{"id":837,"date":"2016-06-22T09:47:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T16:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asiamissions.net\/?p=837"},"modified":"2018-09-09T00:19:52","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T07:19:52","slug":"asias-house-church-movements-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/?p=837","title":{"rendered":"ASIA\u2019S HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENTS TODAY"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-size: 0.8em; text-align: right;\"><em>David S. Lim<\/em><\/p>\n<p>How do the house church movements (HCMs) in Asia understand their biblical vision and actualize their mission strategy? The answers to this question comes from the perspective of an Asian (Chinese-Filipino) house church leader who has been trained as a biblical theologian and has been advocating for HCMs in Asia since 1987 and fully practicing house churching as one of its key leaders in\u00a02001.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the leaders in the HCMs in Asia have been meeting annually since 2006 in regional and continental summits to pray, fellowship and plan together on how to make disciples of all the peoples and nations of our vastly un-evangelized continent and beyond. Asia continues to have the most number of unreached peoples living in regions dominated by major religious faiths and political ideologies with almost negligible Christian influence. Can the Christ-following minorities of Asia really reach out to our Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Communist, and secular humanist neighbors effectively, so that the Great Commission can be fulfilled among them, even in our generation?<\/p>\n<p>The Asian HCMs believe that by God\u2019s grace, we can be the major force in Asia\u2019s harvest in partnership with churches in our respective neighborhoods and countries. Actually if HCMs were considered as one denomination, we would be the largest in Asia perhaps as of two years ago. And if our Lord tarries, at the rate of our multiplication nowadays we may soon be the largest church body as large as all the denominational churches in Asia combined in the next two years.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Our Vision: Kingdomization or Societal Transformation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Asia\u2019s HCMs believe that God desires His people to bless all peoples to inherit eternal life in heaven and abundant life on earth (= shalom\/peace) as they obey Him as their Creator and King through their faith in His Son Jesus Christ. He thus made a simple plan for world redemption called \u201cchurch planting movements\u201d (CPMs) or \u201cdisciple multiplication movements\u2019 (DMMs) by which all peoples and nations will be made into disciples\/followers of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. By His grace, all HC networks seek to work with all Jesus-followers to realize His reign on earth until He returns to set up His eternal kingdom (Rev. 11:1).<\/p>\n<p>We shall pray and work for \u201ckingdomization\u201d or &#8220;societal transformation,&#8221; by which the individuals, families, communities and institutions in our nations will be enabled to relate with each other and with other communities with biblical (= God&#8217;s kingdom) norms and values. We seek to build Christ-centered transformational communities that are growing in righteousness and justice marked by self-giving love (Greek: agape), where every house and workplace is a church. Righteousness refers to right relationships (usually using one word: &#8220;love&#8221;) with God, with self, with all people (esp. those already in the Kingdom, Gal. 6:10) and with creation.<\/p>\n<p>Our goal is for all peoples to accept the biblical worldview and behavioral patterns, which shall have been contextually institutionalized into laws, policies and structures. This will be achieved through the processes of evangelization and disciple-making &#8212; to form Christ-centered and Bible-based communities in places of residence (neighborhoods) and in places of work or study (schools, factories, government offices, banks, stores, etc.) &#8212; where God&#8217;s word is discussed, applied and lived out relevantly in their daily life. Any section of creation can be sanctified and transformed by prayer to God in Jesus\u2019 name and obedience to His word (1 Tim. 4:4-5). Thus there is actually no need to build Christian or church buildings, for all properties of Christ-followers belong to (and should be used for) His kingdom (Jn. 4:21-24; Acts 7:48; 17:24-28)!<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Biblical Basis of our Kingdom\/Transformational Mission<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>We also hold the following seven (7) biblical basis of our Kingdom\/transformational mission:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>God intended His redemption plan to be spread to all nations (from Jerusalem) in the quickest possible time \u2013 for His desire is to save all (2 Pet.3:8-9, 1 Tim 2:3-5).