What We've Become
Whatever happened to The Rock House Church Network? Once upon a time, weren't they the sponsor of the House Church Network Association (HCNA)?
Well, The Rock is still here. We've just grown up a bit and figured some things out.
The Rock House Church Network started in response to the growing spiritual malaise across North America. Once upon a time The Rock had been a rather unconventional brick-and-mortar church, but we came to the conclusion that - for us - continuing to pour money into a church building and perpetual salaries was both counter-productive and faithless. So, we sold our building and launched a three-year "experiment" to see if we could manufacture a model for house church that matched to global movements.
Three years later, where do we stand? Wiser and humbler.
For one, we discovered that God didn't put us on earth to manufacture anything that's of the spiritual realm. We don't have the tools, the technology, nor the ability. The fact is, movements happen when the Spirit moves. Period. The Lord told us to pray for God to raise up workers for the harvest field (Luke 10:2), not for us to get out there and recruit, convince, and cajole people into our mold. When we do, we take living stones and turn them into bricks - they fit well in a the conventional church's structure, but all in all they're just another brick in the wall. Bricks all look the same and they don't do much besides keeping the weather out. Living Stones, on the other hand, do God's bidding, whatever that may be.
And so, we don't recruit anymore - instead, we pray. We beseech the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers and to send them out into the harvest fields. And if we can assist those God raises up by supporting them, helping to train them, coaching, or mentoring them, well, then our three-year experiment has been a grand success.
Well, The Rock is still here. We've just grown up a bit and figured some things out.
The Rock House Church Network started in response to the growing spiritual malaise across North America. Once upon a time The Rock had been a rather unconventional brick-and-mortar church, but we came to the conclusion that - for us - continuing to pour money into a church building and perpetual salaries was both counter-productive and faithless. So, we sold our building and launched a three-year "experiment" to see if we could manufacture a model for house church that matched to global movements.
Three years later, where do we stand? Wiser and humbler.
For one, we discovered that God didn't put us on earth to manufacture anything that's of the spiritual realm. We don't have the tools, the technology, nor the ability. The fact is, movements happen when the Spirit moves. Period. The Lord told us to pray for God to raise up workers for the harvest field (Luke 10:2), not for us to get out there and recruit, convince, and cajole people into our mold. When we do, we take living stones and turn them into bricks - they fit well in a the conventional church's structure, but all in all they're just another brick in the wall. Bricks all look the same and they don't do much besides keeping the weather out. Living Stones, on the other hand, do God's bidding, whatever that may be.
And so, we don't recruit anymore - instead, we pray. We beseech the Lord of the harvest to raise up workers and to send them out into the harvest fields. And if we can assist those God raises up by supporting them, helping to train them, coaching, or mentoring them, well, then our three-year experiment has been a grand success.
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