This is an little preface that Chuck Missler wrote for his book "The Once and Future Church". I thought it was insightful and briefly expressed a truth that has become a reality in many peoples lives. We've had so many people tell us that they love God but have gotten tired, wornout and basically fed up with 'church'. For too many churches the motivation driving them isn't the personal growth and spiritual matruing of the people they have. The drive is to get more people in the doors and to be seen as being successful. This is at the expense of the saints that are yearning for a closer walk with the Lord, to build relationships and don't have time for all the 'obligations' required. We have found many of these needs met in the context of the small group meeting.

"Over the many decades that I have enjoyed my love affair with the Bible, I have had the marvelous benefit of many great teachers. But I also would like to let you in on a precious secret. The greatest personal growth I’ve ever witnessed occurred in a home Bible study. The fellowship of those intimate home groups, where people can interact, ask questions, and hold one another accountable, was the place of growth for all of us -- teacher and student.

This was, of course, the way it all started. A group of only a dozen -- fisherman and others -- along a seaside in Galilee. Even later as Paul traveled and planted, it was the intimacy of home fellowships that provided the earliest forums for the Gospel. The declarations in the synagogues and on Mars Hill were but an initiation. Their resulting questions were responded to in small groups in homes and on hillsides.

Today, too many people get lost in church and are only getting a surface skimming of the Word of God. We encourage you to be intentional and get involved! If you are not presently in a small, weekly, Bible study group, we strongly encourage you to find one and give it a try. You may be in for a truly life-changing surprise."

Hello, I'm glad that you chose to check out this update for the Saturation Service we had at the end of July, it was a good one. We had one in May, skipped June (vacation and too busy) and we hopped back on track for July. We have some very special plans for the one at the end of Aug. 09, be sure to check the schedule on the home page for dates and times. I'll try to keep it brief.

I arrived early and set things up (just chairs and overhead). I prayed and the Lord gave me a short Word on the ministry of the Holy Spirit out of John chapters 14 and 16. Brett arrived and we talked and prayed. People started arriving and an old youth group member came and brought a young unwed mother and her baby with him. She introduced herself and asked if it would be OK for them to attend. I told her, "Sure" and explained that this wasn't one of our regular services and that there would be a lot of music and singing and such. Before the night was over that baby had sat through over 2 1/2 hours of live praise and worship without making a sound. He was fixated on Brett playing the guitar the whole night.

I shared briefly and we had a little discussion on the theme. We can always count on God confirming His Word with signs following. Brett had some really good songs all centering on the theme of "The Love of God". It was an awesome time in God's presence with prayer and ministry mixed in. At times people would spontaneously read portions of scripture and all experienced the love of the Father in a big way. God confirmed His Word as He always does by His awesome Presence.
 
Afterwards we were sitting talking and we found out the situation of the young lady that had come with her baby. She was a believer and had been praying for God's assistance. I won't go into the details of what she said but she was in a bad way. They were threatening to turn off her electicity and gas and she was running out of hope. We were praying for her and I felt impressed to write her a check from the ministry. Another lady at the meeting gave her a handfull of bills. I checked the 'giving can' and there was quite a bit of money in it and I asked if anyone objected to me giving that to her as well.  She began to cry and kept saying, "I want you to know that I usually don't take money like this." I explained to her that it was God that was giving her the money because He loved her so much. God's money going to meet the needs of God's people. No boards to go before, no red tape, now that's freedom. I'm done with the show, this is the place in ministry I'm residing from this point on. I'm not depending on how slick my message is but depending on God to bring light upon His Word by using everyone present. No more keeping people busy with programs when a few quality minutes in His Presence is what they are after. That's what they are looking for to fill their tanks and sustain them through the next week.

That's the way it is with SIMPLE CHURCH. Jesus is the head of the meeting and it's His agenda that gets carried out. We don't go into it with preconceived ideas of what God is going to do. We may have some songs picked out and a portion of scripture for discussion but God is FREE to change the schedule anytime He wants. This kind of thing wouldn't work in a large meeting. It's the New Testament dynamic we see in the book of Acts operating, unhindered. You know, it takes a whole lot less time than the 'traditional' way of doing church does too. Even so it seems we come away with a greater sense of spiritual satisfaction.

