Discipleship v/s Fathering

We have to agree based on what we see going on in churches when it comes to ‘equipping the saints.’ It’s called ‘discipleship’ – that is express it this way: Collecting materials and recruiting people to be trained in a certain day/hour for a year or three, with, if you don’t mind, with a workshop. More serious programs are so-called ‘Bible Schools’ today. For pastor’s to say that that is not discipleship is all about, “it’s about life-discipleship,’ well that’s not what we really see happening in churches.

Does “Discipleship Programs” have really discipled the saints?

I heard one churchy-guy today in speaking about ‘maturity’ says, “The problem is lack of discipleship.” What he basically means is that we lack ‘trainors’ and ‘trainees.’

Is that really ‘the problem?’ in churches today that’s why they do not grow in maturity?
Do we really not have enough ‘Discipleship Materials?’
Do we really not have enough ‘Bible Study Meetings’ to ‘mature’ the saints?
How about our ‘Sunday School Programs?’
‘Church Services?’

Not only most Christians doesn’y know how to define ‘what a disciple?’ they are also wondering if they are one?
If Jesus commands us to ‘make disciples’ do we really know how to ‘make’ one?

The hardest questions to ask is, “With all the ‘endless’ ‘meetings’ and ‘programs’ that we have already in place week-after-week, month-after-month, year-after-year, do we really need ‘Discipleship Programs’ to disciple the person?

You decide.

But let me offer you the better way I believe it make sense to you.

FATHERING AND MOTHERING THE NEXT GENERATION

Church is about relationships, “love God above all, loving your neighbor and loving your brother.” Without ‘it’ you cannot fulfill what is church is all about.
From that ‘relationships’ brings forth the intention of it – ‘family.’ Relationship that is close like husband and wife – it’s how Paul liken it anyway, Eph.5 – bears ‘children in the Lord.’

So, church is a family, it has ‘hundreds of mothers, hundreds of brothers and hundreds of sisters,’ and also by the way, ‘hundreds of houses.’ It is not an ‘orphanage’ where a child is ‘still ‘ an orphan, why? Simply, it has founders, directors, pastors and staffs but lack one thing – father figure and mother figure.

So, church is a family, it has hundreds of relationships like a ‘mother to her child.’ A family, you don’t have to ‘attend’ to be a part of it. You are. A church that you attend is not a family, but an orphanage. They may do what a family does; eat together, play together, etc, but it is still an orphanage, not a family. By the way, in saying that, I will also say, you don’t ‘attend’ Christ!

So, church is a family. Jesus doesn’t define her having ‘hundreds of cousins, and relatives and uncles and tita’s’ or is He saying having, ‘hundreds of Christian neighbors?’

We are a family. It has ‘parents in the Lord’ and ‘children in the Lord.’ – Eph. 6:1

So, how does ‘equipping the saints’ fit so well in the family concept?

Simple.

First, is “He who manage well of his children, can manage the household of God.” 1 Tim. 3:6

Imagine, every dad and mom are ‘pastors,’ and ‘Sunday Schoolers’ of their children [I didn't mean being religious on that], how ‘simple’ is it to ‘manage the household of God.’ Imagine our own children is well ‘submit’ to us, ‘respect’ us, and so we can be able to teach them ‘all the commands’ of Jesus – remember Duet. 6:4-6? It all started in the home. How easily we can ‘train up a child in the way he should do…’ and ‘equip him for every good work?’ In other words, fathering and mothering becomes works in a natural way – in the context of a family, who don’t just talk about life together, but also who are living life together.

A lifetime of discipleship v/s a lifetime of relationship

So called ‘Discipleship’ not only happens outside home, once a week training, especialize workshops, but they are also not meant to be a family, but a years event and done. We are not good at ‘raising sons and daughters’ of God but good at ‘birthing spiritual orphans’ who are irresponsible Christians of their life – they blame their pastor if he preach lousy messages, blame the leadership if they don’t like to submit and blame the programs if not good enough and so the best way to solve their problems is transfer to another church! Imagine that, froggy-like Christians can just transfer church they want without changing their lives?!!!

