Reform #1—“We Exist to Glorify God”

“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom. 3:23)  
Eph. 1:7   In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Cor. 10:31)

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, 10 that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil. 1:9-11) 

“To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27)

As individual believers, as family households, as business owners and as employees, as local churches and as God-ordained civil governments, we are all absolutely obligated to do all that we can do for the glory of God. That means we are to participate joyfully, by His grace, in the light of His Word and in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the wonderful display of His goodness, His wisdom, His love, His holiness and His justice, in other words in His overall competence, within our own circumstances in time and space. We are to walk humbly in the obedience of our faith in Jesus Christ as our King over the Kingdom of God, bearing in our own lives the fruit of the Holy Spirit and demonstrating our love for God by the way we love and care for one another on His behalf. In order to do this, in order to do all that we do for the glory of God, we must allow His moral perfection to progressively overwhelm our own moral imperfections, so that it is His life that is actually being lived out through us.

Reform #2—“Reformed in Doctrine”

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him…” John 6:44

“…no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” John 6:65

“But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ” John 10:26-27

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:4)

Because we hold to a high view of Scripture, we rejoice in the sovereign grace of God in our salvation. We embrace the Five Points of Calvinism as the most biblical understanding of the whole counsel of God concerning how and why God saves us.

Reform #3—“Charismatic in Ministry”

“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Pet. 4:11

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. …But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. … the word of wisdom … the word of knowledge … faith …gifts of healing … effecting of miracles, … prophecy, …distinguishing of spirits, …tongues, … interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. …For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, … and we were all made to drink of one Spirit… ” 1 Corinthians 12:4-13 & 31

“What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” (1 Corinthians 14:26-27)

Because we hold to a high view of the Holy Spirit we endeavor to obey God in seeking to speak as the oracles of God and to serve only in the strength that God Himself supplies through “the speaking gifts” and “the doing gifts" of the Holy Spirit. We hold that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are needed today for ministry in the church and in the world. We further hold that the best gifts of the Spirit should be eagerly sought and expected from God by placing ourselves in ministry situations where our love for others and our desire to meet the needs that they have in their lives will require the Holy Spirit’s power to be manifested in us for their benefit. We further understand that the local gathering of the church is the appropriately safe place to learn how to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the building up of the Body in love so that we may move in the same ministry gifts throughout the week as we serve as Ambassadors for Christ.

Reform #4—“Evangelical in Mission”

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

We live out the Great Commission as a way of life rather than as a mere institutional program. This means that fulfilling the Great Commission, which is Christ’s personal command to all of us take His Gospel to all those who have yet to hear it, takes priority, not only in the lives of those who serve God in a vocational ministry, but also and especially in the life decisions of every Christian as to where to live, where work and how to relate to others. This evangelistic priority is expected to show up in practical ways throughout our entire lives.

Reform #5—“Spirit & Truth in Worship”

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” Eph. 5:18-21

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Col. 3:16

God is seeking those who will worship Him with enthusiastic heart-felt praise and adoration through biblically sound, doctrinaly true, worship in psalms, hymns & spiritual songs, old and new, that allow us to speak to one another, with biblically appropriate emotion for the spiritual edification of all involved.

Enthusiasm, (i.e. literally “the state of being full of God”) is the outward, physical expression of an inner emotional state. Worship is therefore to be appropriately emotional about what is really true. When we are in the presence of our awesome God, we should tremble with joy and gratitude that expresses itself in the musical and lyrical art forms of psalms, hymns and spontaneous spiritual songs, not only toward God, but also toward one another, as we worship God together.

Reform #6 — “Household-like in Structure”

“But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

“So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:10

“He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20

The household metaphor has been provided by God to answer questions concerning how the local church is to be led and managed, how it is to be experienced by its members and how it is to grow and reproduce. We manage our local church network as an age-Integrated, extended family-household wherein:
1. Our Elders function as a corporate husband that serves as the delegated head of the household under Christ Himself.
2. Our Deacons function as a corporate wife and homemaker at the direction of the Elders.
3. Our Members function as progressively maturing children, preparing to eventually join together with others like themselves in the faith to “leave home” at least once in their life-time to establish new household-like congregation in some other neighborhood. Ideally this is accomplished while remaining active as part of the growing extended family of the church within which they were spiritually born, raised up and sent out. This approach encourages the healthy growth and reproduction of multiple churches, eventually covering a large geographic area.

As such, the experience of being members of a healthy local church is like being a member of a large, godly family household with age-integrated Shared Meals, inclusive Work Parties and One Accord Projects where in the young and the new are able to be discipled simply by “walking with the wise” who are older and more seasoned in the faith.

Reform #7—“Devoted to Hospitality”

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:11-16)

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:19-20

“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint.” 1 Peter 4:8-9

As most evangelical churches have drifted into a church-centered bias with regard to giving, they have also mistakenly assumed that to “equip God’s people for works of ministry” means to recruit them and train them to run church programs.

The biblical truth is that “the ministry” is not only in the church gathered, but also, and primarily, to live their own lives, to love their own wives or husbands, raise their own children, make their own livings and to love their own neighbors and to participate in the civil state for the glory of God. Doing these ordinary things extraordinarily well is what suits a man for any larger ministry in the church of God as an Elder or Deacon.

With this in mind, we equip each member of our church to live as an Ambassador for Christ and to devote his or her own household to serve as an Embassy of God’s Kingdom where guests may “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

This embassy-style hospitality may express itself in various ways— in hosting an open table at meal times, or an evangelistic study group, or a support group to address some on-going need, or to offer a comfortable guest-room to travelers, or even, when space allows, to host one of our congregational gatherings as a Neighborhood Church.

Every Christian home should serve as an extension facility of a local church. In our church, such embassy-style hospitality is one of the main events for which we equip our members to serve God.

Reform #8—“Productive in Fellowship”

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

“So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Galatians 6:10

We strive to develop more loving practical relationships with one another within our church by engaging with one another in necessary work projects that assist one another in practical ways. By using a real work project as an opportunity for trade skill training, a cook out, corporate prayer, time of worship and family-inclusive recreational activities we create a mutually beneficial event for all ages.

Reform #9 —“Exemplary in Leadership”

“Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest,
and the one who rules like the one who serves.” Luke 22:24-27

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. ” 1 Peter 5:1-4

We make every effort to lead our church by means of many authoritative examples of sound doctrine in action in the lives of a biblically qualified team of church Elders and Deacons rather than by the authoritarian dictates of a professional church officer or by the majority vote of a mixed maturity membership. We are Elder Team Ruled, Deacon Team Coordinated and Congregational Team Supported.

Reform #10—“In Full Accord as One Body”

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:1-4

We respond as individual members of one body to our fellow member’s needs during crisis and to extraordinary ministry opportunities in the unity of the Spirit, and in full accord where, although not every member is expected to do the same thing, every member is expected to do something to meet the need or to rise to the ministry opportunity.

Reform #11—“Jurisdictional In Our Moral Obligations”

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15

“For every thing there is a season, And a time for every matter under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

“The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away… So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:10-12

We strive to walk in the wisdom of God by trusting Him enough to actually obey Jesus command to love one another. We accomplish this in and through all four of the distinct Jurisdictions of God’s Kingdom on earth; in the Individual’s Conscience to whom God has entrusted His Own Righteousness by faith in Christ, in the Family-Household to which God has entrusted His Own Wealth by means of labor, both in bearing babies and in building business enterprises, in the local Church to which God has entrusted His Own Truth through the teaching of the Bible and, finally, the Civil Government to which God has entrusted His Own Justice by means of the Sword of Law Enforcement & the Military. Understanding the biblical role that each of these jurisdictions of God’s government play allows every believer to gain the wisdom needed to do the right things at the right times and for the right reasons.

Reform #12—“Responsible in Our Liberty”

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” 1 Corinthians 6:12

“Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.” Romans 14:4-5

We are all free, under the Lordship of Christ, to do what we believe in our hearts in the light of God’s Word to be most fruitful for God’s glory. Like a gardener we are free to make decisions as to how we will make use our liberty, planting and weeding out what we believe will eventually be most fruitful. We are therefore free to announce our biblical convictions clearly and to live them out openly before one another, deferring to one another in love and patiently withholding judgement until the fruit is observable. We are confident that the way in which each member has used his or her liberty will eventually bear its fruit, whether good or bad, and that all such fruit must be evaluated and judged gently but openly, either to vindicate or to expose the relative wisdom or foolishness of each believer’s work. In this way we may humbly live together in peace and learn from one another’s experience so as to humbly adjust our own ways as wisdom may require.

