]]> http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/4039/feed/ 0 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/3441 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/3441#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:45:07 +0000 dru http://www.maranathaglobal.org/?p=3441

March 2008 children

Burundi childrens seminar March 2008

Burundi Pastors Meeting March 2008

Training Sessions for Pastors March 2008

Seminar for Children in Burundi March 2008

Seminar in Baraka-Malinde Oct 2008

Burundi Team in Baraka & Malinde (Congo) Oct 08

Nyanza-Lac BURUNDI Oct 2008

Burundi miniseminar Sept 2008

Pr Delphin teaching in Bujumbura Sept2008

Delphin teaching in Bujumbura Sept 2008

Burundi Team Visiting Kigali, Rwanda Dec 2008

Burundi: Teaching the Children in March 2008

The response to our recent evangelistic campaigns in Brazil – has been unprecedented. For us, this is a special moment, a final great harvest before the Lord returns. The photos here tell the story well.

The Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus Christ gave himself “to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)   The Lord designed His project of salvation to produce a people who belong to Him – a Body, the faithful church (“eager to do what is good”). Our approach to evangelism reflects this understanding of salvation – that the Lord wants to save people, but he also wants the saved people to be “a people,” a Body.

The evangelistic efforts of Maranatha churches generally fall into two categories: the ongoing efforts of each local church to reach their surrounding community, and special evangelistic events (often with tens of thousands in attendance) hosted by the churches in a geographical region working together.

In the larger evangelistic events or campaigns, some have had over 100,000 in attendance. We do not usually advertise such events, and we never announce who will be preaching beforehand (there is no value in elevating a preacher). For us, an ideal meeting has more visitors than church members, and the two events featured here are examples where we had this result. We never ask for money or take offerings at such events. The purpose of the event is to reach outsiders, and we have something to give them, not take from them.

Legions of volunteers from our churches in the region handle all the planning, setup, sound, and cleanup afterward. Almost all the visitors have been invited by a member of the church (sometimes a single member will bring dozens to the event), which means the visitor has a contact already who can bring them to the local church in the days following the event.

Our goal is to get every visitor integrated into our local churches in that area so they can grow and develop spiritually. We are less concerned about the numbers who come than about the numbers who stay, who become committed servants in the local church. Evangelism must be an activity of the Body.

]]> http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/1879/feed/ 0 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/1850 http://www.maranathaglobal.org/latest/1850#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:56:24 +0000 dru http://maranathaglobal.jeffwatts.com/?p=1850  

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  - Proverbs 22:14

“The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”  - Psalm 102:28

The Lord has called us to give as much priority to discipleship of our children as we do to the adults in the church; they are not just the “future” of the church, they are the “present” as well, real members.  

Even if a child is too young to be baptized yet, we still treat the youngster as an important part of the church.  In Maranatha churches, we usually have the children sit in the front rows in every service, because it helps them pay attention, and helps them see that there are other children in the church paying attention and receiving a blessing.  The Sunday School teachers sit with them to help them behave properly.  ”From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise…”  (Psalm 8:2).  

The children participate in every service; we do not send the children to a nursery or childcare room so that they miss the services.  The services are just as much for them as for the adults.  Babies in the church stay with their mothers wherever she sits, but from age 3 and up the children sit separate from the parents, in the front where the other children are sitting. 

Once a week, in our larger churches, we remove the children during the message (usually on Sunday morning) to give them a special lesson taught by the Sunday School teachers.  We do not waste their time having them draw pictures or doing crafts, and we never have them make idols (like crosses or pictures of Jesus or angels or characters in the Bible).  We teach them the Revealed Word, a real Bible lesson, in a way that children can understand; we teach them to pray aloud properly; and we have them practice some of the simple hymns.  They return to the regular church service at the end of the pastor’s message, ready to participate in the closing (of course, our services are shorter than in most churches – the Lord revealed that they should be no more than one hour in length). 

We divide the children into three classes – the youngest (ages 3-6), the intermediates (ages 7-10), and the adolescents (ages 11-14).  By the time the children reach age 14, we hope that they have learned deeply about salvation, prayer, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, the books of the Bible, the doctrine of the Body (the faithful church), the significance of the blood of Jesus, the necessity of obedience to God’s revelation, the concept of eternity, and other important subjects.  ”At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”  (Matthew 11:25).