Family relationship are what’s most lacking in most simple church. They could not even name 4 persons to watch over their kids on a weekend when they needed to. They are meeting-based churches not family-based. They meet because there is a ‘meeting.’ Unlike ‘family-based’ churches meet simply because they ‘miss each other’ – they love and care enough even to transfer next door. Yes, they literally ‘live from house to house.’ “Behold how good it is for brethren DWELL TOGETHER in unity.” In a ‘meeting-based’ church they ‘talk-about-life-together’ simply because they meet once-or-twice-a-week. In a ‘family-based’ church they ‘do-life-together’ because they just live next door. “House-to-house” in the early church doesn’t mean they’re having ‘meetings from house to house,’ no way, but they are ‘living from house to house’ and because of that they can simply ‘meet’ together from house to house.

Building Healthy Devoted Relationships is meant to be a lifetime adventure.

Treating a new disciple your own ‘brother’ or ‘child’ rather than your ‘student’ can easily he become be treated as a ‘project’ rather than a ‘person.’ What I mean by that is, you cannot treat a person the same way just as you cannot force your discipleship course to anybody! Raising a ‘child’ to become a ‘son’ then to become a ‘father’ takes a ‘lifetime of relationships.’ That why church intention MUST be family. He lives with his father and mother, [imagine how a child would grow if he only sees his parents once a week?] they do life-together in a daily basis just like the early church. What could be more our pattern? No wonder Jesus fathers only 12 for 3 years and He can be able to multiply that into a thousand just like the fish and the loaves! Simple as that.

Disciple Class? What’s that’s class all about? Would you raise up your own son by the book?! Or by doing-things-together? Teaching in the early church was never in the context of a ‘daily-life-together.’ I know there are those who say there are ‘traveling teachers’ and I say, “Yah? Who are they if they didn’t build such relationships of trust and respect with the ekklesia?” I do not really care which ‘five-fold gifts’ you are, if I do not know you and your family, forget it. Many who traveled today in churches are desperately looking for ministry. I know this by experience. The best way to find out is through his own family. If they have one.

Paul might did some ‘training discussion’ but for how long? The longevity of having discipleship is, “How long?”

House-to-house

“Living from house-to-house” not having “meetings.” Family don’t do meetings, but they meet a lot. They don’t do ‘scheduled-meetings’ they do ‘spontaneous’ ones. Get this, how can we have Bible Study Meetings when you just live next door where we can have coffee every morning and discuss the Bible? How can we have Prayer Meetings every Friday night when we can just pray anytime? Does this add nor subtract your time? Don’t think so. Family does the ‘busy’ things together. They wash clothes together, they play together, they do market together, they cut the grass together, they plant tomato together, what else? It’s doing-life-together, not ‘talk’ about it.

This is FATHERING your next generation.

A talk over coffee this morning…

She said to the three of them: “Be baptize so that you will be saved.”

“We wanna see him so that we will be baptized too.” They said.

A conversation between the four of them: Albert’s mom Auling, and her three grand nieces who visited at her house.

They were talking about Albert as he is their ‘favorite boy’ when he was young. “Even his grand mother ‘liked’ him, it’s the reason also that she willing to be a disciple of Jesus” Auling said, when Albert shares the Good News. “How did it started, why are you’re talking about baptism?” I ask Auling. “Why are they interested about baptism?” It was 8:42 in the morning as I penned this down, December 4. Just a couple minutes before we had coffee under the tree sitting at my children’s table.

“Their interest started when I said that I don’t go to church anymore.” She said. “We had also talk with my mom about it [Albert’s grand mother who was just baptized by Albert]. She don’t go to church [Catholic Church] anymore because Albert told him that we can worship God at home.” Her mom suffered with arthritis, constant coughing, and some pains she’s 81 years old.

