, become “mature” in “the fullness of Christ.”  Christians who know who Jesus is and who they are in Jesus, being Christ-like, will naturally reach unity in faith.  There is unity because of their Christ-likeness.

Even though the evangelist births, the pastoral shepherd nurtures, the teacher remains Biblically sound, the prophet seeks communion with God, and the apostles “sees over” all that the Holy Spirit is doing, it still remains that the Holy Spirit is doing it.  If the Holy Spirit has liberty to move among each of them as he wills, diversity will remain in the body.  We will not have “replica bobble-head dolls” of Christians.  The Holy Spirit will move as needed as He wills in each congregation for the purpose of edifying Jesus and drawing men toward Jesus.  As individual churches, bodies of Christ, develop into the fullness of Jesus, they will naturally draw to one another.

I remember being in a Mennonite Renewal Meeting once when a prophetic word was given telling everyone there that “there will be a time when the only place you can find Mennonites is in a history book.”  It took the prophet guts to give that word when in the midst of Mennonites, but he was “right on”.  There will be a time “here on earth as it is in heaven” when the labels that divided the Church will be history and the Church will be united, prepared for the return of the Groom for His Bride.

I believe the 21^st Century Church may see a greater form of unity in the Church than it has in centuries because of the movement of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ drawing His believers closer to Him.  It will take time, but the diversity in the body of Christ just may prove to be the unifier of the 21^st Century Church where it has been the divider in the past.  Only the Holy Spirit can bring unity in the Church.  Again, I ask, “Are you willing to trust the Holy Spirit?”

The Out Of Control 21st Century Church Where The Holy Spirit Is In Control

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 16 – Snapshots of Tomorrow Today, Hunter says: “The church of the future will be willing to be out of control, humanly speaking. The New Testament Church was literally out of control. The church was very much under control of the Holy Spirit, but New Testament Christians were willing to trust God to control the church. Our Bible still says that Christ is the Head of the Body, the Lord of the Church. Our performance often shows we control, or try to control, too much. This leads to a high-maintenance style of doing church. By trusting God, and recognizing the church can be a chaordic structure, we can begin to reshape the way we do church. We can allow the church to be, humanly speaking, out of control. However, it will remain under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is not our job to be the Head of the Body!"

My manta has been recently: “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?  Is it safe to trust the Holy Sprit?  Really, Can you trust the Holy Spirit?  How safe is that?  I am serious about asking, but can we trust the Holy Spirit?”  If the answer is yes, then let’s trust Him!”  Often we don’t trust the Holy Spirit because of the unknown. We fear the unknown rather than embrace it in faith.  What will he do?  The followers of Jesus decided to trust the Holy Spirit and meet in an upper room expecting “the promise” of the Holy Spirit to come, but had no idea how that would happen or how the Holy Spirit would manifest himself.  He showed up as tongues of fire which foreigners understood, with a boldness that replaced the running and hiding mentality, with authority though the believers were not religiously trained that shocked the Sanhedrin, the trained religious leaders of that day, and with power where people yearned just for Peter’s shadow to pass them!  A little group in the upper room is manageable.  Three thousand saved in one day: it looks like an unmanageable situation, but the Holy Spirit leads and provides, and the new Church manages, in fact thrives. What looked like chaos was manageable.  An institutional non-bending structure fears chaos, fears the loss of control, fears the “weird”.  A chaordic structure is fluid, creative, with out the boundaries that holds one back, and is fresh.  It can handle the changes caused by revival or by a movement of God.  Controllable chaos is learning to go with the flow of the Holy Spirit.

In my 20’s, just baptized in the spirit, visiting a Prayer and Praise service at Lower Octorara Pesbyterian Church under James Brown only the night before, I was thrust into a leadership role to head six weeks prayer and praise services prior to a Dave Wilkerson Crusade.  I admit: I had no idea what I was doing or suppose to do, so I just let the Holy Spirit develop it.  Develop it he did as spiritual life grew among the few of us who first attended to 75 people who came the last night.  During that last night the supernatural broke out in the form of tongues, but something was wrong, but I did not know what. Then a second person broke out in tongues, forcing the first to stop. Now I knew scripturally that that wasn’t right, but an interpretation came follow the second tongue which basically rebuked the first for being out of order.  The Holy Spirit, whom I had to trust, was in control bringing correction in the midst of my ignorance.  Order was restored, and the Holy Spirit moved mightily that night!  Lives were changed, our faith arose, and the Holy Spirit came through. After the meeting, exhausted, laying against the fire pit wall, is the only time I have ever heard the audible voice of God who said, “Son, well done.”  What joy and satisfaction filled my heart and spirit, but wait. Didn’t He know that I did not know what I was doing? Yes, He did, but He knew that I would trust Him in spite of my ignorance in spiritual matters.  He knew that I knew that I was not the “head” of that meeting; the Spirit of Jesus Christ was! Even though to some, revival looked “out of control” and messy that night, the Spirit was in control and brought correction and control back into the situation with fruit to prove it the rest of the night!

As I am taking this journey with the five fold, I have often asked, “Is the Holy Spirit really in control here?” wanting to take over the control.  I have learned to die to self in order to yield to the Holy Spirit.  I personally have not seen the five fold manifested in the way that I teach it, so I question myself, “Is this really of the Holy Sprit or my imagination?  Who is in control, the Holy Spirit or my imagination?  Actually this journey for me is all about faith, believing in the unseen as if it was seen, and trust, relying on the Holy Spirit for direction, insight, and revelation.  So it has gone full circle and comes back to me:  Can I trust the Holy Spirit?  Every believer in Jesus Christ must answer that in the affirmative if they wish to seek the advancement of the kingdom of God in their life through revival or a movement of God.

The question should be “Can God trust you?”  Can He trust you to trust Him?  In spite of chaotic control on His part, doing things differently than we would, I ask you, as I ask myself, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?”  If so, then Holy Spirit, bring it on……

Staffing Or Equipping: The Challenge of the 21st Century Church

 A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church 

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 15 – The Church Staff: A Dysfunctional Business Plan, Hunter says: “At the risk of sounding non- academic, the traditional approach for training church workers has outlived its sensibility. It is no longer possible for many to leave seminary with an $80,000 debt, take on a $40,000 annual salary, provide for a family of four, pay off bills, live near the poverty level, and function with a clear mind to accomplish adequate ministry.... It is no longer economically feasible for the system to survive.”

In the 21^st Century, the Church has to look towards different avenues for Church leadership in economic hard times.  We have been programmed to believe that the local church has to be lead and staffed professionally. I grew up in a church that still have the “free ministry”, as they call it.  They have seven “elders” who do everything that most church pastors do while still holding down secular jobs.  This duel leadership has served them well, causing them to “raise” leadership from with in their own body of local believers rather than looking outward to professionals coming in to supply leadership.  Equipping their youth to be future leaders is a must if their system is to survive.  (Most church Youth Groups are not focused in training leadership for the future for their local church when their church will look toward professionally bringing in pastors when needed.) Financially, with out budgeting for staffing needs, which is usually a large chunk out of most church’s budgets, they take offering for different needs as they arise.  I witnessed a night over $10,000 was raised to complete a church in a third world country, and only a dozen people were in attendance when the offering was taken! They have freedom in their giving when not under constraints of “meeting the budget” heavy laden with staffing and building maintenance items.

Most of what Hunter says in his ebook I have totally agreed with, but I do find a differencing of opinions when he said, “Equipping those called to ministry should be a seamless discipleship process in the context of the local church. It begins as a casual volunteer, then moves to a more involved volunteer, to a full-time volunteer, to the part-time paid volunteer, to the half-time paid volunteer, to the full-time paid staff person. It is at this point when many will take further biblical training. Most will obtain further education while they remain in their community and on the job. They will use long-distance learning or attend an occasional short-term, short-burst, boot-camp-type courses of no longer than two weeks away from family and church community.”

There are two misnomers about Hunter’s way of thinking: 1) discipleship leads to professional development and 2) training must come from our traditional westernized Bible college, seminary, educational system.

Hunter is still thinking in terms of a discipleship training that leads to a professional “full-time paid staff person.”  We have to ditch the volunteer/staff division (also known as laity/clergy rift) by responding to Ephesians 4’s call to “equip the SAINTS  for the work of service,” not equip the staff or staff in training for the professional work of ministry. The “full-time ministry” as in full-time “professional” ministry myth must be addressed.  The Church has been called to equip the “saints”, that are already employed, who are already the salt and light to the world in their secular job, to “serve” those in the secular world and those in the body of Christ.  Paul was a tent maker as well a “preacher/pastor/parson/rector/minister”!  He made tents and socially hung out in tents not in a church building.  He did not get insolated like most of today’s clergy do.  He had to stay in the world to impact the world for Jesus.

