I have found it difficult to enter new bogs since I forget to do it. But here is another. In my initial blog I noted how the Lord had led me ot integrate my faith. In this one I want to tell you why.
When Jesus began his ministry he did not pick his disciples from the trained attendants and priests in the temple. He also did not pick them from the Pharisees and Sadducees of his Hebrew religion. He went to the shores of the sea of Galilee and first picked two fishermen. He then picked others none of whom were from the priestly class. He knew these men were all intelligent, hard workers, and moral men. He then taught them what God wanted them to know to become a priesthood of believers who were to spread his message of salvation over the whole world. In three hundred years it was spread over all of the Roman empire. It was interesting too, that when God sent the Holy Spirit he sent it first to 150 persons none of whom were described as clergy, but they were ordinary people. They were however empowered to begin the church and Peter' preaching on that fateful morning established the church.
Jesus had told them that the Holy Spirit would empower them and he did. The church continued to grow as those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit witness to the people around them. Jesus had said that they would first carry the message to Judea, then to the surrounding country (Samaria) and then to the whole world. It was interesting that God's plan was for it to be taken to the Roman empire. Paul and Barnabus wanted to take the message to Asia, but that was not God's plan. Instead God spoke to him in a dream and told him to go to Macedonia. Realizing that got had pointed him in a different direction he dutifully obeyed. Christianity then spread to Europe, and now over the whole world. But it is dying in the West and it has lost it's fire. In Europe very few people go to church. In Africa and Asia though the churches are filled. And it is interesting that the church is exploding because the priesthood of believers has been reestablished. just as Jesus picked ordinary people to be his disciples, so has the church in Africa and Asia had to do the same. Missionaries were not welcome in China, and although they were present large numbers they were not effective. Indigenous churches usually do not have theologically educated pastors. I have worshiped in many of them and their pastors may have only and elementary education, or sometimes they may have finished high school.
Simon Mkolo, the leader of a large indigenous church in the poorest part of Zimbabwe, started out preaching under trees and people came to Christ. He soon had one church, then two, and today has over 500,000 people in many churches. Some of them meet in buildings, but they are still led by many men whose education consists of knowledge of the Bible. His church continues to grow. Hanook Tamong who has no theological education, has a church in Nepal that establishes a new congregation every week. They had at one time 130 evangelists in the field. There is to my knowledge no seminary in Nepal, if there is they are not affiliated with his church. Then there is Korea. We have had missionaries in Korea for many years, and the church did not grow during and after WWII, There was seminary education available to many of their pastors, but when Paul Yongi Cho started a church where all members were prayer warriors, witnesses to the saving power of Jesus, the church exploded. Now there are more Christians per capita than in almost any nation. Thirty percent of Koreans are Christians. The most exciting example of how God builds his church is China. Almost all of the millions of Chinese who are Christians today came came to Christ in house churches. whose leaders had come to the Lord through the witness of their fellow countrymen.
Our churches today are declining because we have abolished the priesthood of believers. More about that next time.
