THE LACK OF AFTER-CARE
One reason why fellowship does not work is our negative feelings, such
as jealously, hate, criticism, and arrogance towards others. They are an
indication of us still being infants in Christ, as Paul wrote, and because of
these feelings, fellowship can be pretence, not actual fellowship:
- (1 Cor 3:1-3) And I, brothers, could
not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you
with milk, and not with meat: for till now you were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are you able.
3 For you are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying,
and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men?
However,
there are also other reasons for the lack of fellowship, and one is that it the
congregation has not been able to invest in after-care and so that people would
begin to feel at home in the congregation. A mere series of meetings does not
guarantee that people will stay in congregation, but effective after-care is
needed, otherwise the harvest will be lost. It has usually been noted that
people stay in a congregation only for two reasons: because of fellowship and
duties, and if we have not properly invested in these areas, many may come in
only to go away:
If the comer already has relatives and friends in the congregation, he
will more easily adapt to it. In a congregation, members establishing relations
with friends, relatives, neighbors, and fellow workers who are not a part of
the congregation are absolutely needed. This will make it easier for people to
come into the congregation and maintain the growth in it.
Coming into a congregation
actually begins before the person decides to join the congregation. The more
friends the newcomers get in the
congregation, the more probably they will actively take part in the activity of
the congregation. People come into a congregation for many reasons, but they
stay there for two reasons; friends and meaningful duties. (11)
Homes
When it is a question of fellowship, it is important to get a good
contact with people. If the relations in the congregation are superficial, it
is very probable that many go away over time and perhaps abandon the faith. It
is difficult for anyone to participate if fellowship has remained only at the
level of superficial greetings and if close contacts and friendship have not
been born.
One solution to this problem
can be a congregation that meets at homes, as in the early church. As we look
at the Bible, we can see how the first Christians met both in public places such
as temple courts (Acts 2:46), Solomon's Colonnade (Acts 5:12), the lecture hall
of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9) and also in small places, such as ordinary houses and
homes. For example, the next places are mentioned:
- (Rom 16:5) Likewise greet the church that is in their house.
Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia to Christ.
- (1 Cor 16:19) The churches of Asia
salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church
that is in their house.
- (Col 4:15) Salute the brothers
which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.
- (Philem 1:2) And to our beloved
Apphia, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
There are plenty of advantages in meeting in ordinary houses and homes.
However, the following points are most important:
- Firstly, meeting at homes is always more advantageous. There is no
need to waste money on spectacular church buildings, but money can be directed
to more useful things, such as missionary work (many have heard the Gospel
several times, but there are people who have never heard it), helping
people or supporting evangelists. It is possible that the same people go to
churches repeatedly and therefore most of the meetings can take place in
ordinary homes. In addition, the church buildings can be destroyed easily
during a persecution.
- The forming of fellowship is more probable in small groups than in
large ones. The larger the group is, the more difficult the adaptation of new
comers can be. People who have close interaction and good relationships in
groups, do not leave so easily. For example, in Colombia it has been noted that
homogenous groups (people who come from a similar background) are successful.
They have been noted to function better than groups based on geographical
division. (Cesar Castellanos, Menestyvä johtajuus G12-solumallissa [Successful
Leadership Through the Government of Twelve], p. 195-198).
- Division of responsibility
between more people is the advantage of home congregations. As
responsibility is not on the shoulders of one priest but many, it is more
effective. The souls of people are better cared for and problems better solved,
because there is more time for everyone. In these kinds of meetings, it is also
good to adapt the idea: "when you come
together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a
revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying." (1 Cor 14:26).
- Is it more effective? The problem with many congregations of 20-100
people is that they take on a lease for expensive assembly rooms and usually a
more effective mode of action for the same people, these small units, would be
directing their activity more to homes - however, without forgetting evangelism
- and also to large meetings comprising the whole town and work directed
outwards (work in streets, helping people, work among ordinary people, Sunday
school work, large evangelist meetings, etc). Those people who are saved by the
other activity could then be led into the congregations in ordinary homes.
It is probable that this kind
of activity would be more effective and closer to the idea of a local
congregation (big cities with long distances are, of course, a quite different
issue). The only problem is how is it possible to carry out this kind of work
if there are various doctrinal views.
