Simply Church: A House Church Perspective

How illiterate women in India can teach advanced topics

A few posts ago, I alluded to the fact that some good friends of ours in India, who see many tens of thousands of new believers in their network each year, have illiterate women who are able to teach others, including Bible references. Several people have asked me to expand on this.

The fact that someone is an oral learner doens't make them ignorant or incapable of understanding. They just have a different way of learning. Much as today, in our culture, many young people learn by watching rather than by reading.

Each of the 50 or so topics that our friends expect their leaders to be able to teach on to others is divided down into 9 or 10 main points. Training is given several times per year. There are different levels at which a person is able to understand and impart any given topic. So a house church leader will have a very basic understanding. He/she may know several strategic points about any given topic. A local area trainer will have more understanding, probably with some references. By the time you have a master trainer who is responsible for training on a regional or national basis, they will know the topic fully, including all relevent references.

This happens because of the way a topic is taught. The trainer may speak on the topic, but by using questions and answers and making others repeat what is taught, people remember the subject matter. They are also expected to apply it or put it into practice. When they in turn pass it on to others, it becomes even more firmly fixed in their minds.

Here are a few of the topics that are taught:

The Great Commission

What is church?

God's will and purposes

Persecution

Tenfold functions of the church

Baptism

The role of women

Prayer walking: ten steps

Spiritual warfare

If people in our churches had the same grasp of these subjects at a practical as well as a theoretical level as some of these illiterate village women, we would be far more effective within the Kingdom. Now obviously, we are able to read the Bible--there is no shortage of Bibles in the West.  But there is a difference between learning with the purpose of extending the Kingdom and studying for personal blessing. Maybe we should reconsider strategic training.

Four questions about women apostles

After the last post on women apostles, I received a comment raising a number of questions about women in leadership. I thought it might be worthwhile to respond a little more publicly, so here goes!

I blogged extensively on the subject of women a few months back. There are around 20 posts, beginning here.

These are the questions that were posed following the last post:

1.  Jesus chose twelve men to act as the original twelve apostles. Shouldn't he have chosen six men and six women?

In the context of Jewish life, imagine the raised eyebrows if Jesus had had female disciples! He would have had some explaining to do!

 However he did have a group of women who followed him in much the same way as the disciples did. (Matt 27:25; Mk 15:41; Lk 8:1-3; Lk 23:49), . Women played key roles, for example at the time of his burial and resurrection. He treated them as equals, not inferiors. Consider, for example, his deep theological discussions with the woman at the well, or with Martha on the subject of the resurrection.

        2.  The obvious log in my eye would be Paul's comments for women to remain silent in the                church. Should they?

You can find an explanation of the challenging Scriptures here (1 Corinthians 14) and here (1 Timothy 2). 

        3. The scripture, specifically the New Testament, is full of women interacting both on the street               and in the church. Are any of them performing the duties of an apostle?

Junia is the obvious example of an apostle since she is clearly described as such. However, Priscilla may have functioned in that role--she is usually mentioned before Aquila, and Paul described them as co-workers.

In our day, there are many women who function apostolically. Think for example, of Heidi Baker who with Rolland have seen more than 10,000 churches start in Mozambique and the surrounding countries. 

        4. Both qualifications of Elders and Deacons in the New Testament refer to men in the church.              So where are the women elders and women deacons?

 Verse 11 of 1 Tim 3 talks about the qualifications of women in a leadership context. The NLT translates this passage as "In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything." Note that the word here translated accurately "women" in other older versions is translated "wives" which is perhaps why this verse is taken to apply to the wives of elders and deacons. 

We know that Phoebe was a deacon (Romans 16:1). Personally I see no problem with this verse applying to women as elders. The description of both deacons and women begins, "likewise," or "in the same way" referring to the qualifications of elders. It depends a bit on what one means by elders and deacons. I will get to looking at this subject soon, but they are not what is typically seen in most churches today.

Female apostles?

I have several friends who are women who function apostolically. They run regional events; they coordinate different groups across a region; they plant churches and train others to plant churches; they strategize and extend the Kingdom. They are extremely effective in what they do, and I love to learn from them.

Some people question the validity of women functioning in such roles in the church. According to Romans 16:7, Junia was a female apostle. Over the centuries, people have tried to turn her into a man--Junias. In the contemporary literature of the day, there are more than 250 references to women named Junia. There isn't a single one to a man named Junias!

Let's encourage women to function in their gifting, including as apostles. 

 

Working together to see women taking their full role in the body of Christ

I believe we are on the point of seeing more women reaching their full potential and destiny in the body of Christ during this coming year. 