The second point:  The academic, thinking, westernize approach apposes the Jewish, lamad, experience approach of teaching.  If the Church is to be based on “head knowledge”, then degrees are important, but if it is to be based on “heart knowledge”, then the development of practical everyday “experiences”, the “doing the principles, not just knowing them” becomes of importance!  Theology, intellectual Biblical interpretation, divides; practical every day living, experiencing, working out one’s faith individually and most importantly corporately in community unites.

Again, I feel, another viable option for the 21^st Century Church is the five fold.  It’s goal is not to make believers, the saints, into professionals, or highly educated individuals, but to bring them into the “maturity” of being in the fullness of Jesus Christ, Christ-like as well as bring unity corporately.  It has nothing to do with finances, nor the influence of finances upon the Church.

The questions is how the Church is to equip the saints, something the Holy Spirit is only beginning to teach the Church.  I feel instead of developing from volunteer to half volunteer, half professional to full-time professional, the five fold has so much more to offer the “saints”.  The evangelist “births” the saints into the kingdom, the pastoral shepherd nurtures, cares and develops them through daily life experiences, the teacher teaches from every day life lessons by challenging their faith based on the Word of God, while the prophet works on making the Logos Word taught by the teacher the Rhema Word, or living out one’s faith while learning to commune with God, and finally the apostle “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in individual’s lives and corporately as a community of faith.  What is produced: a more mature Christlike believer being developed into the image of Jesus Christ, and a unified community of faith working together to equip, care, develop, nurture, and release each other and new believers to “serve”.

The 21^st Century Church needs to embrace a “saint” based ministry system rather than a professional ministry system, facing the challenges of how to equip, develop, care, maintain, nurture, and release the saints to “serve”.  My Prayer: Holy Spirit come, be our teacher, show us, the Church, how to develop the five fold to mature the saints into the image of Jesus Christ while brining his Body into unity.

A Preparation For Expansion

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church 

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 14 – Christian Impact Beyond Human Explanation, Hunter says:  “Christians will be stretched to think deeper, larger, and faster. Get ready for the explosive growth of Christianity. Christianity, when released as an epidemic — a Jesus epidemic — grows in exponential proportions. It is connected with signs and wonders, and people become Christians faster than churches can keep track of them. While most Christians in North America have never experienced this, many of us who have traveled widely have seen this frequently. Most Christians in North America have never been in churches where people cannot get in for lack of room. They have not seen situations where many are standing outside open windows, taking notes as the teacher presents. Some of us who have had the privilege of being involved with great moves of God in Africa, the former Soviet Union, South America, the Philippines, and elsewhere have experienced Christian impact beyond human explanation. This is what revival looks like. Now is the time to prepare, so limited expectations do not hinder the ability to catch God’s wave of action.”

With revival always comes explosive expansions, not only supernaturally, but also in numbers.  I remember going to Jesus 76 where Ern Baxter invited “any young man who wanted to grow spiritually to be used in the kingdom of God” to come to this huge circus tent during the noon hour to hear him speak.  It was originally billed as a “youth pastors/youth workers” seminar, but Ern felt lead by the Holy Spirit to expand the invitation.  He was shocked when he came out on stage to a packed circus tent that was three to five people deep beyond the tents boundaries.  Revival was occurring among men under the age of 30 who were hungry for God and wanted to be used of God to further His kingdom.

The institutional church was not “prepared” for the move of God came through what has been labeled the Charismatic movement; in fact, the institutional church fought against it, and often subtly still does.  It is a matter of who is in control, we, the church, or the Holy Spirit?  But how do you prepare for a spiritual explosion, a sudden expanse of spiritual life as well as growing numbers?  How did the newly birthed Church recorded in the book of Acts after Pentecost handle 3,000 being saved at once?  How did the Church in Africa handle the thousands who were saved when hundreds of thousands of people showed up for major evangelistic crusades? How is the Church to prepare for this revival for which they have been praying for decades?

I believe one of the tools of preparation for the next revival is acknowledging, accepting, being receptive, and developing the five fold in the body of Christ.  Revival is always birthed out of spirit of evangelism.  We need “to equip the saints for the work of service,” so when revival hits, God’s people, the priesthood of believers, will be equipped to handle the masses, to care for them, nuture them, develop them through the pastoral shepherding spirit of the five fold.  In the book of Acts we keep hearing how they broke break in each other homes, met needs when they arose, sold real estate properties for the common good, etc.  We need five fold teachers to teach apostolic principles of truth about the kingdom of God to all these new converts to ground them in the Logos Word, the Bible.  We need to prepare and release the prophets to teach these new converts how to make the Logos Word the Rhema, the living Word, how to commune with the living God, and how to hear the voice of God for themselves and be obedient to that Word.  Finally we need to equip this revival with apostles who “see over” the lives of the individuals who are swarming to the Church as the Church equips them to mature into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, as well as “see over” the Church as a whole, not with a controlling spirit, but as an accepting spirit of what the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is doing to bring unity to his Bride, the body of Christ, the Church.

Yes, I hear Hunter’s call for preparation, and encourage the Church to embrace the five fold, birth the five fold, and allow the five fold to develop under the leading of the Holy Spirit to the priesthood of believers.  God sent John the Baptist to the earth with one message, “Prepare ye the way”, which instead of King James but in today’s terms means, “You need to prepare for what is coming!”  Jesus sent the 70 out before him to “prepare the way” for when he comes.  The Spirit of Jesus Christ is again heralding the cry to “prepare the way.”  Let’s embrace the five fold as a way the Church could prepare the way, so it can equip the saints for “works of service” for when the next revival does hit, the next wave of unexpectancy hits, when the Church could be overwhelmed by the results of the revival, or when the Church rejoices with the “expected” revival because it has prepared.

What Happened To The Supernatural: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly?

 A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 14 – Christian Impact Beyond Human Explanation, Hunter says:  “The Enemy is real — spiritual warfare is real. The Enemy is subtle when the church is sleeping. The Enemy is direct when the church is healthy. The Enemy is active when the church is impacting culture. For healthy churches in the 21st century, spiritual warfare will accelerate. It always accelerates when there is Christian productivity. Why? The Enemy is strategic. It will be important for Christians to understand that Satan is real and attends your church. He attends your church not to worship, but to disrupt. He hangs around your family when you are a vital Christian, not to fellowship, but to interrupt. The Enemy is the Father of Lies. He is extremely dangerous. He is to be respected, as if a wild lion walked into the room.

This is the area of the supernatural reflected in the New Testament. Vital and healthy churches effectively reaching people in the 21st century will train some who God uses in a ministry of deliverance. Healing and prayer for healing will become a reality that cannot be rationally excused. Speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and other manifestations that are not common in sleeping churches from the modern era are reflections of life in the New Testament. These supernatural events of Scripture are no more supernatural than a person becoming a Christian. When Christianity grows, these activities become visible and prominent. Spiritual warfare, divine healing, supernatural activities, prophesy — all are part of the New Testament. They cannot be selectively discharged when the church experiences a renewal. It might as well be said, acknowledged, understood, and accepted, because if a church becomes a healthy, missional center, this will be, and always has been, a reality of life in the spiritual dimension.”

When I first got baptized in the Spirit in 1974, the spiritual reality of the good and the bad became real.  I saw a demonic driven girl who wanted to jump into a campfire delivered by the power of God.  I attended several church services where someone tried to disrupt the service, was removed, rebuked, and in one case delivered. I have felt the power of evil and its ineffectiveness when facing the name and power of a resurrected Jesus. I have participated in a “house cleaning” of demonic spirits only to smell the freshness of wine that we had used for communion fill the place when completed.  All this in the United States!  I have not seen these kinds of manifestations in over two decades and have wondered why.  I have learned that you can tell the spirituality of a church by the opposition it faces from satan.  As Hunter said, “the enemy is subtle when the church is sleeping.”  It has been a while since I have seen a visible confrontation in any church with satan.

Spiritual reality comes with revival.  Deliverance and healings as well as manifestations of the Spirit becomes commonplace as God moves in supernatural ways.  It is when the church minimizes the supernatural that it begins to slumber and loose its effectiveness. Hunter stated that satan “is to be respected as if a wild lion walked into the room.” But let me tell you, it is awesome when the Lion of Judah, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is released in that same room and that wild lion becomes a toothless, quieted, powerless lion cub.  This comes with true revival.

