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Every Day - Every Way Church
By Robert Ricciardelli
www.vision2advance.com
December 4, 2005
In case there are some who still have
not seen it, there is a shift
going on in our Father's house inside
and outside the four walls. Most of us
realize there is only one church and one
body of believers of our Lord. There are
many diverse personalities, all
wonderfully made in all different sizes,
shapes, colors, cultures and rule books
of life. I want to talk about two
distinctive segments of the church of
our Lord today.
Nuclear Church
The term Nuclear literally means a
cluster or nucleus. Many of us have been
raised by a cluster or nucleus of a
specific denomination. For the most
part, the good, bad and ugly
denominational structures have brought
many of us to where we are today. We all
have been saddened by the liberal shift
of some of these structures as well as
the shift of making the gospel of Jesus
Christ palatable and un-offensive for
all. In some cases, repentance is
optional and a profession of Christ,
without the true Lordship of Christ,
supposedly brings one into the kingdom.
We also have many churches that have
been birthed as non-denominational
because of some of the perceived flaws
in the systems of their day or the
shifts of today. It should not be looked
on as a negative thing as all of the
denominations themselves were birthed
out of a previous system or older wine
skin. Luther had at least 95 reasons he
felt he could no longer abide with
regarding the Roman Catholic Church of
his day. My Catholic friends of today
actually are thankful as some of the
positive changes the past few hundred
years in the Catholic church were the
result of a new wine skin of belief and
visionary leaders that saw things a
little bit differently in their
interpretation of God's word.
Extended Or Marketplace Church
This is the body of Christ that operates
outside of the 4 walls of the Nuclear
church, not separate in any way but in
application. The Marketplace church is
distinctive but also supportive of the
Nuclear church. The Nuclear church for
the most part gathers one day a week and
the Marketplace church is in operation 6
days a week. They are still one church,
but are to a degree, two distinct
cultures. They operate out of two
different sets of cultural rule books.
Before you cast any heretical stones,
let me explain;
There are many things that we perceive
that others may do or think of as wrong,
simply because it is different from the
way we may do it, or the way we think. I
have some Chinese friends that do things
differently then I do. When they come
over, they always take their shoes off,
because that is part of their culture.
When they are conducting a business
transaction, there always is an exchange
of gifts. In my business world here in
the USA, it would be looked on many
times as bribery, perks or a lack of
integrity to try and win in business.
The reality is, either way of thinking
is neither right nor wrong.
The same thing goes with the Nuclear
Church and the Marketplace Church. Both
operate for the glory of Christ and His
kingdom, but they do not necessarily
function in the same way bringing salt
and light to the world. The Marketplace
church is here to stay, although we are
continuing to learn the rules of
engagement in the marketplace. We have
apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors,
evangelists, intercessors, and others
serving in the Nuclear church. Many of
these and others are being raised up and
released to function in the marketplace
or Marketplace church. Many have been
out there over the years, but have been
looked upon as a Para-church, or second
tier ministry, rather than equally
viable kingdom ministries.
Ephesians 4:11-13
11It
was he who gave some to be apostles,
some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and
teachers, 12to
prepare God's people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ may
be built up 13until
we all reach unity in the faith and in
the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ.
The bottom line is this, 100% of the
body of Christ is in ministry. Every
saint must continue to seek the whole
measure of the fullness of Christ,
regardless of where the Lord places you
in society. The word ministry also can
be exchanged with the word service or
servant. So we are to be servants as we
provide service to our families,
employers, local churches, governments,
etc. This is the new wineskin attitude
and language we must be communicating.
The big issue is that much of the
Nuclear church leadership and counsels
are stuck in the mindsets of the systems
that have raised them, supported them
and formed them.
It is hard for them to see or to
understand how to support and partner
with the Marketplace church. I see the
Marketplace church as a bridge as well
to link up the various denominational
cultures as the Holy Spirit leads, to
breakthrough the religious mindsets.
Keep in mind as I share this that the
religious mindsets are across the board
in denominationalism,
non-denominationalism, Nuclear church
and the Marketplace church. The
denominational, democratic church of
today is more difficult to turn simply
because of the many layers of tradition
and governing entities. In all cases,
only those that are led by the Holy
Spirit of the Lord will lead the charge
towards break through in these areas.
Many Nuclear church leaders still ask of
those in the marketplace, "Are you
considering to go into the ministry?"
Of course the answer is, we are already
in ministry. Though all are called to
serve the cause of Christ, God calls
certain persons to serve the church as
pastors and other ministers. It is still
old wine skin thought and language to
consider only the pastoral staff as
having viable ministries.
Ed Silvoso identifies four lethal
misbeliefs that minimize the impact of
believers in the workplace:
1.
There is a God-ordained
division between clergy and laity.
2.
The Church is called to
operate primarily inside a building,
often referred to as the temple.
3.
People involved in
business cannot be as spiritual as those
serving traditional Church ministry.
4.
The primary role of
marketplace Christians is to make money
to support the vision of those "in the
ministry."
We need to understand the Kingdom of
God!
This is where we affirm that the Kingdom
of God is not confined to the four walls
of the local church. Where is the
kingdom of God? Jesus said in Luke17:21,
"The kingdom of God is within you." With
that in mind, the kingdom of God is not
a kingdom of this world and has no
territorial boundaries. The kingdom
of God is present wherever individual
men and women have agreed that Jesus
Christ is their Lord.
So where is the true ecclesia? One day a
week you will find them in local
denominations and six days a week, you
will find them scattered all over the
workplace and neighborhoods serving the
kingdom of God. God's people are His
people seven days a week in many
different functions and jurisdictions.
This wonderful engaging 7 days a week,
24 hour a day church with the authority
of our Lord Jesus Christ can transform
lives, families, communities and
nations. We can bring the kingdom of
God, His presence, into every workplace,
home and church. We must continue to
illuminate His love and grace to the
world in every jurisdiction of society
in Jesus name, Amen!
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