Editor’s note – As we are working on the 2010 House2House conference, we are rerunning some great stories from 2005. Enjoy!

By Vicky Porterfield

God Wants to Speak

One of my greater privileges as a child of God is hearing His voice. Every time the Lord communicates with me, I am grateful that my God is not made of wood or stone. He is a loving Father who desires to speak to His children (Deuteronomy 33:3).

Many people say, “I don’t hear God’s voice.” Then I ask, “Are you a sheep? That is, do you know Jesus as your Savior?” In Scripture, Jesus says, “My sheep know My voice” (John 10:27).

Fifteen times in the New Testament (including seven times in the book of Revelation) we read, “He that hath ears, let him hear.” God wants to reveal Himself and teach us His ways. Remember that Christ’s actions and speech were guided by the words of His Father. We can obey a boss or a parent only when we listen to what they say. Similarly, we must listen to the voice of the Lord in order to obey Him. “The sheep follow Him because they know His voice” (John 10:4). Before we learn to hear God, we must first know that He desires to speak to us, and then we must desperately desire to hear from Him.

Different Ways God Speaks

Just as you recognize the voice of a good friend, the closer you are in relationship with the Lord, the easier it is to recognize His voice.

God speaks to us in different ways. Primarily, God reveals Himself, His truth, and His instructions (commandments) through His written word. Before you seek outside counsel, first read the Bible and study to know its truths.

The Lord also speaks through dreams and visions. God speaks to us through people with wise counsel, especially bringing instruction through people of authority. The Lord speaks to us through the beauty of nature as we see His character revealed through lakes, mountains, stars and rain. Sometimes He gives us pictures. Sometimes He speaks to us through music. And then there’s that still, quiet voice which leads us with faith, hope and love. This inner voice is usually inaudible, but it is accompanied by a strong conviction or peace, a “knowing” inside our spirit.

God gives prophetic words to edify the body of Christ and offer direction. Prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14) which warns and comforts believers. I have seen unbelievers who were given an accurate prophetic word repent and open themselves to the love of a caring God (1 Corinthians 14:24).

Many years ago at a women’s conference, a prophet called me forth and said that I would travel and teach crowds in this nation and beyond. Another told me that I would cross oceans and speak. These things seemed outside my scope since I was a mother of two and a part time real estate agent. Inside my spirit, I knew the Lord was speaking and preparing to build my faith for ministry that was bigger than I could imagine. It took many more “words of the Lord” to thrust me forward. Some came from my pastor, my husband, other friends in ministry, Scriptures, prophesies, dreams and many times of prayer when the Holy Spirit spoke words of promise and guidance. I had courage to obey because I had heard God’s voice many times in many different ways.

Discerning God’s Voice

As we listen, we must also learn to discern the voice of God from other voices. Is it God? Is it the devil? Or is it just me? Consider again the story of the Shepherd and His sheep from John 10. We learn that Satan comes as a wolf or a thief disguised in sheep’s clothing ready to steal, kill and destroy. It is essential to be alert and able to discern the true voice of God. You may find the table embedded in this article to be a helpful tool.

As you hear a “voice,” look at each column and identify the source of that voice. Ask yourself if what you are hearing or sensing is from God. Bind the voice of Satan in Jesus’ name. Repent of areas where your selfish interests interfere with God’s purposes. One thing is true of all three: each one wants all of the glory. When you respond to God’s instructions, He gives you great grace and He gets all the glory!

As we grow in intimacy with God, hearing His voice becomes more natural. As we mature in our ability to hear and discern His words, we become dependent on hearing His voice for prayer, for ministry and for life. What a privilege to know and communicate with a loving God!

Vicky Porterfield and her husband, John, co-founded PrayerFields, a ministry committed to helping Christians identify their field and learn to pray effectively in their place. They live in Austin, Texas and have two adult daughters.

A critical element in the development of the house church movement in the United States will be a change in our financial paradigm.  In traditional church, money is given by church members to pay for such things as the building, salaries for the church staff, various programs, missions, etc.  The house church movement offers an opportunity to reexamine Biblical values regarding the use of money for ministry.

Probably the most important single passage dealing with this topic is 1 Cor. 9:1-18.  The following is a commentary on these verses with a view to discerning principles for financing ministry.  This article would be best read with your Bible open to the passage under examination.  (Note:  Gordon Fee’s commentary, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, has been particularly helpful in this study.)

9:1-2.  Paul:  “You are asking if I really am an apostle.  I will give you a clear answer to your question.” “With unexpected vigor Paul suddenly unleashes a torrent of rhetorical questions…” (Fee, p. 394) These questions give us a clue as to the context.  Some within the Corinthians church were questioning if Paul was really an apostle. His implied answer, “Of course I am!”

9:3-6.  Paul:  “I have three questions that I will ask you.  Your answers will prove that I am truly an apostle.” “In a series of cascading questions Paul plays variations on a single theme: his right to their material support…. most likely his failure to take support has been used against him to call his apostolic authenticity into question.”  (Fee, p. 398-399) Their reasoning may have gone something like this.  “Apostles are supported financially.  You are not receiving financial support from us.  Therefore, you are not an apostle.”  Paul responds by saying, in effect, “Let me review for you the rights of an apostle and ask you (rhetorically) if this doesn’t apply to me.”

Paul lists three rights of an apostle.  The word “right” (exousia) carries the idea of “appropriate authority”.  That is, these are things that are considered appropriate for an apostle.

1. Verse 4.  “Don’t we have the right to food and drink?” (v. 4) Implied answer:  “Of course we do!”
2. Verse 5.  “Don’t we have the right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?  Implied answer:  “Of course we do!”  (Here we have a revealing glimpse into the actual financial practice of the New Testament church towards apostles.)
3. Verse 6.  “Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?”  “The implication is that the problem for the Corinthians is not simply that he took no support from them, but that he supported himself in the demeaning fashion of working at a trade.  What kind of activity is this for one who would be an ‘apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ’?  Paul’s point of course is that he has the right not to (work), even though he rejected it.” (Fee, p. 404)

9:7-14.  Paul:  “In order to validate the concept of financial support for apostles beyond a shadow of a doubt, I will give you four supporting arguments.  I want you to be completely convinced about this.”

1. Verse 7.  Arguments from everyday life.
   • “Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?”  Implied answer:  “No one!  And neither should apostles.”
   • “Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat the fruit of it?”  Implied answer:  “No one!  And neither should apostles.”
   • “Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?”  Implied answer:  “No one!  And neither should apostles.”

“In everyday life one expects to be sustained by one’s labors.  So with the apostle.  He should expect to be sustained from his ‘produce’ or ‘flock’ – the church owes its existence to him.”  (Fee, p. 405)

2. Verses 8 – 12.  Argument from Scripture.

“What Christians call the Old Testament was considered the Word of God by the Jews of the NT era, so an appeal to its words is an appeal to the authority of God himself.”  (Fee, p. 406)

“…when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest; that is, they should fully expect to share in the material benefits of their labors.  Paul thus applies the analogy of the threshing ox to yet another analogy from farming, both of which together make the point that he has the right to their material support.”  (Fee, p. 408-409)

Note:  Verse 11 leads us to a helpful question in deciding whom we should support financially.  “Who is sowing or investing spiritually into my life?”

3. Verse 13.  Argument from the example of the temple.

“Both in Jewish and pagan temples the priests who served in making the sacrifices shared in the sacrificial food itself.”  (Fee, p. 412)

4. Verse 14.  Argument from the very words of Jesus.

Paul clinches the argument by referring to the words of Jesus Himself (Lk. 10:7, Mt. 10:10).  Whereas Jesus spoke this as a proverb, Paul has raised it to the level of a command.  “This is the way things are to be done regarding the financing of apostles.”

Comments on tentmaking.  Martin Luther once remarked that the church is like a drunken horseman.  Prop him up on one side and he falls off on the other.  Nowhere is this more true than with church finance.  In the traditional church environment, there have been many problems with money.  Perhaps the most pervasive is that the concept of salaried church staff has resulted in perpetuating the clergy/laity divide.

As a result of reacting to the abuses, many in the house church movement are in danger of “falling off the other side”.  (This would validate the principle articulated by Jim Rutz:  “The pendulum never stops in the middle.”)  The thinking is that if there are no full time workers and everyone is a tentmaker, we will be kept safe from the development of “house church clergy”.  While this concern is understandable, this solution is both contrary to New Testament practice and is potentially a great hindrance to the work of the Kingdom.

Tentmaking: the exception to New Testament practice. As we have seen in the commentary above, both Jesus and Paul taught that the laborer is worthy of his wages.  This teaching was implemented by the early church through the financial support of “the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas” (1 Cor. 9:5).

In some situations, it was necessary for the apostles to support themselves through non-ministry work (ie, tentmaking).  However, this practice is clearly the exception and not the rule.  Paul chose this means of financial support in Corinth (Acts 18:3, 1 Cor. 9:12, 15-18) so as not to be a hindrance to that church.   In other words, the Corinthian church was so immature (1 Cor. 3:1-3) that they were unable to fulfill their normal obligation to Paul as the apostle.

However, even in Corinth Paul received at least some of his support from the church – just not the church in Corinth.  “I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.”  (2 Cor. 11:8-9)

In Thessalonica, Paul also chose to make an exception to the normal pattern and support himself from non-ministry work.  Again, the reason was because of the immaturity of the church.  In this case, the Christians were lazy and Paul realized that he needed to show them how to work.  “For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example; because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example.”  (2 Thes. 3:7-9)

The more normal and mature church is modeled by the Philippians.  Even after Paul had left town, they repeatedly sent him gifts.  He points out that this is not so much to his benefit (God will supply all his needs) but for their profit.  (Phil. 4:15 – 19)

Tentmaking:  a potential hindrance to the work of the Kingdom. While there may be occasional situations where tentmaking is necessary because of the immaturity of a particular church, the work of the Kingdom would be greatly restricted if this became the normal practice for apostles.  This becomes clear when we understand the farmer’s mentality that Jesus displays in Luke 10:1-2.

In this passage, Jesus has just sent out 36 apostolic teams of two men each.  While we might think that was a lot of teams for a fairly small region, Jesus’ assessment is that they are only a “few” (v. 2).  So few, in fact, that He urges them to “beseech the Lord of the Harvest” to send more.

The Lord’s motivation in all of this is the harvest.  The harvest is “ripe”!  The time is now!  As every farmer knows, when the harvest is ripe, every available man hour must be freed up to bring that harvest in.  Those that have been chosen to be apostles (sent ones) must be released to work from sun up to sun down.  The idea that the majority of the workers would work all day making tents with only an hour or two at the end of the day to harvest the grain would have been appalling to the farmer.  Perhaps there will be extenuating circumstances that will require a few workers to function like this.  However, reducing every apostle (church planter) to tentmaking status would cripple the harvest workforce.  By overreacting to the abuse and going to the opposite extreme, the church would play into the strategy of the Enemy.

Adopting the farmer’s mentality:  IT’S ABOUT THE HARVEST! Releasing thousands of full time apostles (skilled and gifted house church planters) is by far the best strategy for starting a million house churches in the U.S. in this decade.  This can be accomplished if millions of believers come to understand the Biblical value of funding these apostolic harvesters.  Instead of investing in church buildings, church programs and church staffs, believers will need to see the value of investing in those who are called to begin and nurture church planting movements.  This thoroughly Biblical concept must be once again understood, taught and practiced by the church.

by VICTOR CHOUDHRIE

21 Steps to transit from being a barren church to a millionaire of souls.

1. Rewrite the job description of professional clergy from a pulpit orator, sacrament dispenser and tithe gatherer to a shepherd who feeds his flock to be healthy and reproducing by encouraging them to practice priesthood of all believers with authority to baptize, break bread and equip fishers of men. He must model a flat church structure where brothers and sisters submit to one another, pray one for another, serve one another, exhort, forgive and love each other. John 13:34, 35; Matt.18:21-22; Eph. 5:21

2. Move from meeting in temples to gathering in ‘houses of peace’.  ‘God does not dwell in temples made by human hands’; rather He dwells in human hearts. For we are the mobile walking and talking temples of the living God, with a maximum of organism and a minimum of organization.  Luke 10:5-9; Matt. 10:11-13; Acts 7:48-49; 2 Cor. 6:16

3. Phase out programmed Sunday ‘services’ while implementing informal, small gatherings. The Bride of Christ must have intimacy with her Lord every day, not only for a couple of hours a week, lest she become unfaithful. However, discourage cross-gender disciple-making, lest chemistry foul things up. Acts 2:46-47; Hebrew 3:13

4. Replace Mosaic tithing with Christian sharing, thereby harnessing the enormous, financial resources, hospitality and goodwill available in Christian homes. Believe that God is going to work a work among the nations through you which will leave you utterly amazed, and also provide resources for it. Deut. 8:17-18; Acts 5:32-34; Hab. 1:5

5. Dispense with wafer-and-sip Holy Communion services, and promote breaking of bread with simple Agape meals (love feasts) from house to house that believers take together with glad hearts, so the Lord can add to His numbers daily. Acts 2:46,47; 1 Cor.11:20-23

6. Replace professional music with believers speaking to each other in psalms and spiritual songs, making melody in their hearts to the Lord. OT worship required the sacrifice of four-footed beasts, the NT celebrates by offering two legged Gentiles as a living sacrifice. The meta church is a discipling hub and not a singing club. Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; Rom. 15:16

7.  Shift from spectator-oriented church to ‘metastasizing’ interactive, participatory, prophetic church. Empower men, women and youth, to get the dragon off the driver’s seat. We, the seed of Abraham are blessed, “with multiplying I will multiply you and your seed will possess the gates of the enemy”. 1 Cor.14:26-31; Acts 13:13;18:4; Gen. 22:17,18

8. For powerful synergy, metamorphose mega churches into city, regional and national, networks of ‘meta’ (beyond) churches. Instead of bringing everyone under one roof, have them gather under thousand roofs, just like the mega church at Jerusalem planted meta churches across Judea, Samaria, Antioch, Corinth, Rome and beyond (meta) that grew in faith and in numbers (both quality and quantity) daily. Romans 16:3-15; Acts 1:8; 16:5

9. Infect barren Bride with the multiplication virus. A healthy mature female (Bride) implies that she is ready to have babies. Rebecca the Bride of Isaac was blessed by her family to have millions of children. The time has come for the Bride of Christ to stretch her tent to the left and to the right and to the north and to the south and produce millions of meta churches and fill the earth. Gen. 24:60; Isa. 54:1-5; Acts 1: 8;

10. Know your identity in Christ: you are a royal-priest; made so by the blood of the Lamb. Dismantle ‘Reverend’ culture that divides clergy from layman. Like Melchizedek, the royal-priest of Salem (city of peace), who served bread and wine, took tithe and blessed Abraham, bring godly governance to your city. Catch the vision of cloning royal-priests for every city and run with it. 1Pet.2:9; Rev.5:10; Hab.2:1-3; Isa. 9:6-7; Gen. 14:18

11. Challenge purposeless churches to enunciate a clear vision and a road map to translate that vision into action plan to ‘do greater things than these’. Armed with maps, stats and the Great Commission, go two by two and teach divine arithmetic of planting just one multiplying church every month and in ten short months, even the least shall plant a thousand meta churches. John 14:12; Acts 16:5; Luke 10:1, 2; Isa 60:22

12. Unglue from the pews all those Christians who sit, soak and stagnate and send them to heal the sick, raise the dead, tread on snakes and scorpions (expel demons), bind the ‘strongman’, plunder his possessions and demolish the gates of Hell.  Matt 11:12; 12:29; 16:18,19; Mark 16:17-18; Luke 10:19

13. Resurrect from being a dead organization to a living organism. Eliminate all extra-biblical cosmetic titles like Director, Chairman, CEO, and Secretary, by appointing five-fold ministry-gifted Elders, like apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, as equippers. By feeding, leading and keeping the flock healthy and reproductive, they must reach those who are outside the fold. Eph. 4:11; Tit.1:5-9; John 10:16

14. Empower every Sunday school, bible school, prayer cell, women’s fellowship, and cottage meeting, by calling them full-fledged, authentic churches. They must make disciples who baptize, break bread, equip laborers and send missionaries and like the school of Tyrannus, change spiritual demography. 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Acts 19:8-12

15. Filter out selfish-goat church members who come only for hatching (baby baptism), matching (wedding) and dispatching (funeral), and replace them with sheep who take care of the hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, sick and prisoners. Culling the non-productive barren sheep is a very important principle of sheep rearing. God chose David to shepherd Israel because he took care of “ewes great with young”. Matt. 25:31-46; Psalm 78:70-72

16. Simplify disciple making. Get a Bible and invite a couple of truth-seekers for a meal where the main dish is – The Lamb. Redefine authentic church as wherever two or three friends meet to eat, gossip the gospel, and to multiply. Meta church is the most cost effective strategy for city penetration and reaching the ends of the earth. Acts 2:46-47

17. Substitute seminary training by sharing the whole wisdom of God from house to house. Sound doctrine is the ability to convince those who oppose. The lost of this world do not need scholars as much as they need spiritual fathers and mothers who bring many spiritual sons and daughters to glory.  Acts 20:20, 27; Tit. 1:9; 1Cor. 4:15; 2Tim. 2:2; Heb 2:10

18. Reorient your own personal paradigm. Your business, workplace or home, wherever you spend most of your time, is your ‘primary nuclear church’. It matters little whether you are the CEO, or the janitor or the kitchen queen, you are a full-time minister there and accountable. Adam and Eve were accountable for the Garden of Eden and failed.

19. Recognize ‘Hi, there,’ ‘Hello,’ handshaking, Sunday church as your ‘secondary optional church’. A church that does not send you out to ‘raise your holy hands to pray everywhere’ and equip you to make Christ ‘high and lifted up’ in your home, workplace and neighborhood is not worth going to. 1 Tim. 2:8; Isa. 6:1

20. Re-set your priorities to preach Christ where He has not been named. For this you do not have to go to church from Sunday to Sunday nor work from paycheck to paycheck. You are “ordained” to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill your home/workplace/neighborhood and the city with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Matt. 6:33; Rom. 15:20; John 15:16; Gen. 1:28; Hab. 2:14

21. Adopt a ‘completion mindset’. Evaluate your ministry with the Great Commission as the mandate with the number of disciples made, baptized, equipped and sent out, as benchmarks. Aim to be a millionaire of souls. Why not?  After all, you claim to believe in a great and awesome God for whom nothing is impossible. At the very least, like Peter, shoot for 3000 baptisms by every Pentecost. Or like Paul, plant a multiplying church every day and claim that there are no more places left here for me to ‘fully preach the gospel’, not just with words, ‘but with signs and mighty deeds’. Acts 2:41; 16:5; Rom. 15:19, 23.

Shalom and Shalom again.

Email: greettheekklesia@gmail.com

Date: July 2010

*Victor Choudhrie is a cancer surgeon by profession. He is a Senior Fellow of the American and British Colleges of Surgeons. He left his position as Director and CEO of the Christian Medical college, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, in 1992, to take up a full-time Church planting ministry in central India. His wife, Bindu, is also in a full-time church planting ministry, equipping women to be house-church leaders and trainers. They now have disciples making disciples in some forty countries. Theirs is presently amongst the fastest growing movements deploying volunteers with no paid workers in the field. God has blessed this ministry abundantly. In the year from Pentecost 2009 to Pentecost 2010, over one million underwent a ‘holy dip’ through their ministry partners. Large numbers of grassroots level leaders have been trained, who, subsequently, have planted tens of thousands of house churches across India and abroad.

Books written by Victor Choudhrie include: The Ekklesia, the Church in your House; The Apostolic Gardens; The Prayer Warrior; Teaching Cards and From Mega Church to Meta (Beyond) Church soon to be published. Electronic copies are available on payment of US $10  via PayPal: vchoudhrie@gmail.com

By Rad Zdero

“Networking” is a buzz word These days!

Some people in house churches react negatively to it. But, in today’s house church movement is to move forward into God’s purposes, this topic must be addressed!

Most house churches correctly believe the New Testament teaches that each house church is legitimate, independent, and self-governing under Christ (Matt 18:20; Rom
16:3-5; 1 Cor 16:19; Col 4:15; Philem 1:2).

But, many house churches wrongly conclude they don’t need to be linked with other house churches or apostolic leaders. This is a BIG mistake! Let’s discuss the strategic and scriptural reasons for clustering house churches together into networks.

What is a Network?

A network is a group of people or things linked together through mutual interactions.

The real-world is made up of many decentralized and self-organized networks connected by a few ‘hubs.’

The ecosystem of one food chain in the northwest Atlantic Ocean involves 150 animal species with millions o interactions.

The human brain is typically composed of 100 billion inter-linked neurons sending signals to each other.

Social circles usually comprise about 150 close friends and thousands of acquaintances tied together through a few key people. The World Wide Web connects all the world’s 1 billion web pages by only 20 separate ‘mouse clicks’, as one follows the links.

How many house churches are linked together?