It is hard for me to find churches where the gifts of the spirit flow freely as they did during the Charismatic revival.  Tongues with interpretation, prophecies, corporate singing in the spirit, the singing of new songs, deliverances, healings, etc. have been minimized in almost every congregation.  With a revival, a Pentecost, the spiritual, the supernatural is activated, released, and becomes common place.  Many American churches today want “controlled” revivals in “their house” in their terms under their theological boundaries.  Sorry, revival does not work that way.  The veil in the Temple was torn from top down; God’s Spirit was released beyond historical Jewish boundaries to “all flesh, your sons and your daughters,” and in only a few days revival broke out at the Temple in the form of Pentecost.  The sweeping impact of that first revival is recorded throughout the entire book of Acts.

I have faced the roaring lion, the father of lies, and at times wonder if I really want to disturb him rather than having to fight; that is slumber. That is the option many of us, the church, and myself have chosen over the last couple of decades.  Revival awakes the roaring, lieing lion of satan, but it also unleashes the Lion of Judah, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and the battle begins, and the Lion of Judah always wins!  Church, with revival comes warfare, and with warfare comes preparation and tools for battle.  Jesus supplies those supernatural weapons in times of spiritual warfare.  

Evangelism in the 21st Century Needs A Paradigm Shift

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 12 – All About Story; All About Networking, Hunter says:  “As mentioned earlier, evangelism, as we have come to know it, is no longer effective. Not too long ago, I heard a sermon from a modern-aged pastor who has not yet learned to think and speak postmodern. It was all about how to give your testimony. The focus was on telling people what life was like before you knew Christ, how you met Christ, and, in the “three-part sermon,” how your life is different after you met Christ. This is ancient history . It is not the way to reach people today.

Most do not know what it means to “meet Christ” in the postmodern 21st century. The audience is, most often, not lapsed Christians. Increasingly, they are second generation non-Christians: they have never been to church, their parents never went to church, but, perhaps, their grandparents went to church. The postmodern approach is focused on reaching people with whom you have a relationship — your social networks. In the context of a relationship, the most effective scenario is connecting in their life with a parallel in your life. This works best when you can honestly share how you believe God helped you. Telling your story is witnessing. This is a radical change in the way many churches have operated in the past. Many have focused on evangelistic programs, memorizing outlines, sharing Bible passages, and answering a lot of questions Post moderns do not ask: “Are you ready for heaven?” What?

Witnessing is sharing your story. It works best unrehearsed, unpolished, from the heart, spontaneous, and REAL.”

I remember taking a Lay Speaker Course through the United Methodist Church where we were taught Billy Graham, the great 20^th Century Evangelist’s, three-point sermon format for evangelist sermons.  I have personally met the creator of the original “Four Spiritual Laws” famously used by Campus Crusade for Christ.  I have been part of York, PA’s only united city wide crusade in 1974.  I remember an evangelist came to our local church in the 1990’s for a week to teach us local believers how to evangelize. This person claimed they never went to a city without success, seeing souls won for the kingdom of God.  At the end of that week the evangelist/teacher left shaking his head; not one lost person had been saved that week!  Methods of evangelism have changed.  Hunter shares how the current use of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and texting can be effective tools for “social networking” relationships, no matter how shallow. These can be the tools to establish friendships before evangelizing.  In the past, the evangelist hardly ever established relationships, he/she just charged like a bull in a china closet handing out tracks, leaflets, or even shouting through a bullhorn.  The message was more important than either the messenger or any relationship the messenger could establish.  That has all changed in the 21^st Century.

Rather than the 20^th Centuries evangelist questioning you, “If you die tonight, do you know where you would go?” or “Are you ready for heaven?”, Rob Bell in his book Love Wins challenges the 21^st Century reader to examine the Lord’s prayer of “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” to see if there is some heaven on earth after conceding to the fact that there is hell on earth.  What happens here on earth is of more concern to the 21^st Century evangelist than of his predecessor who exposed only the calamities that were happening on the earth as a sign of the end times and the need to repent and recognize that you need a savior.  Setting up networking of relationships, then working out your salvation through the day to day experiences in the now through telling your story is more of the thrust for the 21^st Century evangelist. Being “unrehearsed, unpolished, from the heart, spontaneous and real” is felt to be a more genuine approach to evangelism today.

Also I believe that the passion of a five fold evangelist is “birthing”, so the 21^st Century evangelist will do more than spread the gospel message of salvation, he will be “released” to “birth” things.   Birthing, naturally, is all about the product of a relationship between a man and a woman, so why wouldn’t an evangelist think relationally today?  If the Church is relational, then why wouldn’t the 21^st Century evangelist be effective in birthing relationships within and without the Church?  This is definitely a different mindset in the way the Church must look at the role of the evangelist. The 21^st Century evangelist would not have to be a clergy, or a professional, but any believer with the passion to birth, yet allowing others to develop (the passion of the pastoral shepherd).  Throughout history the evangelist birthed, then dropped the new believer to win more of those “lost’.  Today, the evangelist still majors in birthing, ready to drop the birthed project for others to develop, teach, spiritually guide, and oversee.  That is what five fold evangelist faces in this 21^st Century.

Turning The Church Inside Out; Going Beyond Its Walls

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 11 – Mission At The Margin, Hunter says:  “Unfortunately, many churches in North America theoretically ascribe to the Great Commission (which says “go”), yet follow the Old Covenant of “y’all come.” This was the Old Testament approach: take a pilgrimage to the temple at Jerusalem; that is where you will find God. The Old Covenant described Israel as a light to the nations. The nations were to be drawn to that light like mosquitoes are drawn to your porch light. There they would find the light. There they would visit God — in the temple, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Jesus turned this inside-out. The New Covenant calls for God followers, who now know the Messiah personally, to go, take that Good News about Jesus “to the ends of the earth” (read, “to the ends of your social network”). Many churches of the 21st century, to be effective, will need to let Jesus turn their churches inside-out (read, “turn their people inside out” — in their worldview of doing church, being church).

Where is the best place to hold a Bible class? Answer: anywhere but at your church. No unchurched person is going to pass you by at the church, recognize you as a friend, and say, “Hey, what are you doing?”, providing an opportunity for you to invite him to join the group. This is not going to happen in the church building. However, it will happen at Starbucks, Denny’s, or in a park. The destination mindset of the modern era will be reversed in this postmodern era. Anything that can be done outside the building should be done away from the church, for missional reasons. This has facility implications of major proportions for any church that is building, relocating, or expanding.”

I have always heard the mantra, the building is not the Church, we are the Church, yet the building still exists as our central point of contact for almost all Christian endeavors.  The Christian Community meets there; the family of God lives there; Sunday worships service is almost always there; offices of Church business are housed there; we expect “revival” to happen there; we even built coffee shops to attract the addicted American caffeine addicts to come in, and, forgive us, for God and the Holy Spirit to show up there.  We do have the Old Testament Temple mentality, forgetting that the veil was rent, and God DOES NOT house himself in a building, nor is boxed in.

What would happen if we took Hunter’s advice and have church at Starbucks rather than having the caffeine fiends come into our building.  But church people would react, “How would we do worship?  Can we set up a corner stage and have our worship team play?  Can we hand out church bulletins?  I guess the pastor could give his sermon in the midst of the worship team’s instruments.”  Wrong! Try menus instead of bulletins, fellowship around tables instead of worship blocks, the telling of personal narratives of one’s faith around cups of java instead of a sermon.  How about paying the tab instead of passing the offering plate?  You know, the unchurched would easily some to eat food or drink coffee while listening to casual conversations rather than sit in pews, listening to music they don’t know and can’t identify with, and being asked to financially support the program.

Evangelism is the sharing of one’s spiritual narrative outside church walls to those whose lives are outside the church.  Those inside the walls already know the story and often hear it repeatedly every Sunday throughout the year. Pastoral shepherding is walking with people through their daily lives, helping them to face life’s challenges, supporting them through difficult times.  In the church it appears as if everyone has it together.   Preaching in the church supports “religious semantics” while casual conversations while sharing one’s personal narrative is none offensive, none threatening, and easily understood.  I’ve been around the prophetic linguistics in churches, but have seen the power of a believer who is obedient to the Holy Spirit’s voice and direction when told to serve others outside the church walls in everyday life.  In church, we are use to the pastor and the worship team on stage, orchestrating the show, program, or as church calls it, Sunday morning service, but outside the church one could casually meet people and direct them to those whose gifting better suits the current need.  Even the five fold is more powerful outside the church walls than within. 