Reform #13 — “Complimentarian In Gender Roles”

“And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27

“But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” 1 Corinthians 11:3

“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
church and gave himself up for her,… However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” Ephesians 5:22-33

We honor and support the distinct abilities and responsibilities God has assigned to each person as a genetic male or a genetic female made in His image. Though women and men are equal in value and dignity before God, they are different from one another in terms of their relative needs for love and respect and they are mutually supportive and beneficial to one another in terms of their relative functions within the family and within the church. We define marriage as the union of one man and one woman by sacred vow for life.

Reform #14—“Grace With Liberty In Our Giving”

“When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God: “I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. (Deut. 26:12-13)

“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. 23 And you shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the LORD your God has blessed you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. (Deut. 14:22-26)

8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.
11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the LORD of hosts;
12 And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:8-12

  “I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (Luke 16:9)

“1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” Luke 21:1-4

“1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 6 So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. 7 But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also. 8   I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2Cor. 8:1-9)

“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:
“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”
Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2Cor. 9:6-15)

“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Eph. 4:28)

The lengthy passages above have been provided in order to establish a clear biblical basis for our position on the important topic of giving, which has been corupted over time by a decidedly “church centered bias” in the pulpit. It is not only the church or Christian organizations that are to benefit from our generosity. The widow, the orphan, ones own family members, and especially one’s children, and one’s own neighbors other good causes in the community should all be beneficiaries of our kindness.

As a church we encourage all our members of all ages to practice Grace Giving guided by God’s Old Covenant law, but no longer under the Law. We rejoice in our liberty, under the New Covenant Lordship of Our King, Jesus Christ, to work hard in our livlihoods in order to be able to give to others. God has a Kingdom Interest in prospering a generous householder as he or she participates in the His kingdom economy.

Here we are free to be generous with our time, our talent and our treasure. Giving in the New Testament is no longer a sacrifice, but rather a wise investment in whatever is good and wise, laying up for ourselves friends and treasure in heaven for all eternity.

We understand that the Storehouse Tithe is a principle, not a law, for the support of our ministers to free them to study, pray and teach, for our fellow members in their times of need, and for the sending out of faithful missionaries and evangelists around the world. We are therefore rightfully glad to support the local church that we receive from, which we would turn to in our own times of trouble and which we trust to invest funds on our behalf in ministries that have been duely vetted for their integrity, efficiency and effectiveness.

We further understand that the the Celebration Tithe is a principle, not a law, for funding our own times of rejoicing together with family members, friends and neighbors in generous hospitality, wholesome recreation and even appropriate vacations. We are called to give to others and enjoy the goodness of God in both good times and bad, demonstrating by our faithful giving our trust in God to provide for us, just as He has promised. We hold that eager generosity in the midst of great financial difficulty far outweighs the generosity that flows during our times of abundance. God notices the Widow’s Mite.

By honoring the spirit of both Old Testament tithes as 10% of our normal pre-tax income under the grace of God we have both a reasonable minimum for our generosity and a reasonable maximum for how much we invest in church support and household celebrations leave 80% for other obligations and responsibilities. By doing so, both our church and each member’s household can become better stewards of God’s kind provision, and allow the other targets of God’s financial blessing, such as neighbors and friends in need, to be responded to more consistently.

At the Network of Neighborhood Churches we do not collect tithes & offerings. Instead we respect each members’ eagerness to give cheerfully in support of their church. Generosity is every member’s opportunity to give in the obedience of faith in God’s Word.

