Reading: House To House - Chapter 2 Learning the Hard Way

Chapter 2

Learning the Hard Way

About ten years into the life of our new church, storms began to mount. An undercurrent that constantly sapped those in leadership of strength and vision was surfacing. It was subtle--happening without us even realizing what was taking place--and it was difficult to put our fingers on it. I found myself increasingly making decisions that were based more on the desires of others than on what I really believed was the Lord's direction for us as a church.

People began to leave, not in vast numbers, but one family at a time. Even some of those who served in areas of leadership were leaving to find new direction in their lives. More and more, I felt pressed into a mold that was not the original vision God had given us.

Jim Petersen, in Church Without Walls, clearly describes some of what happened to us during these difficult years. Although he was talking about another fellowship, his story closely paralleled ours.

I have a friend who was a part of a team that set out to start a church. The congregation was divided into house churches, each of which was assigned an elder who helped shepherd the members of that house church. Centralized activities were kept at a minimum for the sake of keeping people free to minister to their families and unbelieving friends. The weekly meetings were dynamic. I will never forget the first one I visited. People of all sorts were there, from men in business suits to ponytails. Many were new believers. The Bible teaching was down to earth, aimed at people's needs. I loved it. So did most everyone else who visited. The word got around and soon the migratory flock from neighboring churches came pouring in. Their needs consumed the energies of the leaders of this young church. Their wants gradually set the agenda. The inertia of the traditions of these migrants engulfed this very creative effort and shaped it accordingly--so what's the problem, we ask? The problem is that the vision that the original team had for taking the church into society through the efforts of every believer was frustrated.¹

Like this church, our vision, too, was frustrated. From the beginning, we had felt instructed of the Lord to reach pre-Christians and disciple new Christians. Developing new wineskins for new wine was a priority. But we found ourselves becoming more and more distracted by the many voices around us.

Another trap we fell into was adopting methods that worked in other churches, despite the fact that the Lord had not called us to these same methods. It has been said that we can never attempt to implement another man's program, unless we first learn to adopt his values. How true this became for our fledgling church. We learned the hard way that it is of utmost importance to adopt Christ's value system and hear from Him for the direction we should take as a church.

During the spring of 1991, we took time to pray, reevaluate, and seek God's face as we tried to come to grips with what the Lord was saying to us. Then, for more than a year, we were reevaluating or "maintaining” as a church.

This Isn't What I Signed Up For!

To be honest, during the spring of 1992, I was ready to quit. I felt misunderstood, and I wasn't sure if it was worth all the hassle. I told LaVerne one day, "If I get kicked in the head one more time (figuratively speaking), I don't know if I can get up again.”

As the senior leader, I was frustrated, exhausted, and overworked. God had given me a vision to be involved in building the underground church, but in the last few years we had strayed from that original vision. My immaturity as a leader, lack of training, and my own inability to communicate clearly the things that God was showing me led to frustration. In a misguided attempt to please everyone, I was listening to dozens of voices who seemed to be giving conflicting advice and direction. I felt unable to get back on track. I was tired and was encouraged to take a sabbatical--a Sabbath rest from the ministry, time out to hear God more clearly.

So, I took the summer off to unwind, spend time with my family, and just enjoy life. It took me a while, but I really began to enjoy myself and even got into painting and wallpapering our house. My wife would describe that completed chore as a miraculous move of God! It definitely was a much needed change of pace.

During the last few weeks of the sabbatical, I spent some extended time at a cabin in the mountains. One morning I went out for a jog, and in a totally unexpected way, I had an encounter with the living God. After I returned to the cabin, I immediately sat behind my word processor (the name used for the early laptops) and typed in the occurrence that I had experienced. I didn't want to lose it or exaggerate it. I share it here to encourage all those who have at one time lost their vision and need the Lord to gently and lovingly nudge them back on track.