<\/li>\n<li>For rapid fulfillment of His desire to save all, God\u2019s plan of world evangelization must be simple, so simple that ordinary believers, including new, young and\/or illiterate believers can do evangelism (Jn. 4; Mk. 5:1-20; Lk. 5:1-11). The gospel message is simple, too: \u201cJesus Christ is Lord who alone gives eternal and abundant life,\u201d which any believer can share with others, esp. their family and friends and school\/work-mates!<\/li>\n<li>The quickest way possible is to mobilize as many believers as possible (if possible, every Christ-believer), perhaps by the millions to evangelize and disciple the nations. The Great Commission is given to all believers. This is the priesthood of every believer in practice (1 Pet. 2:9-10; cf. Exod. 19:5-6).<\/li>\n<li>Each believer can and should be discipled to become a disciple-maker. It is possible to plant and program the right DNA into new converts, so that they will grow and develop into reproducing Christ-followers for the rest of their life by the power of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim.2:2).<\/li>\n<li>Life is relationships; all the rest are details! To disciple means to equip Christ-followers with just three relational skills: (a) hearing God through prayerful meditation to turn His word (logos) into a word (rhema) to be obeyed (2 Tim.3:16-17); (b) making disciples through leading a \u201chouse church\u201d in Bible reflection and sharing, thereby each one learns how to do personal devotions (or \u201cQuiet Time\u201d = lectio divina) with fellow believers (Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 14:26); and (c) doing friendship evangelism to share what they learn of God and His will with their networks of non-believing kin and friends.<\/li>\n<li>These millions of reproducing believers can be produced through mentoring (or better, \u201cdiscipling\u201d) by disciple-makers (= servant-leaders) who seek to equip all believers (cf. Eph. 4:11-16) right in their house church meetings, usually in their residences and workplaces. Our Lord Jesus trained his twelve apostles to do this \u201cmaster plan for world evangelization,\u201d and they did it (Lk.9:1-6; 10:1-24). The Apostle Paul did it, and in eight years he testified that he had no more people (both Jews and Gentiles) to evangelize in the northern Mediterranean area (Rom.15:18-20, cf. Ac.19:1-10)!<\/li>\n<li>Kingdomization can be done effectively and strategically through the disciple-making movement (DMM) or church planting movement (CPM) mission paradigm, so as to produce \u201cpeople movements,\u201d especially if combined with Community Development and C-5 (high contextualization) strategies, which many missiologists label as \u201cinsider movements\u201d (IMs) nowadays (Talman &amp; Travis 2015). And it will be done: Our Lord Jesus told his disciples, \u201cFear not little flock! For it is your Father\u2019s pleasure to give you the Kingdom.\u201d (Lk. 12:32). We have found like-minded partners in the campus evangelism, marketplace ministry, community transformation, business as mission (BAM) and tentmaker movements in Asia and globally.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><strong>Our Simple Strategy: Disciple Multiplication Movements (DMM)<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>House churches (HCs) are actually \u201cdisciple-making groups,\u201d which may also be called \u201csimple (or organic) churches,\u201d \u201cbasic ecclesial communities\u201d (BEC), \u201coffice cells,\u201d \u201ccare groups,\u201d etc. It is any small (not more than 20 adults or 10 couples, preferably as \u201ctwo or three\u201d for intimate sharing) Christ-worshipping and Scripture-honoring body of believers who have covenanted to meet regularly and are willing to be held accountable for their Christ-centered lives to one another.<\/p>\n<p>HCs focus on the \u201cdisciple-making\u201d process, which starts when a believer finds another one (old or new believer does not matter much) who care to pray and work together to build up one another (1 Cor. 14:26; Heb. 10:24-25) and to help each other fulfill the Great Commission (Heb. 10:24-25). They will seek to turn friends into converts, through \u201cfriendship (or incarnational) evangelism,\u201d and then also into disciples by inviting them to become HC members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDisciples\u201d are those who are willing to be mentored to form a more Christ-like character, equipped to discover and minister with their spiritual gift(s), and trained to do evangelism and lead HCs. By then, the disciple should have become a \u201cdisciple-maker,\u201d empowered (given authority) to lead his\/her own HC network. The HCs may be (a) residential, where its members meet in homes, living out their faith in their neighborhood, or (b) professional, where its members meet in their place of work or study, and witness to their faith in the marketplace.