Reform #15—“Faithful In Our Finances”

“The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” 1 Timothy 5:17-18

“And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them. …and abundant grace was upon them all. For there was not a needy person among them…” Acts 4:32-35

“Beloved, you are acting faithfully in whatever you accomplish for the brethren,… You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. For they went out… accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth.” 3 John 1:5-8

As a church we practice Storehouse Stewardship, giving priority in our church finances to three biblically mandated church expenses of: 1. Honoring our teaching Ministers to maintain the flow of sound doctrine. 2. Providing charity for our needy Members to maintain the reality of Body Life and 3. Sending out our own Missionaries in a manner worthy of God to maintain our fellowship in the gospel. In times of financial crisis we maintain these financial priorities in sequence so as to support the “vital organs” of our spiritual body first. We choose this model rather than take on conventional extra-biblical church expenses (e.g. owning our own church buildings) We also choose to maintain a culture of voluntarism in Body Life rather than hiring and paying extra-biblical church staff salaries. In this way we devote more of our financial resources to what we hold to be clearly wise and good.

Reform #16 — “Reproductive in Church Growth”

“Greet… the church that is in their house. …the church that is in her house. To Philemon …and to the church in your house.” (1 Corinthians16:19, Colossians 4:15, Philemon 1:1)

“So then those who were scattered …made their way to …Antioch.” [where a new church was planted] Acts 11:19

“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. 20 … [I was] teaching you publicly and from house to house.” Acts 20:17

The problems that we read about in the Epistles of Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John, with all the conflicts among members, false teachers, false doctrines, and general disorder of new believers, are the very problems that every healthy, growing, local church ought to have, and will have if it is not spiritually stunted. God has provided all the solutions we need to deal with each of these problems as it arises, right there in the Epistles!

When, over time, whether through denominational structures, seminary training or over-protective church polity, we figure out how to avoid having those problems in our modern churches, it is only by adopting levels of administration and oversight that suppress liberty and sterilize the church environment, making normal biblical problems of healthy church growth nearly impossible to have.

Like a foolish gardener spraying weed killer all over his vegetable garden, we kill all the good things along with the bad. These extra-biblical levels of caution, understandable as they are, inhibit healthy church growth, shut down God-sent revivals and stop the rapid multiplication of new churches that we see in the New Testament.

At the heart of this tendency is a general distrust of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. When a professional clergy monopolize the teaching ministry of the church, and deny nearly all of the men of the church their spiritual heritage as men of God in the church to handle the Word of God in the church, and even in their own homes, we find Christian men failing to grow up in Christ. Reading scripted lessons prepared by the pastor is like riding a bike with training wheels, only in the church, the training wheels are never removed. Men of God need to be given real responsibilities in order to grow into real maturity.

At the Network of Neighborhood Churches we have chosen to encourage our members and their households to enjoy the liberty God has given them under the Lordship of Christ to bear good fruit, by speaking at our “Open Mic,” serving and leading their own households in the Lord’s Supper, organizing and leading evangelistic adventures, and even eventually planting a new Neighborhood Church in their own neighborhood community.

Then, as the apostles did in the New Teastment era, we are prepared to address the “growing pains” that inevitably arise when people are free to do what God has saved and called them to do— but doing so only with the solutions that God has so clearly provided for us in the Bible. Rather than circumventing problems by taking away God-given liberty, we solve church problems as they occur with the tools God has provided for making faithful disciples. In this way, we welcome the troubles that come from our members being alive in Christ and eager to live for the glory of God.

In the New Testament we see new congregations gathering in new cities in the homes of the new believers, often for several months, before church Elders and Deacons are appointed in their church. By teaching the new believers enough sound doctrine to be born again and to begin loving one another in Christ, new church leaders emerge over time. These new, biblically qualified leaders are then be instructed and coached to carry out the reasonable responsibilities of small church leadership. This may include taking seminary classes and attending pastor’s conferences.

But rather than burning out our leaders with undue burdens on their time in church oversight, we craft the job descriptions of each church office in ways that reflect the goodness and wisdom of God. We surround each man with practical support and encouragement, both from within their congregations, and also from the network of churches in their area. Those men who desire to serve God in some full-time, career ministry may do so if their gifts and the needs of the Network of Churches alligne.

With this in mind, we endeavor to guide our numerical growth as soon and as often as is practical into new, modest sized, Neighborhood Congregations in order to better reach and serve each Walking-Distance Neighborhood of our region, rather than guiding our growth into the unlimited expansion of an existing church into an unwieldy “Mega-Church.” This allows us to create an unlimited number of new ministry contexts within which to raise up an unlimited number of new ministry leaders, all linked together as one regional network of Neighborhood Congregations of one large regional Local Church.

