Who do you want to be tomorrow?

Now you can choose. This is an offer of an adventure, and a whole new life. Over time, we will help you to:

∙ Gain the power you need to solve your worst problems

∙ Discover a new lifestyle of freedom, free from the burdens and limitations of being locked into traditional church
programs that drain off your energies

∙ Acquire a razor-sharp sense of purpose and direction

∙ Become the kind of person you've always put on a pedestal, the kind you thought you'd never be

∙ Get a new self-image as you discover freedom from the ecclesiastical hierarchies, structures, and status systems that keep Christians penned in

∙ Conquer your worst long-term habits (usually known as sins) and start to experience the peace that springs from a healthy and holy life

∙ Gather around yourself a group of close friends who are strongly committed to your spiritual growth and success...as you are to theirs

∙ Find true teamwork in a small circle marked by open participation, loyalty, accountability, and intimate friendships

∙ Learn how to be a minister, serving others your way, using your God-given gifts

∙ Remake your home into a model of harmony, happiness, and respect

∙ Join the exciting adventure of the life-and-death struggle to transform the entire world

∙ Experience the overwhelming presence of God on a regular basis.

Until recently, accomplishing all this would have been pretty unlikely. Now it's not.

It's Time for You to Take a Step Up

It is also larger than the Great Awakenings (1727 onward), the wonderful revivals of spirituality in Europe and America in which God used men like Wesley, Whitefield, the Moravians, and Jonathan Edwards to warm the hearts of God's people and lead them to a deeper walk of personal faith.

The current shift amounts to a AThird Reformation, an era-ending transformation of the church and her people. Three main signposts:

∙ The church is morphing from an organization into an organism. After 1700 years of top-down, institutional structures, we are quickly becoming the body of Christ in a more New Testament sense. We are starting to recover our original form and functions. We are rapidly figuring out what to do with apostles, prophets, pastors, elders, and Christians with hundreds of varieties of giftings.

In the open Christianity movement (that primarily means house churches), we've cleaned up our act. We've gotten rid of the "draggy" stuff, the sermons, programs, hierarchies, committees, buildings, and salaried pastors, none of which are in the Bible anyway. It's a long-overdue step up from Protestantism, though our basic beliefs all remain the same.

∙ The participant base of the church, the number of believers taking active roles, has expanded by a factor of perhaps 100 (from one "pack mule", pastor to everybody pitching in). In many places, the grandstands are emptying as church members surge onto the playing field. As a result, a flood of miracles has been released in scores of nations overseas (not all through house churches by any means, but total participation in ministry does help).

∙ Church growth outside of America is now breathtaking. Every morning, there are 175,000 more Christians in the world. And if current growth rates (8% a year) were to continue, everyone in the world would be a core apostolic Christian by 2032! As a side effect of this expansion, Christianity is no longer a white man's religion; whites are now only 30% of the global church.

But aren't the other religions still growing? By birth rates, yes. By conversion, no, not much. Wherever our grass-roots brand of Christianity meets head-on with opponents from other major faiths overseas, the results are almost always the same: The Christians prevail, people get saved, and new networks of house churches start. The other faiths, resting largely on foundations of fantasies and misinformation, have few solid arguments, so when they win confrontations, it is usually through violence, persecution, fines, imprisonment, or confiscation of property.

The bottom line: The world is rapidly becoming all Christian.

Are You Living Too Small a Life?

Over the past 1700 years, low-commitment, conformist Christianity has been the norm for most believers. It is centered around attending church services, which is basically passive. In our day, it has come to seem more and more like watching TV, but without a remote, so you're stuck with one channel for 90 minutes. Small wonder that U.S. Protestantism has shrunk to less than half the population for the first time in 200 years, diving from 63% in 1993 to under 50% about now. (From a UPI report 7/20/04 citing a new survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago)

These aren't free offers! In fact, they have a steep price (see below). But we hope you'll decide the benefits are worth every bit of the cost.

1. A Transforming Empowerment

How would you like to . . .

∙ Be strong enough to take major steps of faith in your work or finances, moving ahead far faster?
∙ Ask God with confidence to change a family situation that's causing problems or holding you back?
∙ Reach out to people and touch their lives, even leading many people to make a commitment to Christ?
∙ Handle setbacks without panic or depression, trusting the Lord to make lemonade out of the lemons life hands you?
∙ Be able to walk into a bad environment and transform it by the presence of God's Spirit within you and the power
of the words you speak?

Our goal for open churches is to create Christian disciples
who are trained, empowered, and motivated to do these
kinds of things.

God has been waiting 3,000 years for His people to stop wanting a king or pastor to tell them what to do. And at last, it's happening! He is developing disciples who are mature enough to be able to feed themselves spiritually, without being spoon-fed by a clergyman. He wants you to be a priest, not a layman! (Exodus 19:6)

2. Responsible Freedom

How would you like to . . .

