HOMEGOING '89!
DO 2492
12/88
--Solutions for Our Families Returning to Their Home Fields!
--Church in the Home!
1. YOU WHO GO BACK TO YOUR HOME FIELDS, WHY NOT START A LITTLE BIBLE STUDY GROUP IN YOUR HOME--or SOMEONE ELSE'S home?--Church in the Home! This is the way that we really got started, something which we're accustomed to having & which, if you get enough converts, they'll want to come & fellowship with you & even give you support! Just don't expect too much of them, only that they get saved & attend your meetings & help support you. If you follow the Lord & know how to live by faith, you can do it.
2. AND OF COURSE, YOU SHOULDN'T TALK ABOUT ANY UNUSUAL DOCTRINES--like sex, church buildings, David, the [ACs] or the Holy Spirit being female! Preach CHRIST & Him crucified! (Maria: Yes, & use your BIBLE mostly.) "If I be lifted up," Jesus said, "I will draw all men unto Me!"--John 12:32. Always sit there with your Bible on your lap showing you're preaching the Word, the Bible. You could preach all our basic doctrines right out of the Bible. Stick with the BASICS & don't get too involved with the added details that are more difficult to prove from the Scriptures.
3. THERE'S HARDLY ANYTHING MORE INTERESTING FOR PEOPLE TO START ON RIGHT NOW THAN BIBLE PROPHECY. There's nothing you can preach to encourage people more in this uncertain day & age than Bible prophecy & its fulfillment. Most people are pretty ignorant of it. I would dare say that our Family knows more about true Bible prophecy & the true interpretation of it than any church on Earth!
4. SO WHY NOT HAVE A CHURCH IN THE HOME MINISTRY? You can go straight home to your home country &, with others, rent a house for such a ministry. If they can do so [legally,] without getting too entangled with the System, some of our large families could go straight onto WELFARE--then they'd have enough money to pay the rent & buy their food or get food stamps & everything else for their support while they're starting their little church in the home. (See "Word of Caution" footnote.)
5. PEOPLE IN THE CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES ARE ACCUSTOMED TO THE CHURCH CONCEPT. (Maria: Bible studies in the home are very popular right now.) Oh yes, they call them home study groups. You don't need to rent an extra building or build one or anything. You don't have to broadcast to everyone that you don't believe in churches, just let'm know that your home is the only place you can afford to meet, therefore that's what you do.
6. IT'S A FUNNY THING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE CHURCH-GEARED & MEETING-ORIENTED LIKE MOST OF THOSE FROM CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES, they like to have some PLACE to go to church. You win them to the Lord & they decide, "Well, let's see, being a Christian is going to church.--Where am I going to go to CHURCH now?" Just tell'm, "Well, come over to our Church in the Home & fellowship with other Christians like yourselves!"
7. KEEP UP A FASCINATING STUDY OF BIBLE PROPHECY & OTHER NEEDED SUBJECTS RIGHT OUT OF THE BIBLE THERE ON YOUR LAP! (Maria: This is a tremendous answer for all of our returning missionaries!) Well, it's one of the most natural things for you to do if you go back to your home field.
8. YOU DON'T HAVE TO QUIT SERVING THE LORD, YOU GO RIGHT ON SERVING THE LORD. But make it a little more along the CHURCHY line, Bible studies, etc. It's perfectly natural, just come home & rent a house & get the welfare to pay for it & for your rent & food until you can get something going.
9. YOU'LL BE MORE CREDIBLE WITH YOUR MEMBERS IF YOU SAY, "I'M A PASTOR, I'VE HAD THEOLOGICAL TRAINING."--You all certainly have! And you can get a certificate of graduation in theology & in pastoral training to prove it, just as bona fide as any other Bible College in the World.--Even more so! (Editor: Many stationery stores in the U.S. sell blank ordination certificates. Also, certificates & wallet-sized cards for those in N.A. can be obtained via the want ads in the National Enquirer & other such newspapers.) You're an ordained minister (Jn.15:16), well qualified to preach the Gospel & teach the Bible! That's what most people are geared for & can understand & can receive & accept without thinking you're some kind of a real strange weird oddity of some kind.
REACHING THE UNCHURCHED & THE UNSAVED!
