From Now On I Will Go to the Gentiles Pt 2 of 2
by David Orton
The Current Realignment of the Church
Part 2 of 2
But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them,
"Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
Realignment of structure
Returning to the word I received in Canberra, “From now on I am going to the Gentiles!” Dramatically casting out his garments Paul declared this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was a declaration of the intent of God to move out from the traditional religious boundaries of the synagogue. For our ministry in 2005 this meant some significant realignments of our programme – the cancelling of several events that were focussed on the synagogue leaders – in today’s language the pastors of the institutional church. But why was this? I have had it said to me that I am against pastors and the local church. Unfortunately, I have to plead guilty, but not for the reasons they think!
I love pastors, but not the inherited values and structures behind them. The present structures of ministry and of the local church have been inherited from aberrations which occurred between the 2nd and 5th centuries. They legitimised and institutionalised values that are alien to the spirit of Christ (see chapter 9, ‘Snakes in the Temple’), becoming the source of identity and security for leaders, but also of great abuse to the people of God, including pastors.
Realignment & convergence
The present realignment is away from these values and structures out to the Gentiles. But who are the Gentiles? They are the ethnos, the people groups who have been marginalised by the spirit of religion – among others they are creatives, prophetics, radical reformers, intercessors, and entrepreneurs. These are some of the communities that Jesus is currently wooing. We are seeing several streams converging under the hand of God for kingdom increase: inner healing, creative (arts & media), prophetic, reformational (emerging church), intercessory, entrepreneurial (business), and signs and wonders streams. Their common ground is found in the heart of David and a desire for the manifest presence of God to increase.
Realignment from local church to apostolic bases
But does this mean the forsaking of the old order of the synagogue, a complete shift from the local church system? Yes and no!
No, in that on the heels of Paul’s prophetic declaration of the shift to the Gentiles he, in the very next chapter of Acts, arrives in Ephesus and goes straight to the synagogue (19:8). This was in harmony with his apostolic habit of going first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles (see Rom 1:16). The apostolic still reached into the old order.
Yes, however, in that the old order of the synagogue (local church system) was not the base of operation for the birth of a new wineskin into the nations. This transferred to a transitional and strategic base first seen in Corinth with his shift from the synagogue to the house of Titius Justus. Even so, the synagogue ruler and his family still believed in the Lord! (see Acts 18:7). And then seen in Ephesus with Paul’s transfer again from the synagogue, but this time to the school of Tyrannus, from where he reached the whole of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) within two years! (see Acts 19:8-10).
God is in the process of moving strategically from the synagogue (local church system), out to the nations, but through first establishing apostolic bases of operation as seen in Corinth and especially Ephesus. These will be free from the constraints of the old order. These modern day apostolic bases will vary from strategic centres of influence (as small as two or more individuals) within particular cultures (e.g. the arts or media communities) to residential houses of prayer that retrain and send kingdom agents to infiltrate cultures and communities that have been targeted by the Spirit of God. Some old order local churches under true apostles will also convert into apostolic bases. Together they will provide both the environment for the full restoration of God’s glory and a base of operation for the planting of new wineskin churches (simple churches & house churches). These new churches will be free of franchise controls (organisational networks and denominational systems), but through relationship be aligned with authentic apostolic expression and authority (see my articles ‘Apostolic Strategy’ & ‘The Saul-David Transition’).
As apostolic bases they will also reach back into the synagogues. True apostles will be bi-lingual – able to minister in the synagogues from an apostolic mandate, but not of them – they will be free of the system because they have been realigned internally. Through death their self-life will have been realigned from identity according to the principles of this world to identity in Him. They will be free in spirit, and therefore free of the values and systems of men. When the structure resists they, like Paul, will be able to shake out their garment and proactively move on out of the upward call, counting all things as loss for the sake of Christ.
The living edge of God’s activity is moving from the synagogue out to the Gentiles. The cloud of His presence is moving – let us heed the call to follow Him, out of the systems of men into the true freedom of the sons of God.
God is sovereignly realigning the church – first our sense of self and then the structures!
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Copyright © David Orton 2006