A Treatise on Church Growth part eight

What was (is) the answer, the only answer (hope)  there will ever be for the man at the pool of Bethesda? A personal encounter with Jesus the Christ. Our very existence as born-again christians begins and ends this way and indeed, it must continue this way throughout our days on this earth. There is no other way. He chooses now to meet with us in the Spirit, which is much more intimate, by the way. Our gatherings together should be continuing encounters with Jesus for each of us personally, encounters with the Christ in each of us. Whenever two or three are gathered together in my name, meaning we are married to him, there am I in the midst of them. He is there in the midst of us, to meet with us, to fellowship with us. If our gathering together is an encounter with our pastor or elder only, what a shame because Jesus is then limited to that one man to meet the needs of an entire congregation of people each and every sunday (and wednesday nite). "Bethesda" means "house of kindness", by the way. Someone had to feed and care for all those sick people at the pool of Bethesda. Keep them alive, even as they remained in their sickness. Great effort was expended, lots of money too, probably, to care for that multitude, probably by people who thought they were doing God a great service. Many of the churches today really are "houses of kindness". They mean well and they really do care for people, but the people by and large remain in a weak and sick condition. If all our churches do is be "hospitals" full of sick and lame folk while the power to heal them is in their very midst, yet healing and maturity are never attained, is this really such a great kindness, a great service? It irks me to see an interpreter for the deaf in a church service! They should be laying hands on the deaf and healing them. If they are having a personal encounter with Jesus when they meet, this would happen. But it doesn't because they aren't. Rather then gather in his name they are gathering in the name of their church or denomination.

It's time to "rise, take up your bed and walk", walk away from all those sick folk, walk away from laying around and doing nothing for God, in his mighty kingdom, walk away from being spiritually lame and impotent and sick and never seeing the might and power God has provided for every believer on earth.

to be continued....

PS FOr the next week , I will be at summer camp with my daughters (yea!) so I wont be able to blog till next saturday or sunday. God Bless everyone, remember to "gaze at God and glance at your problems". Chris

A Treatise on Church Growth part seven

But for now we see the pool of Bethesda. We see a multitude of poor, sick and weak folk. All manner of diseases and afflictions including lame folk. All lying there waiting, hoping that an angel will come and stir the water because the first ones to dip in the pool afterwards are healed.

The lame and sick folk are like the many congregations of sick christians (Laodicians), spiritually too sick to even walk the christian walk for themselves, much less run the race.

The pool is representative of the anointing of the Holy Spirit's presence in their midst that has stopped flowing. While a pool is stagnant water, we know the Holy Spirit's presence within us is likened by Jesus to be living water, flowing out of the midst of us, out of our bellies, or wombs. To be living, the water must be flowing. So they wait.

The angel represents the messengers that many churches have come to rely on to bring life, to bring annointing, stirred up once again, in their midst, especially for their greatest need - healing. The angels who visit our churches today are most often the evangelists or teachers or guest speakers they schedule in year after year. Come experience revival! So and so is bringing it to us! What they need is ressurection! What they need is refreshing. These messengers come and "stir up the water". People who are able to, who have a healthy enough faith to, rush forward to the healing line, the pool of blessing, and are healed. Others are so used to the pastor or others carrying them everywhere in the Spirit that they can only remain in their sickness and make excuses. They have no faith of their own for their dependence, the focus of their walk with God, is on man. They say "I have no man to carry me". Oh to lament and travail for the people of God! Truly we have behaved ourselves no better then Israel ever did. We have no cause to ever judge Israel for her sins for in every way we have sinned also.

to be continued...

A Treatise on Church Growth part six

In the natural, in the United States of America today, we have the potential, the resources, the Divine blessings to be the most well-nourished, well-fed, best excercised, healthiest people on the planet. And yet what do we see? A sickly, over-weight population that chooses to consume a primary diet of junk food. Chips and soda pops are the norm. Fast food rules. Cooking is becoming a lost art. And oh what a price! Heart disease, cancer, strokes, etc. As in the natural, so in the Spirit realm. Christians in the U.S.A. have the potential, the freedom to be the healthiest, best fed, most powerful christian army on earth! Yet we content ourselves with spiritual junk-food, teachings that are so watered-down they do not accomplish the goal of spiritual good health. Teachings that include so little exercising of our faith that we are among the weakest, most mal-nourished christians on earth. Would to God that we would have understanding! Especially of Covenant. That we would take this covenant we have entered into (cut) with our Lord more seriously and perhaps avoid the judgments to come. But for now we see the pool of Bethesda.

to be continued...

