Dahlonega Home Church Fellowships

08/30/2021

By what standard should we be measuring church success by? Perhaps we need to rethink this. Do we measure it by 🪑 seating capacity or sending capacity where we're measuring the number of people were sending out rather than bringing in. Where we are deploying the people of God to do the work of God. This is why we have to see our jobs, our 8 hour a day jobs as opportunities and as a ministry towards others. I've often said my job is my ministry in my ministry is my job as I work 8 hours a day. I'm a quipper in a conventional Church gathering but my real ministry touching lives whether I'm in a church building or on the job. As I have been posting below about the church in Afghanistan, they have no church buildings and yet they are one of the fastest-growing churches in the world. Why is that? Indeed we need to rethink what church life is all about.

My son-in-law and daughter have a CrossFit gym, they see it as their ministry and it is profound how they have changed and touched lives. It's not a worship service it's a workout service and they effectively Minister Jesus to the people there. They have young, middle-aged, and older folks, the police force the fire department the military the local college kids. It is it is a community within the community and they're reaching them for Christ. Yes we need to rethink what church life is all about.

I keep editing this post- I heard of a church called burritos and bibles that meet in a Mexican restaurant consistently. This is training and deploying missionaries. We need to think of ourselves as missionaries as cleverly disguised as students or mechanics or electricians or home inspectors or a nurse or a teacher or a contractor or whatever for the purpose of reaching others for Christ. Bring the kingdom to your context. The Holy Spirit will contextualize where you're at if you will listen and give him an opportunity to speak to you.

You see the seekers are absolutely everywhere. Jesus is already reaching out to them otherwise they wouldn't be spiritually curious. We need to find those people in the context of our paradigm and build a bridge and help guide them to the ONE whom they are searching for. We need to seriously rethink what the church's purpose is for and the calling of every follower of Jesus Christ.

Just sayin'

07/25/2021

DID YOU KNOW?
In total there are currently (mid 2021) at least 22.6 million house churches worldwide with a total of around 300 million members.
Here my full and brand new report that I released today:

Based on biblical, archaeological and historical evidence, house churches – and flat-structured regional networks of house churches - have been the primal, original expression of the ekklesia that Jesus Christ promised to built in the New Testament. During the emergence of sanctuary-based, hierarchical and denominational church systems from AD 100-400, house churches have often become sidelined, suppressed and even persecuted by what called itself the mainline church (see the history chapter in: The House Church Book). House churches have, in various forms and under various labels like pietistic groups, cells or base communities, always existed under the radar of both secular and religious observers. A major and historic comeback of house churches has happened in China – curiously after the expulsion of Western missionaries and their religious influence after Mao Zedong in the early 20th century. Some researchers speak of currently 160-200 million members in probably more than 10 million individual house churches in China alone.
Since the early 1990s house churches experienced a rapid renaissance outside China. In the mid-90s, Egypt and India have experienced the emergence of such highly contagious expressions of house church networks, that these two countries became modern day apostolic epicentres from where house churches have now become not only a global phenomenon, but the fastest growing expression of Christ-followers on the planet. Let one statistics speak to the significance of this: The sum total of all current believers in house churches in India alone, about 80 million, is more than all the 75.5 million members of all 149 member churches of the Lutheran Word Federation.
What follows is a brief overview into the situation in mid-2021. In many nations it is possible to do empirical research. However, let us take into account that many house churches either have to or want to function undetected, under the radar of secular of religious groups. This makes them difficult to research, unless you are a trusted insider and are connected to other trustworthy insiders that provide reliable intelligence. Our overview is both the result of empirical research, insider-knowledge and, in some cases, informed “guestimates”:

1) 10 million house churches in China, see above.

2) Since 1996, about 2 million house churches have been planted in India, Egypt and the rest of the Middle East.

3) 3 million house churches have been reportedly planted in recent years by various missions collectives like “24:14” who speak of about 1.000 house church movements (HCM) with more than 1.000 house churches each. Some HCMs have 100.000s of house churches, like T4T. We are assuming the average size of a HCM as 3.000 house churches.

4) 2 million house churches that are not on the official radar of anyone. This includes movements like „Hoffnung Deutschland“ (founded by Marcus Rose, about 1.000 house churches) or about 20.000 newly planted village/house churches in Uganda (many meet under a tree for the lack of a hut large enough), as reported by Riccardo Meusel, Germany.

5) 1.5 million “half way houses” for church misfits in the USA. According to American sociologist Josh Packard (see his book Church Refugees) the US experiences, with 65 million (in 2015), a gigantic church exodus of people who are “church misfits”: They are following Christ but do no longer attend classical churches. Some call themselves “doners” as they are done with church – but not necessarily with God. About 20% of them – about 13 million people - organize themselves in usually small groups 6-10 people) into about 1.5 million DIY- house churches or “half way houses.” We do not yet count the rest of the 52 million doners into this group – they currently remain “free floating” and are literally spiritually homeless.

6) 1 million "doner" – house church groups outside the US. In many countries of the cultural West outside the US like Australia or the UK, we observe very similar church-exodus movements that partly organize themselves into house churches. Similar developments occur also in South Africa, Korea, Singapore or Israel. Most have no desire to appear on anyones’ radar.

7) 1.7 million house churches inside businesses and Insider Movements. Insider movements are HCMs that do not openly identify with the religion of Christianity but remain outwardly loyal and therefore hidden inside existing religions like Islam,
Hinduism, Shintoism or Buddhism. Many see their religious environment as their cultural heritage within which they have become secret followers of Christ. This phenomenon also exists inside secular groups, clans or tribes. We estimate at least 1 million house churches that have emerged in insider-dispositions. An additional form of this are “business-churches,” house churches that function inside a business as their cover. Close observers in China speak of about 500.000 “business house churches” with at least 200.000 business house-churches outside China, bringing the total in this category to 1.7 million.

8.) 400.000 politically incorrect groups inside house-church-phobic church systems. In many strongly hierarchical church systems like the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches or even marginal groups or cults we see a growing emergence of house churches that may not call themselves that – but basically function like one. Even in recent and strongly Roman-Catholic-influenced plans to evangelize 100 million Europeans, as proposed by Johannes Hartl (Prayerhouse Augsburg, Germany) house churches play a significant role. We calculate such “politically incorrect” groups to number about 400.000.

9) 1 million House churches in HCNs with less than 1.000 house churches per network. One American business man has planted six different HCMs with more than 1.000 HCs each in the last 3 years alone in East Africa. According to our information there are about 20.000 of such “smaller” HCMs globally. In addition to this we have seen the emergence of about 10.000 so-called “Apostolic Networks” worldwide since the 1980s and 1990s. Many of them experience a movement from more controlled ”cells” towards house church. If we take an average of 50 house churches per small HCN (and exclude all “apostolic movements” as not house-church significant), the worlds smaller HCNs adds a total of about 1 million house churches to our count.

Significant contributors to the expansion of house churches
- Mission researcher Dr. Todd Johnson, in his annual “Status of Global Christianity” report 2021, lists 113 million “unaffiliated” or “Crypto- Christians” who are following Christ outside official church system – many of them in “crypto churches” – private, non-public gatherings in homes.
- An Egyptian missiologist reported that during the “Arab Spring” at least four million Muslims in Egypt alone have turned away from Islam – many in search of God – and have not joined any other religion.
- A growing number of Evangelists, like Torben Sondergaard (The Last Reformation, formerly Denmark, now US) or Werner Nachtigall (G.O.D.: Global Outreach Day, Germany) are intentionally connecting evangelism with the immediate planting of house churches. G.O.D. has reported, as an example, the planting of 30.000 new house churches in Cuba in recent years. Bill Bright (1921 – 2003), founder of Campus Crusade, not long before his death, gave a clarion call to his mission agency to see many millions of house churches planted.
- Several Megachurches in the US have told of a call of God to be instrumental in the planting of house churches.
- Mission strategist Curtis Sergeant has created a web-based “simple church saturation” project (www.zumeproject.com) planning to plant one “simple church” for every 5.000 people in the US and for every 50.000 people globally with material currently available in at least 37 languages.
- CORONA: During the COVID19 lock-down times many traditional church members have been forced to engage in “stay-at-home-church.” After 2020 and 2021 a significant percentage of traditional church-goers do not return to CAWKI (church-as-we-know-it) but re-organize themselves, many into neighbourhood-churches in homes, sometimes with online-imput. These numbers are not yet fully researched but may be very significant. One thing is evident: The Post-Corona church will not be exactly the same as Pre-Corona-Church.
- A very large percentage of the children of church-goers have said their farewell to “mum’s-and-dad’s church” and are in search mode for community, values and lifestyles that are radically different from that of their church-going parents. Abraham Piper for example, the son of famous US-theologian John Piper, runs a TikTok account with more than 1.1 million followers called where he is trying to deconstruct fundamentalist evangelical church culture in search of a new and non-religious framework for life. The NEW YORK TIMES called this a “TikTok sensation” – but in reality there may be at least 1.5 billion young people worldwide who would sympathize with the concept of “God yes – church no.” The one thing they all agree with is: CAWKI, church-as-we-know-it cannot and will not be our framework. It is to be seen what forms of following Christ will emerge from this very explosive and creative global people group.

