WHO OWNS THE BODY?

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The question arises: Who owns the Body of Christ?

Do pastors own it? Do the denominations own it?

Do believers belong to the Church or does the Church belong to the believers?

The answer is none of the above. The truth is, each believer belongs to the Lord and together all believers form the church. “He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.” (Col 1:18) The primary leader of the church is Jesus Himself. He is not an absentee landlord.  He is the Head instructing, leading and guiding by the rod of the word and the staff of His Spirit.

      This means that leaders, pastors, denominational leaders etc. have the responsibility to submit to Him in all things. Since they do not own the church, they have no right to ‘dumb the message down’, repress truths, or lower the moral standards to accommodate the spirit of the age. As stewards of the mysteries they have sacred trust to teach the full counsel of God - everything that Jesus revealed and required. This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

 “Moreover it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (1 Cor 4:1-2)

 “.... for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27)

Imagine the manager of a McDonald’s franchise who refused to sell milkshakes, French fries or coffee, because He did not like to sell them. He would not hold on to his franchise for long, as his restaurant would no longer be a real McDonalds.

Today church leaders pick and choose what parts of the Word of God they like to build their church. Some teach miracles without salvation and others salvation without miracles. Some teach salvation without blessing and others blessing without salvation and on it goes. God will take away our franchise, unless we change, otherwise we will be left with partial gospel.

Our styles and forms of communication may change to adapt to each culture and generation; but the message, the revelation, the promise, the call, and the challenge of radical discipleship can never be diluted.

Leaders of the church have no right to say: “We do not teach or believe this or that,” if the matter is a clearly stated belief of the scriptures and the apostolic church. Believers should not put up with this passively. If leaders are not teaching the whole gospel they should be asked: “Why Not?”, because the church does not belong to the leaders or to the people but to Jesus. We are required to be faithful to His message. Leaders do not own the message – the Message owns them. That is the terms of the franchise.

 

New Patterns of Leadership

      The patterns of leadership that we see today within Christianity have come more from medieval feudalism and representative democracy than by the New Testament itself. We read in the New Treatment that when they came together they received instruction and encouragement. They sang, prayed for each other, reported exploits and received ministry. Each member brought something along: a good report, a request for prayer, a song, and a revelation and so they built each other up. It was the highlight of the week. The five-fold ministries and elders were coordinators to supervise and manage the whole thing under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. (I Cor. 12 – 14)

      Today members sit passively in church, often for a whole lifetime. They sing, they receive prayer, they contribute finances and they leave. This has been the church pattern in the western world for centuries. To escape the boredom many fall away.  The pastors react by resorting to gimmicks, hype, flamboyant oratory, personality cult, skits and musical shows to retain their interest.

But God is on the move to change this. As ‘new wine’ comes into the body of Christ - multitudes are being empowered to serve the Lord and to know His voice directly.

Yet our relationship and service in the Lord is not a merely private thing, because when we relate to Him, He places us in His Body as a supplying joint and we become a part of His team. Though the relationship between leaders and congregation is changing dramatically, leadership gifts and offices are more essential than ever before.

     Leadership ministries are necessary to

|      harness and guide the energy of the believer,

|      to train him in the ways of the Lord,

|      to introduce him  to the mysteries of the kingdom

|      to help him live by the standards of the Word of God

|      to equip him for every good  work (including supernatural ministry) 

|      and to make him a part of the Kingdom team.

There are two main elements of leadership in the church. Both are essential and one cannot exist without the other.

1)    The rulership aspect to leadership in the congregation is important, to organize to plan and to ensure good practical, spiritual and moral order.

2)    The exhorting aspect of leadership to develop the inner life of the disciple and the intimacy of his relationship with the Lord.

3)    The equipping aspect leadership ministry is to empower others to come into their own destiny.

 

From Consumers To Disciples

Our understanding of leadership will automatically effect  the structure and shape of the congregation.  As new, more scriptural models  of leadership emerge, the church  will become a complex network  of teams, building itself up in love, truth, and power and  extending the mercy of God’s kingdom to the nations. Teaching and preaching will be more important than ever. The listener, however, will not just absorb information passively but will learn for the purpose of doing.

    Jesus’ followers are called ‘disciples’. The word ‘disciple’ really means ‘apprentice’. An apprentice is more than a student absorbing knowledge  and paying the teacher, -  he is one who is learning to do everything his teacher is teaching him.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

The end time church will be a church of disciples, learning to live by the standards and do the works of the first disciples. That’s the mandate and that’s what is happening!

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Apostolic Power

   “When He (the Holy Spirit) comes He will convict the world of sin of righteousness and judgment.” (John 16:8) This is so much more intense than what most of us are thinking. When the Holy Spirit comes and manifests His power in gatherings He will release supernatural power to pierce the human spirit in a way that you and I have never seen before.

    We think that our great future is in signs and wonders. Our future isdynamically related to signs and wonders in terms of healings. (But) there is something even MORE powerful than raising the dead, something MORE powerful then blind eyes opening up. It is apostolic preaching, anointed with the very substance of the Holy Spirit’s life piercing men’s and women’s hearts and cutting them asunder like a sword. (This) has a  more powerful effect.