I have seen churches based in Malls when Malls where the faux, popular place to be. When the mall aged, called for urban, or Mall-renewal, the gathering of believers, the Church, could relocated where ever the Holy Spirit led.  The cloud by day and pillar of fire by night could be followed since those following it were not constrained by the confines of a building structure.  I know of a church that started in a night club, is now located in a movie theatre, but is thinking of buying a building to bring stability (and less work in set up and tear down.) A building is more convenient, but in the process they are losing their vision to be out their with the nonchurched.

So the Great Commission “to go” needs to be redefined and reestablished outside the boundaries of church building facilities if the Church, its priesthood of believers, is to be effective in the 21^st Century.

A Paradigm Shift In The Way We Look At Teaching

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it.  

From Chapter 8 – Focus On Health: Who You Are…And Become, Hunter says:  “One of the secrets about changing the culture in your church is to understand how people change.  First, most churches operate from a position of Greek philosophy. Churches work hard to help people grow. But they often start with a false premise about how people change behavior. The approach is: right thinking leads to right behavior. This is a Greek approach to understanding reality, and it comes from Plato who, of course, was not a Christian. On the other hand, Hebrew thought is diametrically opposite to Greek thinking. The Hebrew mind sees the world differently: right behavior leads to right thinking. Obviously, Jesus was a Hebrew. In fact, that is why He did things that may at first seem strange to us. For example, He said to His new disciples, “Come follow Me” (behavior), and, then, “I will teach you to be fishers of men (and women)” (Matthew 4:19) (right thinking). This has a major impact on how 21st century healthy churches will shape and guide the lives of new and young Christians. (I did not use the word “instruct” on purpose.) Hands-on, involved, interactive learning — doing — will be as important as content".

As a public school teacher I know the power of “field trips” vs. book learning.  Getting down and dirty cleaning up trash and recycling is more powerful than studying Chapter 7 on Recycling.  Slushing through a creek discovering little creek critters is a greater educational tool than looking at their pictures and reading about them in a textbook.  I have always been a proponent that “experience” is more powerful than head knowledge.  This has been true in my spiritual walk.  Although I have read through my Bible several times, earned a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies, I have learned that I can not understand a spiritual principle until I have “experienced” it.  Studying the power of the Cross, the Blood of Christ, and Jesus’ sufferings academically can be painless, but experiencing their principles in one’s life is life changing because there is pain in the Cross, there is suffering in the Cross, and there is transformation in the Cross, something we all can experience.

Mark Virkler has come to our local church several times. One trip he taught us about the lamad method of teaching, having one’s students actually “experience” what they are learning, the Jewish approach, rather than the European head approach to learning.  He instructed how we are to let the Holy Spirit teach us a passage, then experience it.  Jesus’ teaching style was not to birth and establish a rabbinical school, a theological college, or a seminary in the Western World mentality, but to walk and talk with twelve uneducated men through field trips, object lessons, and parables.  In Acts the Sanhedrin marvels that these “uneducated men” spoke with such “authority” after being taught by Jesus and His Holy Spirit.

When my one son became a man, he tried to seek out a spiritual male mentor, but could not find one nor did the church have one to offer.  It offered men’s Bible Studies, gobs of books on Christian topics for manhood, and even a men’s retreat, but no man would come forward to “walk” with him through his faith journey as a young man in his “daily life.”  The Church does not need to establish another “Big Brother” or “Mentoring” PROGRAM.  The men of the Church need to just come forward and walk the walk, side by side, day in and day out, 24/7 with their young brothers in the Lord, instructing them through practical every day experience the Biblical principles that are keystones to our faith.  “Modeling” is always an effective tool of teaching. What better way to teach the Christian walk, than to actually walk!  That’s the way Jesus taught.  He still did it after his death and resurrection when walking on the Road to Emmaus with his disciples and promised the release of the Holy Spirit to “teach them all things” when he returned to His Father in heaven.

An informal walk, sharing your personal stories, revealing the spiritual principles you have learned through your walk or journey through life with Jesus can not only be a powerful evangelistic tool, but also a pastoral and teaching tool!

“Hey, got a minute? Let’s go for a walk….. I have something I want to tell you about…..”

Is One's Personal Narrative the Key to Evangelism

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it.

From Chapter 7 – Church As A Movement, Hunter says:  “Witnessing, in the true sense — what Jesus says in Acts 1:8 — is the key. This means that one of the most revolutionary and powerful “evangelistic programs” any church in the 21st century can accomplish is to patiently, gently, and continually ask people to share what God has done in their lives lately. In time, that becomes a cultural lifestyle for everyone in the church. In the early stages of the spiritual journey, witnessing does not include Bible passages or preaching. What receptive and interested people want to hear is how God has worked in your life recently. Witnessing has become much easier and must become, once again, the lifestyle of all Christians — not a program, effort, or the pre-occupation of just a committee.”

As a retired English teacher, I love narratives.  I have taught them, wrote about them, and even written them.  Narratives have always been an effective way of just telling one’s personal story. The four gospels are basically narrative accounts of experiencing Jesus’ life on earth and the book of Acts, a narrative of the birth of the Church. As a child at church, I remember singing the old church hymn “I Love To Tell The Story”.  Is the power of the narrative coming back?

In the 1980’s I was part of the Lay Witness Movement through the Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church.  Lay Witness Missions were basically teams of laity who were invited to invade a local church for a weekend to stay in the homes of the locals, participate in small group discussions, fellowship over pot luck, cover dish dinners, and share their personal narratives of what Jesus was doing in their lives.  It was a powerful ministry.  Common people, the saints of the Church, shared their narratives with one another for an entire weekend.  Even the Sunday sermon was replaced by someone sharing their personal testimony and allowing response to it.

In 1993 I got to go to South Africa for 16 days at the invitation of the United Methodist in South Africa to participate in Lay Witness Weekends in Pretoria and Capetown during the elections when Mandella was running for President.  I could fill blog pages telling of the power of that movement and trip.  I do remember that  South African Missioners, as they were called, or South Africans who would share their testimony or narratives at these weekends, had what I called “canned” testimonies. They recited their narrative to their coordinator just as they would always recite it if called to share.  We, Americans, on the other hand, would not just give our “salvation story” but also what Jesus was doing in our lives now.  We would go with the flow of the Holy Spirit, sharing differently each time we were called.

I did not know it, but we were under the South African Church’s microscope during those missions.  I remember getting a thank you note when returning back in the states.  Included were reflections on their part of what they observed from the weekends.  I was fascinated by one comment, “there is freedom in Holy Spirit.”  They saw the power of sharing our narratives in the “now” rather than reciting a planned dissertation.

I love to tell my stories: how I accepted Jesus, the need for more empowerment in my spiritual walk, wrestling with the supernatural in my natural world, the physical healing of being burned by the hot water from a car radiator, how I prayed with a man in the Super Dome in New Orleans who was healed instantly, how my 10 year old son gave prophetic words to a lady changing her life, my Lay Witness Weekend Missions to well over 50 local congregations, my trip to South Africa, leading a Bible School parade in Jamaica through their small town, going from not being able to physically talk about Jesus to one who can’t be quiet now, etc., etc., etc.

I sit in the church I currently attend that has approximately 350 people attending, and am shocked that I can not tell you the personal stories of more than five people in that congregation.  I wonder, “Who are these people? How did they get here?  How did they get to know Jesus?” Where are they in their spiritual walk?”  Churches need to allow the saints to tell their stories, so their brothers and sisters in the Lord can know who they are in Jesus.

It is good to see that Mr. Hunter recognizes the need for the return of the narrative.  In the ‘70’s, Christian testimony books like The Cross And The Switchblade and The Gentle Breeze of Jesus were powerful narratives that influenced my Christian walk.  I even wrote and published I Was A Stranger And…., a narrative account of the Ilgenfritz family taking in to their personal home and lives over 100 people over a ten year period including my wife and I and the birth of our oldest son.  Christian publishers shy away from printing narratives today, yet the narrative still has the power of being personal, being about a real person, being just a story, and being an effective tool of evangelism.

Low Control and High Accountability is Crucial in the 21st Century Church

A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it.

From Chapter 7 – Church As A Movement, Hunter says:  “Ironically, most modern churches operate from a position of high-control and low-accountability. With boards, committees, votes, nominations, and meetings, many churches represent a very high-control posture. Some denominations represent the epitome of high control. They are disasters waiting to happen, with an extreme level of organizational bureaucracy.

At the other end of the balance, most present modern-era churches reflect low-accountability. People can gossip frequently and no one will hold them accountable. Many feel an independent isolationism from one another in the church. They have inherited an environment in which “your fellow Christian’s sinful behavior is none of your business.” This is the exact opposite of the New Testament approach to church culture, which is low-control, but with high-accountability. The New Testament teaches we should “speak the truth in a spirit of love” (Ephesians 4:15). Jesus taught that we should follow His teaching in Matthew: confront one another privately; if that does not work, take a witness; if it continues, take it to the church — or church leadership (Matthew 18:15-17).

The reemphasis of proper balance in control and accountability explains why many of the new and cutting-edge movements of Christianity include accountability groups.”

Hunter advocates low control, high accountability as keys to the effectiveness of the 21^st Century Church.  In old Charismatic jargon, one might ask how to keep the flow flowing in each believer.  During the Charismatic Movement many spiritual gifts that had been dormant for centuries began to again to surface in the Body of Christ.  But often “freedom in the Spirit” was directly opposed by the high control of the hierarchy of the institutional Church which eventually capped this freedom of flow by control.  Independent Prayer And Praise Groups that sprung up everywhere producing spiritual life, increased prayer life individually and corporately, and encouragement for regular believers to grow in Christ were eventually controlled by the institutional church by becoming “home groups” or “small groups”, closely and heavily monitored by the institutional church.  Anything outside their doctrinal code or comfort zone was diminished.

The key to the success of the five fold in the 21^st Century Church is the Church’s willingness to “equip” then “release” these five giftings, passions, and points of view.  Those in leadership have to allow the saint whose passion and point of view is to evangelize to evangelize.  To allow the saint whose passion and point of view is to shepherd, nurture, care, and develop to be pastoral in his gifting and passion.  To allow the saint whose passion is to bring the Logos Word, Biblical interpretation to become a Rhema Word, an experiential living out the Word.  To allow the passion of the saint whose desire is to commune with God to be prophetic. Finally, to allow the saint who sees the big picture, the body of Christ, locally or nationally, to be able to “release” the others, in freedom, to do it without control, only “seeing over”, not “overseeing” what the Holy Spirit is doing in their lives.  That is low control.

High accountability comes when the believers of faith, those in communion as the local body of Christ, are willing to practice I John 3:16, knowing love as being willing “to lay down your life for your brethren.”  In the five fold, that accountability comes in “serving” the other four out of your passion, gifting, and point of view, but it also means “receiving” the “service” from the others whose strengths are your weaknesses.  Only when one “dies to himself” can he become “alive to the service of his brethren.”  This concept is so foreign to the current Church, but I believe will become a cornerstone in the 21^st Century Church as it develops.  The five fold could be the ultimate accountability group for the Church in this century.

Unlike today’s institutional church leadership structure where Board meetings, Pastor/Parish Committee Meetings, or Elder’s Meetings become business meetings, often featuring a strong dose of church politics, the five fold structure is not built on a power structure of oversight, but on a “service” structure to and from each other through relationship and laying down ones life for each other.  I have never experienced a church leadership meeting of death, everyone dieing to themselves for the sake of serving the others, though I have attended some dead leadership meetings where everyone pushed their agenda, opinion, or power position.

Low Control and High Accountability are keynotes to the five fold structure of “equipping the saints for works of service.” (Eph. 4)

Relationships in the 21st Century Church

 A Look at Kent Hunter’s “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church

I came across an ebook by Kent R. Hunter of Church Doctor Ministries entitled “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  I would like to quote from this source since it is so good, and then add a few of my analysis to it. 

From Chapter 6 – Flat Changes Everything, Hunter says:  “The flat world reflects the repulsion today’s young adults have for institutions that act institutionally. The key for understanding this is that if a church persists to be hierarchical, it will not attract young adults. This concept is reflected in the teaching of low-control/high-accountability. Most churches from the modern era have become extreme, with layers of bureaucracy, politics, bylaws, rules and regulations, titles, offices, and all the trappings of institutionalism. This does not fit the relational world that now exists. It is not an effective platform for sharing the Gospel. The flat world Thomas Friedman [his book The World is Flat (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005)] describes simply indicates that now people relate horizontally. Not so many decades ago, it was required to get the “secret information” held, for example, by seminary professors at a seminary institution. Now, students can find any of those books on Amazon while sitting in the comfort of their own bedrooms. The flat realities of our present world are a great blessing for the church that returns to the biblical realities of the priesthood of all believers…. The way churches operate and make decisions is often called church government. The institutional and corporate models that betray biblical truth — on more levels than one can imagine — will be replaced by a way of decision-making that models an apostolic theocracy.  The word “theocracy” means the rule of God or will of God. It reflects the primary driving force in which churches make decisions: seeking what God wants.”

Hunter hits on several themes I have reiterated throughout these blogs: “This (flat world) concept is reflected in the teaching of low control/high accountability.”  The five fold, as I propose it, is a process of “releasing” individual believers in Jesus Christ to do their passion, exercise their point of view, with all the gusto, energy, and heart and spirit felt motivation that is in them with the accountability piece of submitting to the other four passions/points of view through “service”, serving one another.  Low control, freedom in being released in the Church, with high accountability, submitting through service and being served by four distinctly different passions and points of view that differ from your own by laying down one’s life for their brethren.

Another key theme: the priesthood of all believers.  In my ebook, The Blue Print and my accessory workbook, Breakthrough To His Presence, which I hope to soon offer through this web site, I address this topic. The premise of these books is a study of the actual blue print of Herod’s Temple, the temple Christ himself personally visited, and how the physical divisions of the inner courts exemplifies the walls and barriers that keeps a believer from entering the Holy of Holies. When Christ died on the Cross, the veil in the Holy of Holies was torn from top down, breaking down all these barriers, allowing His Spirit to dwell in any and all believers in Jesus Christ. The Blue Print is a fictional account of this principle while Breakthrough To His Presence is a Bible study workbook of scriptures that actually break down these barriers.  In essence, Jesus broke down hierarchal barriers of his time to free the priesthood of believers according to the order of Melchizedek. 

The last principle he described as “an apostolic theocracy” model of “seeking what God wants.”  Although we may differ on the role of the apostle, it excites me that Hunter recognizes the importance of the five fold in a “God’s Will” seeking model.  I believer that all five are empowered to lead when called upon by the Holy Spirit with the backing of the other four to help implement it.  If something is to be birthed, the evangelist will rise and lead with the support of the others.  If something needs nurturing, care, or developing, the pastoral shepherd will arise. If something needs to be Biblically based, the teacher arises.  The prophet arises when the relationship through communication between God and mankind needs emphasis. Finally the apostle will arise to see the big picture, releasing the other four to do their passions freely as he “sees over” what the Holy Spirit is doing. 

Hunter is correct in his assumption that the church must become relational rather than hierarchal. I John 3:16 of “laying down your life for your brethren” is relational and brings accountability.  The Church must struggle with the reality of what I John 3:16 (horizontal relationships) mean to John 3:16 (vertical relationship) in order to understand how the Cross effects the 21^st Century Church.

Good stuff Mr. Hunter!

(Since my ebooks are not yet uploaded, if you email me at popnozall@gmail.com, I will send you a copy in PDF format of The Blue Print and/or Breakthrough To His Presence FREE if requested by the end of June, 2011 [if I am tech savvy enough to do that!).

Why The Five Fold As The Next Movement or Revival to the 21st Century Church?

A Review Of History From Dr. Bill Hamon

As the Church faces a new century and new movements of God, how will it respond?  Dr. Bill Hamon claims, “When this occurs [a new movement], some of the pastors and denominational leaders will take a neutral attitude, ‘Hold steady; do nothing; wait and see.’  Others will accept the new truths and ministries and incorporate them into their own teachings, ministry, and ways of worship, but some will reject and condemn the movement.