Crossing the Creek, No Turning Back

I had an amazing spiritual experience this morning. I went out for a jog, and I took a road that I am totally unfamiliar with. After jogging for a while through the countryside and then on a winding dirt road that took me through the woods, I came upon a creek (small river) that crossed the road, and my jogging came to a screeching halt. I was ready to turn around and go back when I heard a still, small voice within me tell me, "Take your shoes off and cross over the creek barefooted.” I sensed that I was on holy ground.

In my flesh, I really didn't want to cross. I was not accustomed to going barefooted, and the thought of taking off my shoes and crossing the creek and getting my feet all muddy and perhaps stepping on a sharp stone really wasn't my cup of tea. But I continued to hear a voice deep within my spirit telling me to take off my shoes and cross over. I then began to understand with my spirit that the Lord was asking me to take a step of obedience and faith and cross over the creek barefooted (which was a sign of humility). This was not just a natural creek, but it also had deep spiritual significance for my life and for DOVE Christian Fellowship. The Lord was asking me to cross the creek in faith and in humility, and allow the water to wash away all of the hurts, expectations, fears, insecurities, and ways of doing things from the past so that the Lord could teach me fresh and anew for the future.

I obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit and took my shoes off and slowly walked across the "river” to the other side. It was a holy experience. A cleansing from the past took place deep in my spirit.

As I took this step of obedience, I sensed that others who were called to serve with me in leadership would need to do the same thing spiritually--walk across the creek in humility and allow the water of the Holy Spirit to wash them clean of many of the hurts, mind-sets, and expectations of the past. The Lord has called us from the wilderness to the promised land of Canaan. We must forget what is behind and press on to what the Lord has for us in the future.

I asked the Lord if this meant that we should change our name as a church. The response that I got was, "Your name didn't change when you crossed the creek, so why should the name change?” The change is in the spirit. It would be possible to change the name and nothing would change in the spirit. The Lord's desire, as I understood it, was for us to move on from a Moses mentality to a Joshua mentality.

Moses and the people of God walked "in a circle” for forty years. Joshua had a clear mandate from the Lord to go into the Promised Land and take it back from the enemy. Moses majored on maintenance, while Joshua led an army! Each member of the army had clear areas to champion and to conquer; however, they were all committed to walking together to fulfill the purposes of the Lord.

I realized that I was called (along with those who were willing to cross the creek with me) to take the people of God into the Promised Land. In reality, in the same way that Joshua fulfilled the original vision that was given to Moses at the burning bush, I now believed that the Lord was calling me to fulfill the original vision that He gave me years ago when He asked me if I was willing to be involved with the underground church, and then a few years later when the Lord asked me to start something new. I knew I was committed to fulfilling the original vision the Lord gave to me in the late 1970s and in January of 1980.

Beware of the Dogs

I walked for a while barefooted and then sat down to put my shoes and socks back on. As I continued to walk down this road that was totally unknown to me, I had a few other significant experiences. First of all, the road took me into unknown territory. Less than a half mile up the road I had to walk by a mobile home. There were two dogs barking at me, one on either side of the road. The one was really close to the road and was a ferocious-looking guard dog. At first, I was fearful, but I knew that I was making the right decision. I just smiled and spoke gently to the barking dog. It hit me as I walked by that there was certainly nothing to fear. Both of these dogs were chained and could bark and make all of the noise that they wanted, but they still could not touch me or harm me in any way.

I believed that as I and others took this step of faith and each of us individually in the spirit made a decision to cross the creek, there would be some "barking dogs” (words spoken, perhaps harshly, against us), but it didn't matter; the enemy could not touch us. God knew our hearts, and He would vindicate us.

As I continued to walk, it was as if a whole new world opened up before me. The fields were beautiful, and it was a sheer delight to walk along these country roads. I had a clear sense that I was walking in the right direction, but in reality, it was a real step of faith. I had never been here before in my life. I believed that this was clearly symbolic of the future. We would walk in the direction that we believed the Lord wanted us to walk and yet have to totally trust the precious Holy Spirit for direction. I believed there would be a tremendous sense of peace as we trusted the Holy Spirit in this way.