A Treatise on Church Growth part five

Look at another example - when a baby is born, when life comes forth, whoa, look out - they're a mess! They have to be cleaned, then what? They make a mess all over again and again and again. Hey, life is messy! They have to be fed constantly, they cry when they want, eat when they want, in short, you can't control Life! When the restaurants busy, the kitchen gets dirty! And everyone pitches in to help. Older brothers and sisters help take care of younger ones and babies and children don't support their parents, it's the other way around. But what do babies need an abundance of every single day, poured out without limit and never denied? LOVE. God is Love. Selah.
Ever notice you can't love a baby without touching them? They must be touched and hugged alot.  There must be contact. You can't put them in a crib (pew) and talk to them over and over again and expect them to grow, at least not in a healthy way. What do spiritual babies need? Discipline? Not without love. Programs? Correct doctrine? Hey, if you learn to talk, sing, dress and act just like us, then we'll accept you and you can fellowship here. That's not love.
One thing I know about a baby, he doesn't look, talk or act anything like his parents and shouldn't be expected to. Of course they quickly pick up their parents mannerisms and behavioral patterns and in chuch, this can be both good and bad. Most churches are molding people into their image, not Christ's. It's a lot easier, though in the long run for more costly, to keep that new-born baby christian in the incubator on life support. This way, they'll always be dependent on their pastor and church to survive spiritually.
Take most christians out of their church or denomination and they would die, spiritually and the churches love it so, in fact they will tell you that if you leave them, you will die spiritually  and not make it to heaven. I am not saying people shouldn't fellowship together. But even Jesus, our example, had long and short periods of time when he would separate himself from people and be alone with his Father. Most christians today couldn't fast and separate themselves for forty hours, much less forty days because their church is their link to God, their umbilical cord. They see through the eyes of the denominational glasses put on them, they hear through the pastor. Much like the evening news cast, where the news is heard with a liberal or conservative slant, people's view and understanding of scripture is slanted in whatever direction the denomination they belong to leans.
They don't know Christ, they know about Christ through their pastor or whatever TV program they consume or the latest hit christian book. They're hooked up with intravenous tubes in their souls and they're being force fed, nourished by their pastor or teaching elder. Of course, when you're kept alive this way you can't handle meat, you can only accept liquidated pulp. I may be painting you a bleak picture but if it's the truth, don't look away. If you picture Jesus on the cross then you can see that sometimes the truth can get ugly but it's especially during those times we must not turn away but gaze steadfastly at the truth till we are set free by it. Many churches today really are like the story of the man at the pool of Bethesda.

to be continued...

A Treatise on Church Growth part four

Instead, each gathering, each time the saints join together as one, it should become a living, breathing intimate union; a love feast! A feasting on, of love, from God to his people, from the people to God and always expressed to one another, a no-holds barred spiritual love-making meeting. The Holy Spirit should be allowed to express himself in any way he chooses. Sometimes there will be teaching (by the way, biblically, preaching is for the lost, teaching is for the saints), sometimes prophecying (almost always there will be prophecy of some form), sometimes healings, sometimes songs rising spontaneously from hearts full of love for God and each other, sometimes dancing, sometimes all of the above and more. Think of the love between a man and wife. When they join as one isnt it often a wild,  all out, nothing held back, almost violent affair? This is as it should be at Church. We can't box in or control our meetings with the Holy Spirit when God is making love to his Bride! Look carefully at the book of Acts. Many times, when the people came together in one accord, when the Holy Spirit of promise showed up in response to the love-plea of his bride, man, the earth shook, a mighty rushing wind blew, tongues of fire burst forth upon their heads, salvations, prophecy, healings, passion, Love flowed freely! God was having orgasms! How wonderful! As his bride, we should rejoice when we please him so! We should ever live to give him pleasure. In our love for him we should hold nothing back from him. We should approach him as Ruth did Boaz, we should become naked before him and lie at his feet, in a position of humility and vulnerablility. We should say to him with all our hearts, here am I, take me as your eternal lover! Selah.