Whenever we visited the family in the mountain I always found Albert and Jomie praying for people there [without asking my permission] either in the kitchen or in the balcony. Albert’s grand mother is always one of them to get prayed for until she was made into a disciple of Jesus one day, after Albert’s mom was made that midnight! “My mom said,” she continued, “the pain was no more, my toes are great, I am healed.” Auling is just talking with me without hesitation. Just that.”

“‘It was after I was baptized.’ My mom said.” Auling continued. Stories are amazing you know, especially when it’s about life that was change by the Holy Spirit. As we don’t do meetings, but we do meet a lot because we’re a family. Without any “Bible Study Meetings” nor “Prayer Meetings” but Bible discussions and prayers happen as we do things together – it’s playing life together.

One of the hardest thing for me to do nothing is when I said to God, “Lord, I am tired of follow-up and visitations and having schedules. I have been doing that almost every day before, it is what I love doing. But I know I cannot schedule you, you are life itself. So what should I do?” I know one thing to do is to stop doing what I have been doing, I am just so tired of it. I even hated it at times. I said to myself, “What is a ‘follow up’ and a ‘visitation for’ if a person is my brother or sister? How can I ‘maintain through meetings[?]’ with my brother when he is already my brother?”

A ‘follow’ up of what?

A ‘visitation’ of what? What for?

You are already my brother. You are already my sister. Should I maintain of ‘something that would stick as together’ you as my brother/sister? Churches are good at this, they are using their ‘endless weekly meetings’ either in buildings or houses, it does really where is the location. Church is not where we meet but where He lives. Instead of using their ‘relationships’ in which God designs….

[Ophs, for awhile...my 22 months son just came up crying calling my name, “Papa, papa,....brom brom, brom brom.” Taking him for a ride on my bike with my other two daughters.]

Alright, I’m back and back is important.

So, instead of using their relationship in which God designs to build up His Family, they are using other life-less means machines to create programs to maintain people. Jesus defines His ekklesia as ‘hundreds of mothers, brothers and sisters and houses,’ not ‘hundreds of cousins and relatives and hundreds of ‘Christian neighbors.’

As my Dad in the Lord, Mike Peters would say, “Church is not a building, but it’s people. It is not only the people but their relationships.” See, many house churches today have people with their endless meetings, but no relationships. They have not become a family to each other. They cannot even name four people to watch their kids on a weekend when they the needed to get out. They have become a ‘meeting-based’ church rather than a ‘family-based.’ Another Dad of mine Gary Goodell says, “If you want to be family then you’ve got to stop doing meetings. If you keep on doing meetings, you cannot be family. Families don’t do meetings, but they do meet a lot.”

Saying this means, shallow Christianity replaces ‘family relationships’ with having ‘meetings.’ I am not ‘against’ meetings by saying so, I am ‘for’ something by doing it. ‘Meetings’ and ‘gatherings’ have their place but until we are ‘assemble’ together [Heb.10:24-25] no one would the real picture of a church on earth. A puzzle may be gathered but not assembled. To expand the Kingdom of God is to extend your family. That’s the picture.

Trusting God means obedience to what He has called us to do. “Molong, if you want to taste the fullness of the Holy Spirit then you’ve got to trust Me fully.” For my sake, I didn’t have most of the cell numbers of the disciples to ‘follow up’ of their lives. All I am anticipating is God’s surprises simply because you cannot plan God. That means stories like these.

Well, let’s see where’s this stories going on…but I am excited. There might be some ‘burials’ today or tomorrow. Who knows?

“You are interrupting me Molong.”

Amazing how we can do something without God’s Spirit leading us!

In the process of making disciples the way God does He has already challenged me right from the beginning. I am so tired of following a pattern, a model, whatever. Although, I want to see something new but still I thought that this ‘new’ would still came from other people’s thoughts and ideas. So much a human could do without God – not only that we’ll miss the point [that's it's all about Him] but also in danger of loosing lives just because we interrupted Him!

