The Life Map Blog

Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 11:20 AM.   

Church and hearing a powerful message preached and leaving inspired can be a great place to find growth. It can be a great source for growth, but it can't further growth in the ways of mentorship and discipleship. Even the most gifted pastors are limited to what preaching can do to grow a believer and simply can't mentor and disciple every person in their church. This is the gap House Groups were created to fill. When there is interaction between others that is focused and intentional and regular it brings about a growth that doesn't come about in any other form. Jesus choose men to follow, live and interact with Him daily and through them the world was changed. We simply don't read a lot in the Bible about any change brought about the masses who would only hear Him speak from time to time.

The concept of small groups has always to some degree been around and you do find more growth in these small groups that without them. The concept of House Groups works something like an Oven - it heats up and finishes what it put inside it.

A house group is a concept that I am very interested in because it is like a spiritual green house for spiritual growth. Those in a house group do not have to put thier life on hold or make a huge dramatic change to enter into one. They can continue going to school or working in their career, but rather than remaining alone in an appartment or the roommate of someone else in a context where there is no intentional spiritual direction you don't find the same kind of growth.

Imagine if you came to live in a house group with 2 or 3 others of the same sex with an equal desire to growth spiritually and discover what God was leading them to in life.

Now imagine if your house group was in the same area of other house groups and imagine if those house groups were among 100 other house groups in the same city, with the same purpose and concept.

Now imagine if twice a month all of those 100 house groups gathered to hear men and women who came to that city to speak to them on various passions, callings and careers they were doing and living for the Kingdom of God. Imagine if not just those 100 house groups with 3-4 people in them came, but hundreds, perhaps even thousands in the city also came to hear those who spoke and join in for the worship before hand.

Imagine an living spiritual organism like this that was nothing fancy, nothing corporate, just a couple hundred or thousand men and women coming a few times a month just to gather to worship God and hear other testimonies of men and women just like them sharing how they were trusting God to be used in ways to make a difference.

Imagine no organizational name or identity pride or name boasting, just the boasting of the power of God and what He was doing through ordinary every day simple men and women with no motive or agenda - just to live for God.

Of course such a vision will not go unopposed. Such a liberating movement for people burned out by "religion" and "pop Christiandom" would never go unopposed. The Religious Spirit would come against such a vision and movement with all it could - something so "risky" so "uncontrolable" and "new" would I freely admit be hard for a organization or group of people to control. It might actually require a dependance on prayer and the Spirit of God to lead it.

In fact is does and it is opposed. Yet, God is building a movement, though small and without much for worldly means. Obedience, trust, faith and growing in the love of God is the fuel for this ministry.

God has led me to work on small things now for this vision and just allow Him to build the big things. When I started everyone told me to push forward, use clever marketing ideas and I watched what others were doing and tried to do them too. Eventually, God got ahold of me and gave me the answers I was looking for and direction in following Him and letting Him work things out. Give up the follow what every one else was doing path and don't look to how He has done other great things, but rather walk with Him in a new and unique path. Learning this has been very freeing. Teaching it to others is setting people free in new ways few have known. He has told me to wait, I don't know for certain how long on these big things, perhaps for five years or maybe for ten years. I'm at peace in waiting for Him and looking forward to walking through the Sea He parts for this ministry. I'm looking forward to teaching others how to walk with God in this way and being there to see God do the same for them.

I am not alone in such dangerous for good visions. I know there are others out there. I'm looking and waiting for God to bring them or I to them. Part of my excitement is meeting new allies and friends with hearts loyal to God alone to follow His leading.

Yet, in all this the lesson I have learned as a key guide is crawl, walk and then run. Walk with God and allow you as a visionairy to be trained by God to be a warrior to become a King or Queen mature enough to watch over and lead others. To fight quickly and bravely before your time of being ready would be to fight bravely, but die quickly.

A King is not made over night. A Queen is not made over night. There is a process of intiation that God must take His sons and daughers through to get there.

House groups. It sounds almost too domesticated. They are more free and wild in nature - just like the Spirit of God. I just wouldn't use "domesticated" as a word to describe the Holy Spirit.

Labels: House Groups