∙ Dump your status of layman and try for something a little higher than spiritual serfdom?
∙ Learn to use your spiritual gifts without being hindered and obstructed by traditional top-down structures, rituals,
bureaucratic speed bumps, and committee red tape?
∙ Get used to serving others in your style using your spiritual gifts in the places God wants you (instead of in the karma-like cycle of program-based duties in church)?
∙ Enjoy being on a winning team that has strong elements of a tailgate party, family dinner, combat platoon, and field
trip to heaven?
∙ Experience a character transformation, from being part of an audience to being a responsible player, sharing with
your teammates an attitude of responsibility for the success of the group and everyone in it?
∙ Find yourself doing things you once thought were totally out of your range?

You'll discover all this and more in a wide open, program-free, hierarchy-free, bureaucracy-free house church. It will give you gifted pastoral attention without clergy, a great atmosphere without a three million dollar mortgage, and a loyal circle of friends without all the headaches of "church."

As a free bonus, you never have to listen to another sermon.

Would you like to have that kind of group around you?

4. Close Friendships

How would you like to have some friends . . .

∙ Who know all your shortcomings and still love you?
∙ Who would still make an effort to stand by you even if you started behaving like a jerk?
∙ Who would never get in your way unless you were headed sharply downhill (and then they just wouldn't let you keep sliding)?
∙ Who would give you generous amounts of money if they had it and you were facing a tough emergency?
∙ Who would gently but persistently bug you to keep you on track to reach the high goals you've shared with them?

You can find these kinds of friends in a small circle dedicated to one another as a complement of their dedication to Jesus Christ and His kingdom. When your circle has open participation in the meetings and 24/7 support outside the meetings, you've got a network where million-dollar friendships can thrive.

5. New Identity

How would you like to upgrade yourself . . .

∙ From a sinner to a saint?
∙ From a mere layman or laywoman to a member of a royal priesthood, with all its privileges and authority? (See I
Peter 2:9.)
∙ From a wobbler to an overcomer, one who takes problems in stride and typically defeats them?

Open Christianity is not a two-tiered system with an elite few in the upper story and us cattle milling around below! It is a Biblical-style family with people to whom God has given a new heart and identity. Think of your new life as like being in a government witness-protection program . . . except you don't have to grow a beard and move to the Yukon. Throw off all the false labels and limitations of man-made tradition! Step up to the higher identity that Christ died to give you.

6. Breakthrough Solutions

How would you like to . . .

∙ Avoid any chronic, cascading failures that can ruin your life?
∙ Discover fresh solutions to problems you had accepted as permanent?
∙ Make up lost ground from wasted years?
∙ Learn how to keep growing spiritually, year after year, without slowing down even in your old age?

Most people who become Christians grow well for two or three years. Then they get stuck. They hit a plateau and grow only slowly after that. In fact, it's rare to find someone making rapid spiritual progress at, say, 80. Whatever character flaws and bad habits they had at 40, they'll still have at 80.

What is their main strategic mistake? They try to solve their problems on their own, without a supportive circle to keep them growing. But that's not Christianity, it's Hollywood heroics. God made us to be working members of His family, team players who have the strength and wisdom of twelve or fifteen devoted friends.

7. God's Presence

How would you like to . . .
∙ Experience a "personal visit" from God on a regular basis in your team meetings every week?
∙ Get a spiritual jump-start that will supernaturally energize your mind and heart?
∙ Be able to anticipate that the Lord will show up in your meetings every week so plainly and palpably that even
non-Christians can feel Him moving their hearts?
∙ Have a closer friendship with God than you ever imagined? C. Peter Wagner, president of Global Harvest
Ministries, says, "The miracles in the book of Acts were just a warmup for what God is doing today."
∙ Begin to see miraculous events happen when those in your house church call on Him? The eternal Commander
of the angel armies of heaven does not come when we snap our fingers. He is Lord, we aren't.

But we can strongly encourage Him to show up in our meetings in His great power and loving presence. There are ways to open wide our door for Him to come in and make Himself at home. Here are the first two: We can make Him the Lord and emcee of our gatherings instead of conducting programs. And we can set aside part of each meeting just to focus on Him, worship Him audibly (serially or together), and quietly listen for the still, small voice of His Spirit.

Many people go to house churches for the fellowship. Or the freedom. Or the healing or empowerment or the solutions to problems or the presence of God in meetings.

Those are good reasons, of course. But sooner or later, you'll find there is much more.

There is reaching out to help the suffering and dying world. There is your help for the unsaved, bringing them to life in Christ. There is your impact on society as you and your team bring wholeness and tear down the established evils that still dominate most of the culture.

As your circle grows and multiplies, don't let it degrade into a "bless-me" club. Go for the whole shootin' match. Work to keep it from being ingrown, introspective, or stagnant. The effort will be eminently worthwhile.

So What's All This Going to Cost Me?

The eightfold offer you just read has a hefty price tag. No surprise there. The only free lunch is in a mousetrap.

But we hope and expect you'll be eager to pay it. Considering the huge benefits, you'll probably agree that the cost is fair.

So as not to scare you off, we've boiled all this down to six simple requirements.

Then we've added on four more that aren't really requirements. They're just steps that we think will make life better for you in the long run.

You can call this . . .