10. (MARIA: YOU MIGHT HAVE TO START OFF WITH UNSAVED PEOPLE because if they're CHRISTIANS already, undoubtedly they'll ALREADY have a church.) Oh, that's what I'm talking about, & this was dear Fred's original idea as well. He said you'd be better off to go out & win your OWN congregation instead of working over the Christians who are already hopeless cases!--This is what he was preaching!: "Go out & win souls right out of the raw heathen & then they'll love you & be so happy they'll receive anything you've got to say." They're so ignorant anyhow, they won't argue about doctrine, they don't have any!
11. (MARIA: A LOT OF THE HOME BIBLE STUDIES ADVISE EVEN GETTING THE UNSAVED PEOPLE TO COME TO YOUR HOME & start THEM studying the Bible, which will then lead them to WANTING to be saved. In other words, you don't even HAVE to get them saved first, just invite them as FRIENDS to come to your house & study the Bible. A lot of people will go to church without being saved.)
12. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DO. They will offer to start a Bible study in your home if you're even the least bit interested. (Maria: And then they tell you, "Well, why don't you get your NEIGHBOURS to come," they suggest, "Why don't YOU invite your neighbours yourself, since you know them better than we do.")
13. AND EVERYBODY, EVEN THE SINNERS, KNOW THAT IT IS A CUSTOM TO PASS THE HAT. Personally, I like the idea of having a little GIFT BOX by the door. That's what I used to have & it worked pretty well. It caught people who came even when there wasn't any service on.
14. IN CHRISTIAN COUNTRIES THIS IS AN ACCEPTED CUSTOM, the whole idea of coming to a home for a prayer circle or a Bible study & that sort of thing, & having a gift box or even passing the offering plate & asking them to please donate, etc. (Maria: Our people are all beautifully prepared for this sort of thing, they've had so much training.) And think of how they can talk about their experiences on the mission field!--Almost all people, even Worldly people, respect missionaries.
15. YOU COULD TELL THEM YOU'RE A RETURNED MISSIONARY, that your field was closed & you had to come home, so you thought you'd do a little evangelistic work at home & get a group together to study the Bible & have fellowship & prayer & even sing a few songs, have a home study group. You can also go out in the daytime & go house-to-house witnessing. That's pretty well accepted in Christian countries. You can take down names & addresses & you can follow-up & revisit, etc.--Especially the people who are very receptive. And if THEY'VE got a better home than YOURS, you can suggest to them, "Maybe you'd like to have a Bible study in YOUR home & invite your friends & neighbours!"
16. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DO, & THEY'RE THE FASTEST GROWING DENOMINATION IN THE WORLD! The Jehovah's Witnesses are smart about avoiding church people. They have their strongest witnessing time SUNDAY MORNING when all the church people are in church! That way they're only reaching the people who are UNchurched & the unsaved, etc., & they've found that much more profitable & fruitful than visiting at other times.
17. GO OUT & FIND THE LOST, THE UNSAVED, THE UNCHURCHED PEOPLE WHO REALLY HAVE PROBLEMS & NEED HELP & NEED PRAYER. And if you go house-to-house it's a method that has proven to be extremely fruitful.
"HOW TO" TIPS FOR YOUR CHURCH IN THE HOME!
18. OUR PEOPLE SHOULDN'T GO HOME FEELING DEFEATED, LIKE THEY NOW HAVE NOTHING TO DO FOR THE LORD. They can go right back to doing what they were doing on the mission field, there's no difference! You don't have to tell them your denomination or anything like that. Just say, "Well, we just have a little independent Bible study group" or prayer circle or, "We have a little Gospel fellowship, would you like to come over to our house?"
19. PEOPLE ARE MUCH MORE INCLINED TO COME TO YOUR HOUSE THAN YOUR CHURCH. They're scared of churches. But they'll come to your house if you invite them like that. (Maria: Our Family certainly knows how to do it, they've had a Church of Love so many times, our kids know how to do skits and sing.) Just do it! Don't be afraid.
20. BUT I WOULD SUGGEST YOU DON'T USE ANY OF OUR STANDARD LITERATURE THAT'S RECOGNISABLE, as once you get recognised you might as well forget it!--Except possibly with some exceptional people you've won who don't care who or what you are. But the CHURCH PEOPLE will probably drive you out of town once they find out! So you're going to have to use some NEW kind of literature, possibly the DFs if they've not already been identified.
