From the Pastor’s Desk (285)
I write articles like this in the Facebook Pastors’ Group to inform, encourage, and challenge its members.
“Many of you in this group know that I do house church ministry. I have been doing it for more than 25 years.
Unchurched unbelievers, whom we call VIPs, are reached through our house churches. Instead of inviting VIPs to our Sunday worship first, our house churches welcome them into their gatherings, where they witness and experience Christ’s love and the power of prayer through the members.
Eventually, our house church members encourage and invite their VIPs to Sunday worship and to RJM (Receiving Jesus Meeting), a two- to two-and-a-half-hour gospel presentation class that I lead on the first Sunday of every month. This is a semi-interactive class, and almost everyone who attends receives Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Sometimes I have three people, and sometimes I have fifteen in RJM. This past Sunday, I had thirteen attendees—eight received Christ, four were confirmed in their salvation, and one had more questions, which she asked after the session ended. She and her shepherds stayed behind, and she began asking me the ten questions she had prepared in advance. I answered them one by one. At one point, she paused and became quiet. Her shepherd asked what she was thinking, and she responded, “I’ve never heard anyone explain things like this before.” I believe she is very close to receiving Christ. When I looked at her shepherds’ faces, they were glowing because they saw their VIP on the verge of salvation. I knew they were thinking that all their prayers and efforts were not in vain but were being used by God to bring her into His family. It was another beautiful Sunday afternoon as eight lost children of God came home.
Many of you, if you are brutally honest with yourselves, know that your churches—or many churches you are familiar with—have grown primarily through transfer growth: Christians coming from other churches in your city or from different cities. And you also know that this kind of transfer growth doesn’t bring true joy or excitement. If you are ambitious and your sole purpose is to grow your church numerically at any cost, transfer growth may give you momentary satisfaction, but it won’t last. When you are alone and reflect on how your church has grown—not by conversion but by transfer—you will feel empty inside because you know this is not the kind of church Christ called you to build.
Jesus said to His would-be disciples, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He did not say, “Come, follow me, and I will make you receivers of men.”
You didn’t go to seminary and become pastors just to be receivers of men—to passively accept those who show up at your church door on Sunday morning because they had issues with their previous church or moved to your town from another. No, you went to seminary and became pastors because you had a burning zeal and passion to share Christ with VIPs who are far from Him. Sadly, many of us have become just receivers of men and church maintenance workers. But there is no joy or thrill in merely receiving people and maintaining a church.
Because I do house church ministry the way I do, our members get to fulfill their God-given ministry, and I get to fulfill mine. As a result, we don’t get stressed or burned out. We may get physically tired from time to time, but our spirits are refreshed and renewed every month because of things like RJM that we do collectively and regularly as a church.
This Sunday, ten people will be baptized, including two from last month’s RJM. Through these baptisms, New Life members will be reminded of the mission of Christ’s church, strengthened in their faith, and God will rejoice over us.
I hope and pray that all of you in this group will experience this regularly. Without it, you will not last long in the ministry with joy and fulfillment.
Your pastor,
Pastor Eric
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