Rise of Home Churches

When I encountered Yeshua more than 30 years ago, I did not know much about His church. Though I was born into a Christian family, all I knew about church life was shaped by denominationalism. We had two churches in the village, Methodist and Mount Zion and members could attend each other’s special occasions. After God touched my heart with His love, I started wanting more of Him but within the confines of the church structure. That was because I really believed that God lived in those structures or buildings. All the while, I had an image of the church in my heart but I did not know that it was God in Himself who put it there. The image I received was of people meeting at home to worship God.

         Because of my upbringing, I dismissed this image and continued to search for the best place of worship where I can meet God. While on the quest to find the ‘best church’, a colleague at work introduced me to a group known as the ‘Called Out Fellowship’. These were brethren who claimed not to be denominational. Well, I worshipped with them for quite a while until a split in the fellowship forced me to return to organised church institution. Still dissatisfied, I joined an ‘International church’ in Abuja. Another church split compelled me to move on, this time to the Ark International Church also in Abuja. To be candid, I have nothing negative to say about the Ark because I consider it one of the best churches in the city. I was actually enjoying the fellowship there when God reminded me about the image of the church He put in my heart many years ago. I knew it was time to say goodbye to organised religion or the church institution I had supported for many years.

         The first week I stopped ‘going to church’, a Christian in the Philippines who had no means of knowing about my struggles prayed for me on the Behold Israel programme, Public Reading of Scripture. The same period, I came across a video on the issue and was excited to read comments posted by thousands of people who had received the same image from God. Another time, it was a video presented by late David Wilkerson who pastored the non-denominational Times Square Church, New York. To cap it all, God supernaturally linked me up with John Fenn, author of the book, Return of the First Church: The Word and Spirit in Balance. I have taken time to share my experiences with you, with the hope that you would open your mind to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to God’s people in this hour.

         In 2 Corinthians 6:17, God says to His children, “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the LORD. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you”. What is considered unclean to God? Pollution in every form. In Revelation 18:2, the angel who was speaking with John cried out in a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast”. Those who walk by the Spirit know that the Scripture is not referring to physical Babylon, but the spiritual one which corresponds to organised religion.

        Now, let’s talk about the church of Christ. In Jeremiah 31:33, God revealed  the New Covenant He would make with Israel. It states, “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel in those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people”. One of the significant features of the New Covenant would be the abolition of temple worship because God declared in Jeremiah 3:16, “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land, they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made”.

 Yeshua alluded to the abolition of temple worship in his discussion with the Samaritan at the well. In John 4:21, He said, “Believe Me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. In verse 23, He declared, “But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him”. For those of us who define church in terms of building, can you imagine a temple worship that does not have Jerusalem as its foci? Can you also imagine a temple worship that does not centre on the presence of the Ark of Covenant?

Yeshua actually revealed much about God’s version of the church when He told the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). John who wrote the book said in verse 21, “But He (Yeshua) spoke of the temple of His body”. So, what is the place of worship under the New Testament? According to Yeshua, He is the temple of God. Colossians 2:9 attests to this: “For in Yeshua all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily”. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Yeshua is the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person.

How does Yeshua being the temple of God extend to you and me? Ephesian 1:4-5 explain that “God chose us in Yeshua before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Yeshua to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will”. That is why He said in John 15:5, “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing”.

The QED is that Yeshua is the temple of God and we can only worship God acceptably if we are in Him. This explains why He declared in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. Sadly, some people who claim to be followers of Yeshua have disputed this claim. They insist that all religions are of God and that every way leads to Him. It is rather ridiculous for people to call their ‘Lord’ a liar and still follow Him! If Yeshua is a liar, then Christianity is a lie. Why are you promoting falsehoods in the name of God if Yeshua is not who He declared Himself to be in Scriptures?

 Understanding the person of Yeshua gives us an insight into what the church is and how it should operate on earth. If the church is the body of Christ and He is also its Head, that makes us members of this eternal entity. We are told that we are also the temple of God by virtue of the Holy Spirit we received at the new birth (1 Corinthians 6:19). It is obvious that God crafted the church or the body of Yeshua in such a way that each member would be productive. He never intended having a church or body that is just the eye (representing prophets); the legs (evangelists), mouth (pastors or teachers) or a combination of these (representing apostles). Paul asked pertinent questions in I Corinthians 12:17, “If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole body were hearing, where were the smelling?” Verses 18-21 give us God’s model of the church “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it pleased Him. And if they were one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you”.

Many Scriptures in the New Testament revealed how the early church functioned. Then no one would say, “I am going to church” because believers were the church. Scriptures also showed that believers met in homes and each of the places of worship had clear leadership which was not the clergy. The church was not divided into clergy and laity, a development attributed to the influence of Emperor Constantine when he made Christianity state religion in Rome. Also, believers did not congregate under different names since there were no denominations. Yeshua was their only umbrella.

Paul who had a clear understanding of the church gave us the order of worship as stated in 1 Corinthians 14:26, “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build the church”. Can any of us imagine these gifts being manifested in a typical Sunday in the institutional churches? The truth is that Yeshua did not conceive His church as the property of any man. He said in Mathew 16:18, “I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. Even Daniel’s prophesy about the coming Kingdom of God or the church said that it would not be left to other people (Daniel 2:44). Yeshua is the sole authority in His church. It is amusing when some charlatans would claim to own a church. Of course, they can build their own ‘churches’ or empires; but they cannot change the word of God to conform to their delusions.

I believe that God is calling His children to come out of Babylon and be separated from its pollutions. The foul spirits that have taken over organised and institutional churches do not allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate among their members. That is why there is hardly any difference between most church goers and unbelievers. In fact, most of these so-called churches do not even accept operations of the Holy Spirit. They promote the lie that the Holy Spirit stopped manifesting the glory of Yeshua after the church was established. In so doing, they also call Yeshua a liar by discountenancing His word in Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well”.

Are you tired of religion? If you are, ask the Father to reveal the model of Yeshua’s church or His body to you. Ask Him to lead you to people that have the same desire to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Also prayerfully consider making your home available for believers to worship the Father. Anyone can host a house church. If you are not tired of religion and are contented with the pollutions in Babylon, ignore this appeal. May the LORD open the eyes of His children to the truth and help them flee Babylon the great harlot in Yeshua’s name. Amen.

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: That went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, And as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: For there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore (Psalm 133)