Reform #17 — “Resourceful in Our Facilities Use”

Reform #17 — Resourceful in Our Facilities Use
Making Creative Use of Public & Private Meeting Places

“So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.” Acts 2:46-3:1

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Acts 5:42

“But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:9

We strive to make the most efficient and effective use of our church resources by adapting our facilities strategies to local circumstances, facilitating our church gatherings and ministry needs by meeting in the homes and other meeting facilities owned by our own members, renting existing church facilities during off hours as needed and by commandeering the use of public places to gather publicly.

In light of the limitations imposed by governments and by normal prudence during the Global Pandemic of the Coronavirus we find that our more frugal approach to securing the use facilities for our church gatherings is a great advantage by keeping our gatherings smaller, more numerous and closer to one another in the adjoining walking-distance neighborhoods where our members actually live.

Reform #18 — “Consociational in Fellowship”

“Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time; however, he will come when he has a convenient time.” 1Cor. 16:12

How are local churches, and specifically local church leaders, intended by God to relate to one another in the Body of Christ? We can see from the passage above that they do relate, but not so much in a the hierarchical authority structure we might have assumed. It is more a matter of mutual humility, respect and affection than of apostolic authority. Apollos would come at Paul’s bidding in due time, but only on his own schedule as he understood it under the Lordship of Christ. He is not on Paul’s schedule.

This points to the importance of treasuring cooperation among autonomous local churches, rather than demanding conformity to some higher level of organizational authority. The Network of Neighborhood Churches is an autonomous local church. Though we meet as one local church in many neighborhood gatherings, rather than meeting several times in just one location, we are still one local church. We believe our way of meeting is best, or we would not be doing things this way. Other churches are free, under the Lordship of Jesus, to do what they believe is best. But we can still be in fellowship with fellow ministers within Christ’s body in what the Puritan Fathers called a “consociation.”

We further affirm that like-minded believers in every metropolitan area of the world would be wise to constitute themselves into their own separate, autonomous but similar, Network of Neighborhood Churches to serve their own area more effectively. And we are happy to help. If anyone agrees with our reforms, they are always welcome to adopt them and even to use our name.

This, again, is the meaning of being in consociation as opposed to being in association with some kind of denomination. We can walk together in mutual respect and affection, rather than by legal or organizational authority.

We endeavor to join with like-minded, Elders & Deacons from various churches, movements and denominations, to encourage and support one another in the Great Commission. This can be done simply through shared ministry activities rooted in mutual affection, and driven by a desire to help.

Ministries such as Together for the Gospel, The Gospel Coalition, Household of Faith Fellowship of Churches, The Northwest Association of Conservative Baptists and etc, are all greatly appreciated and their work is recommended and supported by our Network of Neighborhood Churches.

Reform #19 — “Eschatological in Our Ecclesiology”

“1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2Th. 2:5   Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13   But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” (2Th. 2:1-15)

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1Cor. 15:50)  

Our Eschatology (i.e. our Doctrine of Last Things) is intended by God to influence how we approach our Ecclesiology (i.e. our Doctrine of the Church). That means we should devote our ministry as a church to equip all our members to live faithfully in and through whatever we have good reason to believe, in the light of clear Bible prophesy, will eventually happen in the world during our own time. The most likely eschatological event we are likely to see in our day is our own going to be with the Lord through physical death. So we equip our members to have true assurance of their salvation, rather than false assurance. Beyond that there is the rapture of the church. The birthpangs of Christ’s second coming may continue for centuries, or they may bring the consummation of all things upon us during our lifetime.

Our Elders are Classical Pre-millennial in our eschatology. We agree that Christ’s return is imminent and that He may return at any time to rapture His Church out of this world suddenly. All that is needed is for the last of God’s elect to be born again and the last of the His martyrs to die for their faith, both of which could occur at any moment. When these events do happen the Man of Sin will be revealed and will ultimately be destroyed by our Lord at His coming. After Christ returns there does not seem to be any more opportunity for sinners to repent and be saved. Therefore, as a local church we focus our attention on the conversion of everyone and the equipping of everyone to be an effective winner of souls for Jesus Christ. Every congregation should therefore be an urgently evangelistic community.