 In areas where we have enough churches and members, we hold children’s seminars twice a year (in October and in March), where they go and hear two longer presentations, lots of songs, etc.  These are great evangelistic opportunities because the children bring their friends, and their little friends hear the gospel and have experiences with the Holy Spirit.  The Lord has blessed these meetings richly, producing good fruit with the salvation of more and more children.  Our children are an inheritance that the Lord has entrusted to us; we are very careful and attentive to preserve the inheritance and prepare the children to serve the Lord faithfully as adults, and to spend eternity with Him thereafter.

“He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.”  (Proverbs 14:26)  Parents need to share their own spiritual experiences with their children, telling them about those times when God answered prayers or intervened on their behalf, times the parents have witnessed miracle, or lessons the parents have learned as they served the Lord.  We need to read the Word to our children and teach them to pray.  Parents should teach them the importance of behaving in the church services – not to spare the parents embarrassment, but so that the children are paying attention and can receive a blessing in every service.  Many parents do not understand that God wants to speak to their children in each service – they mistakenly think that the church services are for the adults, and the children are just observers.  This is a great mistake.  Sometimes God reveals a message to the pastor that the children will remember the rest of their lives.  The Lord can speak through visions and other spiritual gifts in the services and give the children a deep experience with Him.  The children can begin to experience the Lord presence when they worship and praise.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.  - Mark 1:35 (NIV) 

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.” –  Psalm 63:1 (KJV)

“My soul yearns for you in the night;  in the morning my spirit longs for you.” – Isaiah 26:9 (KJV) 

Many years ago, the Lord revealed in our midst that the secret of our success- of our growth and our ability to achieve everything the Lord wants for us- was to pray early in the morning, while it is still dark outside. 

These snapshots depict one of our churches (in a town called Timoteo, in Minas Gerais, Brazil) in different phases of an early morning prayer service.  Notice how full the church is at such an early hour (6 am) – this is a blessing in itself! 

Usually a brother leading the meeting (a worker, deacon, or pastor) opens the meeting asking everyone to kneel in the Lord’s presence as we seek to renew the blessing of Jesus’ redemptive blood in our lives.  (We apologize that the photos have a problem with the color – the church was not brightly lit at 6 am when they were taken).

Then everyone is seated, sometimes singing a brief, prayerful song.  Then members take turns standing and praying about specific items mentioned by the meeting’s leader, as in this photo.  Notice that children also participate in these meetings when possible.

These prayer meetings typically last 20-30 minutes.  Some brethren go straight to work or school from the church, while others return to their homes.  To close the meeting, the brother leading it often asks people to stand together for a closing prayer, and sometimes reads a Psalm or other encouraging verse from the Bible before dismissing those assembled.

Of course, we should pray all throughout the day.  Sometimes the Lord will calls us to have a prayer vigil where we stay at the church interceding until it is late at night, even midnight.

 Even so, there is a special blessing when we pray in the early morning, before the sun rises.  The Word of God records specifically that Jesus prayed at this time.  In Psalms and Isaiah it speaks of seeking the Lord in these times.  Many stories in the Bible describe the Lord’s servants having special experiences in the early morning- Moses, Joshua, Jacob, etc.  Sometimes the Lord actually reveals that it is important for the whole church to meet in the early morning to intercede for a particular need.

We have found, as a Body, that brethren have really wonderful and profound experiences when they pray at this time.  The brethren seem to have more gifts (revelations and visions).  The spiritual gifts are more detailed and clear.  There is often a stronger feeling of the Lord’s presence and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

We also know that throughout church history, many of the men used the most by God prayed early in the morning.  Charles Finney, perhaps the greatest American revivalist (d. 1876), would regularly rise at 4:00 a.m. and pray for two to four hours before he began his day.  Many others in church history shared his experience- the Lord called them to get up at this time to pray.  And the power of the Holy Spirit was released to accomplish amazing things.

We live in a continuation of this project that God has been doing for many years.  It is now our turn to seek the Lord and be used by him to reach this generation. 

