How is an open church different from a traditional church?
∙ Most of them meet in homes, offices, schools, restaurants.
∙ A bigger difference: They aren't once-a-week affairs. They offer a 24/7 support community that's somewhere between a volleyball team, college fraternity, and Comanche war party.
∙ They don't have programs. Projects sometimes, but not programs.
∙ Their meetings are highly participatory.
∙ The good ones are viral, what baseball calls "expansion teams."
Is MEGASHIFT just a book, or does it represent an organization?
Briefly, MEGASHIFT is a book by James H. Rutz, who is the chairman of Open Church Ministries, headquartered in Portal, Georgia, though Jim lives in Colorado.
OCM is a servant (or "parachurch" ministry) whose goal is to help millions of people like you launch networks of independent teams, also known as house churches, open churches, power rings, simple churches, mini-churches, circle churches, emerging churches, etc.
Worldwide, the house church movement is huge, but in North America and Europe, it's tiny. OCM plans to change that. We have extremely high goals that include nurturing a rebirth of the church of Jesus Christ that will surpass the existing traditional church in impact, if not in size. And beyond that, in cooperation with other expressions of the body of Christ in every region, we purpose to transform human society and lay a new foundation for civilization.
Why such high goals? Do you think of yourselves as especially talented or powerful?
Not at all. It's just that the need is severe and God is suddenly moving so powerfully. We're just trying to get behind what He is already doing.
Sounds like you might be a sect or cult of some sort.
We're not interconnected enough to be a sect or denomination, and we have no beliefs that are any different from traditional fundamental or evangelical churches, so we can't be a cult, either!
Are you against pastors or any kind of leaders?
Hardly! We need millions more pastors across North America, and strong leaders who are wholly dedicated to turning the nation to Christ and transforming the world.
According to the Bible, being a pastor is a gift (talent), not a job. We feel it slows things down drastically when a congregation pays a person to do its talking and ministering for them and loses its ability to serve, speak, and share. In most segments of the very early church, the people would have been horrified at the thought of making pastor a salaried position!
Are your home meetings the same as the cell meetings of a regular church?
No, but there are lots of similarities. Both have excellent small group sessions where people learn to share their hearts, serve and lead, care for each other, and reach out to the hurting world around them.
Cells, however, are just a subdivision of a traditional, institutional church, organizationally and financially. On Sunday mornings, most cell members are sitting in a pew, listening to a sermon by a paid pastor.
House churches, in contrast, are complete, independent congregations, but without buildings, paid clergy, or sermons. |
