In the Eye of the Storm: God is Building His Church

In The Eye of the Storm

Part II printer friendly The Second Phase of the Church
Corporate Relationship Concept

Chapter 11

A Journey in Church Life

"Ship ahoy!" The journey is about to begin! Batten down the hatches, we are about to depict a young man's experience on the high seas, telling how everyone works together on the ship (the body of Christ) to get the job done from the family house church to the corporate setting of the church. This is how God wants to build His church, even in the eye of the storm. It's practical, developed from the ground up, and it releases each believer to perform the task to which God has called him or her.

Sergei pressed his hand against his head, trying to keep his migraine headache from thumping. The pressure didn't stop the pain, but it helped. With books scattered across the table and pencil in hand, he attempted to study for tomorrow's exam at Moscow university. "Maybe I'll feel better if I eat something," he thought.

But then he remembered. All his snacks were gone. He had spent his last rubles last night for some fresh baked bread—that staple of Russian life—now joining the growing list of scare foods. "I don't have time to wait for hours in a long line, anyway," he thought. "Besides, I'll get one meal at school tomorrow."

"It's ironic," Sergei thought. "For my growing up years I was taught and believed how Communism was so appealing: everybody works for the greater good, no one is allowed to go hungry or homeless or jobless, no one gets rich at another's expense. But it was all a cruel joke. Communism didn't work .... but, what have our new "freedoms" brought us?"

Sergei couldn't help but feel bitter toward those in power who had dismantled the old system before putting a new one in place. The economy was in shambles . . . he didn't even want to think about his upcoming trip home to Siberia. His overworked mother was not well. He was going to postpone his next year in school to help out at home.

Although he looked forward to seeing his mother and younger brother and sister, Sergei dreaded his encounters with his dad who rarely talked to the family but drank himself into oblivion every night after he came home from work. "One more reason communism didn't work," mused Sergei, "there was no incentive to work. Dad knew he would get what he needed regardless of how he performed. The system made a cripple out of him."

Sergei, an idealistic and motivated young man had studied hard and was getting a good education. But of late, he wondered, "What is the point? I'll just end up like all those around me, disheartened, angry, without hope." Sergei paused a minute in his depressing reverie. "Yes, he thought, I've long ago lost my childhood dreams." Sergei pressed his fingertips fiercely into the side of his forehead. Life seemed as bleak and as painful as his migraine.

Too depressed to study any longer, Sergei reached for the TV controls. Maybe he needed some diversion, a little entertainment.

""Cartoons!" Sergei smiled as he settled back in his chair. "Just what the doctor ordered!" He had seen this series of cartoons before at home with his younger brother and sister in Siberia. It was the American "SuperBook" series broadcast regularly in Moscow.

The stories of modernday kids time-warping into the land of the Bible had always piqued Sergei's interest. Was that story really in the Bible about a man named Daniel surviving a den of lions? And that man, Jesus—did he really heal a blind man?

Sergei had checked a Bible out of the Moscow University library to see if it was true. It was! In fact, there were many interesting stories within the pages of the Bible. But the claims made by Jesus, who they called the Christ, were they real? Sergei didn't know. He had always been taught there was no God.

But he had always been a little troubled by that incidence he witnessed as a kid. Sergei frowned, remembering. He was walking home from school one day with his neighbor and friend Zhanna. As they neared their homes, they saw an official looking car parked in front of Zhanna's house.

Two KGB agents were pushing Zhanna's father into the car; her mother and sister were crying hysterically as they stood in their doorway. Zhanna had rushed, wild-eyed, to her family in the doorway. "Go! Go home!" was all she said.

Sergei ran, frightened. "Why did they take Zhanna's father?" Sergei asked his parents.

"Because he is insane," they laughed. "He insists on dedicating himself to a God who does not exist!" Sergei never thought it was amusing though. A silly belief in God didn't seem worthy of the punishment of being incarceration in a mental hospital or prison.

Although Sergei had denied it up until now, there had always been a nagging thought in his mind, "Why would someone sacrifice everything, for a belief in God? Was there more to it? Was he missing a piece to the larger puzzle of life?

Suddenly he had to find out! He shuffled through a stack of papers for a flyer given to him on the street last night. Here! It was an invitation to a rally at a local stadium. A man would be speaking about God.

When Sergei arrived at the stadium, he was surprised. There was a very large crowd already assembled. He had attended sports events here before, but he never expected so much interest in a "God" event!

