LISTEN or WATCH NOW!
We continue the conversation with Charles Simpson and ask him where he sees the future Church. You can find out more on our previous conversations on the VFN Torch HERE.
Charles is specifically asked where do you see the church in the future, ten years from today or further? His father said the things of God you can describe, but you can never define, and that is how he sees the Kingdom of God, you can describe it but can’t define it. God is a mystery, “One problem we have had as evangelicals we lost the mystery, and we got it all simplified and marketed…it isn’t simple.”
He sees the Church as fellow believers, citizens of the Kingdom of God, gathering together which can be anywhere. He says he has a curriculum on the Covenant and the Kingdom which you can purchase HERE. The core of the covenant of God is that it is the constitution because He does not do anything contrary to His Word. The Kingdom of God is His administration; He watches over His Word to perform it when two Kingdom people are together that is the Church because they are together in the name of the Lord.
“For where two or three gather in My name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20
Charles sees this as the future Church, where two or three are gathered in the name of the Lord. It is citizens of the Kingdom of God who has been gathered together by the Lord, and that can be anywhere from two people to thousands!
Looking at three quotes from Rick Joyner, with MorningStar Ministries, that James Rutz shares in his book Mega Shift,
“A revolution is coming to Christianity that will eclipse the Reformation in the sweeping changes that it brings to the church. When it comes…the way that the world defines Christianity will be radically changed.
“What is coming will not be a change of doctrine, but a change in basic church life…. When this new church emerges, she will be so different from what is now perceived to be the church, that the whole world will not even recognize that there was ever a connection between the two.
“Ultimately, home-groups will become the foundation upon which the entire church will be built. Homegroup ministry teams will actually provide the bulk of the work in equipping the saints, including teaching and pastoring.
“The church has been bound by forces that have greatly inhibited her from becoming all that she was created to be. Control spirits have dominated and crushed creativity. However, even under this extreme pressure, a transformation is taking place… There is about to be a jail-break! … [A] great people are about to emerge from the present forms of church that have been built upon the ways of men, and they will risk everything to seek that which God is building…
“[A] true union of the church is not possible until the forces of spiritual slavery are defeated, and all people are set free to follow the Lord in their own quest… This is not the license to depart from sound doctrine, or to rebel against God’s established authorities. However, there is about to be a clear distinction between those who have received their authority from above, and those who have promoted themselves or been promoted by institutions.
“The future leaders of the church are now being given a vision of radical New Testament Christianity being restored…It is time to heed the call and allow the Lord to lead His people to the new wineskins that will be able to hold what is about to break out upon the earth…The new dynamic of church life will overshadow the Great Awakening in their social impact, transforming cities and even whole nations.”
Charles says he would take what Rick said a step further. He says his earliest memories are in a homegroup setting with his father. In the 1960s, Brother Charles started homegroups himself and half succeeded, and half failed. Some were good; some were not so good. He says that he learned many things from having home groups, but he does not see this as THE answer for the Church. “Personal integrity and character and integrating into some accountability community are two important things to me.” This can be a homegroup he says which he has one once a month himself and it is a group of people committed to the Kingdom of God. “What I would emphasize beyond the homegroup is that we can have church wherever we get together.” He has nothing against homegroups that just cannot be made more into a method versus it just being Kingdom people coming together.
A prophetic word from Wendy Alec, co-founder of God TV, and writer of the book The Journal of the Unknown Prophet, writes,
“To the pastors, elders and home cell leaders – the great joining and new power for evangelism…
“And so it is that My shepherd’s and elders shall join with other shepherds and elders across their towns, across their cities, across nations. And as divine strategy joins with divine strategy—and as My shepherds and elders forgive one another—and lay down their lives one for another—they and their congregations will commit to serve each other and so shall the great joining in the spirit occur. And it shall be a joining of spirit, and it shall be a joining of heart. It shall be a joining of finance. It shall be a joining of resources. It shall be a joining of contacts. It shall be a joining of prayer groups. It shall be a joining of congregations.
“And as My shepherds join in one accord and pray and seek Me—and as My sheep and My lambs join with one another across neighborhoods and across city divides and across nations and pray and seek Me—so shall the preparation for the end-time outpouring for evangelism to begin.
“And so shall My shepherds and their sheep be imbued with power from on high. And I shall mark My sheep with a divine mark that like the Pied Piper will attract the unbeliever wherever they go, and Acceleration shall begin. And so shall the division and multiplication of the cell groups greatly accelerate and be forerunning for the stadium evangelism that shall surely, in the last hours, sweep the cities and nations of the Earth.”
Greg shares that he saw the multiplication of the Church with stadiums being full of people. This has also been seen in the past with Promise Keepers where men gathered together in small cell groups and then filled stadiums eventually coming together with one million men in Washington, D.C. It seems like the smaller gatherings produce bigger gatherings.
Charles says he agrees with the principle of what Wendy said. Before the cross, the disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, but after the cross they were crushed, and in their pain they were able to be united and gather together. In their brokenness they were unified. Brokenness is what it takes for the Church to be in unity. The disciples waited upon the Lord and were filled with Holy Spirit on the Pentecost. Then 3,000 people were saved after Peter evangelizing! “The worst thing to happen is for us to try to make it happen rather than allow God to do what He wants to do in us…there are a lot of methods people are trying, but the fact is until we are broken we can’t unite.”
Some people understand brokenness, and it can be found outside of religion. In brokenness one can experience God and His presence unlike anything else. What are your thoughts about the future Church? We want to hear from you, write to us at [email protected] or in the VFNKB Community HERE.
Image courtesy of Storyblocks.com
RELATED CONTENT
You Have Not Many Fathers
Ants Vines and Churches
Journal of the Unknown Prophet
Megashift
One to One- Article “Living Cells” Spring 2017
Shepherding Movement
New Wine Magazine
CSM Publishing
The Covenant and the Kingdom, A Comprehensive Personal and Church Bible Resource
Charles Simpson
Bob Mumford
Derek Prince
Ern Baxter