Wolfgang Simson has brought
out the idea of home congregations. He states that they can act independently -
especially during a persecution - but also meetings comprising the whole town
can be arranged:
The congregations of the New Testament were called according to an area,
not a religious movement. When a new wave of home congregations is born, a
possibility to the congregation comprising the whole town is also opened. All
the Christians of the area meet regularly or irregularly in celebrations
comprising the whole town, in which the most anointed Christians of the town
forget their titles and church politics and in their new ripeness sacrifice
their own name and reputation for the kingdom of God and one undivided King,
the Lamb of God.
(…) Cell congregation needs both of these meeting types, cells and
celebrations, in order to work well. They are like the two wings of an
aircraft, as Bill Beckman describes. Home congregation works without a
celebration, especially in a hostile environment, and can in any case spread.
(…) The celebration of a cell congregation is limited to one church, while the
home congregations favour more common regional celebrations of all Christians.
One builds church thinking - the other kingdom of God. Which of them is more
biblical? (12)
Training and duties
The second problem in many congregations is the lack of training and
suitable duties. Often, the duties in congregations have accumulated only to a
few persons, while the others do nothing. Especially many priest-centric
congregations based on watcher Christianity, are an example of this.
However, dividing of the work
and showing of confidence towards people is always more useful and fruitful
than keeping them idle. If they are only onlookers, they can become inert and
impassive, but showing of confidence already to young people can lead them to
spiritual growth. Congregations in which investments in preparing and training
of people have been made usually grow faster than those congregations that have
not done the same.
A good example of sharing the
responsibility are the Apostles. When they came to a new place and started
their work, they very soon shifted the responsibility on local brothers by
choosing from among them a few more reliable and advanced as the elders (Acts
14:21-23, Tit 1:5), and by going themselves forward to new areas. By no means
did they stay to shepherd and lead people for years and years and to do
everything themselves, as often happens nowadays, but they allowed the local
brothers to take care of that and evangelism. Like this, the congregation could
in healthy way grow and the Apostles themselves could go to new fields of work.
For instance, Oswald J. Smith tells a good example of what can happen if this
biblical model is used and the responsibility is shifted on local people:
Most foreign missionaries are afraid of trusting a local inhabitant. I
remember one such case. The holiday of a man should have already begun long
time ago, but he hesitated to leave. Years ago, he had assumed entire
leadership of the mission station and answered for everything himself. He had
not trained even a single local worker. Finally, he had no choice but leave.
At that time, another
missionary happened to visit him. This was a man who used the biblical line of
action. As he wanted to help his worried friend, this brother asked the
missionary to call the leading local Christians. His purpose was to find among
them someone or several persons who could be given the responsibility for the
work. But this missionary, who had been for years their shepherd, gave quite a
hopeless judgment for everyone. The first had the habit of lying, the second
stole, the third had bad temper, the fourth was lazy, the fifth could by no
means be trusted, the sixth did not have any abilities, the seventh was
ignorant.
But he was surprised when the guest
called all these incapable and dubious men and appointed them to positions of
trust. One was called to be the preacher, the second treasurer, the third the
supervisor of the work. Others were appointed evangelists, elders etc. And like
this, everyone suddenly found themselves in a position of trust. And the tired,
overstrained missionary went on a holiday.
A year passed. The missionary
expected to see his whole work in pieces. But he was very surprised to see that
everybody had done only good. The work had succeeded much better than ever
before. Tens of souls had been won to the Lord. The congregation was absolutely
flourishing. Evangelism meetings had been arranged. Money had been collected,
the house of prayer had been repaired and more assembly rooms had been set up.
For the first time in their
life, the local people had felt that they were responsible for something. As
frightened and trembling, unused to bear the responsibility, they had begun
their work, but now it was done in a biblical way, and God blessed it. What a
revelation it was to the missionary, who had thought that he had to do all
alone and without saving himself any pain. (13)
The same matter, i.e., sharing the
responsibility and the significance of providing training, we can also see from
the next examples from the Old and New Testament. They indicate that after
saving
also "the perfecting of the saints, for the work
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" (Eph 4:12) is
needed. In addition, the relationship of Jesus
with His disciples, when He taught them, encouraged them, sent them, and
finally handed over the whole work to them, is the best example of this. A
similar model, including plenty of practical teaching, is certainly needed also
now:
- (Exo 18:17-21) And Moses' father in law
said to him, The thing that you do is not good.
18 You will
surely wear away, both you, and this people that is with you: for this thing is
too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it yourself alone.
19 Listen now to
my voice, I will give you counsel, and God shall be with you: Be you for the
people to God-ward, that you may bring the causes to God:
20 And you shall
teach them ordinances and laws, and shall show them the way wherein they must
walk, and the work that they must do.
