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We have made an attempt to find information about the House Church Movement but there is little available. Following is what we did find. From the House Church Central we copied the following infomation. The ultimate source of house church theology can only be the Bible. But there is a great deal more to the development of doctrine than merely sitting down with the Bible and writing theology, as such modern ideologues as Lewis Sperry Chafer have attempted to do. Chafer commented that his eight-volume theology had the benefit of "unclouded objectivity" because he came to his subject with absolutely no academic training! Ed Note we have a problem with adding anything to the Bible in form of doctrine. Theology is not shaped by history. It is taught by the Holy Spirit from the KJV Scriptures. The Bible states that it is the only truth we have. End of note. The process of doctrinal development is shaped by the struggles of God's people in a manner that is illustrated by the figure (above). Theology is shaped by history. The struggles of the church today are not all new with our generation--most have been worked out before by brilliant and devoted men and women in history. It is for that reason that these web pages are laced with historical references To read the whole article go to: http://www.hccentral.com/fdoct.html Watchman Nee originated this movement, the House Church Movement in China. We were in various churches were people were sent to China to find out how this House Church Movement worked. It became the cell groups integrated into the Vineyard Movement. Charismatics use it and Word of Faith churches. The reason they became very popular they caused exponential growth. Usually a lay person volunteered their home and neighbors were invited and taught which ususally ended up in discussions about problems that each neighbor encountered in their daily lives and the group would then try to discover ways and means of solving each problem by volunteering their time and money to fix it. Scripture study usually fell by the wayside. for moe information about Watchman Nee go to http://www.ntrf.org/review.html See files about Watchman Nee the founder: on our website:
Watchman Fellowship, an Apologetic Ministry calls it: Local Church, The, Watchman Nee, Anaheim, CA: Controversial movement begun in China in the early 1920s by Ni To-sheng (Watchman Nee). Growth and controversy developed during the administration of their second leader, the late Witness Lee, who moved to America in 1962 founding Living Stream Ministry. Among issues drawing criticism from evangelical Christians is the Local Church's use of the term “mingling” to describe the relationship between God and believers (i.e., Christians become both divine and human like Jesus). Some evangelicals have also charged that the church compromises the Trinity doctrine by confusing the Persons of the Holy Spirit and the Son in a way similar to modalism. The organization's exclusivity has also comme under fire. According to Lee, each city can and should have only one church. Denominationalism is seen as of the Devil. According to critics, the effect is that Lee-led local churches, usually called by the name of their cities (e.g., the Church in Anaheim or the Church in Chicago), become the only true expressions of the Body of Christ. Thus, according to former members, all other churches or denominations are seen as being outside the will of God or not true churches at all. The Local Church has also gained a reputation for threatening legal action to prevent unfavorable public evaluation of its movement. Even Christian critics have been targeted, adding to the evidence that they do not consider believers outside their movement to be true or obedient Christians (1 Corinthians 6:1–8). http://www.watchman.org/cat95.htm#Local" CELL GROUP DESIGN AND EVANGELISM/CHURCH GROWTH By Joel Comiskey
A Ph.D. Tutorial Presented to Dr. Peace In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy In Intercultural
Studies The School of World Mission FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY |