HOUSE CHURCH ARTICLES
PRAYING FOR THE fUTURE OF THE
HOUSE CHURCH
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PRAYING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE HOUSE CHURCH
June, 2005 - by J. Inouye
1 Cor. 12:27: Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually (NKJ)
There has been a sense of "not much happening" in the progress of the house church in this area over the past year. True, more believers continue to leave the traditional church system, baby house churches have sprung up driven by a need for fellowship and connection, and existing ones continue to press on, all driven by the deep realization that there is something more that God wants for His church and we are going the right way toward it but also that where we are is really just the first step back onto the path toward what we read about in the New Testament. The exciting dynamics and magnitude of what was happening then causes us to hunger for the same things but at the same time makes us aware of the inadequacy of our own experiences. But there is hope for it is in the seemingly "quiet" times that there is a strong sense in the Spirit that the Lord is hard at work underneath everything - in the deep. Gen. 1:2 speaks of the Spirit of God moving / hovering / brooding over the face of the waters, a very great deep; the Hebrew word for "hovering" also has the connotation of "bringing to the place of birth" which really rings a bell as many of us feel we have been in transition for a long time. It is, however, in the deep that the works and wonders of the Lord are to be seen according to Ps. 107:24.
Like many of you, I want to bring to birth what God has been preparing us for, to move on in God's design and plan for the house church, and to see the wonders and works that will transform a small get-together into an entity that will turn the world upside down. The key to this birthing, I believe, is prayer.
Urged by the Spirit, I have been spending more time in prayer for the house church, not just for the one I am in but also for the Body as a whole, and I would like to invite other members to join with me in praying more consistently and diligently for the mind of the Lord for our future. I know that many of you have been praying but there is a sense in the Spirit that now is the time for greater unity and effort in this direction.
It is with this in mind that I would be happy to meet with anyone who wishes to pray either at my home or theirs if they live in the same area as I do in Surrey north of the Freeway. For others who live outside this area, I realize that distance and busy schedules would be a handicap but perhaps these people may have or will be joining with others in their own area for prayer. My email address is below. Please contact me if you are interested in meeting with me, or, if you are praying in your area and would like to extend the invitation to others around you, then perhaps you could let me know by email and a notice can be put in the next issue of the newsletter. It is an encouragement to us all to know that there are others interceding to know the mind of God.
I would also be willing to pray for specific requests from house churches and their members in the Fraser Valley region. My email address is below if you wish to contact me with such a request. And again, if any other house church members would like to join me in praying for these, I would be happy to pass them on if this agreeable to the sender and once I have the email address of those wishing to pray in this manner.
For starters, I see a need for prayer in the following areas:
- the calling out and recognition of the apostles, prophets,
pastors, evangelists and teachers that God has been preparing and anointing
in hidden places over the years;
- the establishment of the five-fold ministry to build and equip the saints
- the bringing in of believers who have left the mainstream church and are
seeking God's alternative;
- the establishing of the dynamics of the house church in line with the NT
example
- the means and methods to evangelize our neighbours
These just touch the surface in what is required but our objective in prayer, as in all things relating to the Lord, is to follow the Spirit's guidance and direction and He will lead us into what we should pray for at specific times.
There will also be times when the Lord will speak to one or more of you about something that you wish to share with the other members. This would have to be passed by a recognized group to ensure it is scriptural and in line with what God is saying at this time before it can be emailed on to everyone via the newsletter or separately if an issue of the newsletter is not due for some time. Might you have some suggestions for us to consider as to what you would see as a potentially appropriate way to decide who the recognized group would be? Again, I would be willing to be an avenue to do this before passing it on if suitable.
Our God is a creative Being and He has a myriad of ways to accomplish His purposes, many of them completely contrary to our "concrete" ideas of what should be. One of the most important items for prayer, I believe, is to be open to the Spirit and the new things that God wants to do in His own particular way in us and in spite of us. As in says repeatedly in Revelation 2: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirits says to the churches. It is an untrodden path for all of us but one that will lead, I believe, to a fulfillment and excitement in Christ we have never experienced before.
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