Let others get what really a church in the Bible is. Because how we understand “Church” is how we express it.

1. it is not a building nor the meeting, it is the people and their relationship. many church has people but lack relationships.

2. church is you and me, church is where HE lives, not where we meet. this is important, because most house church thought that the ‘house’ became a church now.

3. Mostly, Church is a family. Any healthy family can easily understand this. “He who manage well of his own household can manage the household of God.” But being ‘good fathers and mothers’ are not just able to do take good care of their children but they also teach the REAL Jesus.

4. Don’t start with having a ‘meeting’ but being a family. Have food, and have fun with everybody including kids. Any healthy family would not do meetings but they already met a lot because they have relationships. At least you could start that. Any Filipino’s know that if we start something at first not only we ourselves who initiate it has having a hard time ‘stopping’ it but also they are expecting you to do the same thing again next week. Example: A house church may study the Bible but it is not CALLED a ‘Bible Study Meeting’ or program. They may pray but it is NOT called a ‘Prayer Meeting.’ Nothing wrong with studying and praying but if that’s what we do every time we meet it will soon become a tradition. We don’t do them, but we discuss more of the Word and pray anytime we wanted to. Simpy because we are a family, we care for each other. It is not a lifetime of meetings but a lifetime of relationships.

Enjoy, click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kaXUcPSFog

We built ‘orphanages mentality’ organizations such as ‘churches’ ‘feeding centers’ ‘bible schools’ ‘seminaries’ ‘adoption homes’ and all ‘para-churches’ ministries. Whereas Jesus built His Ekklesia, the Church, His Body, His extended family on earth. The members of His Kingdom.

As [with my wife] we had meal together with Bob Fitts, the Hosanna worship leader guy with Don Moen, having to know his father we had a chance to meet up with him in Cebu during his Christmas tour concert last year. We exchange ministry thoughts and when he knew I was ‘adopting’ several children, one would directly comment, “Are you having an orphanage?” He did ask the same inquiry.

I told him that, “A child in the ‘orphanage’ is an orphan. But an orphan in the ‘family’ is a child. No one would call an orphan in your family ‘an orphan’ but you will call him ‘your child.’ “

Church is a family. It is having a ‘mom and dad’ in the Lord. Paul would call them the “parents in the Lord” in Ephesians 6:1 in which he admonish the ‘children in the Lord’ to obey them. [Verse 2 clearly speaks to honor your physical parents the 'father and mother.'] Jesus design for His Church simply having those who will ‘nurture you and nourishes you as his own children’ like Paul. He ‘labors’ the Thessalonian saints ‘until Christ will be formed’ in them. He himself is ‘becoming a father’ to the Corinthian saints though they have ‘thousands of teachers.’ He ‘fathers’ Timothy, calling him ‘my son in the faith.’

“Hit and Run” Ministries

One of my ‘wondering questions’ around ‘specialize ministries’ such as ‘Youth Ministry’ ‘Men’s and Women’s Ministry’ ‘Bible Study Programs’ ‘Prayer Meetings’ ‘Outreaches’ ‘Evangelism’ or ‘Having 12 people around you – [G12], name it. What are these ‘ministries’ all about if it were not for the purpose of ‘extending’ your family? And if were, are you just gonna see them once a week? Like my friend who has a Bible Study in a school once a week? And then what? I might like to call them ‘hit and miss’ ministries.

Church is about relationships. Like a ‘mother to her daughter’ kind of relationship. Yes, it is as close as that! A million dollar question to be considered is: “Am I willing to father/mother those that I am going to reach out?” Or else you will just be bearing more spiritual orphans hopping around churches hoping to find real people who can father and mother them.

Consider this question: Do you have people around you who is fathering and mothering you? If so, are you both are ‘intentional’ about it? I mean, does he/she knows that he/she is your ‘parents in the Lord?’ Jesus says that His Church has ‘hundreds of mothers, brothers and sisters’ means hundreds of relationships, means ‘hundreds of them all.’

