Classic Books

During my last trip, which lasted 5 weeks, I read the Koran, the Holy Writings for Muslims. Honestly, I have to say that the book is not on par with our Bible. But I'll write a more detailed report on the Koran some other time. I'd like to share what I'm reading these days. For the last year or so, I've read almost nothing but classics. People say we live in the Information Age. But most information is inessential. We can go without watching TV or reading the newspaper for months and have no big change in the quality of our lives. Classic books are both more useful for ...

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If you don’t know them, greet them

During my sabbatical last year, when I was in town on Sundays, I visited different churches in the Houston area. Visiting different churches gave me a good opportunity to learn how visitors to our church might feel. Some churches plant greeters in the parking areas, kindly directing newcomers like me to the right buildings. Others have greeters inside the sanctuary. Some posted big maps that made it easy for us to find our way. Others didn't, and we had a hard time figuring out where to go. The main purpose of house churches is to reach non-believers and make them ...

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Counting the Cost

Persecution of believers around the world is still alive and well. I was painfully reminded of this when I read the story of three missionaries in Turkey who were recently ambushed, tortured and killed for their faith. The details of their torture are too gruesome to share here. They fell into the hands of Muslim extremists who believed it was their duty to commit such an unspeakable act, and they all died as martyrs for the sake of Jesus Christ. I share this with you for three reasons. First, I want you to know that even though it is relatively easy for us to be ...

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Prosperity Theology?

I lead seminars for pastors I frequently talk about our shepherds who experienced God's blessing when they faithfully served the Lord. I sometimes wonder if my remarks are construed as promoting Prosperity Theology. Despite this concern, I can't help but share the fact that God blesses our shepherds. The following is an example. I'm quoting verbatim from a shepherd's weekly ministry report. "I had not participated in house church seminars for a while because I live in a small apartment and felt that I could not provide adequate accommodations for seminar participants. ...

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House Churches Are Meeting This Summer

From the Pastor’s Desk (123) Over the past four or five years, we have tried house church rest month during the summer, typically in June or July. The main reason for this was because many New Life members responded positively and faithfully to the leadership’s challenge and encouragement to go on a short term summer mission trip. There were times when a third of New Life members were on mission trips, making house church gatherings difficult. Moreover, until Pastor Tae came on board as our Missions Pastor, house churches were encouraged to visit their missionari...

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Not Allowed To Join Our Church

As you well know, our church does not allow people to join our church if they are already believers. We do this to demonstrate our commitment to reaching out only to non-believers. Article 2 of the House Church Manifesto states: we do not pursue church growth as the ultimate goal, but the saving of souls, because we believe that this pleases our Lord. Other house churches also forbid people who have already received Christ as their Savior to join their churches. Many house churches list this policy on their church bulletin as we do: "If you have received Jesus as your ...

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Pictures of God

Liberal Theology once dominated seminaries and churches. Liberal theologians denied supernatural elements such as miracles and prophecies. They brushed aside miracles as legends and attributed the fulfillment of Scriptural prophecies to the prophecies being written after the events they foretold actually occurred. They did this because they interpreted the Bible with the a priori assumption that anything contrary to natural laws simply did not happen. This faulty conviction came from their overconfidence in science. They had this overconfidence because they didn't know ...

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