The Joy of Building

The next thing that happened I saw as extremely significant. I passed an old Methodist church building. A brand-new building was being built on the backside of the same property. There were all kinds of people hustling and bustling around, working together on this project. The roof and the vinyl siding was on. What was so amazing to me was that the workers were women, teens, and men all joyfully working together to fulfill a common purpose--building the new church building. Along with the men, I saw women and a teenage girl with a nail bag tied around their waists. As I absorbed this scene before me, I felt the excitement and the joy and the expectancy within the people. I again sensed the still, small voice within me saying, "This is what it is going to be like as you have crossed the creek, and others cross the creek with you. There shall be much joy.”

Just as these people were working together to build a physical building, the Lord was calling together a company of His people to work side by side to build His spiritual building. And in the same way that these workers were inexperienced in the eyes of the world, the Lord showed me that He would use those who appeared to be inexperienced in the eyes of the church to build His spiritual house. These workers were also using new lumber to build this building, and the Lord was going to require of us to use new lumber (new Christians) in the building of this spiritual house.

I had a renewed sense that we would experience a working together to fulfill the Lord's purposes that would be much greater than anything that we had ever experienced.

I knew I could not minimize the wonderful things that the Lord had done in past years. But truthfully, whenever we begin to be too nostalgic, we have a tendency to forget the negative things that have happened in the past and only concentrate on the positive. I now believed the Lord had wonderful plans for those who were willing to forget the past and press on to what He had in the future.

And sure enough, the road that I traveled by faith brought me back to the cabin. I would never forget this experience. It was worth taking off for the three-month sabbatical just for this spiritual experience. Thank You, Father, for bringing me to that river to cross!

I now had renewed faith and vitality to press forward in the calling God had given to me--to be involved in co-laboring with the Lord through building the underground church using small groups. I had crossed the river.

Back on Track

This incident was a major breakthrough in my life and in the life of DOVE. I repented for not properly fulfilling the charge God had given me twelve years before. He had given me and others the mandate to build the "underground church” by focusing on the formation of new wineskins for the new believers that were being brought into the Kingdom, and we had become sidetracked. Nevertheless, the Lord is good. Even though we had wandered from what He had called us to do, He heard our cries for forgiveness, and we received His cleansing.

Despite our many mistakes, the Lord has remained ever faithful. By His grace, we got back on track as a church family and continued working with Him to fulfill His call to build the underground church. As a leadership team and as a church, the Lord gave us the grace to again walk together in unity to fulfill His purposes. We are grateful to the Lord for giving us another chance.

We Decided to Give the Church Away!

Early on as a church, we believed the Lord was calling us to train and invest in His people, so we had the expectation that many believers serving in small groups would eventually have their own spiritual families (new small groups and new churches they would plant). We realized the importance of constantly training people in order to give them away. How do we give people away? As people are trained, they are released (or given away) to start new churches. In a business corporation, we say people have reached a glass ceiling when they can go no further in the corporation. They may have the potential and talent, but there is nowhere for them to advance. Multiplying people and allowing them to move out on their own affords limitless potential.

It became clearer to us that in order for DOVE Christian Fellowship to accomplish what God had in mind for us, we needed to adjust our church government and be willing to give the church away.

How do you give a church away? It's similar to giving a daughter away to be married. When our oldest daughter Katrina was married, we realized we had spent twenty-one years giving her our time, resources, love, encouragement, and finances. We had made this investment in her to give her away to a young man who would be her husband. We had trained her to give her away.

The Transition

At DOVE, we had often made the statement, "The only thing that is constant is change!” The good thing about change is that it often provides an opportunity for us to learn to trust the sovereignty of God more fully. We certainly had the opportunity to trust in His sovereignty when we realized God was calling us to change our existing church structure once again. We began to recognize that the Lord had called us to be an international family of churches and ministries, an "apostolic movement” if you will, and we took steps to make the transition.