In a 2009 unpublished survey by Dr. Steve Lyzenga, only 35% of house churches in the USA were part of a network. The other 59% were not, while 6% did not even know if they had such a connection. About 68% said their group needed help to get connected with other house churches to finish the Great Commission, 18% were neutral on the issue, and 14% did not feel they needed such assistance. Sadly, it seems
the majority of American house churches (and probably also those in other western nations) are isolated and lack a bigger vision. No wonder many groups are shrinking and shutting down!

What are the strategic reasons?

First, isolation kills. Solitary house churches often become ingrown, discouraged, and irrelevant after a few years. They implode because of lack of direction, training, and resources. Second, teamwork pays off. Linked house churches have a better chance of growing because they can pool their people and resources. They can accomplish far more together. Third, healthy beliefs and behaviour are maintained. House churches can keep each other accountable and encouraged.

Fourth, church history speaks loud and clear. By the end of the 18th century, the Methodist movement saw revival fire spread as they linked their 10,000 home groups (called ‘classes’ and ‘bands’) into citywide
networks (called ‘societies’) and regional networks (called ‘circuits’).

Fifth, the modern church planting explosions in China and India, each fast approaching 1 million house churches in the year 2010, link their groups by mobilizing prayer, people, and resources to effectively reach their nations for Jesus Christ.

What are the Scriptural examples of Networks?

The early believers connected house churches into geography-based networks.

In the city of Jerusalem, thousands of believers met in hundreds of small house groups that partnered together as one cohesive body (Acts 2:41-47).

In the city of Ephesus, house churches were united through a team of leaders (Acts 20:17). Paul also trained them “publicly and from
house to house” (Acts 20:20).

In the region of Asia Minor, the believers of 7 neighbouring citywide churches were linked into a regional network through John’s apostolic team of traveling workers (2 Jn 1:12; 3 Jn 1:3-10, 13; Rev 2 & 3).

The early believers used practical means to weave house churches together. Apostles traveled to encourage, train, connect, evangelize, and deal with problems (Luke 10:1-11; Rom 1:10; 1 Cor 9:5; Acts 8:14-17, 10:23-24, 15:1-5,22,36, 18:24- 27; 2 Jn 1:12; 3 Jn 1:14).

Apostles wrote letters to ad- dress crises and teach general Christian truths (Luke 1:1-4; John 20:30-31; Acts 15:23-30; 2 Jn 1:12; 3 Jn 1:13; Col 4:16; 2 Thes 2:2,15; 2 Thes 3:14)

Local leaders (called ‘elders’) and traveling leaders (called ‘apostles’) met together, sometimes privately, for training, encouragement, and making decisions (Mark 3:13-14, 9:2; Acts 15:1-6; 20:17)

Large gatherings brought together believers from multiple house churches for training and teaching, but also to reach non-believers through evangelistic and healing events (Acts 2:1,41-47; 3:11-12; 5:12; 6:2-4; 8:5-8; 15:4,12,22; 19:9-11; 20:20).

May today’s house church movement recapture a more strategic and scriptural view of networks to reach the world for Jesus Christ!

This article came from the 2010 summer issue of The Starfish Files

By Maurice Smith

One of my favorite authors, A.W. Tozer, once observed, “The secret of life is theological and the key to heaven as well. We learn with difficulty, forget easily and suffer many distractions.  Therefore we should set our hearts to study theology” (A. W. Tozer, “There Is No Substitute For Theology”). Tozer isn’t alone in his thoughts regarding theology. On the occasion of his 80^th birthday Evangelical theologian J. I. Packer was asked what he regarded as the greatest need of the Church today. His response was simple. “The Church needs to catechize itself,” he replied. “The Church doesn’t know what it believes”.

While I basically agree with both Packer and Tozer on the importance of theology in the Christian life, the reality is that most of us are not theologians. Indeed, I suspect that most organic house church practitioners would rather be hung with low grade piano over a pit of poisoned bamboo spikes than spend significant time reading a good Systematic Theology (O.K., admit it. You were wondering where I was going with that!). But there comes a time even in the life of organic house church types when we must exercise our will power, lock the piano wire in a secure place where we won’t be tempted, and do the work of a theologian and an apologist. And this is one of those times.