To be continued...
Authors note: When the Holy Spirit gave me the above revelation, back in 1994, I admit I was hesitant to share it.I certainly never spoke it from a pulpit. I shared it privately with a few pastors I knew and every one of them reacted violently, every one of them was deeply offended that I used the words "orgasm" and "God" in the same sentence. I know absolutely that God revealed to me that in the book of Acts, when the earth shook, the wind blew, etc, that he was having spiritual orgasms. The idea that an orgasm in the natural could be a glimpse of a much more powerful and wonderful spiritual experience seems perfectly natural to me. The reason I think those pastors got so offended is that they had carnal minds and not spiritual ones. A carnal mind would think of sex as something dirty or offensive or sinful whilst the truth is God gave it to us as a gift to be enjoyed between a man and wife. Just because sin is pleasurable doesnt mean all pleasure is sin. Thank the Lord, after years of keeping this revelation to myself, I finally met a man of God I greatly respect and when I shared this with him, he wholeheartedly agreed. Suffice it to say, I am sorry if the above missive offended you but please understand God is not offended with it, indeed he is the one that spoke it to me.
                                                         - Chris Waxman

A Treatise on Church Growth part three

Some will follow in our footsteps, others will leave home, begin new spiritual careers, forge new identities and destinies but all will, hopefully, advance the Kingdom of God in their day. Now remember this important point - those churches and denominations who take on the spirit of pride and say we have THE TRUTH, meaning our understanding of truth is the only one you should submit to (most denominational pastors, when they hold up their Bibles before the people and say "you better know the scriptures, the uncompromising truth of God's Word", what they really mean is "You had better know MY OR MY DENOMINATIONS understanding of God's Word). And they usually use fear to control or subjugate the people. Fear that if you don't agree with them, or God forbid, you agree with another denomination's teachings, then you will fall into serious doctrinal error and our of favor with God himself. Fear often becomes their primary source of motivation in teaching God's word. "You have need that no man teach you - you have the Holy Spirit" 1 John 2:20, 27). WE, not I, have the mind of Christ.
To say that one man, one church, one denomination has the Truth, or even a complete understanding of the Truth is to deny the deposit of Truth within every single believer who was ever born again, and yet, paradoxically, every single believer has the complete Truth from birth if his understanding comes from KNOWING THE TRUTH, the person of Jesus Christ. He has the truth in his spritual DNA, it's just that he can only comprehend it in bits and pieces till he reaches adulthood.
What then? you may ask. Do we not say we preach the inerrant truth of God's word? And a pure and undefiled understanding thereof? Listen, your motivation for teaching it in the first place must be pure. Often you teach in reaction to or because of the current state of affairs in "christianity", that is, denominationalism. You are often trying hard to prove to each person in your congregation why they are wise to come to your church in the first place. You must prove to them that yours is a better church than the one down the road (in most towns, churches are like pizza parlors in New York city, there are so many, each one has to prove theirs is the best so you will eat there, if you dont like it, you can just walk down the street and find another one). So to separate yourself, not join with, the other churches and denominations in your community, you must prove to them that your understanding of Holy scripture, or some aspect of your ministry, is better than any one else's in town. With this motivation, a church will become doctrinally centered and not Christ centered. Rather then the Holy Spirit being the ruling spirit when the people congregate, the spirit of pride takes over. Instead of genuine, God birthed and nurtured love for each other, people learn to walk in the flesh and bear it's fruit instead of the Holy Spirit's. This is a tragedy of epic proportions, yet repeated endlessly in churches around the world.

to be continued....

