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What is DOVE Christian Fellowship International (DCFI)? What is the difference between an Apostolic Movement and a Denomination? What is a DCFC Partner Church? What is the difference between a cell church and a house church? Why is there a need for new churches? What does it mean for a local church to be a part of DOVE Canada? Are there modern day apostles? What is the Fivefold Ministry? Does DOVE Canada ordain ministers? How does someone plant a church with DOVE Canada? How does an existing Church become a part of DOVE Canada? |
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| What is DOVE Christian Fellowship International (DCFI)? DCFI is an international apostolic movement. An international apostolic movement is a family of churches and ministries comprised of people with various gifts that share common vision, values, goals and a commitment to plant and nurture churches and ministries throughout the world. For DOVE Christian Fellowship International, we are called to build the church from house to house, city to city, and nation to nation through small groups. This apostolic movement has a God-given authority and responsibility to serve, train, equip, release and protect the people, ministries and churches throughout the movement and advance the kingdom of God. DOVE is an acronym, which states, “Declaring Our Victory Emmanuel.” We are called as an international family of churches and ministries to declare our victory in Emmanuel; God with us. DOVE Christian Fellowship Canada (DCFC) is a part of DCFI. [Back toTop] What is the difference between an Apostolic Movement and a Denomination? To answer this question we will refer to Peter Wagner’s book The New Apostolic Churches. This book identifies nine things that define the new apostolic churches or movements. We will briefly discuss these here. For a more thorough teaching by Dr. Wagner, we recommend the book Churchquake. The first thing Dr. Wagner points to is a new name. In fact, it is a name he has coined to describe the emerging groups like DOVE International that form this new movement. He calls it the New Apostolic Reformation. He uses the term reformation because in his perception these new wineskins appear to be at least as radical as those of the Protestant Reformation almost 500 years ago. Apostolic connotes a strong focus on outreach plus recognition of present-day apostolic ministries. “New” adds a contemporary spin to the name. Peter describes the New Apostolic Reformation as an extraordinary work of God that is changing the shape of Protestant Christianity around the world. The second change from traditional Christianity, and in Peter’s mind the most significant, is the view of leadership and leadership authority. That is the amount of spiritual authority delegated by the Holy Spirit to individuals. The new apostolic pastors are the leaders of the church, whereas in traditional Christianity they are regarded as employees of the church. New apostolic congregations trust their leaders. There is also a belief in contemporary apostles who give relational accountability to the new apostolic pastors. The third difference noted is new leadership training. There is a fervently dedicated and practical releasing of the people to do the ministry. Church members are taught that part of being a good Christian is to discover the spiritual gifts God has given them and to minister to others through those gifts as well as any natural talents they might also have. Paid staff are usually home grown and trained locally. As all the believers in the congregation become active in ministry, certain ones tend to rise to the top like cream on fresh milk, and they are the ones who are recruited for staff. Academic requirements for ordination are scrapped in place of relational accountability and practical ministry experience. Many new apostolic churches start their own in-house Bible Schools. The fourth distinguishing feature that Dr. Wagner points out is a new ministry focus. New apostolic Christianity starts with the present and is focused on the future. Many traditional churches are heritage driven; however new apostolic church leaders are vision driven. They are focusing on the possibilities of expanding the kingdom of God. The fifth thing that contrasts these new churches with the traditional ones is a new, contemporary, worship style. This is the one characteristic of the New Apostolic Reformation that has penetrated the most deeply into traditional and denominational churches. Worship leaders have replaced music directors. Keyboards have replaced pipe organs. Casual worship teams have replaced robbed choirs. Overhead projectors have replaced hymnals. Standing during worship is the rule, although a great amount of freedom for body language is allowed. New Prayer Forms is the sixth thing that is mentioned as a distinguishing factor of the New Apostolic churches. Praise marching, prayer walking, prayer journeys and prayer expeditions have become a regular part of church life. Many practice concerts of prayer, in which all worshippers are praying out loud, some in a prayer language (tongues) and some in the vernacular. Worship leaders weave frequent times of prayer into singing worship songs. New Finances is the seventh thing Dr. Wagner mentions. New Apostolic churches experience relatively few financial problems. Generous giving is taught and expected. Tithing is taught without apology. Giving is understood to be beneficial to not only the church and its ministry, but also to the giver. Giving is considered a joy and viewed cheerfully. The eighth distinguishing feature that Dr. Wagner mentions is a new outreach. Aggressively reaching out to the lost and hurting of the community and the world is part of the new apostolic DNA. They do seek personal blessings, but usually as a means to the end of reaching others. Planting new churches is assumed as normal part of the local church life. The question is not whether we should do it, but when and how. The same applies to foreign missions. The last distinction is a new power orientation. The New Apostolic movement seems to be able to combine the technical principles of church growth with the spiritual principles of church growth. There is a consensus that all the New Testament spiritual gifts are in operation today. They not only believe in the work of the Holy Spirit, but also expect Him to manifest a supernatural power flow