We love it and it's given new meaning to our relationship with God and our view of what the Body of Christ is. For me it's taken all the stress and burden out of "Church".

Well, that's what happened with a little of my opinion thrown in. I pray that God is real and relevant in your life and that His joy fills you. Until the next update,

Yours for Him, Pastor Danny

(By the way, I am going to do a series of articles in this blog (FMN, not Weekly Word) under the catagory "Simple Church" if you are interested in this concept. I'll have information on that, what we are doing and links for further info.)

 "Simply what we are doing now"

My wife and I left a large suburban church in 2006. Church had gotten to be such a high octane, professional Rogers and Hemerstien production that we were disillusioned. Right after we left a missionary friend of ours was over to visit and mentioned a House Church Conference near Lancaster PA that was coming up. It clicked with us and we got on the internet and checked out the whole idea. We registered for the conference. He also gave us a book by Jim Rutz called "Mega-Shift".  In it he shows how God is taking the power and authority away from the big and professional and putting in the hands of no-bodies. He records miracles and signs that are happening around the world in small meetings. I could go on and on about that but I'll stop. This book really excited us and helped motivate us to keep digging. We attended the conference and were incredibly blessed and had many questions answered and issues confirmed. We later felt led to visit the Zadok house of Prayer in So. Carolina and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. In both places God confirmed his Word and His leading for us through people that had never met us. He supernaturally gave them knowledge and caused us to cross paths and share with us.

In 2006 we incorporated and became, "Freedom Ministry Network". Freedom from that old wineskin and a network that can encompass many areas of ministry. We have seen in different areas of the nation and the world that God is giving people some new terminology that does not alieanate people because of their presuppositions. What we are doing we are calling, "SIMPLE CHURCH". It's the house church concept with more (I should say less). A lot of the ministries and people God was positioning and using in the House Church Movement have come up with this term and God is using it in this move.  The idea of 'House Church' had begin to pick up some negative sterotypes and that whole idea was too limiting. The idea of 'Simple Church' goes all the way back to the Catacombs and the Book of Acts, it blows the walls out of the idea that "Church" happens just in a house, building or some specific place. It happens when believers come together, where ever that may be. Because God already inspired this move in China the fact that the government outlaws and forbids the 'unofficial' church from meeting doesn't matter. The Church of Jesus Christ is already off the grid and thriving. Who's to say that God isn't getting the church here prepared for some kind of opposition?

Just as it was in the book of Acts where, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraclous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:42-47

 Those elements: the Word, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer are the Simple Church idea in a nutshell. The great thing is that it doesn't have to be that way. You can have one or all of those and you can meet anywhere. Remember Jesus said that when we gather in His name He is there and we have church.

The idea of meeting in big buildings and designated place didn't occur until Constantine became head of Rome and made Christianity the 'state' religion. He did that basically so he could control where believers met, keep tabs on them and tax the places of worship. All the 'traditions' that we have from the order of service, choirs, sermon's, passive listeners even passing the plate and the way we like to put the furniture in our churches weren't a part of believers getting together for at least the first 400 yrs. of Christianity.  That set up came from the way the rooms were where the Roman orators taught and spoke. It's what the people of that time period were used to. If you look at what the Lord is doing in the 'world' at the moment it seems that He is returning many to this 'simple' mode. Us and God without all the distractions. The awesome thing is that this can be replicated in any third world country. In fact this has already been happening in China and many Asian countries for years now. Even though the US may lead in sending and getting the gospel out we usually lag behind in what God is doing on the cutting edge. Well it's finally hitting home and it's exploding. Check out some of the links on our links page to get a better idea.