THE KINGDOM DISCOVERY
Since a number of years a significant percentage (millions) of Christians are discovering the significance that Jesus is actually not the founder of the religion of Christianity, but the founder of The Kingdom of God. This discovery often brings about the search for a factory “reset” – how God originally meant us to be – and a spiritual migration away from classical forms of “church”. In hundreds of places we observe the emergence of “Kingdom conversations” – discovering life under the Kingship of Christ, but decidedly outside traditional religious frameworks.

In total there are currently (mid 2021) at least 22.6 million house churches worldwide with a total of around 300 million members. They are, considering all internal and contextual factors, by far the most viral, adaptable and multipliable segment of Christ-followers globally. If their number continues to grow at a very realistic rate of 20% per year, they will reach a membership of more than 4 billion people within the next 15 years – while most traditional church systems are in overall decline. This is why the author, in his publications called Starfish Vision and Starfish Manifesto, encourages all servants of Christ worldwide to work together to see half the population of the planet discipled in our lifetime (see Mt 24:39-41) through the massive planting of house-based Kingdom Communities.

Zúme Training is an on-line and in-life learning experience designed for small groups who follow Jesus. An online, in-life disciple making movement training

12/13/2019

A FEW THOUGHTS CONCERNING TEAM MINISTRY:

When Paul penned his letter to the Philippians he addressed it to “The saints, the deacons and the elders. Moving into chapter two, Paul is not merely addressing the general assembly of the saints. Clearly he now is addressing the diakonate, the presbutrous, the elders or the equipping ministry. Listen to the apostles’ plea to this team that is to work together for the building up of the body for the work of the ministry.

Amplified translation 2:2-5a

“Fill up and complete my joy by living in harmony and being of the same mind and one purpose, having the same love, being in full accord and of one harmonious mind and intention. Do nothing from fractional motives, through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance. Instead, in the true spirit of humility let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself, thinking more highly of one another than you do of yourselves. Let this same attitude and purpose and mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: let him be your example in humility: who, although being essentially one with God, did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained,

King James translation 7-8

But made of himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men: and being in found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

If it is indeed true that Paul was addressing the equipping ministry at this point, he was basically saying this; “Be of one mind and one goal because of the corporate calling to the saints, that is, your calling as mature trainers/equippers is to build up the body so they all can function in their calling and do the work they are called to. Therefore, you must be living and working together in unity of purpose. Do nothing from an individualistic mentality what you can gain from it or merely to build up your own ministry by keeping it to yourself selfishly, No, do not be egotistical as a gifted minister, or be motivated by superiority or self-promotion. All of this brings division among the equippers and fractures the whole dynamic of your calling to the body.

But rather, have the same mindset, the same disposition, and let the very same purpose inspire you as was in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped after. That is, as Jesus did not grasp after his equality with God even though it is indeed true that he was equal with God…. So you too as equippers must not grasp and hunger after equality. Though, nevertheless, one may have a different function from the other but all have the same purpose in calling, there lies the equality, oneness of purpose and it is to equip the saints. In that respect we are all equal.