Six Gottas, Four Oughttas

1. You've got to be ready to take a giant step up, to a higher level of life. (The next great move of God in this country can't be built on looky-loos and complacent spectators! You must be forthright, saying that you're at Point A and you want to get to Point B, and that's why you're here.)

2. You've got to be ready to take responsibility for the success of your team. (That means not expecting others to
do all the work. If there's a dull meeting, whose fault is it? Yours, sweetpea!)

3. You've got to learn to love one another. (In secular terms, that involves dropping your cranky, out-and-out individualism and becoming a team player.)

4. You've got to be willing to bear the burdens of the others in your group and pray for them consistently. (The good part is, they'll do the same for you.)

5. You've got to be clear on your mission as a believer. (If you're in a spiritual fog bank, be eager to read some
books or seek additional training to develop your gifts and carry out that mission.)

6. In return for the blessing, empowerment, and help you receive, you've got to pay attention to, and respect the
authority of the servant-leaders God provides for you. (That includes elders plus apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. We hope He gives you some great ones! But this does not imply a hierarchical or chain-of-command relationship. We aren't building a denomination here.)

If you aren't motivated to make at least a decent effort on these six items, you'd probably be happier in a traditional "audience" church, where the effort required is considerably less.

If you're still with us, here are the four oughttas. Remember, these are suggestions for your benefit, not requirements in any house church we know of:

1. You should make a firm decision to turn away from control-based, low-commitment systems with their split between clergy and laity, and make a decisive turn toward high-commitment, open Christianity. (Of course, this is a commitment to Christ, not to a human organization. But keeping one foot planted firmly in two radically different camps is a sure formula for frustration.)

2. You should be prepared to pay the price of being a pioneer. (Believe it or not, you may face suspicion or even ostracism by your Christian friends, spiritual opposition by various forces for evil, and possibly even outright persecution. It has happened.)

3. You should adopt a lifestyle of periodic repentance and constant obedience. (That doesn't mean you walk around moaning and depressed for the rest of your life! But remember, the most common blunder we Christians make is thinking that we've conquered all our worst sins and arrived at a sufficiently high spiritual level.)

4. You should try to make daily steps of faith and not stagnate in your walk with God.

Conclusion

Is there a voice inside you somewhere saying yes to all this? Does it maybe sound too good to pass up?

We hope so. Today could be a major turning point in your life. But if you just go away from here, you may never come back. That's how life is.

Ten More Good Steps
You Can Take at This Point

1. Snoop around this site some more! It's not huge, but we've parked some really helpful stuff here.

2. Get a copy of MEGASHIFT: The Best News Since Year One. You just can't grasp the big picture without it. Read it, and you'll never wake up in the same old world again. In Appendix Three, "How to Raise the Dead, a Dozen at a Time," you'll find some practical suggestions on launching your own church planting movement. Click HERE to order. See our exclusive offer.

3. Visit www.openchurch.com, the site of our central non-profit ministry, Open Church Ministries. Among other things, it offers a wider variety of literature and tapes plus a U.S. location map of open churches. (Other websites with maps and lists of other house churches are mentioned in the bibliography of MEGASHIFT.)

4. Hop in your car and come meet us face to face at one of our regional gatherings. Click on Future Events & Trips.

5. Hop on a plane and come meet us face to face at one of our periodic national boot camps or Training Blasts in our
U.S. headquarters in rural southern Georgia. Click on Future Events & Trips.

6. If you're excited by the idea of being in an open church but you realize that you're still at an earlier stage of your spiritual life and perhaps aren't quite up to speed for all this, go to www.alphacourse.org or www.alphausa.org. The Alpha folks have done a stellar job of putting together a free course that beautifully answers all the basic issues and questions. ("How can I really know if I'm saved? What about the sincere Buddhist or Hindu? And so on.") The course is given in 28,690 locations worldwide. If there's no course near you, they'll even let you and your friends sponsor one using their materials.

7. Go to www.covbible.org, the site of Covenant Bible Institute, our tiny but dazzling new innovation in education. It's the first Bible college and graduate school to concentrate on open church principles while catering only to the "new saints," kingdom Christians determined to make an extreme impact on the world for God without becoming a clergyperson.

8. You can try to get the attention of one of our volunteer regional coordinators! We are wildly understaffed and
underfunded for the massive work we have undertaken, but our regional coordinators will consult with you to the
extent of their available time for advising hundreds or thousands of inquirers.

9. If you are that rare person who has already started at least one successful house church and still has time to help others do the same, please contact Dr. M. Lynn Reddick, president of Open Church Ministries, at ocmoffice@openchurch.com. We need many more volunteer coordinators to give live help.

10. If you still aren't sure which steps to take next, pray about it. We're not being trite here. Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice. Ask Him what to do next, and He will tell you.

Whatever path you follow, we would very much like to work side by side with you, pushing back the incredibly ugly forces of darkness and bringing people into life-giving ministry through Christ-centered, Spirit-driven teams, open rings of kindred souls who want to help you and also want you to widen and deepen your spiritual power and character as you learn to help them. This is the final war of good vs. evil, and you have an important role to play in it. The ball is in your court. Please let us hear from you.