21. (MARIA: I WOULD ALSO SUGGEST THAT WHEN YOU GO DOOR-TO-DOOR NOWADAYS THAT YOU JUST HAVE A MAN & A WOMAN AND MAYBE ONE CHILD AT THE MOST, because that is also something we're really known for, going around door-to-door with a big bunch of kids.) Right, that's out because it's too identifying. For them to have one child, or at the most, maybe two, would probably be all right. (Maria: Kids can also be a distraction.) Yes, and actually the people often wonder why the kids are there and why they aren't in school.
22. I'VE ALWAYS SAID FORGET ABOUT HAVING A PROGRAM IN WHICH THERE ARE LITTLE KIDS IF YOU WANT ANY ATTENTION at all. Kids are just natural attention-getters & everybody's watching the KID & his funny antics & what he's doing instead of watching or listening to YOU! (Maria: There'll be time enough for that when you have your Bible study & you can give the kids some time on the program.) Yes, & you don't have to get a baby sitter for your kids, just bring'm along. Or if you're having it in THEIR home just tell'm they don't have to worry about their kids interrupting because we'll have something special for the children.
23. THEN GIVE SOMETHING THAT'S GOOD FOR KIDS, have a special nursery for the children or something. We even used to try to get the kids out of church, that's why they have those nurseries, because the little kids will really disturb the service. We used to have CHILDREN'S CHURCH for the OLDER children, & a NURSERY for BABIES & TODDLERS. (See "Open the Door for the Children," No.588.)
24. GOOD NIGHT, ALL I HAD WAS MY LITTLE HOME WHEN I FIRST WENT TO VALLEY FARMS. The adult class used the livingroom and then the Sunday School had the various ages in the bedrooms!--In the BEDROOMS! You don't have to be ashamed of that. In fact, the kids kind of liked it. It was much less formal than church, you know.
25. EVEN IF YOU'VE GOT TEN OF OUR FAMILIES IN THE SAME CITY, EACH CAN HAVE THEIR OWN LITTLE GROUP in their own particular neighborhood as long as they're not right next door to each other. You should scatter out as much as you can, each in a DIFFERENT part of the city, each in a totally different section or neighbourhood so each one can draw on as many people as possible.
26. (MARIA: THEY CAN STILL HAVE THEIR DAFs & LAFs & DIFFERENT FAMILY MEETINGS IN THE WEEK so that the Family themselves can get the fellowship they need, but they don't have to get their Bible study members all mixed up.) Oh, of course, they should still have Family fellowships!--Everything that has worked on the FIELD will work at HOME as long as you each call your Bible groups a different name & you don't use the same lit & you avoid being identified every way you possibly can. (Maria: That'll take a lot of wisdom & they'll have to re-educate their children on some things.)--Yes, characteristic phrases & expressions & all kinds of things. Well, if they're WISE about it, it CAN be done.
GO TO THE PEOPLE WHOSE LANGUAGE & CUSTOMS YOU KNOW!
27. THERE ARE CHINATOWNS, JAPANESE TOWNS, INDIAN TOWNS, THERE ARE DIFFERENT ETHNIC SECTIONS IN ALMOST EVERY BIG CITY. You who speak those languages could move right into those sections. There are not too many missionaries who can speak those languages who come home & start a church for those people in their own section of town. I believe it would be very fruitful, I'm SURE it would be! And because you're a citizen of your home country, you have more freedom, you speak the language & you have every right to do that sort of thing, to have a church in your home or Bible study group. Then you can do all your marriage counselling or childcare counselling or whatever. Long before the days of psychiatry, people went to their PASTORS for counselling & advice according to the Bible & the Scriptures & the Lord!
28. YOU'VE ALREADY HAD YOUR MOST DIFFICULT JOB, COMING HOME SHOULD BE EASY!--Very easy compared to what you had on the field, where you had visa problems, immigration problems, language problems, support problems & everything! And if you speak a foreign language, try to find a section where they speak it, so you can minister to those people in their own language. There're very likely not too many other pastors or preachers who can reach them.
29. YOU'VE ALMOST GOT AN EXCLUSIVE FRANCHISE! (Maria: And those churchy preachers don't even know HOW to reach them, they don't have the right approach.) No, & they don't know their customs, they don't know the ways of those people, they don't know their beliefs or understand them!