It is a sacrifice for us physically to get up early.  Everyone wants to stay in bed and sleep more, especially at this time of day.  It is easier to stay up late than to get up early.  This kind of physical sacrifice is similar to fasting, in which we deny our desire to eat and drink.  This sacrifice requires extra determination on our part and demonstrates to God how serious we are about interceding for a particular need. 

There are fewer distractions early in the morning.  This enables us to have a more focused prayer time that is richer and more fruitful.  Even though we are tired and sleepy, these things are not as disruptive to our prayers as the phone calls and traffic we hear later, not to mention the frequent sounds of people arguing, shouting, playing loud worldly music, etc. Also, most businesses are closed and most of society is still asleep, so we cannot feel distracted by our impatience to go do certain errands, talk to other people, or complete certain projects. 

It is good for our hearts and minds to put God as the first thing of the day.  As we attend to the Lord first, by seeking him before we go to work or do other things, we honor him.  We will be more likely to give the Lord the top priority in our decisions when we have put him as our first thing we do each day.

“David went to Mahanaim...” (2 Samuel 17:24)

We use “Mahanaim” as the name for our seminar facilities in Brazil (Portuguese “Maanaim”).  We have several now in different parts of Brazil, where we have thousands of churches and a great need for places to hold large meetings).  Volunteers do all the construction and upkeep, keeping costs to a minimum.  Most of the facilities can hold over 1000 attendees for a weekend seminar; some can hold 4000.

The tropical climate allows the facilities to host events year-round.  They are lovely places, where members can escape the hectic pace of their daily lives, and draw closer to God in a setting surrounded by the beauty of His Creation.  A typical “Mahanaim” conference or seminar center in Brazil, most of which can hold several thousand attendees for weekend seminars and other events.

The facilities are beautiful, but we also design them very efficiently.  We can serve lunch to thousands of attendees in about 30 minutes.  Fresh fruit and fresh breads abound in Brazil, along with vegetables, meats, rice, and coffee.  The goal is to build “around” nature.  The transparent canopies over the walkways let in the sun and blend with the foliage, but keep attendees dry during occasional tropical rain showers.  

Seminars are a crucial part of the spiritual life we experience in Maranatha.  They supplement our frequent, brief church services throughout the week.  Frequent, short services keep our members in constant fellowship.  Seminars, however, play a necessary role in the life of the Body and the spiritual development of each member.  Over time, the Lord has revealed a detailed, regular system for our seminars in Brazil, where we now have about thousands of churches.   

The seminars play a vital role in strengthening the Body of Christ today (the faithful church).  Every aspect must be according to revelation in order for the seminars to achieve their purpose.  “According to revelation” means two things.  First, it means that every aspect of a particular seminar fit with the general guidelines that the Lord revealed for all the seminars (guidelines discussed throughout this series of lessons).  Second, “according to revelation” means that God speaks about the specific decisions that arise with each separate event, issues that are unique to each seminar.  These issues include the dates of the meetings, the venue, who should teach the classes, etc.  God addresses all these specific issues for each seminar through dreams, visions, revelations, or consulting the Word – usually during the planning states before the event.  This is our experience every time.  

In the early days of Maranatha, when this system of programs was just beginning, the Lord told our Presbytery (pastors in leadership), “In 2 days of a seminar, the Spirit can accomplish as much in a member’s life as in 2 years of attending regular church services.”  Yet this occurs only when we follow the set of revelations and guidelines that the Lord gave for these events.  Without the system of revealed seminars, members will still grow spiritually, but it will take a lot more time.  The revealed seminars help compress the time needed for members to attain spiritual maturity.  When the members are maturing much more rapidly, the entire Work of the Holy Spirit accelerates in that country.  The Body grows more and accomplishes more.  

The word “Maranatha” itself is an ancient Hebrew-Aramaic phrase that meant alternatively, “the Lord is coming soon,” or “Oh, Lord, Come Soon.” It was part of the Jewish congregational prayers in the first century. The New Testament includes it in 1 Corinthians 16:22 (the Aramaic phrase is transliterated into Greek letters in the text). The phrase eventually came into English as a transliteration as well, along with a few other Hebrew words (”Hallelujah” and “Hosanna” are other common examples).