This is the cry of the prophet Malachi, that ‘fathers would turn their hearts to their children and the children to their fathers.’ And the prophet John the Baptist echoed the ‘purpose’ of this saying that this is ‘to prepare the way of the Lord.’ Imagine that!

“Orphanages Mentality” might be good and they’re doing it ‘very good’ but it is an old saying that goes, ‘the good is the enemy of the best’ no matter how we spread that kind of ‘good.’ Actually, the Bible speaks of ‘good works that doesn’t bear fruit!”

Here are several reasons why:

1. They may have ‘thousands of pastors,’ because they have been to many churches, but they could hardly pen-point who are the people that ‘parent’ them.

2. They are full of staff, teachers, directors, and even founders yet lack or no ‘father and mother figure’ that they could look up to. “Orphanages Mentality” eliminates ‘fathering and mothering.’

3. They are building their own little kingdoms celebrating their own human founder in which have become competent of the Kingdom of God. They are really encouraging a ‘sectarian’ spirit, a ‘hierarchy’ system form of government in which God hates. [Nicolaitan deeds]

4. They have become ‘babies’ and continue to be that way for the rest of their lives. It’s how religion works, they want you to become babies for you to be controlled. Grown up people doesn’t want to be controlled. Irresponsible Christians does not want to have other people involve in their daily lives, they just like to ‘feed, give and leave’ to a social Christian Club membership once a week and sleep well at night knowing that their ‘guilt’ is being paid in a Sunday offering collection.

5. They are treated more like a ‘project’ to be financed than ‘people’ to be cared and loved for like any healthy family parent would do to their children. A child is loved unconditionally, any parent would know that if their child did something good, mostly it means that they did something wrong!

6. Either we admit it or not, they are still orphans!

I could go on and on but again, Jesus said, “I shall not leave you as orphans.” And how we are trying to fulfill that is build ‘Ministries of Orphanages Mentality.” Whereas Jesus says, “I will build My Church.” His ekklesia, His Body, His extended ‘family’ in which the 6-fold Gifts [Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors, and Elders] acts as ‘parents in the Lord’ to the Saints thus ‘fathering the next generation.’

[Paul could have said, "You have thousands of teachers but lack 'apostles,' and I have become an apostle unto you." He clearly states, "I am an apostle of Jesus," yet "I have become your father!"

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,000 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 50 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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.

“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?

“I am going to make you a disciple of God.” I said to them.

“What is a disciple of God?” Rhea ask.

“Being a disciple is following HIS footsteps, and commandments,” I said. “Do you believe that you were already saved, even before the day you were born He already died for your sin?”

“No! I don’t believe God has saved me already, because I know from the start that I am a sinner, everyone is a sinner,” Rhea honestly admitted her condition and certainly was right about her observation, “and every seconds I know I can commit a sin. and how could you see that I was or we were already saved?”

“As we know that the wages of sin is death, but because of God’s great love to us, instead we all gonna die because of our sins, HE never let that happened, He sent His only son Jesus Christ to be crucified just to saved us. And this all happened two thousand years ago, now that’s even before your grand mother was born! “And all we gonna do is to believed that He already did pay the penalty of our wrongdoings. God has saved us already from death! Death is dealt with on the cross. We have to believe this and so can follow the commandments of God.”

Every one’s thinking was on the air, it sounds so interesting for them and wondering where’s this conversation going to? Jana finally have her thoughts put on the table, “How are we going to do that? Are we going to church every Sunday?”

“Going to the church-building every Sunday is not needed, because we are already the church. The church is where the Holy Spirit of God lives, and he lives in us. The church referred to us – the disciples of God, and not the building that every one had to go every Sunday. Why not we just pray at home, spending time with our family and discussing together the words of God that has written in the bible, sounds great?

“That sounds better than going to church every Sunday and go to the confession box for the forgiveness to our sins, in that very building we can also commit sin afterwards, right?’’ Rhea agreed.