To my surprise He said, “Molong, if you want to taste the fullness of the Holy Spirit, you have to trust me fully.”

Lifestyle that Demands Questions

“What’s the difference then?” Jenny asked.

“Jesus.” I answered straight.

She nodded her head and says, “I see, that’s why.”

Jenny, a 21 year old woman lived next town, has been close friends with the girls living with us, Arlene and Analyn and sometimes she would drop in at the house and since then she’s been lovin’ what she’s seein’. The way we live forces her to ask some reality questions.

First time she came we had meals together, then second time she stays longer, this time she stayed for a night. We share our hospitality with her as we normally do to anyone who needed it. The next day before she left she already expresses some appreciations like:

“I love it here.”
“I wanna learn some things…” [She saw the people around this Apostolic Hub how we got some work to do and share.]
“Can you adopt me as one of your kids Uncle Molong?” [She sees how we behave together as one family, though around 15 of us living life-together.]

She began to see things differently and others began to recognize her “wanting to be a part of” us. Around this time she already expresses that she’s getting tired of her work, and not wanting to just stayed at home and waited for the next work day. So, I throw a question at her while helping one of the girls cook our breakfast one morning, “What’s your purpose in life Jenny?”

“None,” was her quick reply, “I do not know, I am confused.”

I let her own words sunk deeply inside her boggling thoughts. It is good to be curious about things especially about on what to do with your life.

She’s looking for something “different.” I was pretty sure at that.

We let that day passes by. Then a second time she visited us, about a week later, still stayed with us but this time a bit longer, 3 days. The day is Sunday. As normally I have my coffee, it’s time to call her up and sat under the tree with some chairs around the table sipping my coffee.

“Hi Jenny, good morning.” I started to initiate some discussions. “Have you done your coffee time yet? Can you come over and sit with me for I have something to tell you.”

“Alright Uncle,let me finished cleaning the hut and then I’ll join with you.” She answered back. When she’s finished she sat down on a chair right opposite to me, there’s another vacant sit on my left side. [See how this chair was being prepared by, later.]

The two of us started a conversation:

“So, you like it here Jenny?” I started, “Why?

“Something just different Uncle, I wanna learn what they learned.” Looking at the people around working something.

I look her in the eye and said plainly, “If you want to become a part of my family, then I have to make you a disciple. You like that?”

“Sege bah.” She said it in cebuano word means “Yes, for sure.”

“Unsaon mana?” [How was that?] She inquired.

“You’re 21 and says you have no purpose. That’s pretty normal life like anybody around but until you start something new in your life then you be like everybody else. Imagine what you’re doing today is the same yesterday, what do you think would happen to you tomorrow?”

“Hmnn….of course nothing. Yah.” She keeps hearing me.

“No purpose right? How do you think you would find your purpose? Where do you think you could find it? If I will buy a TV set and I do not know how to use it then where should I go? Where should I look to find how my TV would function?”

“To the manual!” she answered quick.

“Who made the manual Jenny?”

“The one who made the TV.” she said.

“Like us then, God created us and after that He made a manual on how we should function as humans, as who we are created to be.

Jenny, your longings for family and purpose is wonderful for that’s how we are created. It’s good, but until you understand the story behind all of this then we cannot go on making you a disciple and be a part of my family.”

“My family here, all of us living here is called Jesus Family. We are followers of Jesus, He is our King and as much as we can we will obey Him. To make you a disciple is one of our job. You want to become a art of us, of course, as we know you little by little we also want ourselves to become a part of you.”

“Sege na Uncle, unsa man.” [Tell me now, come on!] she blurt out.

“There’s something that you want to know.” She eagerly listens. “You’re dead.”

She look at me in the eye, and said calmly, “What do you mean?”

