WINE IN THE WINESKINS
The house church network I was a part of the last four and some years blew up last week. It was partly due to what you are stating here.
You cannot mix the wines in the wineskin.
When we left our leadership role in the Vineyard, the Lord knit us to other wounded warriors. The Lord himself gave us the blueprint from the book of Acts for what He want, and that was relational, redemptive house church communities.
We CAME OUT of the SYSTEM, but you can often take people out of the system, and not the SYSTEM OUT OF THE PEOPLE! We discovered that over time, the greatest obstacle to what the Lord wants to do, this NEW THING, which requires NEW WINE SKINS for the NEW WINE, will require everything of us, including our affection for the SYSTEM.
Many within our HC network kept the relationships alive with people, as I did, to stay connected in a friendly relational fashion, but over time, those relationships for some included ties to the system and its tentacles of control and manipulation and the constant affirmation through works and ministry. Over time people got consumed with a variety of ministries, and methodologies, all from the system.
As well there were ongoing relationship issues, and instead of dealing with the situations and issues, the freedom we once had with "no hierarchy" was replaced with an eldership system. Whoever hosted and facilitated the house church gatherings had authority in their home and in what went on in their home. This evolved because there were people in HC who showed little respect for others, especially the hosts, and bullied and intimidated and controlled the gatherings and used them for their own agendas. The easiest way, not the wisest way, was to create an eldership. This was a grievous sin on my part, of which I have wept and repented over many times. It was the beginning of the end.
The enemy uses pride and position to hold back what the Spirit wants to do. It was no different here. In our situation, the elders more and more controlled the flow of gatherings, just the same way elders/pastors do in traditional church. Before long, the "cathedral had entered the bungalow"! Before long, everything, and all decisions were filtered through the few over the many.
What I am saying is that the SYSTEM has polluted our minds. The SYSTEM has had 1700 years to set in place a genetic deviation from what was the original blueprint, and most people cannot tell the difference.
Changing the wineskin, the place and locale of where the body gathers is not enough. The substance of the system is not the location of the church gathered together, but rather the SYSTEM if the religious structure and the ruling and controlling of what happens when the body gathers, be it in a house or in a cathedral. THIS IS THE SYSTEM, and it is part of our genetic code, even as unbelievers. Check it out with unbelievers, and you see just how imbedded the system is in the spirit and the psyche of people within our culture. THE "UNCHURCHED" is a misnomer! Most know very well the aspects of religion and faith that has been projected through the culture and through the media. We have been infected with a horrible GENETIC SICKNESS, and unless that SYSTEM is expunged out of the Body of Christ, there will be little worth redeeming.
The HC network I was a part of by and large not only reflected the system but has become a part of the system, and most of the people are blind to it. I have nothing at all in common with the system and organized religion. It doesn't matter if it is the renewal churches or various speakers on the circuit. They are part of the SYSTEM and it is self perpetuating and self sustaining. The SYSTEM is opposed diametrically with what you are speaking of.
I believe before long there will be great hostility to what the Lord is saying. People want the Lord, but they want their RELIGIOUS ADDICTION TOO! It is an ADDICTION TO THE SYSTEM!
May God deliver His people not only from the trappings of buildings, programs, and all the cultural religious attachments, but deliver us from the IMBEDDED SYSTEM that is rooted deep within our spiritual psyche! May God have mercy upon us.
Clay, there have been so many words about RESTORATION. I do not any longer believe in RESTORATION. I believe what we need is a REVOLUTION! What we need restored we could not handle, especially if it is NT Christianity. It would be so radical to our ways and means of thinking, that it could only be described as a revolution.
Sam
MY HOMEPAGE
