Pentecost Generationally

 Will This Next Movement Of God Bring Unity Of Language?

Many of my generation of church goers fear speaking in tongues, some even to the point of being in denial claiming it “died” when the original 12 apostles died, failing to recognize that millions of Christians world wide speak in tongues.  But this exemplifies the gap in the church’s mindset culturally today of my generation. American culture says if it fits my American culture and I see it in my experience (of course, grounded in the Word of God, the Bible, Amen!), then it is relevant and correct. If I do not “see” tongues in my church, then it does not exist! That’s my generation’s mentality.  Tongues was looked upon as “unintelligent gibberish” that needed “interpretation” in ones own personal language and dialect so all could understand it.  The first century Church’s experience with tongues is believers speaking in languages they did not know and all kinds of people of different language and dialect understanding their message.  This is how the Church was birthed. Tongues to the “twenty-teeners” is the art of “communicating” with the rest of the “world” through the internet and social networking in their cultural language, yet all speaking the language of Jesus Christ.  That language will not be in American English culture as the internet is now positioned, but in a language transcending the American culture where churches in China, Asia, South America, Third World Countries, tell Americans about their faith and how to walk it out.  The Church will begin to speak the language of “Jesus” supernaturally by his Holy Spirit.

The Great Commission is looked upon generationally differently today.  My generation looks at it as the physically “sent out” generation of missionaries, people called, commissioned, and financially supported by local churches.  Once sent out, the local church would only see them every five years when they would have to return to “build up their financial support.”  Parachurch ministries such as Mission Aviation, Wycliff Bible Translators, Youth With A Mission, or even Compassion International were all effective tools of mission work to my generation. 

Today the “twenty-teeners”, can do “mission” work right from their Iphone.  Their mindset of the Church is naturally global, not small town community as their grandparents.  The World Wide Web allows them to communicate literally with the world through all kinds of social platforms.  Their mentality is that they can be in touched with an actual Nigerian, relationally building conversations with them, rather “sending out” missionaries.  This generation “sends out” texts, tweets, blogs, Facebook messages, etc. to the actual people in their native land, a totally foreign concept to my generation.  Instead of funneling through a missionary, they can have direct contact with the actual people in their native culture, working out their faith in their culture.

This also breaks down denominational lines. Missionaries in the foreign field have “tolerated” each other even if from different persuasions of Christianity for the sake of the gospel as they work toward a common goal of sharing Jesus with a foreign culture to theirs.  Today, the “twenty-teeners” don’t care for labels, so when social networking, they don’t care what Christian label you carry; they only social network about their relationship with Jesus in their culture to another culture.  “Twenty-teeners” are actually more “engaged” in the actual missions process than my generation.  They can learn about cultures other than their own easier through internet connections than my generation ever dreamed of doing.  The world is their stage, not the small confines of the local community as my generation found itself.

“Twenty-teeners” don’t try to change culture, only change lives in any culture for Jesus Christ.  Early missionaries to the Americas tried to change Indian culture to European Christian culture.  The same is true with many missionaries to third world countries.  The “twenty-teeners” will try to change any culture into “kingdom of God” culture that transcends any foreign culture to oneself.  The American way is not the “kingdom of God” way, nor is the European way, as the westernized church has forced on the world so far throughout history. 

Paul learned that “Jewish culture” was not  the new “kingdom of God” culture although that was the culture he was familiar with.  He once was the “Pharisee of Pharisees”, the ultimate religious leader of his former culture, but Jesus knocked him off his horse, and completely new mindsets of “kingdom of God” thinking had to be established in his life. In fact he transcended the culture so both Jews and Gentiles could be part of the “kingdom of God”, something he had to defend at the Counsel in Jerusalem in Acts 10.

Generationally, today the Church is in a period of rapid transformation from being a “westernized” religion, or a historically Jewish based religion, to a “world wide” religion with powerful implications. The world wide culture is only being established now, and the Church needs to be a defining part of that!  Reformation always comes when the Church took new technology to advance the “kingdom of God”, them empowerment of the “priesthood of believers” who would effect not only their culture, but other cultures foreign to their previous experiences.  Lord, thank you for letting us enter the birthing of a World Wide Reformation.

Is The Church Generationally Two Different Worlds

Are We “Worlds” Apart?

Linguistics is such an art!  When thinking of church leadership, I think of pastor, elders, deacons, church boards, etc.  Recently I met with a “twenty-teen” minded church leader who is a facilitator, director, planner, implementer, spark igniting, social networking overseer of a local church.  Well, I call it a church; he choses to refer to it as a gathering of people who tell their stories, build relationships within and outside current church norms and boundaries, and facilitate these relationships on a social networking level or in a deeper personal level.  As Kent Hunter refers to flat worlding (see earlier blogs about the 21^st Century Church), my friend and his “twenty-teen” generation, as I now call them, are not the least interested in church hierarchy.  In fact that turns them off.  They don’t look at church from a business model sense like my generation with budgets driven by tithing, but merely from a loose relationship angle.  Church offices and titles make no sense to them, relationships do.  Social networking keeps them on a sociably equal level with each other.  On Facebook, Myspace, and Tweet, there are no social levels, no societal hierarchal levels of importance.  You are on an equal platform of “esposure”, and “vuneralability”. 

He told me that although he still meets with a pastor’s group for prayer and fellowship periodically, he feels a detachment, almost an alienation to the old guard. He understands where they are coming from because of history, but they can not understand going the other direction, toward the future.  What will the Church look like in 2025?  The old guard would be content if the Church still had its present structure, for that is what they identify with in their generation to their culture, but there is now a different culture and a different generation.

For examples, the way we view the Great Commission is changing.  My generation sent out “missionaries” to foreign countries or supported grand Billy Graham Crusades.  “Twenty-teeners” are beginning to despise Billy Graham three point techniques as “archaic” and ineffective to their generation.  Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, are all spiritual giants to my generation tried to breed their children to follow them in ministry.  It is hard for them to realize, but their grandchildren are not responding well to their strategies.  It is a new culture, a new world.  Tent Evangelism of Oral Roberts, Billy Graham city wide Crusades, and  Pat Robertson’s view of Christian television, the advanced technology of his generation, is giving way to the internet, the world wide web, and social networking.  Their grandchildren would preferably only listen to a “podcast” of one of their sermons in the "archive" section if they were interested at all.

Evangelism has changed.  Billy Graham preached the world was going to hell in a handbag, and repenting and turning to Jesus was the answer.  Christians were not to be part of the world, but saved from it, thus the “Leave It Behind” series became popular to my generation, but is ineffective to “twenty-teeners”.  Their “missional” outlook is to “infiltrate” the world, not avoid it. 

“Life is how you live it”, is a common theme to both generations. My plain, almost Amish, conservative dressed background emphasized that “our lifestyle” proved to be our testimony, thus we were not verbal about our faith, for our outward appears defined our stand on righteousness.  Church dress, as defined in the 50’s through 90’s, has all but disappeared in the current seeker friendly church atmosphere.  The “twenty-teener” blends into his culture, preferring to listen to secular music to pick out spiritual principles that to church hymns and choruses, the reversal of my generation’s experience who went from pure secular music to contemporary Christian music. Both generations are trying to “live out their Christian faith” but in structures that are defined by their culture.  To the “twenty-teeners”, the dividing line between secular and church mindsets are getting muddied.  I am sure the “old guard” will combat this new movement with their own defined “righteousness” movement, judging and condemning this “new works of God” as being unholy, secular, and unrighteousness.  They’ve done that throughout Church history; why change now?

“Old School Church” is predictable because it has history; “New School Church” is unpredictable because it is looking ahead and has no history, only a walk of faith.  As my “twenty-teener” friend conveyed to me, “It is like Abram walking in faith into a land he is not familiar with.”  That’s the pioneering spirit; that is the spirit that moves the Church forward.  It challenges the Church from stagnation to flow again.  Quiet calm lakes are great for a quiet day of fishing if you can stay awake, but white water rafting on a fast pace stream creates a rush!  I felt this spiritual rush in the movement of God in the 1960-70’s, but eventually found myself in the stagnation of an established lake.  I empathize with the “twenty-teeners” because they are ready for their generational rush that will change their culture for Jesus Christ.

Jesus prayer as recorded in John 17 is to protect his Church who he is leaving behind in the world.  He knew the tuggings and temptations of the world, yet he knew that his mission was to come and die for this world!  He’s died; He’s risen; and by his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Church is moving forward.  Both generations are in the same world, but are looking at it generationally and culturally different. God, fulfill the calling of John 17 and bring unity to your body of Christ, the Church in this century to these two generations. May this “movement of god” bring unity among us! amen….

Education: The Winds Of Change Are Beginning To Blow

Reflections Back: Generational and Cultural Changes

Some people have told me that this past June was the perfect time to get out of education, for the winds of change are blowing on the American educational scene, and they are getting stronger each year.  Institutions like public education and the church are notorious for the lack of change, always changing after a cultural trend has occurred or when that trend becomes “acceptable” to the present culture in power.

Two years ago, our English Department met to order textbooks in our seven year maintenance and reordering of new materials cycle.  I was shocked when battle lines were drawn.  The old guard, including myself, warned that if you did not order a textbook for every child, they may not get one for the next seven years and you will be scrambling for material.  The new guard rebuffed the idea opting for new technologies to replace old books.