“When Jesus died for you, that means there is something wrong in us. Sin does not only make you hide from your purpose in life but also hide yourself from God. That means, because of sin, you’re dead. And you know that dead person could could not communicate. You’re dead. And you needed to be raised back to life.”

“Should I do ‘good’ works?” She offered

“Good works? How can can a dead person work Jenny?”

“Oh, so you mean, what will happen to those people who does good works?” She reason.

“What’s the difference, everybody does it right?

At this very moment, remember that empty chair on my left side? It was now occupied with my mother holding her cup of coffee and just speak out, “Relationship my dear, they have no relationship.”

I stare at my mom with amazement, “Whew, what a good timing!” I said in my mind. I think I could not answer the way she answered! It’s just perfect time. Much more she continued…

“God loves you and there is nothing you can do about it.” Well, there you go. And honestly, to our whole conversation with Jenny to the end, at this point, mom just left without notice! It’s just like the Holy Spirit, the wind blows wherever it wishes. You don’t know where it’s coming and where it’s going but surely you can feel it!

She’s gone, and I think she goes somewhere in my Filipino hut watching TV?

“Exactly,” I pointed out. “You may know our president and may want to do something good to offer him. But the question is, does he knows you?”

“Probably not.” She answered in dismay.

“God loves you Jenny, and there is no ‘good work’ that you can do to make Him love you more. He should have not gone to that cross if only good works could save us. He already did so much good works like healing the sick people, raised up dead people and feed the poor. But why He needed to die for you? Because you cannot do it, I cannot do it. Only He can do it.”

Right from the beginning when we sin we’re already dead in our trespasses. Nothing we could do with that except we be buried to the ground.”

She’s an intelligent woman, she certainly understand these things.

“Jenny, you’re dead,” I said bluntly, “until I bury you you cannot be a follower of Jesus. See, if anyone follows Christ, He will kill him or her….” She stares with astonishment as I speak these strange words to her. “Until you denied yourself,” this time I am more clearer, “until you realize that the life that you know has now come to an end, you cannot follow Him with your old life because He cannot give you His new life.”

“So, what should I do?” she was so curios at this time.

“Well, what should we do with dead people?” I ask her

“Aw, Elubong! Elubong ko nimo Uncle?” [Well, bury them. Are you going to bury me?]

“Yes. Because Jesus will kill you, that is why I shall bury you.”

This time, she laugh in astonishment. “Did you get my point Jenny?” I ask.

“Yes,” she said.

“I will baptize you in water.” And I said to her plainly, “Just as Jesus died and was buried then you also must die with Him in baptism. And just as He raised Himself from the dead you also will be raised in new life.”

“Mao diay na?” [I see, that’s it?]

“Yap.”

“But I was already baptize when I was young.” She inquire.

“Well, burial is 6 feet under the ground. Are you sprinkled or ‘buried’ under the water? Have you seen anybody was buried by sprinkling some soil?”

“Well, no.”

“When a person ‘realizes’ that he is dead then he would realize that he needed to be buried right away or else he be stinky soon enough!” She laugh hard at this time. “A child doesn’t even know what’s going on when he was poured out with water.”

Death to self is very important in making you a new person. It’s how the Kingdom of God works!”

I must baptize you right away.”

“Now uncle?” she ask.

“Yes, or you start smelly.”

“Yes,” she said with a smile, “OK. but I got no dress to wear?”

“Don’t worry. the way you look just fine.”

As normally do, the way we make disciples is as quick as 6 to 15 minutes. With Jenny is about 15. I took my daughter Shirley Faith with me and her cousin Kimberly. Rode on my bike for 7 minutes and dump her in. I prayed a short prayer of thanking Father,immerses her and gave a hug and said, “Welcome to my family, the family of God. You are now a part of us, we are now a part of you. We’re family.”

When we get home, our eating together is as normal as the Lord’s Supper, ‘accepting one another’ in the Lord. I handed her a book, “Back To The Basics” a good introduction as a babe in Christ.