There are, of course, thousands of independent churches and ministries that use the name Maranatha (including a well-known music publisher), even though they are unrelated to each other. Some of these churches or groups have very different beliefs from one another. Our core beliefs and practices are explained in more detail throughout this website.

We use the name “Maranatha” out of obedience to the Lord’s directive – that our mission is to preach the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. Our body of churches began over 40 years ago with a small prayer group that had wonderful experiences with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This type of revival or outpouring has continued without ceasing, growing and flourishing within a healthy, structured Body. Today we have over 8000 Maranatha congregations in South America, about 30 in North America, and several dozen in Western Europe, India, and central Africa. There are also large networks of churches in the former Soviet republics with whom we have a good working relationship. If you would like more information about Maranatha, or information about our churches or house groups in your area, please email us.

We are also interested in connecting with existing churches, house groups, cell groups, and microchurches that want to experience Maranatha’s approach to the Christian faith or to learn more about it.  Please contact us if you have an existing group or congregation that is not affiliated with Maranatha but would like to receive teachings or attend seminars or free workshops.  We are particularly interested in hearing from you if you are located in the Houston area, where our website team is based.  Please email us at askapastor@maranathaglobal.org.

If you are simply looking for a good church to attend in your area, and we do not have any congregations nearby with services in your language, we recommend that you check out our post on “How to Find A Church.”  

We hold to the classic truths of the Christian faith (including a belief in the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, Inerrancy of Scriptures, the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and active participation in the Body of Christ). The name “Maranatha,” an Aramaic phrase referring to the Lord’s return, reflects our belief in the imminent return of Christ. Our focus is on fostering individual spiritual growth, learning to have God direct our lives, and working together as the Body of Christ.

Maranatha today is both an organization (that is, a denomination) and an overall approach to Christian spirituality and faith. On the denomination side, Maranatha is a close-knit group of churches (more than 8000 in 2009) based in Brazil, where it has its headquarters, leadership, and most of its pastors and churches (called “Igreja Cristã Maranata”). It also has a few branches in other Latin American countries, in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, which work directly under the Brazilian leadership, and which strive to be identical to the Brazilian churches except in the language used in their services.

Unlike most churches, we encourage pastors to support themselves with secular careers and volunteer their time and talents to the service of the Lord, rather than receiving support or salary from the church. Some Maranatha pastors are attorneys, physicians, accountants, and engineers; others are small business owners, taxi drivers, construction contractors, etc. The lay membership of the local church takes an active role in both the spiritual and practical functions within the church, including many of the functions traditionally performed by full-time ecclesiastical personnel.

In addition, Maranatha churches never solicit offerings during our services or ask visitors to identify themselves or sign up for anything. Our services typically last for an hour or less, and involve singing a few contemporary hymns, prayer, and a brief message from the Bible. Readers who are curious about the official doctrine of the church may find our more detailed Statement of Faith helpful.

As an overall approach to Christianity, we are a growing community of loosely affiliated churches and ministries around that world that are implementing the same basic teachings. We are having similar experiences with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and God’s continuing guidance, direction, and revelation.

We hope that this introduction proves helpful to you. We desire to share with you some of the joy and peace that the Lord has put in our hearts. We have a received a tremendous blessing in Maranatha and we are eager to share it with others. We are not looking for other churches to change their name to “Maranatha” or to merge with our organization; nor are we able to provide financial support to every group that requests it. We simply want to spread the blessings of God’s revelation to as many people as possible. We welcome and desire inquiries through this website by pastors or groups of believers who share similar goals and would like to learn more. If you would like one of our pastors to contact you, please send us an email.

Get the Seven Basic Points of Maranatha’s Approach

“For God is not a God of disorder but of peace…everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”  - 1 Corinthians 14:33, 40

PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS TO BEGIN: The brother who is designated beforehand to lead the worship in that service (usually a deacon or worker) goes to the pulpit at the exact moment the service is supposed to begin.  The worship leader greets the church briefly (one sentence) and asks everyone to kneel together to plead the Blood of Jesus.  Of course, people can stand if they find kneeling difficult.  