Also, as Jesus literally worked at not building a reputation, so you too must do the same. No one should be exulted above the other regardless of their calling and function. If you are attempting to build a reputation above the other equippers, you are disqualified from ministry. Build up and appreciate and even esteem others not yourself. Not only did Jesus strive after not building a reputation for himself but he also embraced the lifestyle of a bond slave. He was a servant who was made just like a lowly man. What a humble position he came to accept considering he was the God who created man in the first place. Therefore you also must become humble servants serving others if you are to guide and equip the church of the living God and His expression through them. It is true is it not, that God is not looking for leaders who serve; he is looking for servants who will lead.

Equally important, Jesus became obedient unto the death of the cross. He surrendered any of his rights to the will of his Father in heaven. You too must die to anything of this world such as your right to be first or preeminent. In fact, if you try to become first you will have disqualified yourself from ministry. You must bring to death all self-esteem, which is motivated by pride. Conceded and arrogant opinions of yourself must be nailed to the cross and die. Anything that exults yourself above others must go. You see, the greatest among you will be the greatest of all but even that will be hidden from you because there will be no capacity to accept such appreciation of being the greatest of all. Everything must go to the cross if you are to work together as a team of equippers otherwise you are disqualified!” Jim

11/05/2015

I want to recommend a couple of pages for your research on home gatherings; I have yet to figure out how to insert a hyperlink on Facebook, so you will have to cut and paste. If anyone out there in Facebook land knows how to do this please message me.

http://www.simplechurchathome.com/Why.html
http://www.alanknox.net/series/
http://jesuslifetogether.com/
http://www.housechurch.org/

11/05/2015

FIND OUT WHERE HOME GATHERINGS ARE LOCATED

These links will provide you with those in your area who meet together in this manner. Their contact names and numbers will be found here. hccentral.com. Even if there is nothing in your area, post your own info at those websites and maybe others will find you. Check those sites from time to time, as home fellowships may emerge.

We recommend that if you meet with a group of people in Dahlonega and are meeting on a regular basis, then sign up at hccentral.com This is a free service letting people that may be exiting from institutional groups and desire to get involved with a more Biblical gathering or people moving into the area to find fellowship on whatever side of the city they are living or moving to. As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 21,016 people, 7,537 households, and 5,366 families residing in the county. That was 15 years ago and has tremendously grown since them.

Dahlonega is a large area and has a few groups that do meet regularly. There is only ONE church and that consists of all followers of our Lord Jesus with in the geographical boundaries of the city. The church bears no name but meets under the headship of Christ and is a functioning living breathing organism not a well tuned institution.

11/05/2015

So many people are leaving the institutional church. Some are looking to the Lord for more Biblical ways of gathering; some have left because of being frustrated with the tremendous baggage and large organization. This is an exodus that doesn’t make the newspapers but is an on-going development in many large (or small) institutional gatherings.

According to Simple Church at Home - ttp://www.simplechurchathome.com/Why.html Western cultures are facing a major crisis. With 83.6% of America not attending a conventional church on a given weekend and approximately 95% of the people in other western cultures not attending a conventional church. Approximately 80% of all churches in North America have reached a plateau or are declining.1 The vast majority of the church’s growth comes from “switchers” - people who move from one church to another. There is precious little conversion growth.

There is an estimated 112 million “out of church Christians” globally. There are more than 40 million people gathering in homes each week in North America.
The younger generation is now questioning what is really genuine and true to the New Covenant Scriptures. “How are we to meet”, is the main question. People are tired of all the financial “duty” to provide for a huge building and a paid salary for a person on the most part is an administrator that teaches a bit on a Sunday morning. Believers are tired of the Hype, the lies, the massive organization, the treats of ‘not tithing’, etc.

An attempt to meet in simpler, more genuine ways is becoming the new thing. But the survival and the ability of these simple gatherings to thrive is yet another issue. Without a consistent encounter with Jesus in our gatherings, we will be trading one dead form for another. We need to know what to do, how to do it, and how to undo what is not Biblical. There is a real shortage of experience available in this area. We don’t need more concepts. We need practical truth, which is what this website is designed to provide.[from- Home Church Help- http://homechurchhelp.com/the-purpose]

For some, they would rather follow the ‘traditions of men’ than the mandates of the New Covenant apostles. The acceptance of “un-biblical” traditions has formed out mindsets when it comes to church-life.