Our current American culture finds itself in a dilemma where technology is now moving so fast, institutions can not keep up with it.  Schools finally budget for desk top computers for their computer labs only to discover that mobile laptops have already replaced them, oops, I am sorry, smart phones have replaced them.  As my district finally order laptops for their staff, kids were already tweeting, Facebooking, Googling, blogging, and texting on the bus ramps.  Even students on the Federal Lunch Program somehow owned smart phones while their parent’s didn’t.  On a field trip, the bus was absolutely quiet, which makes a teacher nervous wondering what everyone was up to! They were all talking, electronically, texting one another as well as their parents at home informing them of out Estimated Time of Arrival!  Schools can not keep up with the hardware being offered in technology and does not have the software to fit into its institutional thinkings.

As I sit here, the Space Shuttle is performing its last mission!  We are known as the “space age” country, and even have a space station in outer space that we can not get to unless we send our astronauts in soviet Russian rockets.  The criticism is that the Apollo Missions were immediately replaced with the Gemini Moon Missions that were immediately replaced by the Space Shuttle Missions, but with the Shuttle’s retirement to “assisted living” in selected museums, there is nothing to date in front of the public for them to visible see that will replace the shuttle! The technology of space exploration has gone so fast with satellite trips to every imaginable planet in our galaxy, we have not been able to keep up with the hardware to get man there.  My generation saw a man physically get on the moon but then abandon that idea for over a decade.  Now my generation demands to see a man physically make it to Mars, but my children’s generation doesn’t. They are satisfied with all the “data” received in their “data” driven minds in a “data” driven world wide web culture that is being supplied by our satellites. They want more "data" before sending men there, thus the pause, the wait before another visible launch! That is an example of the different mindsets between the two generations.

I have found that “data”, “research”, “access” to information, world wide social contacts have trumped what I thought was reason, experience, and face to face socializing.  I’ve lost contact with all of my high school and college alumni except for a handful who I personally “see” “over the years”, while my children stay in contact “socially” to theirs through social networking, “seeing” them by Skyping them if needed.  I think Skype is a technology for my generation because we still want to physically “see” who we are talking to.  The younger generation doesn’t have to see who they are texting, the message is more important.  They don’t have to actually see the person on Facebook, but they do like to share pictures with one another or maybe even videos, but actual “face to face” communication is not a requisite for “Face”book.

In the public school setting I felt my expertise through 40 years of teaching was minimized if not looked down upon by administration and younger staff members.  I said, “If it is not broken, don’t fix it.  We worked years to “tweak” (now an archaic term) what we had been doing.”  Now I get “research says,” or “data shows” as rebuffs to my expertise, my personal experiences and my logical reasoning.  There is definitely a chasm between the mindsets of older and younger generations, and the width is growing.

Like my culture, looking for a tangible, optical object to replace the space shuttle, so my generation is looking for a tangible, optical object to replace the textbook, not some ambient world wide network with its “clouds” replacing floppy discs and thumb drives.  We can’t even see where this information and our valuable pictures are being stored. We are losing control of our “tangible”, visual world.  The younger generation hungers for social contact that my generation thinks is shallow, hungers for data which my generation thinks is trivial, hungers for relationships that are global rather than small local communities and school districts that my generation valued. The small town mentality of my grandparents is now ancient history.

Different mindsets created by different experiences have changed culture.  Often drastic cultural change brings generational divisions.  This can be avoided if both generational cultures try to begin to understand each other.  They have so much in common.  The young pups forget their DNA is the same as the old dogs and vice versus; both are made from the same fabric. We will have to continue to look at this generational phenomena that American culture is facing.

Church: The Winds Of Change Are Beginning To Blow

Shadows of the Past: Generational and Cultural Changes

I remember Bob Dylan’s song The Times They Are A-Changing that Peter, Paul & Mary made famous during the infamous protest era of the late ‘60’s & early ‘70’s’:

             Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

             And don’t criticize what you can’t understand

             Yours sons and your daughters are beyond your command

             Your old road is rapidly agin’

                                                                                                  Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand

                                                                                                   For the times they are a-changin’

As a 26 year old, I thought those lyrics prophetic as the madness of the civil rights movement, women’s liberation movement, anti-Viet Nam War movement, the drug revolution, the free love philosophy, and the rebellion against “the establishment” philosophy swept the nation. “Leave It To Beaver” was replaced by “Woodstock”.  Flat top haircuts were replaced by Beetle “bangs” with sideburns or long haired hippies.  To those in their teens or twenties Dylan’s lyrics seemed to make sense, warning the past generation of a new mindsets in American culture, life style, and attitudes were in order. Truly, the times were a changing.