I recently listened to a very interesting TED talk on the changing role of women within society.  You can listen to it here, and it is well worth the time.  These days, 57% of those graduating from college are women, and more than 50% of those in managerial positions are women.  There are more women than men becoming doctors and lawyers.  Society is changing in relation to women. How will the church react? 

For many looking on, the fact that women are often perceived as second-class citizens within the church makes our message irrelevant.  It is hardly good news to, for example, a woman physician, to learn that if she joins the church, she is relegated to lesser roles and is  unable to exercise leadership. 

So how are we to react to those passages of Scripture that apparently limit women’s roles within the body of Christ.  Many of us are coming to a different understanding of the challenging Scriptures about women, one that, with integrity, sees Paul’s comments as mainly cultural or at least, situational.  (See my blog posts on this subject.) 

The Lord has shown us that if this movement of women moving into their destiny in the Kingdom is only a women’s movement, it will evolve into a feminist movement.  But if both men and women are involved, it will become a Kingdom movement.  Men are willing to hear what other men have to see on this issue, but they tend to perceive women talking about these issues as feminists having an agenda, wanting to promote themselves, or being unsubmissive.  That is why we need men to promote women, just as Barak supported and promoted Deborah in the Old Testament (Judges 4 and 5).  And, praise God, many are stepping up to the plate.  There are an increasing number of men who are actively promoting women within Christian circles, and I for one am very grateful and would like to honor them for their involvement.

 

6 trends for 2011

Here are some of the trends I believe God is bringing into the body of Christ and more specifically into the simple/organic/house church movement that we will see in the coming year:

1. An increasing emphasis on the Kingdom of God
2. Groups on mission with God, listening to what he says to them and obeying what he tells them to do
3. Men and women working together to see women taking their full role in the body of Christ
4. An increasing acceptance of simple/organic church principles across the legacy church spectrum
5. Simple/organic church in the marketplace
6. Healthier DNA--more of an outward focus in making new disciples

 

Stories from the trenches:

Here are some Luke 10 stories:  This first one comes from a friend in the UK who emailed me recently. People in the UK are much more resistant to the Gospel than people here in the States, but look at how ripe the harvest is!

"I started reading 'Army of Ordinary People' at the end of May and it was giving me answers to my frustrated questions.

The best way I can describe it is like, you have this beautiful baby that smells divine. Then a few months into being a Mum you're pulling your hair out because of dirty nappies, puke everywhere, being constantly in demand and to top it all you're having sleepless nights! And amidst all that, you absolutely adore your baby.

So when I started reading your book it was just wonderful, to read about all the 'different' stories and examples of simple church. The way people's life's were affected through people reaching out. Like Elizabeth's story and Josh's story. Reading about the church that started because of Berky working at the cocktail bar. Knowing that the fact that it didn't continue doesn't mean it was a failure. Also reading about the church at Rosa's.

The variety! I was like, 'Oh my God, it's okay if we started a group in an alcoholics house and it worked for a while then she decided Jesus wasn't what she wanted. 

It's okay that we had a new set of youths come along to our simple church in our home and the existing folks kind of didn't mix. We didn't know what to do and now they've stopped coming and more new youth are coming. 

It's okay to just 'hang out' with the young people even if it is for a year before we see signs of them wanting to know more about Jesus.

It's okay that a church we started with a couple her daughter and friend has gone to just her and her daughter. Why? because she kicked her partner out after putting up with years of him cheating on her. Her friend has been influenced by the spirit of lesbianism! and just doesn't come any more. This woman also suffered a miscarriage recently after the break up with her partner and was nearing a breakdown. I know God held her together through just 'being church'. I would just go and sit and listen to her, then cry all the way home to God for deliverance for her. Two weeks ago God did it again and a battle she was fighting to get her younger daughter back home had been won! Goliath was slain!

So the book is really helping me embrace these different experiences of simple church and let go of how I think things should be. It feel's like God is using Peter and myself to pioneer simple church in our generation in this nation and there's not many people we can go to and say, "What did you do about this?" 

I thoroughly enjoy what God is doing.  Just like a mother you love your children dearly, however that doesn't make being a mother easy.

God is doing some amazing things in these simple churches. Last night one of the young girls [14] that's been coming along for about a year spoke very openly and boldly about an answer to prayer.  She used to have really bad nightmare's and battled with fear.  After prayer she said, 'I don't have them any more.'

She was sharing this to convince her friend, who shared that her mother was terribly ill and hooked up to machines in the hospital, that prayer works! I was like, God thank you! to hear her speak like that.