Historically when people see the miracles a year on  they are doing something entirely different. but when the Spirit of conviction fastens upon their hearts the Word of God like a barbed arrow that won't let loose, they are thoroughly and utterly convicted and converted supernaturally. Now we want the two together .. and no one loves miracles more than I do .. (But)  in terms of equipping the Body of Christ to bring  nations to the Lord we have to get a vision for apostolic preaching. … We need a vision of where the power realm will take .. the end  time church -  the power realm as it is related to speaking words   - Mike Bickle.

Israel Is Safer Than USA

     As a matter of fact Israel is statistically  safer than the US. According to a study by the University of Maryland comparing homicide rates in 33 countries between 1955 and 1996. Israel’s average was 1.26 per 100,000 people, compared to 7.8 in the US. Even taking initfada into account, Israel’s rate rose to 4.80, which is till lower than that of America. Jeremy Gimpel & Ari Abramowitz (Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, May 2007 )

 

Christianity  In Europe.

     The imminent arrival of Eurabia (islamicized Europe) can be dismissed as poor Mathematics. Muslim minorities in Europe … account for less than 5% of the total population -  a tiny proportion by American standards of immigration. Even if that proportion trebles in the next 20 years, Eurabia will still be a long way off. The more interesting question is whether Christianity will recover. A new book  by Philip Jenkins .. comes up with some gloomy statistics. Only 20% of Europeans say that God plays an important role in their lives compared with 60% of Americans. A survey in 2004 found that 44% of Britons believed in God, whereas 35% (45% of 18-34 year olds)  denied his existence. Only 15% go to church each week, against 40% of Americans. Even in Catholic heartlands of Spain, Italy and Ireland attendance rates have dropped below 20% and priests are dying out. In Dublin, home to 1m. Catholics precisely one was ordained in 2004.

     But there are a few signs of revival. .. Alongside this old religious economy, a smaller one based on personal choice is growing. Together evangelicals, charismatics and Pentecostals accounted for 8.2% of Europe’s population in 2000 nearly doubling   the rate in 1970 according to the World Christian Encyclopedia,

      Pentecostalism is France’s fastest growing religion. London’s, immigrant packed East End is thought to have twice as many Pentecostal congregations as Church of England ones. (Taken from ‘The Economist’ Nov. 3^rd 2007)

 

 

 

Christmas 

      Jesus became like us that we might become like Him….

 His purpose in time and in the flesh was precisely for the purpose of preparing a bride and a creation. We don’t catch the great sweep of God’s purpose apart from this. If we love Jesus we can never be satisfied short of being with Him, and to be with him we must be like Him.

     All human dramas are insignificant in comparison with the great drama of God, which culminates in bringing us and the creation up to divine perfection and perfect companionship with Him.

–        Rufus Mosley,

“The Best of Rufus Moseley” compiled by Wayne McClain

Dear Friends

Warmest greetings and every blessing for a wonderful Christmas and Chanukah  season. At this  time the world stops to party   and believers pause  to celebrate Jesus the light of the world, and the hope of the ages, 

We personally don’t  like pictures of Jesus in the manger as the symbol of Christmas. We prefer to focus on Him as He now is, Glorified Risen and Ascended, in total Majestic Glory with   eyes of fire and Ruler of the universe, soon to return to impose  this rule.

It  is as if there is something out there that  wants to keep Him in His apparently helpless position so that He can be dismissed and ignored.

The Self-emptying of Jesus at Bethlehem and Calvary is of course the key to His present exaltation and to our liberation. He became what we are so that we could become what he is. Come let us adore Him as who He is!

For us every day is Christmas day, but isn’t it wonderful that the pagan winter festival Saturnalia is redeemed in it’s meaning  for all who worship Him.

Well it’s been a good year for us. and we are constantly celebrating His faithfulness. “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end they are new every morning.” It’s been a year of experiencing  steady old mercies and discovering new ones.

We had the privilege of ministering in many nations this year – that’s our calling and  that’s what we do .. .but we never want to do anything  out of mere repetition as we are aware that the Lord’s tactics and strategies constantly change. Nevertheless the two “I”s in our lives Ireland and Israel still are high priority to us.

We always want to go deeper in the Lord and try to balance the busyness of our lives with times of quietness and learning.

We sense an urgency and anointing to equip this generation to come out of the wilderness of training and testing of  the last forty years and experience the fullness of  their inheritance.

          We shared in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles of the significance of this time we are in – a  new generation  40 years after 1967 when Gentile domination of Jerusalem ended as foretold by Jesus and Daniel. This presents us with a challenge to go further than the previous generation as did  the generation that Joshua led into the Promised Land. Later at the conference thanks to Malcolm Hedding and David Parsons we had the privilege of meeting the 3 soldiers who are pictured in the iconic photo of the recovery of Jerusalem in 1967, and we felt it was like a heavenly ‘Amen’ to our message.                  

     Our ministry stands on the prayers of our intercessors.  We need prayer for the Lord to anoint  our meetings and to empower us with the strength to do our work with joy. More revelation, more intimacy, fresh visitations for you and for us! We anticipate a great year ahead for all of us especially as we keep very close to Him.

With deepest thanks to all of you who help us with your prayers and support - we need you – you share in all we do!

One in His great love and service,

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