Perhaps you remember the scene from “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”. King Theodan of Rohan tells Aragorn, “I will not risk open war”. Aragorn responds, “Open war is upon you, whether you would risk it or not.” Without being melodramatic, Evangelical Christianity – including the organic house church movement – is now engaged in open theological warfare with a resurgent doctrine of Christian Universalism.  Open war is upon us, whether we would risk it or not.

I recently completed a two year writing project resulting in a book entitled “All Dogs Go To Heaven Don’t They: Biblical Reflections on Christian Universalism and Ultimate Reconciliation”. It was not my project of choice. It began “accidentally” as an e-mail discussion among a group of house church people with questions about what Scripture teaches about hell. The underlying theme of the discussion was that the traditional concept of hell as conscious eternal punishment was not Biblical because God is a loving God who wants to see all men redeemed and reconciled to Himself.  Universalism in the form of Ultimate Reconciliation was openly promoted. When I reached the point where I thought my head was going to explode, I responded with a six page e-mail entitled “All Dogs Go To Heaven”. It was that written response and the responses which I received in return which formed the basis for the book. My “dog in this fight” is the organic house church movement. It is my belief, both Biblically and historically, that doctrines of  Universal Salvation represent a serious doctrinal error and a potentially fatal blow to the message, the mission and the motivation of God’s people, including the organic house church movement.

One of my early intellectual mentors was Dr. John Warwick Montgomery. In 1970 he wrote a book entitled “The Suicide of Christian Theology” in which he demonstrated how doctrines of theological liberalism represented nothing less than the suicide of Biblical theology. I am convinced that doctrines of Universal Salvation, like the theological liberalism Dr. Montgomery critiqued some 40 years ago, represent a suicidal threat to genuine Christian faith. I believe this for four basic reasons:

First, if Universalism is true and everyone ends up in heaven regardless of what they believe in this life, then doctrine truly doesn’t matter and it doesn’t matter what you believe. The “new” Universalist mantra is, “Jesus is the only way to God, but there are many ways to Jesus”. In other words, you can be a Christian, a Mormon, a Buddhist, a Satanist or anything else you choose, because ultimately it doesn’t matter. You’ll end up in heaven regardless. If true (which it is not), then it really doesn’t matter what your doctrine or theology might be. Why? Because what you believe in this life is ultimately unrelated to whether or not you eventually get to heaven.

Second, if Universalism is true, then it represents the suicide of Biblical morality and ethics. There is no reason to live by Biblical morals (even though Jesus would like for you to), since how you live in this life is ultimately unrelated to whether or not you are going to heaven. Everyone eventually gets there, regardless of how they lived in this life and regardless of what fruit (if any) they produced in this life.

Third, if Universalism is true then it represents the suicide of evangelism and the gospel message. In the words of Universalist Clark Pinnock (paraphrasing someone else), “The good news is . . . there is no bad news”.  If Pinnock, Talbot and other Universalists are right, then there is no good news to share because the “good news” of salvation presupposes the “bad news” of eternal punishment.

Fourth, and finally, if Universalism is true, then it represents the suicide of missions for the Church. Why should anyone (i.e., the Taylors, the Careys, the Livingstons, the Stanleys, the Elliots and countless others) risk life, health, persecution and material comfort to take non-existent good news to people who are going to be saved anyway, regardless of any mission or message?

Doctrine, you see, really does matter. Anyone failing to understand Universalism as the suicide of Christian theology doesn’t fully grasp either the nature or the implications of Universalist doctrine. If left unchecked, doctrines of Universal Salvation will have profound negative effects upon the life of the Church. Not the least of these effects will be the teaching of a false hope, namely, that those who die without Christ in this life will be given a second chance after death. I cannot think of a more insidious ploy of the Adversary of our souls (who is a liar and who comes to kill, steal and destroy) than to convince a generation of people that there is no need or urgency either to proclaim or to believe in the good news of the gospel in this life, because regardless of our choices (or lack of choices) God loves us so much that He will eventually redeem us, in spite of ourselves.

Maurice Smith is an organic house church practitioner and author of “All Dogs Go To Heaven Don’t They?: Biblical Reflections on Christian Universalism and Ultimate Reconciliation”. He resides in Spokane, Washington where he lives with Gale, his wife of 32 years. He can be contacted via e-mail at msmith@parousianetwork.org. You can blog with him at http://parousianetworkcybercafe.blogspot.com/ or visit his Facebook page for “All Dogs Go To Heaven”.