Ironically as my age number have been flipped, 62 years old, I find myself at the other end of the spectrum of these lyrics as those in their teens and twenties are ready to sing the song back to me, warning me of changing times.  In my life time I have seen the Berlin Wall fall closing the cold war, Tell Star, the first satellite, cross the sky to man walking on the moon, the birth and the death of the space shuttle, the invention and implementation of the internet, the world wide web, the birth of actual 4 in. floppy disks and their death only to be replaced by “the cloud”, going from using telephone booths dropping quarters for time and “land lines” to paying dearly for wireless smart phones that now control our lives, from teenage girls writing notes to their friends while giggling to teenage girls giggling while texting, from sending love letters through what is now referred to as “snail mail” only to be replaced by email, instant messaging, MySpacing, Facebooking, Tweeting, and social media, from seeing a "live" satellite transmission picture of a water fountain in Paris to being able to Skype anyone anywhere in the world, from listening to “tapes” on 8 track cartridges and later cassettes to DVD’s to online with Itunes on Ipods, from renting a movie on tape at Blockbuster to getting a movie from a redbox for a buck in what use to look like a soda machine, and from writing in actual cursive writing in a journal in ink, to typing in different fonts with pictures in a blog like this!

My grandparents rode to a local church a couple blocks away in a horse and buggy, a model T-Ford, or a VW bug because it was close.  My generation all owned cars and passed each other while driving to different churches all over the country.  My children’s generation is “bored” with church as I grew up with it, seeking high tech, high powered, multi-screened, high production services in megachurches or just “surfing” the internet to make new “connections” rather than physically making them in a church building.  I went to church twice on Sundays, to choir practice on Tuesdays, mid-week service on Wednesday, and youth group on Thursdays, as well as attend V.B.S., daily Vacation Bible School, as a kid and attend church camp for a week as a teen during the summer.  My children’s generation may go once a week, if at all.  Church life defined my social life as a teen, but social networking defines the social life of my children.  The Church is only one small part of their social life, if it is at all, while it was all consuming to me.

So with all these changes, and only in the brief span of ½ century, no wonder Dylan’s lyrics are being thrown back at me.  I remember what we called a “generation” gap with our parents….. oops it has returned as roles have “changed”, and I am now the parent and the lines…..

                  “Your old road is rapidly agin’

                  Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand

                  For the times they are a-changin’

….. hits home.  In my next series of blogs, I hope to look at this dilemma that I am now forced to face.  How has American culture changed?  How is American Church culture changing?  I hear my parents and grandparents singing in my one ear, “Give me that old time religion; it’s good enough for me. It was good for the Hebrew children; it was for my mother; it was good for my father; and its good enough for me,” and Dylan singing in my other ear, “Your old road is rapidly agin. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand.’”

I remember in the ‘70’s crying out to the Church to “lend me a hand” when the Charismatic Movement swept the country, but they rejected my cry while choosing instead to oppose what was happening to me and the Charismatic Movement until the fruit of that movement was “acceptable” decades later.  Now in the "two thousand and teens" decade, Dylan’s lyrics resounds as I, and the Church that I helped develop to my generation in our culture is about to be asked “to lend a hand” or “get out of the new one”.  How are we to respond?  How will we respond? Ooops, how are we responding already? That is the topic of future blogs!  

The Hand Of God: Multiple Uses

 Shaking Hands; Laying On Of Hands, Raising Hands

Shaking hands can bring a bond of agreement, defining a man’s “word” as truth.  The laying on of hands is a powerful tool in the Church to bring healing, impartations, consecrations, and releasing.  The raising of hands can be an act of worship of releasing and receiving. 

I remember going to Jesus 74 in Western Pennsylvania, not knowing what I was attending when I arrived.  I had just been introduced into the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began witnessing healings, deliverances, and spiritual warfare.  I met several other people from my hometown and decided to “hang out” with them through this event.  I remember one night, the Spirit was heavy, falling on entire youth groups as they collapsed into piles while being “slain in the spirit”, something I had never seen before. One young man in our group stood with hands raised in worship, but his face soon became contorted, distraught, in anguish and pain as he faced an inward struggle.  All of a sudden he turned his palms around, as if to be holding on to something, and his knees gave out as if hanging in mid air. All of us around him looked in amazement as his knees again grew strong, his hands dropped, and he dropped to the ground.  Later he confided in me that he was having a vision where satan was attacking him, trying to rob him of everything he had, and he reached out his hands to heaven crying out for help.  He said it was as if the “hand of god” reached down and grabbed his and held him until he could stand on his own.  We could not deny his vision from what we had seen with our vision watching him.

The “hand of God” is powerful, for when His hand is upon you there is confidence, fulfillment, healing, protection, and victory.  It is a powerful tool of strength.  Today, I believe, the “hand of god” manifests itself through the Church.  The Church is His hands and His feet, I have sung often in a chorus.   Let’s look at the power of the use of the “hand of God” upon our lives.

