New Wineskins
23/06/11 12:39
Revival Newsletter
For the21st Century Church
May 12, 2011 # 11
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DISTINCTIONS and FEATURES OF THE NEW WINESKINS
Dear Friends For a long time we have confused the church as an organization with the church as the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We will never walk in God's fullness until we make some clear distinctions. The Kingdom of God is God The Kingdom of God is present and ruling now. He is present and manifests in His people who obey Him and in the world by our influence and ministry in the power of the Spirit. He is at work in the affairs of men. The Kingdom is here and yet not fully here till Christ returns. The Kingdom is always moving in power, love, righteousness, peace and joy, and we try to walk in it. We in the Body of Christ are always drawn to the flow of the Kingdom. It is Christ in us! The Body of Christ - The Church The Body of Christ is every Christian. Where ever two or three gather in His name it is the church. The church is not an organization, but organism. You are the church. Every Christian has a place in the body. Every member has a function and will be comfortable with it. Everywhere in the body, there are those called to 5 fold ministry to build the body, (not the organization). No one is left out. It is whole, and the Spirit perfectly aligns everything. The Organizational Wineskin We organize our work into wineskins called by our church and ministry names. Wineskins are man made though God may have inspired them. Wineskins are tools that can serve what Christians and the Kingdom are doing. They may reflect the Kingdom very well or very badly depending on what God is actually doing. Church wineskins can even become corrupt over the years as the people in them change. If you are duissillusioned with church organization you are looking at the wrong thing. Look for the Kingdom and the Body of Christ. Wineskins are only man made. Wineskins seem to change in every generation. The pipe organ was the devil's bapipes and banned for a century or so, now we use electric guitars. There's a huge wineskin change happening today, but do we see it? Are we willing to embrace it? A clear understanding of these three elements in our Christian life is leading us into new wineskins. Some Features of the New Wineskin (many of these are already in our thinking) 1. We are moving from "highly organized" to "highly relational" forms of church. 2. Every Christian is a Minister. We are moving from highly trained experts doing the ministry, to everyone ministering. 3.We are recognizing that "five fold ministries" are placed by God throughout the body and are not limited to paid staff. 4. We are shifting from a pastoral model to an Apostolic model of church. 5. We are moving from accountability and control to honor and mutual submission. 6. The venue of advancing the Kingdom is shifting from a "Church building" focus to a marketplace focus. 7. We are shifting from "outreach" to get people into our church building and organization, to "kingdom advance" to see the Kingdom of God saturate the nation and transform the culture.
Luk 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskin will perish. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved together. Also no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, The old is better.
Signs of An Old Wineskin 1. The wineskins no longer flex. Following a form knowing that the Holy Spirit is trying to go elsewhere. 2. The wineskins split and spill the wine. When Church troubles focus around form it's often a sign of breaking wineskins. 3. Satisfaction with the old. Alistair Petrie say "In the past we have used the anointing to serve systems and structures. Today systems and structures must serve the anointing." Blessings Terry Somerville www.totalchange.org
Total Change Subscribe Archives Videos Missions Contact Us
DISTINCTIONS and FEATURES OF THE NEW WINESKINS
Dear Friends For a long time we have confused the church as an organization with the church as the body of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We will never walk in God's fullness until we make some clear distinctions. The Kingdom of God is God The Kingdom of God is present and ruling now. He is present and manifests in His people who obey Him and in the world by our influence and ministry in the power of the Spirit. He is at work in the affairs of men. The Kingdom is here and yet not fully here till Christ returns. The Kingdom is always moving in power, love, righteousness, peace and joy, and we try to walk in it. We in the Body of Christ are always drawn to the flow of the Kingdom. It is Christ in us! The Body of Christ - The Church The Body of Christ is every Christian. Where ever two or three gather in His name it is the church. The church is not an organization, but organism. You are the church. Every Christian has a place in the body. Every member has a function and will be comfortable with it. Everywhere in the body, there are those called to 5 fold ministry to build the body, (not the organization). No one is left out. It is whole, and the Spirit perfectly aligns everything. The Organizational Wineskin We organize our work into wineskins called by our church and ministry names. Wineskins are man made though God may have inspired them. Wineskins are tools that can serve what Christians and the Kingdom are doing. They may reflect the Kingdom very well or very badly depending on what God is actually doing. Church wineskins can even become corrupt over the years as the people in them change. If you are duissillusioned with church organization you are looking at the wrong thing. Look for the Kingdom and the Body of Christ. Wineskins are only man made. Wineskins seem to change in every generation. The pipe organ was the devil's bapipes and banned for a century or so, now we use electric guitars. There's a huge wineskin change happening today, but do we see it? Are we willing to embrace it? A clear understanding of these three elements in our Christian life is leading us into new wineskins. Some Features of the New Wineskin (many of these are already in our thinking) 1. We are moving from "highly organized" to "highly relational" forms of church. 2. Every Christian is a Minister. We are moving from highly trained experts doing the ministry, to everyone ministering. 3.We are recognizing that "five fold ministries" are placed by God throughout the body and are not limited to paid staff. 4. We are shifting from a pastoral model to an Apostolic model of church. 5. We are moving from accountability and control to honor and mutual submission. 6. The venue of advancing the Kingdom is shifting from a "Church building" focus to a marketplace focus. 7. We are shifting from "outreach" to get people into our church building and organization, to "kingdom advance" to see the Kingdom of God saturate the nation and transform the culture.
Luk 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskin will perish. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved together. Also no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says, The old is better.
Signs of An Old Wineskin 1. The wineskins no longer flex. Following a form knowing that the Holy Spirit is trying to go elsewhere. 2. The wineskins split and spill the wine. When Church troubles focus around form it's often a sign of breaking wineskins. 3. Satisfaction with the old. Alistair Petrie say "In the past we have used the anointing to serve systems and structures. Today systems and structures must serve the anointing." Blessings Terry Somerville www.totalchange.org