in church life. Active ministries of healing, deliverance, prophesy, prophetic acts, fervent intercession, spiritual warfare and spiritual mapping are usually found. Supernatural power is believed to open the way for applying the truths of the scripture. [Back toTop] What is a DCFC Partner Church? A Partner Church consists of believers involved in a cluster of cells that receives leadership from a Senior Elder and an eldership team. The Senior Elder and eldership team are of like vision and purpose and called by God to partner together with other churches within the DCFC/DCFI family. They have the same values and mission including prayer, evangelism and discipleship. [Back toTop] What is the difference between a cell church and a house church? More than two decades ago, a new wineskin many called cell church started to flourish to meet a growing need within the contemporary church. Many people realized traditional church methods were not meeting modern believer’s needs. The church was building-bound, clergy-centered, and many Christians longed for a place to belong and be effective witnesses to the gospel. Churches soon realized that small groups (cell groups) could help people rediscover that they can “do the work of ministry.” Left behind was a spectator mentality of church where the pastor does all the work. Today, many churches utilize small groups that give everyone a job to do. Everyone’s talents and gifts can be exercised to benefit others, and people can gain on-the-job training for leadership through hands-on experience. The cell groups also provide a more natural setting for evangelism since they give the opportunity to do evangelism as a team. Together the cell group can identify and pray for God to use their group to reach the people of their personal oikos (from the Greek word household in the Bible. Our oikos are those people with whom we relate on regular basis—our co-workers, our families, those with whom we share a common interest such as sports or music, our dentist, our car mechanic, etc.). In a smaller cell group setting, nonbelievers are more easily drawn in and find a place to be loved and cared for. With the cell system made famous through David Yonggi Cho’s successful church in Korea, multitudes of cell churches emerged on the scene of church life and cut through all denominational lines. Some churches started as new cell-based churches; other churches transitioned to cell-based ministry and still others simply developed cell groups within their current church structure. Today most every denomination has some kind of cell group ministry operating within their church structure that aims to be a place where ministry and caring takes place on a more personal level. However, current cell churches continue to function mainly within the traditional church structure. In other words, although believers meet during the week in homes, in many cases these cell groups still function as complementary ministries to the larger Sunday church meeting. A senior pastor leads this larger gathering and also oversees all the leadership under him in the cell groups. This structure, of larger meetings and smaller cell meetings, requires many cell leaders, assistants and zone pastors, all of whom are accountable to the senior pastor and his leadership team. Additionally, a cell-based church or church with cells also requires a headquarters or a church building to accommodate the various church functions. House churches are entirely different. Although they meet in homes like cell groups, that’s where much of the similarity ends. According to my friend Wolfgang Simson in his challenging and cutting-edge book, Houses that Change the World, house churches are not mere appendages of the larger church, but real, bon afide churches: [Both] concepts look similar, but are really miles apart, because they build on different values, and a different understanding of church. Where the home group is a small part of the big and “real” church, a “mini-version” of the church, the house church in itself is the church in its fullest and most holistic sense.1 Unlike the cell-based church or church with cells, each house church is meant to be a complete little church. Each church is led not by a cell leader and a team of assistant leaders, but by a spiritual father or mother who functions as the elder along with a small eldership team for the little church. He or she does not simply lead a meeting in a house, but rather provides an environment for people to grow spiritually in the context of everyday life. There is no need for a church building in which to meet because each house church is a fully functioning church in itself, meeting in a home. This is not to say that a house church consists only of one group meeting in a house. I believe a house church should encourage smaller “cells” within the group to meet for prayer, encouragement and accountability outside of the actual house church meeting. One “cell” of people could regularly meet for breakfast before work and another “cell” could meet together to disciple a few new Christians in the house church. House churches are simple to start, provide a natural setting for ministry, and are easily replicated. Could these new churches meeting in homes, places of business, coffee shops—anywhere people meet, be the new look of the modern church? House churches are a relevant way to engage our communities with the claims of Jesus, according to a successful house church network in Canada: House churches are simple, easily reproducible, create platforms for gift identification and development, and are effective in showing forth the transforming power of Christ in our neighborhoods and our communities. The postmodern anti-institutional mind, which will not enter traditional church, will come to my home. The Muslim or Hindu neighbor may not go to church, but they will enjoy Canadian hospitality. In the context of everyday life, the message and meaning of the gospel can be communicated in effective ways.2 Like the New Testament church, the house church network focuses on relationships, reaching the lost and raising spiritual fathers and mothers in-house who serve and care for their family. It emerges as a wonderfully fluid and flexible church. Small house churches are expanding rapidly because they meet a desperate need in church life today. [Back toTop] Why is there a need for new churches? |
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