Personally speaking, when I left the traditional institutional thing, I crossed the line never to go back to that again simply because of the tremendous relationships that are built in this New Covenant way of gathering together. The meetings are filled with the Presence of God and the many-membered body functions in such life-giving ways that even the children are able to speak and give expression to the Holy Spirit among us.

This is a testimony from a Christinan who writes on “Home Church Help’ blog.

“When I went to college in the late 1980’s, the town I was in had somewhere around 30 to 40 families meeting in different ways than the traditional setting. They were getting together in various houses, meeting in parks, meeting in rented community centers, and in many other ways. There was no one on staff, no designated official leaders, and no one was getting paid for anything. Leadership was organic and natural. Those who had gifts of leadership naturally lead. There weren’t any schedules or bulletins. And it purposely didn’t have a name – in order to cooperate with the New Testament example of there being only one church in any given city.

However, we all met many times a week for meals, prayer, Bible study, worship, and fellowship. I’d never been exposed to such sincerity before. I was accidentally swallowed up into New Testament body life very soon after my conversion in 1987. I didn’t read a book about it. But I began to live it and experience it. I learned about life in God at an extremely rapid pace. I was only 19 years old when I began."

Without an artificial religious system in place which gives an appearance of keeping things going, what we have in non- traditional gatherings can be very volatile. There is no sign out front to attract new members. There is no advertisement in the yellow pages to make us look established. We don’t have big sound systems with entertaining rock and roll worship to make us look big and cool. All we have is the Spirit of God, a Bible, and each other. If in our meeting efforts we try to mix traditional systems and agendas with the Spirit of Jesus, it will quench Him and we will wither and die, or we will prop-up something that is dead and with no life.”

There’s really no such thing as “Home Church”. It is the church that meets in the home, or the park, or the office during lunch, or the community center, etc. These are simple gatherings that follow the Biblical pattern laid down by the apostles. It is truly “body-Life” where as in 1 Corinthians 14:26 indicates that everyone can give from the child to the older adult as they are guided by Holy Spirit. It is an expression of the Headship of Christ in the midst, using His many-membered body to express His heart to us.

Being totally up front with you, this FB page does include some of the “How’s” of gathering together in this arena of simple home gatherings. We cover how to progress and be effective in gathering and sharing life together in more Biblical ways. We who write on this page are not promoting or trying to create a home church denomination. Any simple gathering, whether it be in a living room, outside in a park, or in any structure with four walls and a roof, is all the same thing.

The views that are expressed on this FB Site is fluid, changeable and based on the present understanding the Holy Spirit brings to us. It is a work in progress indeed. We long to have the same effect in our City as the early church did and were known by the lost; -“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." John 13:35. The goal is not nor ever will be to prove we are right and critical of others that don’t agree with us. There will be many articles from many local home church leaders, testimonies, and prayer requests from those meeting this way and are building relationships among the many home gatherings in our City.

What we are offering here is what we have learned by experience and as you go through the many articles you will notice at times some challenges toward institutional church errors by simply showing the Truth, not necessarily hammering the wrong but the contrast itself will do that. We do not want to project a critical spirit in any way and it may seem like that but that’s not in any or our hearts.

So as you are reading, please be aware that it is the methods and traditions that are the problems, and not usually the people. Most pastors I’ve met are also very sincere. Most people are really trying to do the best they can, and walk according to the light they have. However, it is our assumptions, our traditions, and the misunderstanding of roles that have caused so much destruction in the church today. It is not usually the people

Our great desire is to connect with others that are already meeting in our area. We long to have fellowship with like-minded followers of Christ that meet with the mindset, “Christ plus nothing”. Seems limited doesn’t it, but it’s just the opposite, it is the widest, deepest, most liberating and wonderful way to meet as Christ expresses Himself to and trough His body, the church in the City of Dahlonega, Georgia.n