" Hey, Sergei!" friends from school waved to Sergei as he passed by to find a seat in the arena crowded with young people. "Maybe I'm not the only one who wants to know more about God, after all," Sergei smiled.

A group of talented musicians sang. The songs spoke of "giving praise to Jesus" and "ascribing greatness to God." Then the speaker got up to speak. His words were dynamic and direct. "God created you to have a friendship with you. He has a plan and purpose for your life," he said. "He is interested in each one of you personally. That's why He sent His only Son to die for you and take the punishment for your sins. He loves you so much."

Sergei was soon caught up in his words, "Everyone has sinned, but if you put away your sin, by asking for forgiveness and receive Jesus Christ, He will come in and make you a new person. He will give you hope. He will give you a future." The evangelist invited all who wanted to come to stand at the front of the stadium for prayer.

Something stirred deep in Sergei's consciousness. For the first time in his life, in one stark, appalling instant, he saw the ugliness of his sin. His selfishness pierced him. Tears stung his eyes as he headed for the front of the stadium. Jesus Christ was the missing piece to the puzzle of his life! He needed hope for the future. He needed to be loved unconditionally. He needed Jesus!

Sergei was born again that day. Supernaturally, he knew that everything in his life was becoming new. His heart was changed. He felt as if he had just broken out of a prison. Jesus Christ had touched him deeply and personally.

Eagerly he listened as the evangelist explained the necessity of meeting with other believers so that they could be strengthened in their faith. The evangelist handed out a Bible to the many who had responded, along with literature telling about an organization called Home Fellowship Leaders International which would mail out a booklet entitled, "How to Start House Fellowships," to anyone interested.

Sergei's long trip home to Siberia by rail flew by. He devoured the Bible. Spiritual truths, so long hidden from his agnostic mentality, blossomed and grew in his heart.

By the time Sergei reached home, he was fairly bursting. His family was amazed. Sergei was always an enthusiastic and motivated young man—but he was absolutely focused now. He had a vision and a purpose for life. It was not hard to see that he had something they needed. During the next few weeks, Sergei's entire family, including his dad, were saved. Heaven rejoiced!

Since there was no Christian church meeting in Sergei's home town, he prayed to find other believers, in addition to his family, with whom to fellowship. Soon Sergei "miraculously" ran into another young man in his home town who had recently been saved. He, too, had the first spiritual seeds planted in his life when he watched the SuperBook series on public TV.

Sergei and Alexi started meeting together to study God's Word. Like the evangelist had directed, Sergei sent for a booklet entitled, "How to Start House Fellowships," and soon Sergei and Alexi started one of their own. Friends and family began attending and everyone eagerly studied the Bible, prayed and fellowshipped together, some-times for hours on end.

Although their knowledge of the Bible was limited, it wasn't long before they grew up spiritually as they studied the Bible along with the regular Bible lessons, tailor-made for small groups, which were supplied to them through the mail. The Holy Spirit was teaching them and leading them in truth.

When Sergei started to see a pattern in God's Word of believers who had the Holy Spirit come upon them, he wanted this same power. He noticed that after the first Holy Spirit baptism on the Day of Pentecost, many more believers were baptized with or had the Holy Spirit come upon them. A few examples were: The Samaritan Christians—"For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17); (Sergei noticed that these Christians already had the Holy Spirit in them when they were saved, but now they had the Holy Spirit come upon them); Cornelius and his company—"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word" (Acts 10:44); The Ephesian believers—"And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:6).

Sergei suddenly realized that Jesus Christ wanted to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask: "If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:13). So Sergei asked God to pour out His Spirit upon him. Of course, God is always willing and eager to give good things to His children. He poured out His Spirit on Sergei and Sergei sensed an anointing of power come on him. He was overflowed with the Holy Spirit! Upon relating his experience to others in the group they, too, were baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The group became like a family. Everyone found their niche. Although no one claimed a title, it was evident to all that certain people were gifted by God to function in a special way in the group.

For example, Sergei was gifted in teaching. He taught from God's Word all that he was learning, and the group grew spiritually as the Truth was revealed. A young woman, who always took the time to listen to those with a problem, took on the responsibility of pastoring those in the group.

One young man was continually bringing in new people to the home group—he was the evangelist. He enthusiastically told everyone he met about Jesus. Others prophesied and exercised other gifts of the Spirit such as the word of knowledge or word of wisdom.