The worship leader, also kneeling, prays aloud.  He thanks the Lord for the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross and asks that the Blood cover everyone present in that service, touching each heart.  This is a short, direct prayer, maybe two minutes at most.  When he says, “in Jesus’ name” (John 16:24 applies to all our prayers), everyone knows the prayer is ending.  Then the whole church sits down.

In our churches, we avoid the bad habit of starting services late.  Starting late or waiting for people to show up just trains the members to arrive late; when we always start exactly on time, everyone learns to arrive on time.  This is also a way of showing respect to the Lord – we are at the church because we have an appointment to meet with HIM, not just for the people.

WORSHIP – the church sits down throughout most of the worship songs.  We prefer NOT to have the musicians standing facing the church as in a concert or performance, because this draws too much attention to the musicians themselves (God alone should receive our attention and glory during the worship), and because it tempts the musicians to show off.  The only one facing the church in our services is a single worship leader, standing at the pulpit. The musicians usually sit in the front, facing forward, with the members behind them (as in the diagram).

The worship leader announces the song titles and numbers (if there are songbooks).   Usually we begin the service with a song that talks about Jesus and the cross, or the blood that saves us.  We might sing the song through once or twice – we do not spend twenty minutes repeating the same song over and over, as we have occasionally observed elsewhere.  At the end of the first song, the worship leader asks that one person may stand (anybody who wants) to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for his sacrifice and the salvation he gives us.  Then we go on to the second song.  We sing fervently, from the heart, but usually there is no dancing around or clapping – these are unnecessary and distracting.

Between songs, we often invite one or two to stand and offer a prayer of thanks or praise to the Lord.  We teach our members not to show off or give little sermons in their prayers.  Simple and heartfelt prayers are what we want.  They should be loud enough for everyone else to hear and pray along in their hearts, but not SO loud that it scares the children who are present.  Children can also learn to stand and praise the Lord.  We normally sing four or five songs in this part of the service, so it takes about 25 minutes (sometimes more, sometimes less).

THE WORD: At the end of the last song, the pastor goes to the pulpit.  He asks the congregation to stand for the reading of God’s Word.  We read one brief passage – never the whole chapter – just a verse or two is enough.  Then he prays for the Lord to bless His Word with power that day.  The church members all sit down again for the message.  The message should last no more than 25 minutes or so.  If the preacher is a new worker, we instruct him to preach even less – maybe 10 or 15 minutes.  There is nothing worse than when inexperienced preachers go on and on, saying almost nothing.  We know this is much less time than most pastors in other churches preach.  The Lord revealed to us to do it this way.  We could preach long messages if God wanted that.  It is easy to preach a message for one or two hours, even without spiritual substance. The real sign of maturity is when someone can say what really matters in just 20 minutes or so (use five minutes to explain the Bible passage and background, then give the revelation the Lord wants for that day).  Our messages are calm and respectful – we train our preachers not to yell or shout.  When a preacher shouts, it may be a sign that he is trying to cover up the lack of real substance or content in the message.

CONCLUDING THE SERVICE – After the message, we sing one final song (preferably related to the theme of the message that day).  Often we have the children sing one song they learned in Sunday School; this blesses the adults who are present.  The whole service lasts one hour or less.

To close the service, we ask everyone to stand.  The pastor lays hands on the congregation and blesses them with the apostolic blessing, something like this: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God the Father, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14). Then he dismisses the church, inviting any visitors to stay seated in their places to receive special prayer and assistance.  In most of our churches, we do not invite them forward to receive prayer.  The pastors and deacons go to them, if possible.  The musicians continue to play or sing softly during this time of prayer that follows the service.  We do not do any exorcisms or “deliverance ministry” during this time.  We just pray simple, humble prayers (”God, please bless your child here, your child’s health, family, job, finances, and spiritual life…”).  Only pastors and deacons extend their hands to pray, not the regular members.

We never collect offerings or tithes in our public services.  We have never taken an offering or asked for money in the 40 years of our existence, in any of our thousands of churches.  Our pastors do not need it; they work very hard to supply their own income apart from their ministry.

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