Those who do not like the movement and want nothing to do with it will find examples of ministers or members who have been confused or hurt by their involvement in the movement to prove that it is not of God.  They will also focus on little phrases or particular teachings of the leaders of the movement and make them sound unscriptural, out of order or cultic.  Those who oppose and persecute the movement will declare publicly that it is not of God and forbid their members to participate. The leaders of past movements, independent groups, and denominations will finally issue an official document declaring that this movement is not condoned by them and is therefore not of God.  Those who were leaders of God’s established order until the new movement came along are the ones who fight what is new the hardest.¹”

 So why do I, the author of this blog, propose the five fold as the next movement of God.  Hamon takes a historical view at this proposal.  Hamon has charted the change produced by the Restoration Movement since its inception in the 1500s with the Reformation.1

                  Year Restoration Movement               Major Truth Restored

                  1500 Protestant Movement                      Salvation by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8,9)

                  1600 Puritan Movement                           Water Baptism, separation of Church and State

                  1700 Holiness Movement                          Sanctification, Church set apart from the world

                  1800 Faith Healing Movement                   Divine healing for the physical body

                  1900 Pentecostal Movement                      Holy Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues

                  1950 Latter Rain Movement                       Prophetic presbytery, praise and worship

                  1960 Charismatic Movement                      Renewal of all restored truth

                  1970 Faith Movement                                 Faith confessions, prosperity

                  1980 Prophetic Movement                           Prophets and gifts of the Holy Spirit

With this Hamon also teaches that in each of the last five decades of the twentieth century, one of the five fold ministries (Eph. 4:11) has been reemphasized or restored, and certain Biblical truths and ways of worship have been reactivated in the Church by the Holy Spirit.²

                  Decade Five Fold Ministry                  Movement/Revival

                  1950’s Evangelist                                 Deliverance Evangelism

                  1960’s Pastor                                       Charismatic Renewal

                  1970’s Teacher                                     Faith Teaching Movement

                  1980’s Prophet                                     Prophetic Movement

                  1990’s Apostle                                     Apostolic Movement

I, the author of this blog, have personally experienced the effects of all five of these movements during my life time.  Because of the institutional mentality of the church, I have seen the church make “offices” out of the five fold, usually held by positions of leadership, usually the senior pastor, bishop, staff, etc., not the grass roots laity.  When there is a movement of God, it affects the grassroots of every believer, the priesthood of believers, not just the institutional hierarchy. This, I believe, is the biggest change to Hamon’s chart.  God’s Spirit through this next move of God will continue to be upon all flesh. (Acts 2)

I believe the Holy Spirit is shaking out, developing, teaching the five fold as passions and points of view that, when equipped, developed, and released, can bring maturity in individual believers while bringing unity among the five if they are willing to “lay down their lives for their brethren.” (I John 3:16).

The five fold will bring accountability to the Church unlike it has experienced since the first century because its foundation is on “service”, different passions “serving” each other and receiving the “services” from each other.  This accountability is based on “relationship” not on hierarchy of position of power or influence.

I agree with Kent R. Hunter and Dr. Bill Hamon that the wind of change, the wind of the Holy Spirit, is blowing, and we are seeing just the beginnings of the next great move of God upon the 21^st Century Church.

 ¹ Dr. Bill Hamon, Prophets and the Prophetic Movement:  God’s Prophetic Move Today  (Shippensburg, Pa: Destiny Image, 1990), 107.

 ² Ibid., 44-45.

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 7)

The 21^st Century Church’s Identity Crisis?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “building relationships, not on likeness, but on different giftings to share in service to one another and to draw on in time of need.  In marriage we often chose opposites to augment our strengths and weaknesses, why not in other relationships?

Let’s look at that question.

When are the many parts of the body of Christ finally going to admit that “we need each other?”  Why do our differences draw us apart rather than bring us together?  Why are they so divisive?  In the natural, as a parent, I have worked hard teaching my children that family is important, relationships with kin is significant, love and acceptance trumps petty grudges and self centeredness.  It must have had an impact because my boys claim they never had a “slug fest”, an all and out fisticuff brawl between them. When raising fists, they laughed at each other.  Today they thrive in peace in a family setting, not division, strife, hurt, jealousies, grudges, etc. that dysfunctional families possess.  I cannot say that is true for the Church for it is strewn with divisions, critical of each other, and are known for shooting their wounded.   How can we be a light to the world, a Bride ready for the return of its Groom if that is its image?

In the natural the mystery of marriage is the bringing together two opposites and making them one.  In the natural it looks like it can’t be done, for it would bring strife.  In the supernatural it is a spiritual principle taught throughout the Bible.  The Church has an identity crisis.  The Groom is telling the Bride that she is beautiful (read Song of Solomon), but today’s bride, the Church, doesn’t believe it because of all of its internal turmoil.  Because of its lack of unity, striving to be uniform rather than united, the Groom is in disarray.  To the Bride, looking at the turmoil with in itself, it looks defiled, but the 21^st Century Church, the Bride of Christ, must begin to look at itself as the Holy Spirit reveals it.  The Holy Spirit will reveal what the Groom looks like, and the Bride will transform into the likeness of the Groom bringing it into union.

Church, we got to stop looking at our differences, our past histories, our vain traditions, and allow the Holy Spirit to give us the revelation of who Jesus Christ is on this earth.  The Church is the extension of Jesus Christ on earth, so we need to get a supernatural revelation of what that really is!  A groom is always dazzled by the bride’s looks. It is breath taking to him. The same is with Jesus, the way He looks at His Church, so we need to get that same vision of who we are in Christ as an individual and corporately as a Body of Christ, the Church.

The purpose of the five fold according to Ephesians 4 is for individual believers to grow into the maturity and likeness of Christ and corporately for the Church to become united as one.  If that is its purpose, then maybe as a Church we should embrace it. Maybe we need to “equip”, “prepare”, “train” the “saints”, the believers in Jesus Christ and release their “evangelistic,” “pastoral,” “teaching,” “prophetic”, and “apostolic” spirits, or passions, or point of view to bring maturity to its believers and unity to its Body.  It is worth a try, particularly since what we have tried in the past has not proven to produce good fruit but hurt among its believers and division among its ranks.

We need to look vertical, heavenward for the inspiration on what to do supernaturally (John 3:16), but we need to look relationally horizontal (I John 3:16) to recognize in the natural the passions, giftings, and the way we view things differently to draw us together by “laying down our lives” for each other.  That, my friend, is the CROSS.  We are at the intersection of the supernatural dissecting the natural in history, I believe, the Cross the 21^st Century Church must face. How will we respond to this challenge?

How is it all to work? Not our problem if we allow ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and be obedient to His directions and calls.  If there was ever a time for the church to “trust and obey, for there is no other way” as the old 19^th century hymn proclaimed it is in the 21^st century. Let’s quit fighting the Holy Spirit, begin trusting Him, listening to Him, and be obedient to the revelation of Jesus Christ that he will unveil.  This will produce a new look for the Church to prepare it as a Bride.

21^st Century Church….. let’s do it!

(This is the 7^th part, the last, of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 6)

Allowing the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “cherishing its historical tradition, but allowing the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and speak to the relevant Church of today, the 21^st Century, in how to be effective in a lost and dying world?” Let’s look at that question.

I think one of the biggest challenges for the 21^st Century Church is to allow the Holy Spirit to just be the Holy Spirit and allow Him to do what He has been sent to do: Bring glory to Jesus Christ and revelation of Jesus Christ to the saints, those who believe in Jesus Christ.  We so often oppose the workings and leading of the Holy Spirit because we give up control.  It really is a control issue.  Who is in control, you or the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ?  I have repeated over and over again in numerous blogs, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?”  If you can, then do it!  Release Him to do His thing.

I know there is richness in traditions, for traditions are established by the ways people exposed their faith over centuries of history.  When they were alive it was just living out their faith, but to us it became an acceptable “style”, a “pattern”, a “program” that proved successful, or just the way we always do it not knowing why.  It is nice to know where we have come from, for that established our history, our foundation, but the question remains to where we are going?  What lies ahead?

The American Church today is so different than the founding Pilgrims in Massachusetts, or the Catholics in Maryland, or Quakers with religious freedom in Pennsylvania.  They came seeking religious “freedom” from the dictations of the established church with its traditions in their time.  Americans today still revere their “freedom of religion” although they still think their way of practicing their religion to be the true way.  There is a richness in the historical traditions of these different “faiths” or “sects”of Christianity, but I still pose the questions of where the American church is going now that there are millions in America instead of just thousands?

Culture changes with time.  Today’s fast pace, entertainment centered, internet driven, money driven, multi-tasked American culture is far different than what our Founding Father’s faced, so how is the Church to respond to the change in culture in the 21^st Century?

The Holy Spirit birthed the Church at Pentecost.  Since that time it has been busy trying to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, often against the resistance of the established church of its time. The early Church grew when lead by the Holy Spirit.  When the established church began replacing the Holy Spirit with rituals, traditions, and dogma, the Holy Spirit’s influence diminished leading the church into what we call today the Dark Ages.  The Reformation brought renewal and life to the church’s acceptance to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and the church began to again flourish. 