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>EXPANSION<\/u><\/strong>. HCMs grow through \u201ccell multiplication,\u201d normally in less than a year, by starting one or more similar groups, in love, to make more disciples for Christ. This happens intentionally, as members are encouraged to disciple new believers in new (their own!) HCs, or, to pair up and start new HCs in their contexts. At the start of each HC (say, the first month), it is best that they meet as often as possible (if possible, daily!) After several months (maximum of three years), HCs of \u201cHC leaders\u201d can meet less regularly, say, monthly and then quarterly, and later annually or even just through correspondence and social media (email and Facebook)!<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>PROGRAMMING<\/u><\/strong>. The weekly program in HC meetings are informal, flexible and contextual, with the free mixture of activities according to the needs and giftings of the participants, as set by the leader(s) in close consultation with all the members. Activities include: prayer, Bible reflection, fellowship (try to include a simple\/potluck meal together always!) and sharing, collection and stewardship of resources for community service and missions support. Following 1 Cor. 14:26 pattern of meeting, all members come prepared to \u201cdisciple (or teach, encourage, confess sins, etc.) one another,\u201d as they participate in building one another in their body-life together.<\/p>\n<p>For Bible reflection, the leader facilitates discussion by prayerfully choosing an appropriate biblical text, and as it is read three times (with one-minute pauses after each reading), and then just asks the group to answer two questions: (1) \u201cWhich verse (or word or idea) in the passage is most meaningful for you? Why?\u201d And (2) \u201cHow can we apply what we have learned for the good of our family, friends and\/or community\/workplace?\u201d. To train their members to be disciple-makers, they just add another question, (3) \u201cWho are the two people you can share our lessons with?\u201d and expect them to report what happens in the next meeting. These members are encouraged to not bring their contacts to the HC, but to form and lead new HCs themselves.<\/p>\n<p>For sharing time, they can answer any or all of these questions: \u201cWhat has God done for you lately?\u201d \u201cWhat has God been teaching you lately?\u201d and \u201cWhat have you done for God lately?\u201d Emergency issues should take precedence over planned activities. Hence, between opening and closing prayers, each HC grows spiritually together (literally) \u201cas the Spirit leads\u201d!<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Our Cross-Cultural Missions: Effective Tentmaking<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Since 2005, the Philippine Missions Association\u2019s (PMA) flagship mobilization program has focused on equipping and sending overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to be tentmakers who catalyze simple disciple multiplication movements (DMMs) to bless the nations. This is similar to the Back to Jerusalem mission of the major HCMs in China where they envisioned tentmakers sent like ants, bees and worms, rather than as lions and elephants (Hattaway 2003).<\/p>\n<p>To show how DMM works on the ground, here is one training module called \u201cTentmakers Crash Course,\u201d which describes effective tentmaking as consisting of seven steps, all of which can be done in 6-10 months by beginners, and in less than a month by experts:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong><em>Make a second home<\/em><\/strong>. When they arrive in any new place, they should find a \u201cperson of peace\u201d (Lk.10:5-6) and settle down in such a way the people they will invite later will feel comfortable to visit their new home. This includes loving the people, learning the language, appreciating the culture and religion, and following their cultural customs as much as possible (1 Cor.9:19-23)! They should never criticize their host culture (esp. politics and religion) in front of them, even in private.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make friends<\/em><\/strong>. They must aim to make 2-6 \u201cbest friends\u201d with the networks of the \u201cperson of peace.\u201d They start by being approachable and sociable. They must be good conversationalists by being good listeners. They must spend much time with their new friends, making most of their interests their own, too. They must give gifts in special occasions, be hospitable and invite their friends to eat, cook or even sleep overnight at their place. Above all, they should help their friends in their time of need!<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make friends with leaders<\/em><\/strong>. They must try to make 1-2 leaders to be their friends, too. Upon arrival, they should visit key leaders and give them a gift or at least offer to help in community affairs. They must do their jobs well, as excellently as possible, and give extra free service sometimes. They should participate in community activities, volunteer as member or officer in working or planning committees, and share any suggestion for improvement with their leader-friends, and proceed only with their approval.