Our last partings statement just before we went to the sea for baptism:

“Jenny, the difference of what you see in us here?….is Jesus.”

“Ah, mao diay.” [Ah, I get it]

Quote on Keith Giles

Keith Giles:

You know that you are a servant when someone treats you like one and you’re not offended.

Keith, how about changing the word ‘servant’ to ‘leader.’

Keith: You mean, “You know that you are a leader when someone treats you like one and you’re not offended”? I’m not sure that works in quite the same way.

On leadership I’d say, “You know you’re a leader when you turn around and there are people following you.”

I’d also say that Jesus and the NT seem to be more interested in “Followership” while we seem to be more obsessed with “Leadership”.

Even when Paul refers to leadership he says, “Follow me as I follow Christ”. Leadership (in the Church) is rooted in following Christ.

I mean that. We should be offended when people trying to call us ‘a leader’ when we are not really. Because we are servants. Paul and the apostles are ‘bondservants’ and we are ‘leaders?’ I don’t think so. Jesus said that we go and make ‘followers’ and if we call ourselves ‘leaders’ then who made us?

Yes, Jesus and NT is ‘only’ interested in ‘followership.’ And seemed to ‘deny’ or ‘eradicate’ or ‘eliminate’ leadership. In His Kingdom, there is only ONE Leader, one Head and that is Christ. Not many heads or else His Kingdom becomes a monster.

NT definition of leadership is one who says, “Follow Me.” And none other than Jesus who said that. Following Paul is following Christ. Paul set his life as worthy of following and that is through following Christ and not ‘following’ Paul. For he himself said that “there are some among you here who will draw disciples for themselves” and ‘One says, “I follow Paul, the other say, “I follow Christ.”

We should be offended when someone calls us a leader, that means there are disciples are following our lead, following behind our backs. The question of leadership is not how many are behind you but how many you’re behind. We keep pushing people to follow Christ and not us. Like John the Baptist, he ‘disciples for awhile’ and soon enough when Jesus came his own disciple “followed Him!”

We lead, we use our leadership skills ‘outside’ His Kingdom. We lead souls to Christ. But in His Kingdom, we get the privileged of ‘serving The King’ and ‘one another.’ We are ‘brothers amongst brothers,’ ‘not so among you’ when it comes to leadership. We are called to ‘serve one another’ not ‘lead one another.’

Biggest reason is ‘spirit-led.’ A disciple is being led by the spirit. This is the ‘biggest’ shift in making disciples that I wrote that includes other 10 SHIFTS. There is the leading of the Holy Spirit in each of us so we don’t need other people to lead us. We are led by the spirit for ourselves, not led to lead our brethren – he can be spirit led like us. Our job is to help him how to have fellowship with God not tell him what to do or else he will be led by you.

We have the Holy Spirit but we are not the Holy Spirit, and so we cannot teach the WHOLE truth, only a part of it. Teach then but don’t try telling him ‘exactly’ what to do. Teach him to obey the commandments but don’t teach him HOW to obey. That belongs to the Holy Spirit. Teach him to love, to forgive, to be kind, but how? Ask him, “What do you think the Holy Spirit tels you to do in your situation?” This is his situation anyway, not ours. We have our own situation, that’s ours to hear from God, not others. I can hear God for my situation, you can hear for your situation. I may hear God for your situation but you have to confirm it [that's serving you through my gift] or else I didn’t hear anything at all.

In God’s Kingdom, He leads by His Spirit in us. Outside His kingdom, we lead souls. We better know where to use our leadership skills or else there is mess all around. Nothing creates more problems in church than leadership. All problems in church revolves around it – none wants to serve, someone wants to lead! It’s not leadership crises that creates division in His Body, it’s servant-hood crises!