OUR FOLKS' SUPERIOR TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS!
30. OUR KIDS SHOULD BE RELIEVED & THANKFUL THAT THEY ARE NOW TREMENDOUSLY BETTER QUALIFIED than any of these graduates from these Bible Colleges with degrees & ordinations & all that stuff. They're FAR better qualified to start a church & to get out & witness & win souls & win a congregation & to minister to them! They're far better qualified than all these Bible school graduates put together! They've had better training on the field, better training in the LANGUAGES & CUSTOMS, working with foreigners, etc.
31. A MINISTRY LIKE THIS HAS GOT EVERY KIND OF ADVANTAGE.--I ought to know, I've DONE it! (Maria: Sometimes you can reach them first on the basis of some need they have in their marriage or with their children. If you help them in any way with their marriage or their children, which are the two most important things to them, they'll be so thankful. They'll want to repay you in some way.) Amen.
OR START A SCHOOL!
32. ANOTHER POSSIBILITY IS SCHOOLS, CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. I know from experience because I taught in one for three years. Even in a state as strict as California, almost anybody could start a private school, a Christian school. Your teachers didn't even have to be accredited, they didn't even have to have degrees. You could even start it in your home. (See FSMs 122 & 123.) Of course, most of them were started in their churches.
33. IF YOU CAN START A SCHOOL, THEN YOU COULD EXPLAIN WHY YOU HAVE SO MANY CHILDREN. Churches & schools are well thought of, respected, accepted & customary, & people won't think it's strange at all. In all the years I pastored I never had anybody come around & ask to see my ordination certificate.
EXERCISE YOUR CHRISTIAN RIGHTS IN YOUR CHRISTIAN COUNTRY!
34. IN ALMOST EVERY CHRISTIAN COUNTRY YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO PRACTICE YOUR RELIGION, "freedom of religion & speech, press," etc. And therefore, you can go home & start Bible groups, Churches in the Home, as well as get out & witness, publish literature, etc. Just DON'T have any reference to You Know Who & make sure that things are different enough that they can't identify you. Okay?
35. I'VE BEEN WAITING ON THE LORD TO GIVE ME SOMETHING TO ENCOURAGE OUR FOLKS WHO ARE GOING HOME, that they're not finished, nothing's changed, just the name. Nothing's changed except they're probably going to be even FREER now & more LEGAL & living in a more affluent country that can afford to SUPPORT them.--And they're supposed to be CHRISTIAN countries that are more geared to doing things like that, where their religion is the most popular religion in the country, CHRISTIANITY.--And most people are supposed to be Christians or ex-Christians or nominal Christians, at least they're used to Christianity. That's their culture at least, they're used to churches & used to Christianity & used to religion & used to Home Bible studies & all kinds of stuff.
36. SO GET WITH IT! Start a Church in the Home today! GBY! WLY!
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A WORD OF CAUTION REGARDING WELFARE!
37. From NACRO:
"We've been counselling the Homes in North America to depend more on the LORD to supply the funds through outreach rather than through System jobs or welfare. It's true that although welfare can be a help, most Homes in the USA & Canada who have taken advantage of it 'just temporarily' end up sucked into DEPENDENCE on it. Most of the Homes who receive welfare are those who are doing the LEAST as far as OUTREACH or SUPPORTING MISSIONARIES on the field. We don't feel that NO Home should take advantage of it, as Dad has said in past Letters that we SHOULD take advantage of what we can get from the System. But we'd like to emphasise to the Homes the importance of USING IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WITNESS MORE & DO MORE FOR THE LORD, otherwise it's not so good.
"There's also the other side of the coin, 'CAESAR'S POUND OF FLESH,' & when people start depending on the System welfare benefits for their main support, they start to COMPROMISE in so many areas. They're afraid to witness very much because the welfare authorities might cut their allotments. They have to either put their kids in public school or hide them inside all day, because apparently to be eligible for welfare your kids need to be in a public school, or at least in a private school. Little by little the compromises can grow until it practically annuls their witness & usefulness to the Lord. So it seems to us that although it has its advantages if used WISELY, it can also be a real trap of the Enemy for those who are weaker."
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family