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make converts<\/em><\/strong>. When opportunity arises (and there will be plenty), they should be ready to share Jesus with these friends (1 Pet.3:15). According to their need or concern, they can share their testimony with them: how Jesus works in their life. Then they can share about the life and teachings of Jesus that are relevant for them (each one may need a different emphasis). Once they are sure that the friends truly want to follow Jesus as their leader, helper, forgiver and\/or guide, they can invite them to be baptized; and when they freely consent, they can baptize them in private! The key is to be sure that the friends have changed their allegiance from idols (religious or material) to Jesus! If trained, they can opt to wait until the time is ripe for the converts\u2019 whole family or whole community to be converted and baptized together!<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make disciples<\/em><\/strong>. They then must disciple the 2-6 converts in one-on-one and small group discipling relationships. The more times they spend together right after their conversions, the better. There is no need to use any materials; they just urge the new believers to read the Bible in the language(s) they understand, and discuss their questions and insights with them. They must trust the Holy Spirit to speak to them through the Word, and they will have the wisdom to guide them to learn from the Bible (cf. Acts 20:28-32). For \u201cBible sharing\u201d sessions, they just choose a short passage and ask, \u201cWhat does this text say in our own words?\u201d and \u201cWhat is God telling us to do in this text?\u201d The goal is to bring each one to spiritual maturity in Christ-likeness (Col.1:28-29), which is to live a life of obedience to God \u2013 a life full of agape-love\/grace (out of sinful self-centeredness to sacrificial service for others, esp. the poor, cf. Matt. 22:37-39; 25:31-46; Gal. 6:1-10; Heb. 10:24-25).<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make disciple-makers<\/em><\/strong>. As they are discipling their new converts, they should encourage the latter to make their own converts and disciples from among their own friends, relatives and neighbors, a few individuals or groups at a time. Their disciples can start discipling their own disciples by just following what they have been doing with them. The new disciplers just have to be a couple of steps ahead of their disciples! They should lead their own group and not bring their disciples to the tentmaker\u2019s group. It is best that they do not even visit their disciples\u2019 groups. After all, they will be growing spiritually faster as they lead their own group in our life-based interactive mutual learning model of disciple-making.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Make a planned exit<\/em><\/strong>. To disciple is to Model, Assist, Watch and Leave (M.A.W.L.)! This is actually step no. 1: to plan to exit as soon as possible, so that our disciples \u201cgraduate\u201d to be our equals \u2013 disciple-makers and servant-leaders in their own right! The tentmaker\u2019s role is just to be a mentor, guide or coach for a while, and then stop meeting them regularly and tell them, \u201cGreater works you will do without me,\u201d just like what Jesus told his disciples when he was about to leave them (Jn.14:12). They must not be surprised when their disciples (esp. the leader-types) do better contextual witness and multiplication than them! Of course, they can keep in touch with them by correspondence and visits, as Paul did with his disciples. Then God can send them to another unreached area, so that they can repeat the same process there.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In most Asian HCMs, we emphasize that DMMs aim to plant \u201cpeople movements\u201d by equipping disciples to multiply simple biblical Christianity &#8212; contextualized, holistic and transformational \u201cindigenous churches\u201d that are truly replicable: self-governing, self-supporting, self-propagating and self-theologizing. We will be planting \u201cchurches\u201d that will be copied by future generations of Christians, so we should avoid transplanting denominational churches (= complex Christianity) which are often non-contextual (= foreign-looking, if not actually foreign), hence have almost always produced marginalized Christians who are separated from their communities &#8212; despised and rejected by their family and friends, not because of the Gospel but because of their extra-biblical forms.<\/p>\n<p>So, we prefer to encourage our disciples not to attend an international fellowship or denominational church, if there is any, perhaps except in special occasions. They should just focus on making disciples and multiplying \u201csimple churches,\u201d for where two or three believers are gathered prayerfully, there is the church (Matt. 18:19-20)! They should encourage their disciples to just \u201cgossip Jesus\u201d and multiply small \u201cdisciple-making groups\u201d among their friends and kin in their neighborhoods and work-places. They are to just do this spiritual \u201cnetwork marketing\u201d of the Gospel from city to city \u2013 till every home and workplace in the world knows and obeys Jesus.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Our Historical Development: National House Church Networks<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The Christian world came to know about HCMs mainly through the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution (1966-69) in China when the almost extinguished Christianity emerged as \u201cunregistered churches\u201d in the rural areas and some cities. Most of these HC networks have grown exponentially to as large as 7-8 million, especially in the central and southern provinces of China, and estimated to be about 100 million strong nationwide by 2012.<\/p>\n<p>When we convened in Manila for the first Asian HCM Leaders Summit in 2006, we knew that 75% of China\u2019s HC networks have become mainly \u201cmicro-churches\u201d that have the clergy-led, hierarchical and \u201cedifice complex\u201d ecclesiology, so that if religious freedom comes to China, they will be building Christendom structures as soon as possible, as is evident in many cities and regions of China since 1990s. Yet six of the leaders from the \u201cpure 25%\u201d were providentially present at the summit as they joined 40 others from other countries: Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand and U.S.A.<\/p>\n<p>The first Phil. HCM Leaders Summit was convened earlier in Manila in 2005. Since then they have met annually in 20-30 participant summits to encourage one another and plan together for expanding the movement nationwide and beyond. We have met in Quezon City (2007), Cebu (2008), Cagayan de Oro (2009), Tagaytay (2010, when we were joined by 5 HC leaders from USA and Australia), Valencia (2011, when we adopted the name \u201cStar Grass Coalition\u201d), Novaliches (2012, when we chose \u201chealthy lifestyle\u201d and \u201corganic farming\u201d as our entry-points into communities, the latter similar to \u201capostolic gardens\u201d of the largest Indian HCM today), Babatngon (2013, when we adopted Creative Community Foundation Inc., CCFI, as our main national development organization), Iloilo (2014), and Davao (2015, when we formed the Phil. Community Supported Agriculture Network and joined the Phil. Movement for Transformational Leadership).<\/p>\n<p>At the first Asian Summit in 2006, we already learned that among ourselves there were several HCM training modules ready for use across Asia: Bruce Carlton\u2019s \u201cProject Thessalonica,\u201d Tony Dale\u2019s \u201cGetting Started\u201d with DVD, my \u201cTentmakers Crash Course,\u201d Roberto Claro\u2019s \u201cA Higher Purpose for Your Overseas Job,\u201d Mitsuo Fukuda\u2019s \u201cUpward, Outward, Inward,\u201d Robin Corner\u2019s \u201c Simple Church,\u201d Navigators\u2019 \u201cInsider Ministry,\u201d Center for Community Transformation (CCT)\u2019s field visits to their house-fellowships, and various Chinese HC Trainings. The most significant training program may be Claro\u2019s \u201cA Higher Purpose\u201d that trains overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to form \u201ccircles of three\u201d wherever they go to live and work in Asia or elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>61 delegates from 13 countries (now with the addition of Australia and Vietnam) made it to the 2nd HCM Summit in HK in 2007. Concurrent sessions were organized around the general topics and were followed by a training session on how HC meetings were conducted in India in the networks coordinated by Victor &amp; Bindu Choudhrie and their team. Country reports were followed by times of prayer for each country (including those were not represented at the summit). Equally important were free times when the delegates simply took time to build relationships and get to know each other.<\/p>\n<p>The 3rd summit was held in 2008 in Bandung, Indonesia, where a number of CPMs and IMs were spreading (not much can be shared here due to security concern). It turned out to be almost a global one, with more than 80 participants and the presence of Wolfgang Simson (Germany), Wolfgang Fernandez (Latin America), and a \u201ccell church\u201d leader, Ben Wong (Hong Kong). Much time was given to listening to messages from these recognized leaders, and discussing and praying in response to them. Some of us were able to visit some IM leaders in the area and in Jakarta. As we accepted India\u2019s offer to host the next summit, we discerned that it was time to call for an international one.<\/p>\n<p>So in November 2009, the Indian network of Victor Choudhrie hosted the First Global HCM Leaders Summit in New Delhi, where every continent was represented among the 135 participants. From Asia, we missed the delegations from, but heard good reports of CPMs in Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Middle East and Central Asia. A representative from each country served in the \u201csteering group,\u201d as we sought God\u2019s guidance on how to fulfill our vision and mission most effectively. (This group met again a few months thereafter in Kuala Lumpur, and discerned to focus on catalyzing DMM in Africa for the next two years).<\/p>\n<p>And so in August 2012, 35 participants made it to the 4th Asian HCM Leaders Summit in Tokyo, Japan. This time we had participants from Nepal, Singapore, Cambodia, Australia and Central Asia, with some from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan not making it due to visa problems. We were shown the easily replicable Japan-developed \u201cUpward, Outward, Inward\u201d (UOI) training as co-facilitated by a Central Asian and a missionary-to-Japan trainers. We also learned from the reports from those networks that were effectively reaching poor communities through combining CPMs with community development. Then the Japanese HCM also held their national summit focusing on equipping those who were involved in the dramatic breakthroughs after the tsunami disaster last March 2011 (with testimonies of Jesus appearing in visions) can turn the HCM in the affected northeastern region into a national movement.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile the Southeast Asian region held its first HC Leaders Summit in August 2013 in Singapore, with delegates from Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia. Its second summit was held in February 2014, just before the 5th Asian HCM Leaders Summit in Bangkok. Most significant was our discovery of a fast-growing HCM in Thailand, called \u201cHouse Network Church\u201d led by Sinchai Chaojaroenrat, who had pastored two mega-churches in Bangkok but has become an advocate and effective leader of CPMs (which he called \u201czero-budget church planting\u201d) in Thailand that had begun to spread to Cambodia and Laos. We accepted his offer to host the next Asian and Global HCM summits in Thailand.<\/p>\n<p>So the Thai HCM hosted the 6th Asian HCM Summit and the 2nd Global HCM Summit in the premises of an African migrant church in Bangkok in May 26-27 and 28-30, 2015. New delegations came from Central Asia and Africa, including 9 from China. Some of the key leaders decided to become more focused in our involvement in secular societal structures, esp. in the academic, business and political sectors to \u201cplant Jesus\u201d and transform communities and the marketplace for God\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to holding our 7th Asian Summit in February 2017 in Manila, after the Southeast Asian region hold their 3rd one in August 2016 in Jakarta. Moreover, the Indonesian delegation offered to host the 3rd Global HCM Summit in 2018 in Bandung, which we all welcomed: how symbolically significant to hold the next global HC summit in a Muslim-majority country, after the first in a Hindu-majority nation (2009) and the second in a Buddhist-majority nation (2015)! The Asian HCMs are hosting the global HCMs to keep their focus on frontier missions among the unreached!<\/p>\n<p>Since HCMs form networks that constitute a flat structure, where every HC and every HCM is autonomous and has direct access and responsibility to our King Jesus, these summit conferences of HCM leaders aim mainly to reflect the unity of the HCMs, and to nurture the personal relationships esp. between the older and younger leaders in the various HCMs in Asia \u2013 across their vast ethnic, cultural, generational and linguistic differences.<\/p>\n<p>Due to security concerns, many details of HCMs in restricted countries cannot be shared in this article. Across Asia today, HCMs and IMs are producing transformational communities that are led by local Christ-followers who have not been extracted from their relational and religious communities. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Asian HCMs will be catalyzing DMMs and IMs in Asia and beyond, for we believe that the harvest is indeed plentiful (Matt. 9:37-38) and has always been ripe for reaping (Jn.4:35). Our King Jesus is indeed building His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Mt.16:18-19)! May God find us faithful in working together to realize the kingdom of God effectively in Asia and the world in our generation!<\/p>\n<h4><strong><em>Bibliography<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Carlton, R. Bruce. 2000. Amazing Grace: Lessons on Church Planting Movements from Cambodia. Chennai: Mission Education Books.<br \/>\nChaojaroenrat, Sinchai. N.d. (in Thai) House Network Church. Bangkok: Christian Leadership Institute.<br \/>\nChoudhrie, Victor. 2007. Teaching Cards for Church Planters. greettheekklesia@gmail.com.<br \/>\n______. 2010. Mega Church to Meta Church. www.peterjfarmers\/mega-church-to-meta-church.<br \/>\nClaro, Robert. 2003. A Higher Purpose for Your Overseas Job. Makati City: Church<br \/>\nStrengthening Ministries.<br \/>\nFrancis, Andrew. 2011. Mission on the Outside. Baltimore: Publish America.<br \/>\nFukuda, Mitsuo. 2010. Upward, Outward, Inward: Passing the Baton of Discipleship. Gloucester: Wide Margin.<br \/>\n______. 2011. Mentoring Like Barnabas. Gloucester: Wide Margin.<br \/>\nGarrison, David. 2004. Church Planting Movements. Midlothian, VA: WIGTake Resources.<br \/>\n_______. 2013. A Wind in the House of Islam. Monument, CO: WIGTake Resources.<br \/>\nGauran, Johani. 1991. The Witnessing Kit. Makati City: Church Strengthening Ministry.<br \/>\nHattaway, Paul, et al. 2003. Back to Jerusalem. Carlisle: Piquant.<br \/>\nHoefer, Herbert. 2001. Churchless Christianity. Pasadena:\u00a0William. Carey Library.<br \/>\nKraft, Charles. 1979. Christianity in Cultures. Maryknoll: Orbis.<br \/>\nLim, David. 1987. The Servant Nature of the Church in the Pauline Corpus. Ph.D. Diss., Fuller<br \/>\nTheological Seminary. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International.<br \/>\n_______. 2003. \u201cTowards a Radical Contextualization Paradigm in Evangelizing Buddhists,\u201d Sharing Jesus in the Buddhist World, ed. David Lim &amp; Steve Spaulding. Pasadena: William Carey Library. pp. 71-94.<br \/>\n_______. 2008. \u201cCatalyzing \u2018Insider Movements\u2019 Among the Unreached.\u201d Journal of Asian Mission 10.1-2 (March-September 2008): 125-145.<br \/>\n_______. 2009. \u201cFilipino Urban Missions in the Buddhist World,\u201d ed. Paul de Neui. Communicating Christ in Asian Cities: Urban Issues in Buddhist Contexts. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, pp. 201-223.<br \/>\n_______. 2011. \u201cTowards Closure: Imperial or Incarnational Missions?\u201d Asian Missions Advance, 33 (October 2011): 20-22.<br \/>\n_______. 2013. \u201cAsian Mission Movements in Asia Today.\u201d Asian Missions Advance 41 (October): 29-36.<br \/>\n_______. 2013a. \u201cHistory and Ministry of Philippine Missions Association: Leading the Global Shift to Tentmaker Missions.\u201d Asian Missions Advance 41 (October): 2-6.<br \/>\n_______. 2013b. \u201cThe House Church Movements in Asia.\u201d Asian Missions Advance 38 (January): 3-7.<br \/>\nLopez, Bob. 2004. \u201cRaising Up the New Breed of Missionaries.\u201d TIE News (2004): 3-5.<br \/>\nNee, Watchman. 1974. Further Talks on the Church Life. Los Angeles: The Stream Publishers.<br \/>\nPantoja, Luis, Jr., Sadiri Joy Tira, and Enoch Wan (eds). 2004. Scattered: The Filipino Global<br \/>\nPresence. Manila: Life Change Publishing.<br \/>\nRichard, Herbert. 1999. Following Jesus in the Hindu Context. Pasadena: William. Carey Library.<br \/>\nSimson, Wolfgang. 2001. Houses That Change the World. Carlisle: Paternoster.<br \/>\nTalman, Harley, and J. J. Travis (eds.). 2015. Understanding Insider Movements: Disciples of Jesus Within Diverse Religious Communities. Pasadena: William Carey Library.<br \/>\nZdero, Rad. 2004. The Global House Church Movement. Pasadena: William Carey Library.<br \/>\n_______. 2007. Nexus: The World House Church Movement Reader. Pasadena: William Carey Library.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><br \/>\nDr. David S. Lim served as the National Director of PMA, and the National Facilitation Team, Chairman of the PMA\u2019s flagship program: the Philippine Missions Mobilization Movement. He is also the President of China Ministries International-Philippines and the CEO of Asian School for Development and Cross-cultural Studies. He is also the Board Chairman of Lausanne Philippines, and serves in the Steering Committee of SEANET. cmiphil53@yahoo.com<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"share-link-wrapper share-link-button share-link-button-green\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/?ibsa=share&id=837\" class=\"share-link\" id=\"share-link-46500061359\" onclick=\"iBeginShare.handleLink(event);return false;\">Share<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var el = document.getElementById('share-link-46500061359');el.params = {title: 'ASIA\u2019S HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENTS TODAY', link: 'http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/?p=837', skin: 'blue', content: 'http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/?ibsa=get_content&id=837'};<\/script><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David S. Lim<br \/>\nHow do the house church movements (HCMs) in Asia understand their biblical vision and actualize their mission strategy? The answers to this question comes from the perspective of an Asian (Chinese-Filipino) house church leader who has been trained as a biblical theologian and has been advocating for HCMs in Asia since 1987 and &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[199],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asian-missions-advance-back-issues","tag-97"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8429,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions\/8429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ewcenter.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}