People felt needed and secure in this "family." God's Spirit was fresh and sweet. Word got out and new people continually came in to see what was happening. Most of the curious were subsequently saved.

Before long, with twenty people in all, the group had grown too large to meet in Sergei's home. Sergei and the group decided to "multiply." According to the literature they received in the mail explaining how small groups can grow, Sergei knew they now had enough disciples trained so they could easily reproduce themselves.

It was an exciting time! Sergei kept five people from the old group, and started a "new" one, giving them room to grow. The remaining fifteen remained with Alexi, who was appointed as the new leader of that group. Sergei, as a "father" to both groups, gave oversight to them.

In another several months, both groups were bursting at the seams again! Three more new groups were started and God graciously supplied the disciples to lead out. Sergei continued to oversee all of the work, regularly meeting with home group leaders for prayer and fellowship and to discuss strategy for the future.

Sergei, as a young Christian himself, knew he did not have all the answers for the problems encountered in certain people's lives. When several women, burdened by the problems of alcoholic husbands needed special counsel, Sergei consulted with the people at the Moscow headquarters of "Home Fellowship Leaders International" who gave him counsel and advice about ministering to these problems. The groups continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

All that Sergei could do was stand in amazement at what God was doing with everyday people. When there was a need within a group, everyone pitched in to help. There was a genuine sharing, helping and caring for one another attitude that permeated the groups. "Oh God," Sergei prayed, "Help us to make an even greater impact on all the loneliness, isolation and need in the world around us!^"

Sergei knew that it was especially important for leaders to receive encouragement and counsel. So he started meeting with them as a group periodically. During these times, they prayed for each other and received more training, especially teaching them how to continually release and encourage their home group members to use the gifts God gave to them to build up the "family."

Sergei had learned much in a year's time. He had spent a lot of that time on his knees! But he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. In his next letter to headquarters, he asked, "Could you please send someone to help build proper foundations for our groups? We have so little experience! Help!"

It was clear that Sergei's group of cells needed a visitation by an apostle to help design and lay the groundwork for the work in this area of Siberia. The apostle's experience and wisdom would keep them from making unnecessary mistakes.

Returning to our analogy of a ship, as designer, the apostle would help them to know what the purpose of their voyage would be, where they were headed and where they would go after they reached a certain destination. He would encourage them to continually receive fresh vision for their church so that they would not become stagnated and dry.

From a group of twelve apostles working together in Moscow, one apostle was sent out to the fledgling church in Siberia. When the apostle arrived to check out the work Sergei had done, he was impressed.

Without formal training, but obviously led by the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit, Sergei was overseeing many home groups that were powerfully and visibly impacting his area of the world. After meeting with Sergei and the cell leaders, and visiting many of the cell groups to get a feel for the tone and overall kind of groundwork already laid, the apostle made suggestions and gave advice.

Since the apostle's job is one of function and not to set policy, the apostle was not there to set up a creed or doctrine for the church in Siberia. Rather, he was there to see that everyone was released in their gifts and functioning properly in the body of Christ. He especially recognized that Sergei had the anointing on his life to oversee all of the cell groups in his locality. In light of that, he laid hands on Sergei to raise him up as a bishop/overseer for this group of house churches.

Sergei was now commissioned as "captain" of this fleet of boats and it was his job to continue to make the decisions necessary to solve problems as they came up and make sure that their goals as a group were accomplished. He also needed to guide the boats on a similar course so that they could get to where they were going (have the same basic vision)—always an important consideration! Notice: When a leader is appointed to oversee a series of home groups (like Sergei's appointment) the corporate church phase is begun.

Sergei, as an overseer, was accountable to the apostle. But he was also still a part of a home group where he was accountable to God and those believers for the way he lived his personal life.

It was hard for the apostle to say good-bye, but it was time for him to go. He had come to love the young people in this region and felt a deep burden for them. His time of sharing communion with the cell groups told him that this group was healthy and balanced in their faith. Before he left, he assured the leaders that he would spiritually cover them, and return soon to check their progress.

With the apostle's spiritual covering, the home groups exploded! Because they were now empowered and protected by the Holy Spirit in a new way, unity flowed throughout the network of home groups and more and more people got saved.

On the advice of the apostle, Sergei decided to bring all the home groups together for a monthly corporate meeting. These were times of high celebration, with praise and worship led by talented music ministers and special speakers.