First, a man “handshake” was equal to his bond, his word, his truth and worth.  In a business deal, if two shook hands, it was a sealed deal. Today it has to be written incase one fails to back his word and the court has to be called to settle the differences.  Trust has been lost.  Today we have even lost the power of the marriage vow to prenuptial agreements because one of the two does not keep their word even though rings were placed on fingers on one’s hand as a sign of the sealed deal.

Second, the “hand of god” brings healing and deliverance.  I have seen the laying on of hands as an effective tool that has brought healing and deliverance to people.  It was like those hands grasped the sickness or demonic influences in one’s life and then released that person of them in healing when their hands were released.  I have seen the power of the laying on of hands as “impartation” to receive the Holy Spirit, then the releasing of those hands as the Spirit was released on that person’s life.  I have seen the laying on of hands as an act of support, backing, then release for someone being “sent out”, fulfilling the Great Commission, with the blessing of a local body of Christ, the Church.  Of course all this is scriptural and happened in the book of Acts.

Third, the raising of “holy hands” is an act of surrender, an act of receiving, and an act of worship.  My simple definition of worship is “giving back to God what He has given you.”  I have heaved a Charleston Grey watermelon above my head in worship, giving back the watermelon to God that He had given me as worship. You use your hands to give, and you use your hands to receive. If the Church wants to give and receive corporately, then they need to extend their fingers and hands in praise (see the last blog).

Last, two folded hands in unity, fingers interlocking, different gifting, passions, and points of view, ten distinctly different fingers overlapping in unity becomes “praying hands”.  Praying hands is an excellent visual image of unity that the body of Christ needs to practice.

A hand, composed of fingers that are distinctly different from one another, yet working together, is a powerful tool of the kingdom of god.  The “hand of god” is an extension of the different gifting, passions, and points of view working in service together to bring unity with power, the Church.  The Church is the “hand of god.”

The Hand Of God: The Apostolic Is Like A Thumb

The Purpose Of The Thumb: Creating a Power Punch?

To the question, “What is the purpose of the thumb?” Answers.com/Wiki Answers says, “To put opposing pressure against the fingers enabling the hand and fingers to grip, climb, or make a fist.”  Take a second and look at your hand, palm facing you.  All four fingers are facing your direction.  They are distinctly different in length: pointer, middle, ring, and pinky fingers.  The thumb does not face you; it faces the four fingers for the purpose of applying “pressure against the fingers” enabling the “hand” to “grip, climb, or make a fist.”  It is a process involving all five.

In the five fold gifting, passion, and point of view, I see the apostle like a thumb, it “sees over” the other four fingers, yet can not be effective unless it works with them, serves “pressure” for them, then “releases” that pressure.  It cannot apply pressure on all four at one time, only on the finger needed for the specific function at the specific time.  The thumb cannot do the work alone; it needs another finger! They key for the thumb is knowing when to “apply” pressure and when to “release” it to allow the finger to be on its own. 

It is amazing though, that the only way the hand can “receive” is when all five are extended wide open.  When all five are extended it can catch larger objects, hold them, and release them when necessary.  I have seen hands upraised toward heaven, fingers extended, reaching, waiting to grasp what the hand of God is ready to release to them as an “act of worship.”  Extended hands in worship are beautiful, and when done in unity in a corporate setting, phenomenally awesome!  But to grasp all that the Lord wants to give them, all five fingers have to collapse around the object to grasp, have a grip, or hold what has been given to them.  If one of them does not cooperate, it is easy to drop the object, never getting a firm grip on the object, and sometimes totally missing the object. All five working together can grab a hold of and grip the fullness of God corporately.  When one of the five does not cooperate with the other four, the hand is severely crippled and nothing can be held effectively.

In a fist, the thumb naturally lays over the other four fingers, protecting them, keeping them together, applying pressure to keep them all in place. When “googling” the word “fist”, I got the definition: “Noun: A person’s hand when the fingers are bent in toward the palm and held there tightly, typically in order to strike a blow or graps.”  A fist is powerful, and the Body of Christ, the Church, needs the thumb, the apostle to “lay over” the fingers in protection, creating power when all five fingers bow with one another. In unity there is “power”!  The Church will manifest its “power” when all five fingers, all five gifting, passions, and points of view bow together under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Satan cannot survive a power punch from the “hand of God”, His Church, when all five are working in unity together.  Jesus said that “a kingdom divided can not stand”, and if all five do not bow together (to his Lordship), and even one rebels refusing to bow, you can not have a fist!  The power of the punch is totally lost.