Abraham fresh faith established the Jewish faith, full of rich history with Moses and the prophets, but by the time of Christ, that very religion opposed that faith Abraham established.  Instead of the “Order of Melchizedek” as Paul preached about, Jews claimed to be followers of Moses, and opposed this Jesus Movement.  Over history, God had destroyed the Jewish Temple, the system of priesthood from the tribe of Aaron, the sacred genealogies, all sacred and central to the Jewish faith for a new and living way.  Traditional Judahism still opposes that the old testament, the old covenant, has been replaced by a new testament, a new covenant.  The very things God destroyed he fulfilled in Jesus Christ, yet tradition has been the biggest opposing force in allowing the Jew to accept Jesus as their true Messiah.

Today’s Church is facing some of the same issues.  Do we need our temples, our church buildings, our cathedrals destroyed, or our clergy or priesthood system changed, or our historical genealogies of men and movements that now carry their denominational names disbanded? What is the Holy Spirit up to in order to refocus the Church of Jesus Christ back on Jesus Christ and not its traditions as He prepares the Church, the Bride of Christ, for the Groom’s return?  That is the question we should be asking!

The 21^st Century Church needs to ask, “What is the Holy Spirit up to?”  When He tells us, which He always does as a revelation of who Jesus Christ is, then will we be obedient to that revelation and actual “prepare” or “equip” the Church for that moment?  That is a question only we, as the Church, can answer, and to that answer comes the individual challenge to each believer in Jesus Christ, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?  Will You Trust the Holy Spirit?”  If you say yes, to that challenge, then start listening, start obeying, and start trusting, for the Church will have to cloth itself in Bridal clothing that only the Holy Spirit can provide.

21^st Century Church, believers in Jesus Christ, are you ready to respond?  “Can you trust………”

(This is the 6^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, especially the priesthood, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 5)

Can “Releasing” Be That Difficult?

 In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of .....  actually “releasing those already in the Church to do the work of an evangelist, or shepherding, being pastoral, or teaching the Word, or bringing spiritual relevancy and life to the Word, or “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing with the corporate body of Christ?” Let’s look at that question.

The last blog we looked at “equipping” or preparing the saints for the work of the service, but what happens if we have done the preparation work?  If we “prepare” but do not “release”, our efforts are in vain!  We, the 21^st Century Church, needs to learn how to “release.”

As a public educator, watching a High School Graduation Ceremony is a challenge.  You have spent 12 years in their life to “prepare” or “equip” them for the real world, but if you don’t release them (graduate them) they will never mature into adults!  Although a senior thinks he knows it all, he is in for a real shock when being released.  A new challenge begins, and he can’t return back to high school anymore? That is right! Now is the real test to see if we really “prepared” the student or not.

In the church world we, too, have often prepared people for ministry, but fear releasing them as if they are not ready!  In a past blog I told of the Lay Speaker’s courses I took through the United Methodist Church when I was young, but very few of those of us who took the course ever got to fill a pulpit to give a sermon.  The pastors were afraid to “release” their pulpits to non-clergy, fearing heresy, false teaching, or something….?  I have often asked, “Why were we even trained if they were not willing to release us upon graduation?”

I have seen churches who have released their members to move on in a ministry with the laying on of hands, financially supporting them, and blessing them by continual correspondence.  That was powerful.  It is far different being sent out as a “Lone Ranger” into a ministry rather than with the blessing of a caring, loving church as a covering.  Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!  Instead of church splits, we would see church growths without disunity, hurt, and dissention. 

In the natural, the “empty nest syndrome” is tough on a parent who has nurtured and cared for a child, pouring everything physically, spiritually, and financially into their child, only to face an empty bedroom never to be lived in again by that child, for that child is no more; he has become an adult! That child will move on to their own apartment, eventually owning their own home, and maybe even building a grandparent’s suite on to their home to take care of their aging parent!  Children cannot become adults unless they are “released.”  Often, as a church, we have not only enabled other believers from spiritually growing, but we have held on to them too long, unable to release them. This has produced negative results.

As a church we spend countless hours, finances, and resources on our “Youth Groups”, the “future generation” of church leaders as we call them, but lose them when they hit their 20’s.  This is the decade of their growth, maturing into becoming an independent adult, and we, the church, don’t know what to do with them trying to fit them into our molds of the way we think and “do” church when they are looking for their own expressions of faith and truth, though in different ways than we deem “acceptable” or even “reasonable”.  What did we “equip” our youth to do in their teens that we could release them toward maturity in their 20’s?  Most Church Teen Conferences are hyped up to save one’s High School, change the world, and be a history maker.  They are not geared to “equip” or “prepare” those teens for their 20’s, thus they leave the church and search for the meaning of life when I thought the church already gave them that meaning!

If we are truly “equipping” or “preparing” our youth for the “work of the service”, then why are they leaving the church that supposedly equipped them when they work out their maturity, their adulthood?  The 21^st Century Church needs to rethink how it “equips” and “releases” its future generation or it will lose them and the church becomes a spiritual “assisted living” building for the aged.

Again I would like to blog about Doris Dolheimer, who taught me a lot about equipping and releasing. Although an excellent Pentecostal pianist in her own right, she was willing to take those in their early teens under her wing to teach them worship, not as a style of music, but as a principle, equipping them to “hear the voice of the conductor”, the Holy Spirit and to be obedient to the conductor’s leading.  When those youth grew to become good musicians and began to practice some of the spiritual principles that she taught, she released them.  She walked off the stage, allowing the sound of the music to change to their expression, more “rockier,” and even watching her beloved baby grand piano be replaced with drums, electronic instruments, amps and monitors.  The sound and style of worship may have changed, but the principles she “equipped” them with haven’t.  Today she still remains in the pew and worships, while many of those that she has “equipped” have rocked on with Jesus with the desire to create a worshipful atmosphere.

21^st Century Church needs to better equip and then release, let go with a blessing.

(This is the 5^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 4)

 The Big “E”: “Equipping” or “Enabling”?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “equipping”, preparing the “saints”, not church staff’s, for the work of “service” as outlined in Ephesians 4?” Let’s look at that question.

There is an addiction in the American church today, dependency on their clergy or professional staff which often enables them.  The American church has done a poor job at “equipping” the “saints” for the work of service here in America by just “serving” them.  This may sound like a paradox, but by constantly “serving” their congregations, they constantly give out, give out, give out, then burn out!  That is not the fruit of serving.

We feed, diaper, and burp our children as newborns. From their birth, parents just give out, give out, give out, but there is the hope, the prayer, the belief that someday the child will be potty trained, feed himself at the table, and say “excuse me” when he/she burps alone!  Part of “growing up” is taking on responsibility, learning to stand alone, and eventually taking care of others.  It thrilled me to see a friend of ours helplessly going through childhood, only to one day stand on his own, in fact, getting married, and today is a “foster” parent, reaching out to others.  That is growing up.

There are members of many of our churches who have not, and often refuse to “grow up” spiritually.  They want the pastor to feed them through sermons and teachings rather than self-Bible reading and study.  They would rather call the pastor for the prayer list so that the pastor or staff can pray for their loved ones rather than nurture a private, vibrant prayer life of their own.  They would rather give financially when they can or what they want rather than practice a disciplined financial life of tithing.  These people frustrate their church leadership, but today’s church leadership style is to take some of the blame, because we are doing a poor job of “equipping”, preparing, developing, and nurturing the “saints”, the ordinary grass root believers in Jesus, to “do” the work of the service.  We have “enabled” them into their present condition.  Most “discipleship courses” in churches have failed.  Often it becomes easier to equip the “staff” than it is to equip the “saints” to “do” it.  I have seen this principle as a public educator where administrators are more into equipping their staff through staff development than releasing their staff to do what they are best at doing, teaching,  equipping their students for real world lessons. In education, students now “expect” the teaching staff to do alot for them, which is sad, but we have “enabled” that attitude. This is also true with the American church.

So the challenge is, “How do we “equip the saints for the work of the service” as a church?  How can we introduce, then develop, care, and nurture believers in their God given talents, then have the “trust” and “faith” in them to release them, allow them to grow up and be “mature” in Christ and eventually become leaders in the Church?

I contend through the five fold!  We need apostles to oversee or “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in individual lives as well corporately with in the local body of Christ. Apostles love to “see over” one’s development then “release” them. They are never to control nor manipulate, but allow the Holy Spirit to develop each believer.  Apostles naturally want to “release” one into ministry.  We need shepherds, teachers, and prophets to help in the day-to-day development of a believer to be grounded in the Word, the Bible, yet activate it into a “living”, Rhema Word, with proper nurture and care through daily living experiences. This is what Jesus did to the twelve.  He never sent them off to rabbinical school, or seminary, nor gave a “discipleship course” to his disciples; he walked, talked, and taught them through parables of common life experiences to teach kingdom principles.  We need evangelists to ignite, revive, and bring renewal and rebirth to that which the Holy Spirit is leading.  All five of these passions and points of view would develop believers toward a greater maturity in Jesus Christ.