Over the next years, the corporate church operations began to unfold even more. Sergei's fleet of "boats" now included a large "ship" (corporate church). Now that they were tied into a large ship, Sergei's home groups had access to a lot of specialty ministries aboard the large ship—like support groups for widows and alcoholics and those struggling with life-controlling addictions, counseling ministries, youth activities of all kinds, singles ministries, children's ministries, music ministries, many diverse missions opportunities, seminars and much, much more was made available. From time to time, all the cell groups would board the ship to participate in these various ministries.

Many newly saved people were coming on board and finding their place immediately in small groups (lifeboats) so they could continue to be flexible, spiritual families. They learned quickly how to deploy the lifeboats so they could go out at a moment's notice and rescue the lost. Most of the small boats remained in the waters beside the ship and kept on the same course as the large ship since they were all of the same mind and vision as a church.

The home groups were the mainstay of the church. They had the mobility the large ship didn't have. They could minister at the grass roots places, close to where people where. They were the heartbeat of the entire church and it was from these groups that apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists and pastors were bearing fruit and continuously being raised up to serve in the corporate or larger body of Christ.

Evangelists, homegrown in the small groups, were sent out to a new area, to start all over again by telling people about Christ and rallying new small fleets of boats to work in unity to build the church.

Before long, another ship with a captain would be sailing the seas. But these were not "ships passing in the night." Absolutely not. These ships and fleets of boats both reached out to help each other whenever they could, all the while recognizing their own church's unique calling and responsibility to do the job to which they were called.

Some ships (churches) were called to be hospital ships, ministering to broken people in need of healing. Other ships were missionary ships, outfitted for long, arduous journeys to faraway places. Each ship knew its calling. Most important was the fact that new believers were coming in and finding their, place within the body of Christ as the Holy Spirit anointed each one to use their talents and giftings for His glory and to build the church. Disciples were being made.

As overseer of the church, Sergei had an awesome responsibility which he did not take lightly. Most days he fell on his face before the Lord, pleading for His wisdom. He knew the entire ship needed to function together as a team and totally rely on Jesus or it was all over. Many times he asked the navigator's (prophet's) advice on church matters and thus avoided unnecessary hardship.

As a leader, he served the people gladly, "watching over their souls without resting" because he knew he would give an account of his service to God (Hebrews 13:17). It was an awesome responsibility, but Sergei served an awesome God. Nothing was too hard for Him!

As long as fuel was kept in the tanks, Sergei knew the power of the engines would move them forward. The fuel of Sergei's church was the work of the Holy Spirit. As each person yielded to the Holy Spirit, the anointing of God on the group moved them forward.

Sergei listened carefully to the apostles and prophets advice. Even so, sometimes Sergei found himself in the midst of a ferocious storm at sea (a satanic attack on all sides). Sometimes, amidst steep seas with southwesterly gales blowing and gusting furiously, Sergei hung onto the wheel and cried out to God.

It was then, with the ship staggering and straining, that he was most grateful for the unity of his crewman and passengers as they battled the storm together. He couldn't do it without them. The old and the young worked side by side. Without everyone working together during these harrowing storms, the ship would have been driven way off course many times or even lost completely.

Sergei paid close attention to the prophet's advice because his excellent navigational skills helped to direct the ship over into the eye of the storm. Once out of the storm, Sergei still paid close attention to the prophet's words from God, because he needed the great navigational skills of the prophet to keep the church in the eye of the storm.

Sergei was determined to keep his eyes on the One who commanded the waves of the sea. His seagoing experience told him that the sea (the world) could be grim and powerful, but God was more powerful still.

As captain, he was determined to make it through yet another storm because then he would once more be given the gift of time while in the eye of the storm. Time would allow him to train more people of courage and discipline, so that they could go to the aid of those in distress at sea. Time would allow him to bring them on board and train and disciple them so that the cycle could continue. Sergei looked straight ahead toward the "shining sun that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day."

No, the sea would not conquer Sergei. His eyes were focused on the not too distant future when his ship would sail into the harbor after its final voyage. Along with many others in the body of Christ, they would be presented as the Bride—pure and spotless. Sergei's eyes misted, just imagining the scene. Oh, to see the Bridegroom!

"Meanwhile," Sergei put his hand lovingly to the wheel, "I am going to keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith."

Intro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Email us: Contact us by e-mail