In terms of spiritual warfare, the Church needs a punch of unity, a punch of power, a punch created by all those in the Body of Christ, no matter what gifting, passion, or point of view, bowing together.  Satan and his kingdom of darkness has no defense for that kind of punch.  The fullness of Christ with his death on the Cross and resurrection from the grave completed the fullness of Christ on earth, a punch Satan could not stand, for as Jesus said, “It is finished” when he died on the cross. That “fullness in Christ” is in the “hand of God” when Jesus “released” it into the “hands of God”, his Father, who then released it in the form of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ on to the Church.  The Church has the potential for knock out punches every time the five fold works in unity.

The fullness of Christ was exposed at the Cross when the supernatural (the vertical), God’s only Son, died, “laying down his life for our sins” while penetrating the natural world (the horizontal) creating the Cross.  That same supernatural power can penetrate today’s natural world effectively when all five passions, and points of view are willing to “lay down their lives for their brethren,” laying down the horizontal arm of the Cross.  The Church has been given the “fullness of Christ” vertically and horizontally: the CROSS!  God’s love is shown both vertically and horizontally. 

With the recognition of, the maturing and developing of, and the releasing of the apostle in to the Church, the Church will again see the protection, the “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit of Jesus is doing, again!  The restoration of the apostle in the five fold is crucial if the “hand of God” is to work with all five fingers!

The Hand Of God: What Does It Look Like?

Hold Up Your Hand And Take A Close Look

If you hold up your hand and examine it closely, you can learn some practical principles of the five fold.  In past blogs we have seen that each finger has its own distinct fingerprint although from a distant all fingers look the same.  Each fingerprint is distinctively different in their own unique way, yet must rely on the other fingers to be effective as part of the hand.  Missing any one of the fingers causes one to have a “crippled” hand.

As a child, I remember going down the Midway of the York Fair listening to one of the Carnies boasting that one could come into his tent to see “The Claw Man”, a man who had lobster claw hands.  I understand, that the man who you paid to see actually looked like he had claws because he had a disease where his four fingers were fused together as one with only a movable thumb.  He was considered a “freak” in the Freak Show Midway.  God designed for a hand to have five moveable parts that worked together, now fingers fused, nor one extremity being alone.  Hands were never designed to be only movable thumbs. 

Unfortunately this is how the Church has looked in the last couple centuries. The fingers have fought to be separate entities, separate from the other fingers.  In I Corinthians 1:10-13 Paul writes: I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.  My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says I follow Paul”; another “I follow Apollos”; another ”I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?

The evangelist and prophetic were lining up behind Paul; the teacher aligned with Apollos; the pastoral shepherd stood behind Cephas, all three claiming to be apostolic.  Is Christ divided? Unfortunately, historically, the answer has been yes!  The Church has been a “freak show” in the Midway of history, for it has not seen the fulfillment of Jesus’ Priestly Prayer for the Church and his believers as recorded in John 17 yet.  I believe that fulfillment is still coming as the five fold continues to be reinstituted in the Church as originally planned: for the purpose to mature the saints into the image of Jesus as well as bringing unity in the Body.

The hand needs all its fingers to operate independently, yet corporately with each other.  If you have only one finger in use, it is difficult to pick up anything. With all fingers working together it is a simple task, even picking up the minutest thing.  If all fingers work together, they can “grasp”.  In order to “grasp” the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus Christ in his fullness, all five fingers need to be working independently yet together.  If all five fingers of the five fold as outlined in Ephesians 4: 11 work together, then “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” (vs.12-13).  The fullness of Christ is the hand of God.

The Hand Of God: A Call To Release, Not Grasp And Hold

 Another Insight At The Foot Of The Cross

In the last blog, I looked at the possibility of the five fold being the five fingerprints of the hand of God, each individual finger having a distinctive fingerprint, but when examined all looking like the image of Jesus, the complete hand being the corporate body of Christ.  When meditating in Church today, I came upon a scripture that I have read plenty of times before, but now took on a different perspective.

Luke 23: 44-46 records, It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”  When he had said this, he breathed his last.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross, he could not hold on or grasp anything because of the nails that were driven through his hands.  He hung there exposed, naked, physically helpless.  Things looked out of control, but that assumption would be incorrect, for things were exactly in His control.  Because of Jesus’ mission, he knew that as a human he had to die, but “death where is your sting?”  As a sacrificial lamb, he knew his mission, death, resurrection, and victory. Being in control, what was the last thing Jesus said before his death loudly? He proclaimed for all the world to hear, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”

Where did Jesus commit his spirit?  Into “the hands of God, His Father”!  He “releases” His spirit into the hands of God.  Who is God’s hands? The Church!  What does God, the Father do, grasp a strong hold to keep and horde the Spirit of Jesus Christ? No.  Jesus knew his Father’s Promise that if he, Jesus, returned to his Father in heaven, then the Father would “release” that Spirit Jesus just gave him and allow it to be released into His Church!  Fifty days later, a blink of an eye to God, He “releases” the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ back onto the Church, and Pentecost becomes “the birth of the Church”, the evangelistic spirit!  In upcoming days, these believers would break bread with each other, nurture and care for one another, the pastoral shepherding spirit! Would “teach” the fulfillment of all scripture, the Logos Word, the Law, through Jesus Christ, the teaching spirit!  Commune with the Holy Sprit, listening to his voice and obediently following it, the prophetic spirit! The Church would be founded on the 12 apostles to “over see” the work of this Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ!  The hand of God had released His fingerprints, the five fold, upon His Church, and on the world!