As a church, we have got to quit enabling, and begin developing.  This takes an investment of our time, our talents, and our resources through establishing personal relationships, not programs as today’s institutional church looks for. “Equipping” or preparing someone takes time, care, nurture, respect, trust, development, and faith.  Are we, the Church, willing to give such a great price for the “equipping of the saints?”  That is the question for the 21^st Century Church.

(This is the 4^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, particularly on equipping, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 3)

A Different Look At Accountability

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of …… bringing “accountability” to those in the Church through “service” by “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16)?” Let’s look at that question.

In my private life I feel accountable to the leadership of my local church, but I do not feel them necessarily accountable to me.  I can call for an “appointment” if I need to communicate with them during business hours or if I have a need, or I will email, tweet, or Facebook them, but I never expect them to personally do that to me. Why? Often leadership in most churches is by position rather than relationship.  (Ratio between professional staff and laity can become ineffective for personal ministry when it grows in size.)  I must admit, my current pastor and I get to sit down and square off about once every three months.  I don’t know if that is enough to build a strong relationship of service and receiving. Those with whom I am in daily relationship I learn to respect because of their life style, their commitment to Jesus, their faith journey they display each day and how they portray Jesus to me in their daily life.  Often laity feel “out of the loop” with their professionals.   Personally, over the last 20 years, I have developed a mindset where I didn’t feel I had a personal relationship with our pastor that would warrant an invitation over for supper with his family, nor would I ever expect an invitation from him to dine with his family. I would feel calling him in the evening would fringe on his badly needed family time, but because of my work schedule I could not call him during business hours at the church office.  That relationship has changed with our current pastor, but the breaking of an old mindset is in order!

Accountability for leadership in most churches comes from with in their own structure.  Church Boards, Ministerial Advisory Committees, etc. are created as well as oversight by bishops, district supervisors, etc. for clergy.  But I have discovered that being a pastor, a clergy, is a very lonely position.  What has caused that dilemma?

Some denominations teach their clergy not to get close to their people because they move so often in their career.  I know of laity who have been hurt, learning to mistrust their clergy, because every time they get close to one as a person, build a relationship of faith and trust, the clergy has been assigned to another location, another parish, creating a void that had previously been fulfilled.

Why couldn’t accountability in leadership be built on “service”, “sacrifice”, and “laying down one’s life” for each other through relationships? I know of church boards and leadership that will host “Pastor Appreciation Sundays”, take special offerings to “bless” their pastors, even sending them on a “Cruise” to bless them for a badly needed vacation, but will not yield or lay down their lives for that pastor when diversity and differences arise during leadership meetings and church politics become the “norm” rather than “service”, “sacrifice”, or “laying down one’s life.” That superficial cruise often becomes the Titanic of their relationship.  What would leadership meetings be like if everyone was “free” to minister from their strengths to each other, and receive the strengths of others to bolster their weaknesses?  The power to “release” everyone to be who they are in Jesus and the giftings He has given them as well as “receive” openly and willingly from others their strengths would change how leadership is done in the church.  “Accountability” would occur with the “giving” to others while “receiving” openly from them.  That builds relationships; that builds trust; that builds strong bonds of “service” as featured in Ephesians 4.

There need not be a great divide between those in leadership and those not in leadership in the body of Christ.  We need each other, to serve each other, and to receive from each other.  Part of leadership is allowing a relationship to develop where one will receive as well as give.  This has to be practiced in our daily lives, our daily walks of faith!  How can a believer learn to “serve”, to nurture, care, and give hospitality than to those they are following as well as receive from them?  The church should be a “safe” place of us to practice on one another, so we can be effective when we reach out to others outside our little “safe” church world and be challenged.

Relationship among believes, the giving and taking of our different giftings and strengths is the key to the Church’s effectiveness and affluence in the 21^st Century, and to bringing accountability to the church.

(This is the 3rd part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, particularly on accountability, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 2)

Diversity Can Bring Unity, Not Division

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of ……  using the diversity with in the Church that historically brought its divisions to become the very strength of bringing its unity?” Let’s look at that question.

The yellow pages of my phone book are filled with pages of subdivided “categories” of Christian Churches in my local city.  It attempts to compartmentalize the different “divisions” with in the Church by topics.  Similar churches are listed under similar titles, but different from other churches in the area, and proud of their differences rather than their similarities. 

There are listed “evangelical” churches with a strong emphasis for evangelism, “pastoral” churches that emphasize small group ministries, more person to person contact and care, “Word” churches that boast how they teach the “Word of God” uncompromisingly, “spirit-led” churches that are open to the prophetic and free style of worship, and even “apostolic” churches claiming to be the “true” church.  All recognize their strengths, boast in it, and emphasize it, but are unwilling to yield to those other “members of the body of Christ” who have strengths that flair up as their weaknesses.  The Church looks as a group that is independent from one another that doesn’t “need” one another, nor want to “fellowship” with those not under the same banner of strength, yet they try to talk a good talk about the “unity of the body of Christ”.  They might be united in heaven, for there is no “sections” in heaven like there are at sporting arenas, but they certainly are not united in any way on earth!  Though they claim to be preaching about the same Jesus, they proclaim different “gospels,” thus emphasizing their differences. What happened to the section of the Lord Prayer that states, “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven?”

Rather than the church as an institution, let’s look at individual believers in Jesus.  Every believer needed an evangelist to “introduce them to Jesus!”  No “rebirth”; no “new life”!  You can’t deny the gospel, the good news, that an evangelist brings.  Every believer needs a “shepherd” with a pastoral heart to guide, nurture, & care for them through their spiritual walk.  Often we call these individuals our “spiritual parents.”  Every believer needs to be grounded in the Word, the Bible, individually, through daily Bible reading and studying allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to them, and with sound Biblical teaching. The 1^st Century called this teaching the “Apostles’ Teachings” that became the groundwork for the new Church.  Every believer needs the prophetic, making their “theological” life a “living, vibrant” life of faith, a daily walking out of their salvation, a daily need to feed and grow on Jesus.  Every believer needs the “over sight” of an “overseer” to “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in individual lives and corporately in the gathering of the saints.  I must admit, as a believer in Jesus, I need all five of these passions, all five of these points of view to help me grow into the maturity and image of Jesus Christ while I live here on earth.

Now, as an individual believer, I can admit that I need the diversity of the body of Christ; then why can the Church corporately admit it too?  Why can’t we, the church, embrace one another in Jesus, serving one another in Jesus, and drawing from the strength of other believers in Jesus together?  Only when we drop our prejudices against our own brethren, can we embrace them in the love of Christ.  Individually we need one another; corporately we, the CHURCH, also need one another to full fill the calling of Ephesians 4 to bring unity to the Body of Christ.

Only through diversity can the Church of Jesus Christ be strong.  Let’s embrace that truth, and quit joining in the fight against it! Let’s eliminate the “secular” subdivisions that the Yellow Book, and so many others, believers and nonbelievers, see.  Let’s not only embrace one another, but begin to practice I John 3:16 of “laying down our lives for our brethren,” because that is his definition of true love!

(This is the second part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold

A New Vision In Our Current Time!

Home at 5 in the morning fighting a cold & aches, waiting for the doctor’s office to open to call for an appointment, I went on my Tweet account to see if anyone was talking about the 21^st Century Church, the relevancy of today’s Church, or the five fold ministry in the Church.  There was discussion on the first two topics, but none on the third, when the third topic could be the key to the relevancy of the Church in the 21^st Century.  After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of ……

                  -  using the diversity with in the Church that historically brought its divisions to become the very strength of brining its unity?

                  -  bringing “accountability” to those in the Church through “service” by “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16)?

                  -  actually “equipping”, preparing the “saints”, not church staff’s, for the work of “service” as outlined in Ephesians 4?

                  -  releasing those already in the Church to do the work of an evangelist, or shepherding, being pastoral, or teaching the Word, or bringing spiritual relevancy and life to the Word, or “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing with the corporate body of Christ?

                  -  cherishing its historical tradition, but allowing the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and speak to the relevant Church of today, the 21^st Century, in how to be effective in a lost and dying world?

                  - building relationships, not on likeness, but on different giftings to share in service to one another and to draw on in time of need.  In marriage we often chose opposites to augment our strengths and weaknesses, why not in other relationships?

I just may have to re-examine those six reasons in blog entries over the next six days!  Join me, don’t be afraid to comment, and feel free to search any of my previous blogs for information and my insights.