An "apostolic movement” is comprised of people with various gifts who share common vision, values, goals, and a commitment to plant and nurture churches and ministries worldwide. An apostolic movement has God-given authority and responsibility to serve, train, equip, release, and protect the people, ministries, and churches throughout the movement, all the while advancing the Kingdom of God. We were about to grow into a family of churches and ministries with a common focus: a mandate from God to labor together to plant and establish church-planting movements throughout the world.

On January 1, 1996, after more than two years of preparing for transition, our one large small-group-based church in Pennsylvania became eight self-governed churches, each with its own leadership team. We formed a leadership team we called an Apostolic Council to give spiritual oversight to DOVE International, and I was asked to serve as its international director.

We also realized our need for input from outside the DOVE family to provide the Apostolic Council with advice, counsel, and accountability. So a team of "recognized spiritual advisors” (spiritual fathers in the church-at-large) was formed to provide direct and personal accountability.

The newly formed Apostolic Council gave each church leadership team the option of becoming a part of the DOVE family of churches and ministries or leaving DOVE and connecting to another part of the Body of Christ. After clearly explaining the options and giving opportunity for prayer and input, each of these eight churches expressed a desire to work together with us to plant churches throughout the world and became a part of the DOVE family. The majority of the overseas church plants also joined the DOVE family of churches and ministries.

We decided to call these churches "partner churches.” We became a movement of churches partnering together to fulfill the Great Commission of reaching those who do not know Jesus and making disciples locally, nationally, and internationally.

This transition was not easy for many of us. I enjoyed being the "senior pastor” of a mega-church with the security it brought. Those of us on the leadership team and staff of DOVE had to walk in a new level of faith. The finances we had received week after week from the tithes of this one local church were now given to each self-governing church. In some ways, it was almost like starting over. Yet, since the transition, we experienced the faithful provision of the Lord again and again as we walked in obedience to Him.

An Apostolic Movement Leads by Relationship

We have found this new model provides a safe environment for growth and reproduction. This new model emphasizes leading by relationship and influence rather than hands-on management and control from the top.

The Apostolic Council members were responsible to give clear vision and direction to the entire movement as they spent time in prayer, the Word, giving training and oversight, and initially mentoring local church leadership. By developing supportive relationships with local church pastors, they influenced the pastors but did not have direct authority to make local decisions.

In each church, it is the senior leader and his/her team who lead the local church. They have leadership gifts to equip believers to become ministers who serve people. The leadership team is responsible for direction, protection, and correction in that local body. They make decisions for their church with the input and general affirmation of those they lead.

Today, the Apostolic Council is an International Apostolic Council and has trained and released regional Apostolic Councils throughout the world. These Regional Apostolic Councils give basic oversight to church leaders in their region, but each local church leadership team is responsible to train the believers in their church. In this way, each church has its own identity while embracing the same basic values as the rest of the DOVE family.

The multiplication process continues as each church gives away the people the Lord has given to them. Otherwise, a bottleneck to future leadership occurs.

As one large, cell-based church, we were always intent on training a new generation of church planters and leaders. So, an entire family of self-governing churches better suited our goal of mobilizing and empowering God's people. In this way, everyone--individuals, families, small groups, house churches, congregations, and churches--can fulfill His purposes at the grassroots level.

We have come to believe that every church needs to have a God-given vision to plant new churches. This gives so many more of us a chance to fulfill God's individual call to us.

Broadening Our Focus

Although DOVE has always had a call to plant new churches from within, we were encouraged by various spiritual leaders to make it possible for other churches with like values to become a part of the DOVE family of churches. One day, the Lord spoke to my heart a message that has since broadened our focus when He revealed, "I have many orphans in My body, and I am calling you to adopt some of My orphans.”

I knew He was calling us to open our hearts to churches that shared the same vision and values that the Lord had given to us that did not have spiritual oversight and apostolic protection.

Currently, in addition to church planting and multiplication, the Lord has given us a process for churches to become a part of the DOVE family. After going through a one-year relationship-building "engagement” period, churches throughout the world with similar values and vision are partnering with the DOVE family. Today, various apostolic teams in different regions of the world serve churches that want to partner with the DOVE family in their part of the world.

Partnering Together

Our transition from one large church to a family of churches allowed the old structure to die so we could experience the new--a network of churches partnering together. At the time of this printing, there are currently more than 250 churches partnering with the DOVE family from the nations of Barbados, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya, New Zealand, Rwanda, Scotland, Peru, the Netherlands, Uganda, The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, the Philippines, Colombia, Ireland and the United States. The Lord has taken us on an amazing ride during the past few years.

House Church Networks

Like our early beginnings, we are again sensing that the harvest is upon us. The Lord, like a great magnet, is drawing people into His Kingdom. Since new wineskins eventually get old, many who have been believers for years are becoming dissatisfied with life as it is in their present church structures. God's people are again thirsting for new wine and new wineskins. The Lord is renewing and refreshing and reviving thousands of His people all over the world. He is requiring us to provide new wineskins again for the new wine, as He brings in His harvest.

We are already seeing evidence of some of these new kinds of wineskins. For example, house churches are sprouting up throughout the nations. China, especially, has the most strategically organized house church movement in the world. House churches often meet in homes like cell groups, but they are very different. Cell groups usually function as a complementary ministry to the larger Sunday church meeting, whereas a house church is the church itself--a complete little church that is usually connected to a house church network for encouragement and accountability. Some house churches are related spiritually to a community church or a mega-church.

Some house churches, as they grow, become small-group-based. For example, a new house church begins as one group, but wise leaders often train more leaders within the group to lead small satellite groups within the house church. So then, one house church may be comprised of several small groups. House churches are encouraged to network to maintain accountability and share resources when they find themselves in the same geographical area.

Some house church networks and cell-based churches look almost alike; they are a modern-day hybrid between the two models. But it really doesn't matter, because the most important thing is that people are coming to Christ, being discipled, and experiencing community and are intentional about fulfilling the Great Commission.

We are convinced that as we continue to reach those who do not yet trust Jesus in our generation, many new kinds of churches are needed. Traditional community churches and mega-churches will coexist and network with the newer house churches, and God will bless all three! For more on house churches, read my books, Starting a House Church and House Church Networks.²

Learning From Our Mistakes

Of course, over the years, we have learned vital lessons from our experiences and our repeated mistakes. We desire to be candid about our victories and our losses. Hopefully, it will keep you from making some of the same mistakes, or at least you will learn from ours.

In many ways, it feels like the longer we walk out this vision, the less we know. And yet, the Lord is faithful to continually teach us. We are constantly learning. He faithfully teaches us how He can build His Kingdom through us. We desire to share with others what God has shown and is showing us because He is a creative God and constantly gives new insights to His people. We want to emphasize that we do not believe we have "cornered the market” on how God will move in our communities. We are well aware that God is using many types of churches and ministries to advance His Kingdom into the 21st century. Our prayer is that we all work together, listening to and depending on the Holy Spirit to direct our steps.

Starting with the next chapter, we will begin looking at the challenge you and I face in coming to understand God's priorities for our Christian lives. This is the single most important thing we can ever do before getting involved in ministry of any kind.

Questions for Practical Application

1.How does "change” give us the opportunity to trust God more fully?

2.How can adopting the methods of another group be detrimental to our church?

3.How is the Lord bringing your church together as a company of people who work in unity?

Chapter 2

1. Jim Petersen, Church Without Walls (Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, 1992), 148-149.

2. For more on house churches, read:

Starting a House Church by Larry Kreider & Floyd McClung (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2007).

House Church Networks, a New Church for a New Generation by Larry Kreider (Lititz, PA: House to House Publications, 2001).