There are now 4 simple churches in our area! and one them we started with a young single mother who has been through the wars! sexual, physical, alcohol and drug abuse. We met her last year when we did an outreach. She decided to become a follower of Jesus and hasn't look back since. She's a beauty!

She has a circle of friends who all meet up at the local community centre in the cafe. When she shared her faith with them, they rejected it and her and it was hard. But I encouraged her to pray for her friends and God has completely turned the situation around. God also told us that they were just afraid of the unknown. Now they ask her often to pray for things they are facing. The one that was the most opposing thought she may have cancer. She asked Sarah to pray and the results came back negative and now she wants to start a group in her house! Amazing I love it! 

Also whilst in the cafe last week, Sarah and Genor, who also goes along to the church in Sarah's house, were talking about laying on of hands. One of the girls asked what it was all about and if they would lay hands and pray for her. They said yes gladly and then a few others asked too!

Another one that started only 4 weeks ago has been full of all the young people on that street. Now the woman [whose a part of our network] that has opened up her house has been a believer of some years and never reached out to her community, although she has had a heart to reach out. Now she's totally on a high every time they leave because, well, she just can't believe the harvest is really ripe!

Sent to the wolves: a story

When our daughter finished school, she spent a couple of years with YWAM (Youth with a Mission).  At the end of that time, she asked us if we would be willing to let her work downtown in our club and bar district. Just what any parent wants--their daughter becoming a cocktail waitress in the most notorious section of town!  What would our Christian friends think?

  

But we decided that if that was what Jesus was telling her to do, it didn't matter what other people thought. And we decided we had to trust him to protect her.  So she started working there that fall.

Coming up to Christmas, she decided that she wanted to reach out to her new friends and so invited them to our home for what she called, "a baby Jesus BBQ!"  Around 40 bartenders and bouncers came.  Tattoos, piercings, they were an interesting (and delightful) bunch.  We started a group with several of them, and over the course of the next few weeks, several gave their hearts to the Lord.

A response to the discussion on women in leadership

The following comments were made by Carolyn Spence in response to a very active discussion on simplechurch.com on the subject of women speaking in meetings. They illustrate what the last few blog posts have been trying to do.

“This discussion has allowed freedom to develop in me, because it wasn't until I had to answer the claims of the "scholars" that I understood what God had been saying to me all along. It hasn't been the posts that really spoke to my situation. It was answering others’ dialog and discussion that brought out some things the Lord wanted me to see. I began to see what I had avoided because I wanted to "fit in." It has been really fun to ask God, "Well, see what he is saying? How do I reply to that?"  and then to find a new perspective on a scripture that I had not seen before.

In that process, I also saw that I was living and practicing a form of submission and quietness which I didn't really believe was what God had planned. I am not sure why I don't believe it, because there are certainly enough passages that could be interpreted the way I was conforming to them. But, I began to see that something deeper was working in me. 
 
The freedom for which Christ came to set us free began to well up in my heart, and I saw areas of responsibility in which I have allowed others to assume roles that God has placed in my authority. I own a business, and have about 18 associates who work for me. I have often deferred to males within my own company and God has been shining a light on why, in those areas, he was not able to bring me into the fullness of peace and skill and prosperity that he had planned.

It is beginning to really crystallize... the understanding of my place in business, and family, and in the coming together of the body of Christ to worship him and to manifest his presence, his gifts, and his kingdom. My place is never really under another although we really do submit to one another in love. It is under the Lord Jesus Christ. It is directed by the Holy Spirit. It is founded on his word, and it doesn't matter whether it is business or simple church. I am to be what he has called me to be in every place.

I have tried for four years to get something going, but it fizzles every time. At last I see why. When you won't take the role God has given you, and when you won't move in the authority he has placed in your hand (you will know it if your heart is right) then he will not help you go forward to accomplish his plans. I will no longer look for a man to start church planting, but now rather I will be a part of that "army of women" who will announce the good news. 

Timing is everything. Yesterday Peg (Batcheller) arrived from Albuquerque. I had heard some consider her a woman apostle, and after talking with her for hours, I must agree. There is in her the capacity to begin things, and to develop them, and to lead, and to admonish. She is here to help us begin to walk in simplicity of form and in depth of relationship with God and with each other. I believe God has prepared hearts, and that we will see the kingdom of God in a new expression among the body of Christ in our area, and all over our area. It is time. 

 

John White on women in leadership (part 3)

Here is the third and final part of John White speaking about women in leadership.  Thank you, John, for taking the time to do this video for me!

This ends the series I've been doing on this topic.

John White on women in leadership (part 2)

Here is the second part of John's talk!