“Yeah right! I experiece the same thing! Joana speaks out, “Every time I went to church and saw someone wearing seductive dress I think very badly. So, by not going to church anymore is all we gonna do to follow Jesus?”

“No, that’s only a part of it, you also have to repent of your sins and renew yourselves by baptism.”

“What do you mean baptism? Jana ask, “like what the priest did when we were a child?”

“Sort of, but now you are going to be baptize because you believe that you are a sinner and you are willing to leave your sins behind and make a new life with Jesus. When we were a child we don’t even understand why we were baptize right? We do not even know that we were a sinner. It was just a tradition then. Biblical baptism that God requires occurs when a person is willing to die and rose again and follow the commandments of God. And if you are willing to be buried with your sins and rose to a new life you will begin a new life-journey with God, you need to be baptize.”

“We are willing to be baptize and when should we do that?” they inquire.

That very day, they are willing to change their life-style, so a few days after they were baptize at the ocean not far from our house.

We’re all school-mates, friends that have become family of God, my extended family in school. We meet together as a family spontaneously.

Mostly I replied directly, “Really? How about those who don’t have it? Are they cursed if we are defining ‘faith as a license to get?” We even measure our faith by the things we receive or not receive. It’s faith by ‘calculation’: Faith plus our way of doing it equals blessings. We live in an age of consumerism – even our Christian brothers acquiring things they do not need to impress people they do not like. And they call it having faith – to acquire. Where is this in the Bible?

Faith does not give you permission to do what you like to do but to do what you should. This is not manipulation by faith, but power!

Jesus, the Son of God, clothed with human dirt, suffered, died, to the ‘point of death!’ “Let this cup pass from me,” He cried with sweat blood in the garden, “but not my will be done but yours.” Let God’s will be done on earth – Jesus fulfilled it in His life here on earth even to ‘the point of death.’ He voluntarily ‘gave’ his life. No one ‘takes’ His life, not even God because He ‘gave’ Himself up. He lays down His life for His sheep [Jn.10]. It’s how he got His Kingship. There will be a time when King Jesus will return in His body on earth then those who didn’t give their lives voluntarily, those who didn’t align themselves in the King’s rule – their lives shall be taken by force! Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

For now, while it is still called ‘today’ it’s your choice to recognize that you’re dead because of your sin – no Kingdom faith at all. Faith in God is given you know – only to dead people. When you realize this what sort of faith that you’ve got is maybe not faith at all.

Baptism is called Burial of self. A unsaved person needed to realize this if not then any kind of baptism does not make sense to him. Our sin does not only killed Jesus, it has also killed us first, right from the beginning we are all dead in our sin. Eph. 2:1: you were dead in your trespasses and sins. That’s why to enter into The King’s domain baptism is a sort of ‘initiation’ to one-self, but unlike any initiation of any group or fraternity, it is not force, but voluntarily. Jesus warned any violent people who ‘take the kingdom by force’ He never endorses it.  Being born a second time is prerequisite to enter into The Kingdom of God [Jn. 3] but before you will be born again you need not to enter into your mother’s womb but into God’s womb – born not of human will but God’s – through death to yourself, your old man, your old ways. Just as Jesus died you also died with Him in baptism, just as He was raised from the dead, by God, you also raised to new life. See, Jesus Himself gave up His life to death, not force, but voluntarily gave it, none takes it. It is God who raised Him from the dead, He became the Author of Life – he who looses his life shall find it!

Back to faith that it does nothing to kill you, to kill yourself is voluntarily aligning your values in the King’s command, but it does something to raise you from the dead, not ‘repair’ your life, sorry, God has no human shop – sadly, our churches is like a ‘machine shop’ – keeping the machine going through their programs by their money in their own ways to maintain the status quo of their product. When you rise up in that water of baptism, you are born a ‘second-time, alive in Christ, then it is where you can truly ‘live by faith.’