All writings about ‘leadership’ with a bunch of quotable Scriptures of it’s characteristics and attitude: servant-leader [can't find that word in the Bible], humble, loving, name it. Sorry, they are not ‘leadership attributes’ but ‘servant-hood.’ If we equate them as ‘leadership’ that’s when we mix up two person: servant-leader. Who is he really, a servant or a leader? Or a 50% of both? This is against what Jesus says, “not so among you for you are all brothers.” I always say it here, “Try leading your own brother and you be a mess.”

But when one is led by the Spirit, he or she can’t miss!

discipleSHIFT: from one-man discipling to one-another making disciples

One of the biggest shift is that the next generation can be able to make disciples to their next generation without us! How can this be?

The modern discipleship that we see in today’s church is so weak in that without ‘the pastor’ the church or the work dies. Someone’s got to do it? We have so neglect the work of the Holy Spirit Who can be able to mature the person without human intervention. Inspite of the heavy materials and schedules [you need a ‘shcedule’ in order to answer the ‘materials’] and ‘services’ and ‘programs’ and ‘methods’ of discipling their members, still the work isn’t done, even ‘turning their own city upside down’ it didn’t happen. For more ‘additional’ trainings they even built ‘Bible Schools’ and do ‘seminars’ and ‘conferences’ about it, yet somehow the answer to the question, “Discipling? How long?” can never be answered.

We Don’t Disciple

We make disciples and equip them. We don’t disciple them as we are not the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit, but we are not the Holy Spirit. Every follower of Jesus has the same Holy Spirit in them. We equip them, that is not ‘discipleship’ at all as we see it happening in classrooms. Best words are not “lead” “mentor” “train” or having “successors” but more on “fathering and mothering” the next generation. Paul, fathering Corinthian Believers 1 Cor 4:14-18, fathering Timothy, “My son Timothy, and like John fathering “many children.”

JESUS, THE HOLY SPIRIT and Me

Job Discriptions:

ME: disciple-maker
HOLY SPIRIT: discipler
JESUS: church-builder

“Our job is to make disciples. The Holy Spirit’s job is to disciple. Jesus job is to build His Church.”

Jesus last command is as important as the first, “Go and make disciples” is just the “how” of “loving God and one another.” Actually,”loving one another” is “loving God.” How can that be the same? The second commandment is the same as the first. How can we say, “I love God” whom we do not see that we cannot even love someone whom we see? [1Jn.4:20-21] The only way to show God’s love is for me to love you. It is through our love for one another that the world will know that we are His [Jn.13:34,35] And actually, this is true “worship service” where “faith expresses itself in love” towards your neighbor in the “field” where sheep is made for, not in the “barn” where they held their “endless” meetings and “weekly Sunday Schools” where graduation was still never announce when.

LIFE TOGETHER

It’s about 24/7 Christianity, not a Sunday-Cum-Wednesday Night nor separating our lives between sacred and secular. It’s a ‘lean not on your own understanding,’- that is changing the way you think about Church. It’s not an ‘attendance’ ‘meeting’ based church, as we know we cannot ‘attend’ Christ. It’s not a church-based-church relationship like we know each other because we’re Christians and we go to the same church and all our talks is revolving around ‘church’ stuffs. It is a family-based-church relationship. Family conversations involves about everything. We have become family because we are Christ’s, inspite of our names [-in which honestly it divides Christianity, to be ONE in Christ, names should be eradicated-] all my intentions to you is because we are family, not ‘Christian neighbors.’

It is undeniably the Holy Spirit!!!

Noel comes home, to his extended family here. And everything he shares blows our mind! I believe it will do the same to yours. Again, the way we blog on how we make disciples is go through by detailed account of what is really actually happened. So, here is a new one!

For a couple of days we, I, Jomie and Albert, we still could not finished the dressing cabinet that we’re making for the Lambs here. I thought of buying a plastic drawers but my wife Lisa suggested that since we have unused plywoods why not make one instead. We did, so one day Noel came. I will go through what we’re discussing while we do the carpentry and we let Noel paint the other box. We made two, but one is still on the process of building it.