A Treatise on Church Growth part two

Back to the subject of leadership, another point - when the goal of maturity, when the process of maturing begins to take effect within a people, leadership should at some point stand down and let God be God to His people! (witness: Peter at Cornelius' house) In other words - hey get out of the way, the cake is finally done, it's out of the oven, the frostings cooled, now let God enjoy it! When maturity in an individual christian's life brings about the wonderful fruit of that growing intimacy and maturity, let the people and God enjoy that fruit for it is that fruit indeed that God will in turn use to feed and strengthen the congregation and continue the process all over again. Remember the principal of sprititual genetics found in Genesis 1:11&12?
What are some of this fruit of maturity? A clarity and sharpening of an individuals ability to communicate with God, just as a child in the natural grows in his ability to communicate as his understanding grows, so do spiritual children. The more mature he becomes, the less he will need you (pastor) to clarify whether a voice, a plan, a doctrine or interpretation of scripture was from God or not. In fact, they will reach the point where they will beging to teach the teacher! I have learned things from my children I never would have learned otherwise. This is a wonderful benefit of having children.
More fruit - an ability to love and care for people should continue to grow throughout a christian's life. Eventually you won't have to create special groups, programs, cliques, activities, whose real goal all along is simply to get people to love each other, to care for one another, to discern the Body (who am I naked with underneath the hem of His garment)?
Won't it be wonderful when people of their own initiative begin to heal each other? Begin to evangelize, teach, prophecy, pastor each other - not because some program or teaching told them to but because they are following the supervision and leading of the Holy Spirit? What? You mean the Holy Spirit is leading, feeding and empowering the people directly, all by himself? You may ask, "Where do I fit in as a leader"? You are a gift from God to the people. As a gift, like at christmas time, you should be received with joy, treasured by the people, loved. But just as toys at christmastime are often used in a child's maturing process, so are you. Remember, we are a family, as we know God, we are to know and love each other ( know those who are among you). In other words, if we stop thinking in a worldly or carnal way, but think and reason with the mind of Christ, as leaders, we see people God brings into our care as children and we rejoice to see them grow up! Just like God starts out as just our Father, then becomes our dearest companion and friend and eventually becomes our husband, as our relationship deepens and becomes more intimate with him over time, so it should be with us. Maybe a better example is again, parents and children. I certainly hope you do not have the same relationship with your children when they are twenty five as you had when they were two. It should be the same in any congregation, the relationship between a leader and his people. It should continue to mature throughout the life of the relationship till the day comes when they are our peers. We will always be a parent to them, but the dynamic of our relationship will drastically change over time.

To be continued...

A Treatise on Church Growth

Though sitting forlorn, I have proclaimed the highest visions.


The root of many problems facing the "Church" today is the fact that the Church has great difficulty accepting (understanding?) what and who the Church is in the Mind of Christ. We have trouble believing, and thus acting on our belief, the fact that the Church is a spiritual entity (vessel) created soveriegnly by God to be His companion forever, knowing no man-made boundaries or borders, existing outside the realm of the natural and separate and unique from the world (world system). This is an mportant point because ideally the Church is not of this world, worldly patterns of thought and action; the Church is a soveriegn creation of God, ruled, ordered and administrated solely by God through His Holy Spirit.
He raises up whom He wills to be Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and Pastors but these do not replace the unique relationship God has with His Church. God is a Spirit. His Church is spiritual, therefore any attempts to rule or control her through natural, or carnal methods, including man's intellect (witness: Solomon), must, indeed will fail, just as surely as they would fail if we tried to rule over God himself. It simply cannot be done. What can be done is that we can know Him. This knowing Him is always, from our perspective, done from a woman's view and position, naturally, since we are the weaker vessel in our relationship with God. We must submit to Him; as every wife must submit to her husband. Only in this continued position of vulnerablility can intimacy truly be known and maintained. A woman is no more vulnerable than when she becomes one with her husband - at this moment, he can harm her or bless her. She must give herself to him completely to know the fulness of the blessing. And so, the Church.
Church leadership is nothng more, nothing less, than husbandmen, attendants to the Bride, fathers to the children, midwives to the newborns, in short, whatever it takes to usher people to a place of maturity, into this intimate relationship with The Lord that he so desires with each of us, then help them grow in intimacy. Maturity is the final goal of all ministry to the Bride. I truly believe when the Bride reaches the maturity of a Proverbs 31 woman (notice the age - 31), Jesus will come bursting out of the heavens with such a passionate, holy love for her that nothing in heaven or on earth will be able to hold him back from the final glorious union of Jesus and his bride! Wedding vows are found throughout the Bible. "I will never leave you or forsake you" is just one example.

To be continued...

There’s a rhythm and a flow
To our lives don’t you know
Like skipping stones on a quiet pond
The ripples of our days go on and on
And set in motion something fond



I can still bathe myself in the warm memories of my childhood
Memories grazing gently in the deep valleys of my mind
Where good thoughts grow, gentle sheep-thoughts
That wouldn’t hurt a soul, meek and kind

I can still feel the sun on the back of my neck
I look up to see the sky thick with sunbeams
That reveal the woodland pasture air alive with living things
Zipping and buzzing and busily going about their pre-ordained routes
Alive! Alive! The crunchy ground underfoot
The joy of discovery! A dead thing or a naked bug under a root

I love my childhood memories of discovery
(get Tiffy and Kari to the woods ASAP!)



Life is worth living,
Even a bug will strive to stay alive
From some deep urge it has inside

Caterpillars and lady bugs and noisy bull frogs

Sunlight through the leaves of trees and moss covered logs
Tadpoles and minnows, crunchy stuff underfoot
To go exploring as a child – wonders everywhere I look!

The feel of the warmth of the sun on my skin
And a pond bottom’s mushiness as my toes start sinkin’ in
Crawdads and fire flies and the smell of a musty wood
Being out doors , Man, it’s just plain good!

There’s a swishy sound you make when you slide your feet on the forest floor
Daddy long legs used to scare me but he don’t no more
I used to just love to lay out and watch the stars
And wonder how anything could be so beautiful and yet so far


Some memories of childhood
Remind me life can be full and good

I want my child’s child years
Filled with laughter and far away fears

Rainfall or Sunshine

Deep forest Glades
Country sides with new cut hay
Morning lawns wet with dew
Oh my God they all speak of You!

The Star’s shine
A spider’s web caught in the setting sun’s light
The taste of salt in the sea side’s air
All bear witness of Your loving care.


The greens of Trees (such variety!)
The patterns frost makes on frozen leaves
The stillness of dawn or just before the Sun sets
Or the joy of jumping in a Florida natural spring
And gettin’ all wet,

All give respite
From the harshness of life
All say to us that what You do is right
All are but a shadow of
A reflection of
The Glory to come

All bear the signature of You, our Glorious One!

So when you hear that wild bird tweet


He's saying to you "Our God is sweet!"

"Our God is Grand!"

"Our God's to be praised throughout the land!"

"All creatures great and small

Are to hear and obey the Spirit's call

To worship and Praise

Through all our days

This God of ours

Who died and was raised"



So when you hear that song bird sing

listen carefully

For he's saying

"Come and praise your God with me"

Dear One,


I am thy part and thine inheritance

I am thy reward and recompense

When the world forsakes you – take heart

My love for you will never depart



Lord,

Whom have I in Heaven but Thee?

And there is none greater on Earth

With whom I desire to be





My flesh and my heart fail

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever

Jesus became broken and bleeding in his flesh
so my heart may now bleed with inward brokeness
He was afflicted on the outside
that all my inward pride could be crucified and die
So as He was hurt for me
I want to hurt too
not so much outwardly
but inward where is the Truth
I want to die to pride and the lie
that this life is worth living without your majesty inside
So Lord, as you went through suffering -
may I too, with you, become an offering
that is acceptable and pleasing to our Father
that will give him eternal joy and pleasure...
                                                                        Amen.

You mentioned relationships should improve
cause ours hasn't always been so smooth
As I thought about what you said
these thoughts came into my head -

A relationship over time
will run out of wine
will run out of joy
will not be so sublime
And unless God intervenes
shows up on the scene
the end is worse than the beginning

So let's invite Jesus to our marriage
and his disciples too
Then we'll no longer disparage
but I'll rejoice with you
As the wine of our heart's love
gets better and sweeter over time
That the end of our wedding
may be better than the start
because Jesus has transformed
the wine of our hearts...                        love

I've learned that joy can be painful
and that sorrow can cleanse my soul
Sometimes I glimpse that the very life flowing through my veins
is the very love of my God - every heartbeat bears his name.

The ground I walk, the air I breathe
all speak of His great love for me
And an ache throbs deep down inside
as I'm stripped of all that tries to hide
from Him, from His face
till I'm naked once again before Him
Better that I remove my fig leaf and expose my sin
than to continue to pretend I am well, without Him...

How can I demand that you forgive me
if I don't do the same for you?

How can I expect your actions
not just your words
if I don't live the truth?

I will reap what I sow
So for mercy and love to grow
Not just in me but to me I know
I must do as I want done to me

Only a hypocrite makes demands
of his fellow man
while not obeying God's commands

I must not teach others while refusing to be taught myself