You know at one of our last meetings at the Freedom Center a young unwed mother attended with her baby. It happened to be a Saturation Service but that didn't matter, we felt God had sent her there. Her fiance' was in an accident and couldn't work. She didn't ask for anything but told us her story when we asked her to. To make a long story short I asked her what bills she had coming up that were 'urgent'? She said electricitiy and gas.  The ministry wrote her a check that she left with that night. One of the people attending felt led to give her a handful of bills. One young man had dropped a wad of 20s in the giving can and I asked him I it was OK to give her that. She was bawling and blessed at the same time. No boards to go before. No begging and pleading her case before a committee. No red tape. God is wanting to make it SIMPLE. Small is the new big with what He is doing right now.

Listen to 1 Cor. 14:26 "What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done fo the strengthening of the church." You can't get much clearer than that. Paul says, "Everyone" should allow God to use them and participate. It does not take much of an imagination to see that would never work in the majority of 'churches' we have today.

All the churches in the book of Acts were home, family or just smaller groups. That's where the New Testament dynamic can operate. Why do we sit for hours listening to sermons and watching good (many times anointed) 'Christian' entertainment and we don't feel impacted personally or changed or fulfilled? I believe it's because we have made a business out of church. We are competing with the world for people's attention and their affection. Do we have an example in the New Testament of the early church trying to make the gospel 'look good' to people. I think just the opposite is true, in fact Paul said that the gospel was an 'offense' to people. Why do so many churches find it so hard to get people to commit to anything? Maybe what they are offering is one thing and the reality of what people find when they accept it is another.  I believe it's because they aren't personally engaged. According to 1 Cor. 14:26 when we get together in Jesus name 'everyone' should contribute something. Personal participation is what Paul is describing here.

I don't want to make this a book but what about the over 50 "one another's" in scripture? We are told to bear one another's burdens, to pray for one another, to confess our sins to one another etc. The conclusion I have come to is that the only way we can be obedient to New Testament commands is in the small group setting. That's the way it all started (1st 400 yrs.)  and that's where God is bringing the church back to. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against 'Mega-Churches" as long at those churches have small groups where Jesus is the head of the meeting and can use everyone there in a significant way.

Well, this is the direction we are heading. We want to plant 'simple churches', When they grow from 5 to 10 or 12-15 those involved pray and ask the Holy Spirit to identify who they want to send out to begin a new church in their home (or where ever God is leading them to, it could be at their place of employment, it could be at Starbucks on Tues. mornings or even at the mall. ) The key to success here is intentionally keeping the groups small and intimate. Normally if it is going to be in a members home they will send a few members with them to help birth it and be the foundational members. I use the term "member" loosely, if they are there I am considering them a member, there's nothing to join. If you have received Christ you are a member of THE Church. All the simple churches we begin will be in our network. We have our network not for control but for organization and so we can submit to the laws of the land. We are incorporated and funds can go through the network for tax purposes but all money goes to the church where it was given, they each have their own account. We don't take an 'administrative" fee. They can talk and pray about how and when they want to spend the money God gives them. In that way God's money goes to God's people and where they agree to invest it. God has blessed me in that for the large part my financial needs are taken care of. I don't have to depend solely on the ministry to get by. You know, the idea of paid, professional clergy also came on the scene through Constantine, 400 yrs after Christ ascended into heaven. Until that time the "Priesthood of the believer" wasn't just talked about but actually lived out.

Remember Jesus said in Matt.18:20 "For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them."

It's so hard to break the mind-set that tradition has stamped in our minds of what church "should" be. We just spoke with some friends of ours that were asked to leave the church they attended. Did they leave the body of Christ? No They didn't committ some gross sin that would separate them from God. I don't want to go into any details but as it ended up they didn't have a 'church' to go to on Sundays. They said it felt so 'weird'.  I can testify that it feels weird for about the first month then it feels liberating. Being delivered from the big rush of preparation to attend the show we have made church into these days is a relief. At least it has been for us. Where do we get off saying we have the market on 'church' anyway? Didn't Jesus say where 2 or 3 are gathered you have church? If that be the case much of what we do today has made a simple idea very complex and actually promotes division.

If you have any questions for us just go back to the homepage and look at the bottom, there's a link to e-mail us. There are quite a few links on the links page dealing with House/Simple Church if you want to explore this concept for yourselves and see what is happening on the local and worldwide scale.