In upcoming blogs we will look at the “hand of God” and what it means, the power of the use of hands in ministry, and the imprint of the five fold a unique passions and points of view, but the power of a newly birthed Church, and the power of a restored Church in preparation for Jesus’ return to earth as He had prophesied.

Another Mystery Of The Gospel: The Fingerprints Of God

 Different Prints But The Same On The Hand Of God

Throughout my life I have been asked, “Have you felt the hand of God on you, son?” by Church fathers?  Physically, not really; spiritually, definitively! Well, if his hand has been on me, and we take those fingerprints to a lab to test them, what would we find?  We might find each finger to be uniquely different, yet dramatically the same.

One finger may have the print of a passion, gifting, or point of view that sees the world as being lost, hurting, needing a Savior, and has the passion to proclaim the message of salvation, redemption, reconciliation, grace, mercy forgiveness, etc. to everyone and anyone who does not know Jesus.  It would also be a print of birth and rebirth, a desire to start a new by turning from old ways only to embrace new ones. We call that the evangelistic spirit, but upon closer examination of that fingerprint, all we would see is the fingerprint of Jesus.

The next finger may have the print of a passion, gifting, or point of view that sees a hurting world but is driven to give comfort and care to those hurting.  It may also see other believers as needing to be nurtured in their every day walk and faith journey towards maturing into the fullness of Jesus Christ.  We call that the pastoral shepherding spirit, but upon closer examination of that fingerprint, all we would see is the fingerprint of Jesus.

Another finger would have the print of a passion, gifting, or point of view that sees the world only through the Logos Word, the written Word of God, the Bible, desiring to imprint and embed the written scripture in the heart and spirit of every believer and nonbeliever.  His desire is for every believer to worship in “spirit and in truth.”  Grounded in the “truth” of the written word, the Logos Word, he would want to release the “spirit” of that Word into a living, active, experiential Rhema Word. We call that the pastoral teaching spirit, but upon closer examination of that fingerprint, all we would see is the fingerprint of Jesus.

Another finger would have the print of a passion, gifting, or point of view that sees the world needing to commune with God.  Built upon the evangelist having man bridge the gulf of his relationship with God through salvation while being nurtured through pastoral shepherding and grounded on the Word of God through the teacher, this fingerprint would want each believer to be in the right relationship as a believer with the God whose fingerprints are on their life.  We call that the prophetic spirit, but upon closer examination of that fingerprint, all we would see is the fingerprint of Jesus.

Another finger would have the print of a passion, gifting, or point of view that sees the Church as a whole.  It’s individual print would be complicated because it would have the pattern of an evangelist, pastoral shepherd, a teacher, and a prophet, yet a distinct print of its own, for it could see all the distinctive prints in its own, yet the beauty all the prints united together for the maturity of individual believers in the image of Jesus and corporately for the Body of Christ.  We call that the pastoral apostolic spirit, but upon closer examination of that fingerprint, all we would see is the fingerprint of Jesus.

So which finger is the pointer finger, the finger pointing the way?  It could be any of the five: the evangelistic finger pointing the lost to be found, the pastoral shepherd finger pointing nurture and care to the hurting and development and growth to believers, the teaching finger pointing our chapter and verse scripturally in the Bible instructing one how to live it out daily, or even the prophetic finger pointing always pointing to Jesus in everything the believer does, or even the apostolic finger which is like a thumb, resting on top of the other four fingers but whose job is to make the hand “grasp” or hold on to something only through the use of all five fingers.

Which is the ring finger?  Traditionally the wedding ring is placed on the fourth finger, but again it could be placed on any one of the five fingers because each one individually works in conjunction with the other four by being served by and serving the other four.  This brings accountability and unity to the entire hand.  Each of them is instrumental in making and preparing corporately the “Bride of Christ”, The Church.  Each has a function that brings “oneness” that only marriage can to diversely different people.

If we are made in the likeness of God, as I have been taught in Church all my life, then in child like faith I can assume he has five fingers on his hand.  Those five fingers could have the pattern and print of an evangelist, pastoral shepherd, teacher, prophet, or apostle on them, yet upon closer examination they are all the same for their print is the print of Jesus.

