by Jesse Steele
worship in the life of the Believer.
Hank: How did that go? Not good I take it?
Michael: The whole ministry almost collapsed. When you water down your vision, you’re no longer necessary because you’re no longer yourself. It’s most difficult to maintain the stuff that’s most important. But the Lord showed us what we were doing wrong and we turned it around. It’s a good thing we kept following His daily leading or we might not have seen it until it was too late.
Hank: Was it hard, I mean, being told that you were wrong?
Michael: When God tells us we’re wrong, it’s hard to get offended. He’s trying to help us. We’re the ones who stand to lose out of we ignore Him. It’s easy to remember that—when we stay in touch with how much He loves us. To do that, we need to listen to Him, in the Word and in prayer.
Hank: So, if I feel the Lord leading me to tell someone something that they might not want to hear… should I try to get to know them and build trust before telling them?
Michael: If all that is part of the Lord’s leading, of course. Usually, we find that when God gives us an insight, there is usually some instruction that follows, but you have to keep praying and listening for the rest. Don’t start to hear Him speak, then assume the rest. A lot of prophetic problems come up when we don’t keep listening. But, generally, if the Lord’s laid something on your heart to share, don’t make a big deal out of it. Just share it.
Hank: But I don’t want to sound crazy.
Michael: It doesn’t matter what the other person thinks of you, whether he agrees, disagrees, is offended… Don’t try to persuade people, just be the messenger. Keep it simple, be yourself, and know that, often times, the prophet is the one who learns more than the recipient. After that, deliver the mail and move on. No big deal.
Hank: I’m a “prophet”?
Michael: It’s not an office in the Body of Believers like an elder is. It’s just a function. If God has a small idea for me and He wants you to tell me, in our conversation, well, you’re more or less the “prophet”. If one of us is the prophet in that situation, it’s certainly not me—it’s the person with the message.
Hank: Okay. I see. You’re saying “prophet” not to sound high and mighty, but just because we have to call it something so we can talk about it.
Michael: I think you’re getting it.
Hank: Well, I just have one other question, then. I heard some people talk about a “marketplace apostle.” What’s that all about?
Michael: An apostle is just another function. It isn’t a paid position and we don’t have an office of “apostle” on our property or in the building. An apostle is just someone who operates in a broader spectrum.
Hank: It’s not some high, glamorous job?
Michael: Apostles aren’t better than others. They just seem to be really effective at doing stuff that quietly makes a big difference in leadership rooms and other places. Sometimes they even have a public ministry, but usually someone who operates in the function of an apostle is most effective in quiet conversations with decision makers—a friend helping them navigate through larger choices of leadership. And often times, the influential people aren’t the most famous. We see some of that with the New Testament apostles writing letters that made a big difference.
Hank: Okay, but what’s a marketplace apostle?
Michael: Thanks for bringing me back on track. I tend to rabbit trail… at least that’s what my friends tell me. When I give a speech I usually keep an outline so I don’t get lost. Even then I don’t always follow it…
Hank: You’re even rabbit trailing now. Were you trying to give a demonstration?
Michael: …anyhow, you get the idea of what an apostle is. So, a marketplace apostle does a lot of that work outside of the walls of the House of Prayer, not only inside. In other words, their “apostolic” ministry is in the marketplace.
Hank: Do they have any ministry at all inside the Body of Christ?
Michael: Usually, but the point is that they also operate significantly outside. Joseph and Daniel were such people, though, there weren’t “apostles” at the time since it was in the Old Testament. Still, the marketplace was their primary ministry.
Hank: But they were in government.
Michael: In Biblical terms, there is ministry inside the temple, and the rest may be considered the marketplace. It’s not an economic distinction we’re making. We’ve got to call it something, otherwise we can’t talk about it.
Hank: So, they work in business or government or other parts of society?
Michael: Oh, for sure. And they work with a lot of people in the House of Prayer who feel a similar calling—or merely to help people understand the outside world better. They also help with decisions of local elders. A lot of wealthy businessmen gain their wisdom from their parents. Through Christian discipleship, people who come from a less-wealthy background can still learn how to be good stewards, from their new family in Christ.
Hank: Hey, there was this one wealthy Christian I spoke with. He seemed a lot like what you just described.
Michael: We have a lot of such people right here in this stream of fellowship. You’re welcome to meet some. They love to talk to anyone who wants to listen.
Hank: Listening, eh. I think I could stand for some more of that.
Michael: I believe it.
Conclusion
All characters in this book are fictional. Some of them are composites whose archetypes were informed by significant voices from this past century. In doing so, preference was given to ministries and fellowships and their founders, as well as other ideas in the Body of Christ which fall along similar lines of thinking, respectively. These composite characters do not represent any one stream of fellowship, but rather some main ideas in the Body of Christ which are unlikely to cross paths today. This was intended to help introduce those ideas to different Christians within the Body of Christ—and to do so on a wider scale—by summarizing some of what I find to be among their more unique contributions. In no way is this any intention or claim to officially represent any specific organization or individual or group of individuals. At the same time, in crafting this set of dialogues, journalistic respect is paid to the idea that these archetypes were objectively composited and summarized, with limited artistic license taken for core ideas, from a realistic foundation, not invented out of mere imagination. Creativity was reserved more for flow of conversation, tone, and truthful mosaic-melting-pot-style blending to contrive realism in the composite personalities.
Dialog from one scene to the next was laced by having each of the characters address the most controversial idea presented: a non-clerical system for Christian fellowship. This was primarily a literary device, though, admittedly, being how unusual this idea is for Western-influenced Christians, it could, arguably, use the extra treatment. So, the composite characters did not always address that question directly, since the movements and ideas that influenced their archetypes have been largely silent on the matter. Rather, this controversial question was used as an opportunity for these characters to represent other ideas which may relate to adoption of a non-clerical system, if hypothetically presented with the idea, partially informed from what has been opined by various like-minded fellowships and movements.
Paul and John are intended to be an applicable dialog, based on their writings and actions in Scripture. Some writers may have a different take than I. These were intended to highlight some Biblical elements that the modern Church seems to have overlooked.
Many movements in the Body of Christ are easily mislabeled as “cults” in their early stages. In particular, the Local Church, led by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee, was even published among cult watchdog lists. This error was corrected in the Christian Research Journal Vol. 32, No. 6, 2009, “We Were Wrong: A Reassessment of the ‘Local Church’ Movement of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee”. Because of this, we might consider how easy it is for effective leaders to be misunderstood and how dangerous it is to pass on opinions bas
ed on second-hand impressions.
The Communist government in China persecuted and martyred many Christians based on America’s assumptive accusation against Watchman Nee. While an apology can’t bring people back to life, it also shows the power of reconciliation—that Christian leaders have met with living relatives of those affected in the Local Church movement and were received with loving arms. Would you forgive those whose misinformed publications led to your family’s death? Watchman Nee’s fellowship did. Will history repeat or will we take heed in the future to avoid rush judgments?
Two other influential Christian streams in America, which have been, at one point or another, mislabeled as “cult like”, are the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, and Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. For all three fellowships, it was my knowledge of Scripture, combined with my personal encounter with the Christians within each fellowship, which convinced me that they stood on Biblical ground, long before reading any literature that had been published about them. As Jesus told us, “Ye shall know them by their fruit.” It’s hard to know someone’s fruit if you only learn about them in magazines, classrooms, radio shows, and libraries. We need fellowship.
I hope that you can humbly and openly consider the ideas reflected here. I spent many days, hours, miles, and tears