21 Moreover you
shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth,
hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:
- (Eph 4:11-13) And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers;
12 For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ:
13 Till we all
come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
- (2 Tim 2:2) And the things that you
have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit you to faithful men,
who shall be able to teach others also.
A good view of how mere following of the missionary order is not enough,
but after it people must also be prepared and trained, is given by the
following quote. It is told by Cesar Castellanos D., in whose congregation both
selling of the vision and the so-called G12 model were successfully used. (The
G12 model refers to the model of the twelve disciples of Jesus: twelve leaders
are chosen, supported and guided, and finally they themselves do the same thing
and found their own group of twelve). In the congregation, everyone is obliged
to take part in a short practical training, in which basic issues, evangelism
and the vision of the congregation are taught.
I once
visited Argentina, a country where large spiritual awakening has been recently
experienced. When my wife and I visited some congregations, we saw small
temples, which in practice were empty, and we wondered, "Where is that great
awakening about which we hear so much?" I remember that Carlos Anacondia, the well-known
Argentinean man of God, told me that he had reached during his crusades over
2,000,000 people in ten years. But he did not know where those people were.
When he needed 5,000 people during a very large crusade as his assistants, he
could not find even one. Some Argentinean pastors, who knew how God had given
us in International Charismatic Mission the blessing of increasing manifold,
wanted to see me and conveyed their need to get permanent fruit. "We don't know
what to do. People come to our congregations, but most of them leave through the
back door!"
I understood their problem, and countless
congregations are faced with same problem all over the world. We cannot deny
that God has given the Argentineans a special anointment to preach the Gospel,
but it is concentrated only on the first part of the missionary order. A
congregation that only concentrates on preaching the Gospel to win souls, but
does not train disciples and bear permanent fruit, is like a mother who thinks
that her task is only to give birth to children and reject them after that.
Preaching the Gospel without responsibility for its fruits is the same as doing
the work only partially. We must win souls, but we must also train them. (14)
MOST IMPORTANT SOURCES:
Castellanos D. Cesar, Näky joka voittaa maailman (Dream and you will win
the world)
Castellanos Cesar, Menestyvä johtajuus G12-solumallissa (Successful
Leadership Through the Government of Twelwe)
Castellanos Cesar, Menestyksen portaat (The Ladder of Success)
Frangipane Francis, Että he olisivat yhtä (It's time to end church
splits)
Joyner Rick, Ennen taivasta (A prophetic vision for the 21ST
century)
Joyner Rick, Viimeisten päivien taistelu (Overcoming Evil in the Last
Days)
Morris Linus J., Seurakunnan läpimurto (The High-Impact Church)
Nee Watchman, Apostolinen lähetystyö (Concerning our Missions)
Smith Oswald J., Työ jota Jumala siunaa ("Work blessed by God")
REFERENCES:
1) This writing does not discuss ecumenicalism, which usually means
cooperation between churches. Even though there are good points also there, the
largest problem is that many of these people have never been saved.
Unfortunately, especially in old churches, such as in the Catholic Church, the
majority are in fact people who have not experienced it yet, and therefore they
first need the Gospel so that they can be saved. Fellowship, according to God's
will, can certainly not be created if this basic condition is missing.
2) Rick Joyner: Viimeisten päivien taistelu (Overcoming Evil in the
Last Days), p. 128
3) Frank Bartleman: Azusa-katu 312 (Azusa Street), p. 237
4) Rick Joyner: Viimeisten päivien taistelu (Overcoming Evil in the
Last Days), p. 125
5) Stanley Sjöberg, Jumalan lasten lapset (Familjeträff i Pingst /
"Children of the children of God"), p. 59
6) Dave Roberts: Tuli on irti (The 'Toronto' Blessing), p. 233
7) Francis
Frangipane: Että he olisivat
yhtä (It's time to end church splits), p. 44
8) Francis Frangipane: Että he olisivat yhtä (It's time to end church
splits), p. 97
9) Rick Joyner: Ennen taivasta (A prophetic vision for the 21ST
century), p. 69,70
10) Francis Frangipane: Että he olisivat yhtä (It's
time to end church splits), p. 51,52
11) Linus J. Morris: Seurakunnan läpimurto (The High-Impact Church), p. 188
12) Wolfgang Simson: Kodit,
jotka muuttavat maailman (Houses that change the world), p. 30,48
13) Oswald J. Smith: Työ jota Jumala
siunaa ("Work blessed by God"), p. 110,111
14) Cesar Castellanos D., Näky joka
voittaa maailman (Dream and you will win the world), p. 91,92