Fingerprints: Unique but United: Another Mystery Of The Gospel!

 A Different Way To Look At A Handshake?

While watching an YouTube video of an old Keith Green concert, I liked Keith’s comment, “What is neat about finger prints is far away they all look alike; you get up close they are all different.”

That is what I like about the five fold in believers of Jesus:  From a distance, each believer looks the same, but when you get up close and personal you find out that they have different passions, different points of view, a creative uniqueness only the Creator himself could have created in them.  Individually there is a difference, a uniqueness, but if broken, if hungry, if willing to listen to the Holy Spirit then be obedient to his revelation, if willing to die to self, and if willing to lay down his life for his brethren through service, there can be a drawing together of the saints in unity to appear to be the same.  All one sees is Jesus!  Wow, to look at a distant, then to look under a microscope all one sees is Jesus: that is the goal of Ephesians 4 for both the individual believer in Jesus Christ as well corporately as the Body of Jesus Christ, the Church!

The Holy Spirit is allowing itself in this age to be fingerprinted.  Every believer has the Holy Spirit with in themselves for the Bible says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” But each believers fingerprint, although they have the same Holy Spirit, is an unique print by the Creator, Jesus.  Each believer houses “the fullness of Christ”, yet displays only parts of Him at a time: different points of view, different passions, differing gifting, different fruit, different manifestations, etc.  If each different finger print allows itself to serve other fingerprints that look different than their own, reach out to them, and accept them reaching out to yourself through a handshake, you can have unity in the spirit.  Throughout history, a hand shake signified the man’s word:  his word was his bond, sealed through a handshake.  Spiritually, the same it is true for the Word, the Logos Word and the Rhema living Word is still a man of God’s bond, sealed together in a corporate sense through the unity of the Body of Christ.  The Church’s fingerprint is the unity of all the individual fingerprints, all being the fingerprint of Jesus Christ.

New technology also allows identification by putting one's eye up to a scanner which reads the individual pattern that makes up the back of one's eye.  Isn't it amazing that the print of what we see also defines us. Do we see the light of Jesus or just darkness.  Is that light implanted on the back of our spiritual eyes defining who we are in Jesus.  How we "see" Jesus (spiritual sight) and how we feel spiritually (touch) gives us our identity in Him.  As an English teacher I learned point of view is how we see or perceive something.  As believers we see Jesus differently, yet we see him the same.  Our diversity lies in our point of view, our sameness lies in the unity in Christ where he appears the same. We see Jesus differently, our different points of view, yet we see Him the same way, as a Church.  

Diversity is the Church’s strength for every believer’s prints either in their point of view, perception, or feeling in Jesus Christ is unique, yet corporately are the same!  Another mystery of the gospel!  Lets allow that diversity, reaching out for a handshake through service, one to another, and sealing that handshake as the bond of our word, the Word of God, bringing unity to the Body of Christ. 

Yes, the finger print of Ephesians 4 is upon us, embedded in each of us who are believers in Jesus Christ, and also the Church as a whole. If they fingerprint your life, would those fingerprints reveal Jesus?

Kent Hunter’s Concluding Remarks On The Possibilities For 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 have enjoyed Kent R. Hunter’s, of Church Doctor Ministries, ebook “The Future Is Now: How God Is Moving In The 21^st Century Church.”  To conclude, I will not comment and leave the words of Kent to speak for themselves.

From Chapter 16 – Snapshots of Tomorrow Today, Hunter Concludes: “The church of the 21st century will make many changes, or it will cease to exist. These changes are really not new, but old. They are New Testament. They are biblical. There is much evidence to think that the greatest days of the church, perhaps in all of history, are ahead. A networking world is the perfect platform for worldwide witness, worldwide revival, worldwide Christianity. Today, Bible studies are being held in Iran, a closed country where it is illegal to study the Bible. However, people are doing it. They are doing it in their own Farsi language, They are doing it on the Internet. They are studying the Gospel of John. This type of networking is a snapshot of the church in the future — a church that, at the end of the day, will look much like the church of the past.

One of the constant and continual directions John Wesley used during the Great Awakening was to point people back to what he called “the primitive church.” His assumption was that if we just did what the 1st century church did, but did it in contemporary ways, the church would be effective and revival would result. That is what he said, and that is what God did. The church of the 21st century cannot improve on the 1st century church. It does not mean we wear sandals and tunics. It is the 1st century church, in 21st century clothes. If we focus on New Testament Church culture (values, beliefs, priorities, attitudes, and worldviews) and contextualize that to 21st century, indigenous delivery systems targeting this postmodern world, God will use us for revival. I have no question about that, whatsoever. Do you?"

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…..”