We've heard so many tell us, "We love God but we are just getting tired of Church".

Don't just complain about it  but do something about it.
Drop us a line any time.

I'm going to do the next article in this category "Simple Church" on "The Purpose of the Church".
Check it out if you get a chance.

Yours for Him, Pastor Danny

Update: Saturation Service 5-29-09      

People started arriving and we found ourselves all sitting and talking about certian bible verses. Specifically we began a discussion on "Tithing" as it's taught in many churches today. For an enlightening study on this theme see this link:

 http://weeklyword.freedomministrynetwork.org/categories/Teaching%20-$-%20Giving%20vs%20Tithing.aspx

We talked about this for an hour and a half. That's how it is in the 'open meeting' format. We show up and the Holy Spirit is free to direct things. We don't usually do that when we are having a Saturation Service but we are "open" to what ever direction the Holy Spirit leads. When Paul penned 1 Cor. 14:26 he was addressing the topic of order in church meetings. Something that many fail to recognize is that when the New Testament Church met everyone was expected to participate. Listen to this verse, "How is it then, brethern? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."  He goes on to explain how this is supposed to be done. In verse :31 he says, "For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged." The church that he is talking to is a small group. Can you imagine if today in one of our 'mega' churches "all tried to share in some way?" You would be there for 3 or 4 days. The way people 'learn' according to this verse is to participate in what is going on. He doesn't say that they had to be 'approved' by anyone or have to attend classes on ministry. I'll tell you from my personal experience of years working with youth that when they get involved themselves it becomes theirs.

I know the way we have learned to 'do church' and have done it that way for years. From even a superficial reading of the New Testament we see that 'everyone' was expected to take some part when we "come together". That can only happen in a small group setting. I don't see any problem with the mega church paradign as long as that church has small groups so that people may participate and be used as we see the New Testament teaches. For those churches that only meet in a huge meeting that usually ends up being more entertainment than ministry they are doing God's people a disservice. The New Testament doesn't teach a pastor/pew, passive listener kind of meeting that we see in most churches today. People learn to be dependant on the Pastor to hear from God and many never learn to allow the Holy Spirit to use them in a significant way when they are together with God's people. Paul said that "Everyone" had a part to play and could be used by the Holy Spirit to help build up the group. In the process they themselves are bulit up, mature and make spiritual progress. It's sad to say that many churches are filled to the brim with people who took that first step on their journey to spiritual maturity and it's 20 years later and they are still there where they started. People need to get involved.

Well I was pleased and willing to allow the Saturation Service to be a discussion for the entire time if that's' the way the Lord was leading. After about an hour and a half it naturally wound down and Brett began to play and sing some worship songs with his guitar. He had forgotten to bring the overhead transparencies with the words to the songs on them so he would sing a few choruses and we would join in. It seemed to be better than ever with out the overhead projector. Some of the songs we knew and flowed right along. These meetings are not planned and God is welcome to do things as He wishes when He wishes. Pretty soon people began to pray for each other and things really started getting heavy. I was just sitting in my seat. All the ministry began to just 'happen' in and by others present at the meeting. I believe that God has shown me that I need to witness and preach to unbelievers to see them saved. With believers I want to see them raised up and 'release' them as opportunities for ministry arrise. I don't need to 'control' them as I believe God's Spirit is a Spirit of order and can handle leading the meeting with out my help. Now we are dealing with imperfect humanity and if someone begins to move in the 'flesh' and drawing attention to themselves more than to God we will know it. Just as it is with giving in the New Testament we teach people what the Word says about it and the Holy Spirit will lead them without our help.

There was a lot of ministry taking place. I know that I experienced God's Presence in a powerful way and I believe others there would say the same. Unrehearsed, spontaneous interaction between us and God's Spirit is the type of meeting many people are hungry for. I could say a lot more but I am trying to keep this as brief as possible. See the schedule on the home page for the next Saturation Service and/or Church service.

All I can say is that I'm excited for what the next 3 Saturation Services will be like this summer. We have church services that aren't as intense and are more to see community and fellowship fostered also. It's all good.

Yours for Him, Pastor Danny