Spoiler Alert…
The following article is Andrew’s own personal perspective, i.e. he is not speaking on behalf of any of the other members of the Transparency team. It is a provocation to action. It talks openly of Andrew’s relationship with God (the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) and how that motivates him to find true community in The Church.
What If?
How many of us would like to feel like we are a part of something? A part of a movement or even more a movement which is also a community? Or even more, a movement which is also a community where unconditional love and acceptance are the very atmosphere, the very air, of that movement and community? Or even more, where through that atmosphere of unconditional love and acceptance – that forgiveness – each member of that movement or community was empowered to be the best possible version of themselves, to make the greatest possible impact on those in their sphere of influence and to become the happiest person that they could possibly be?
What if it was possible to work and play – to enjoy life – together with others in an environment where there was no competition, no put-downs, no discrimination, no judgment, no jealousy, no glass ceilings and where everyone’s unique personalities complemented each other and showed the whole panorama of the human experience?
Where you were not part of a ‘card-carrying’ organization which you needed to pay to participate in, or ‘perform’ in a certain manner to be accepted but where anyone who wanted to be there to fulfill the above vision – was welcome to be there for the purpose of seeking to enjoy a friendship with God and with each other, seeking to become more and more and more like Jesus – how He lived while He was on earth all those years ago…
Stigma…
The Church, on the whole, has not represented Jesus well over the years…
I believe that is an entirely fair and true statement…
What Jesus wanted for the Church has not yet been fully realized…
But it will be…
I know it will be…
And personally, speaking entirely for myself and again not speaking at all for anyone else who is involved with Transparency, I know that this is one of two things that I am most passionate about spending the rest of my life on earth remedying…
OK Andrew, I’ll indulge you, if this is what you believe, what do you believe is wrong with The Church?
The Blueprint…
In a nutshell, Jesus told us that if we believed in Him, He would dwell in us, live through us and do through us even greater things than those He did while He was on earth, through His Holy Spirit…
He told us that all of us who believed in Him were to be One – one big happy family – where we all looked out for each other and didn’t consider anything which we possessed to be our own but instead gave freely to any family member who was in need…
He told us that freely we had received (complete pardon and adoption into God’s family) and that we were to freely give…
He told us that if we loved each other as family members then everyone else in the world who was not yet a family member of God’s family would also become family members…
He told us to ask Him to provide for all our needs and to pray for the entire family to be given our daily bread directly from Him…
He told us to forgive each other, accept each other, rather be wronged by each other, keep believing the best about each other and even to lay down our lives for each other…
He never told us to put down those who were not yet in the family, never told us to try and force these ones to change, never told us to judge them, never told us to try and bring them to justice, never told us to try and condemn them – He just told us that He wanted all to become members of the family and the best way for us to achieve this was to act like the family which He intended…
Taking Stock…
If you’ve indulged me and just read through the section immediately above I believe you’ll be able to agree with me that the Church has not achieved the Blueprint…
What’s the problem?
Jesus was very clear that the whole point of life in His family was to get to know Him better…
When He went back to heaven He gave us our own personal Counselor/Comforter/Coach/Motivational Expert/Friend/Energizer – the Wairua Tapu – who lives inside of all who believe in Jesus – who, if we surrender to Him, will do all the work and manifest Jesus to everyone else around us…
If every person who believed in Jesus was completely surrendered to the Wairua Tapu, the Holy Spirit, then over time He would express more and more and more of Jesus through each of us so that as those who were looking on, looked on, they would see a very loving, joyful, enthusiastic and wholesome picture developing of how people can live together in community without all the weirdness and ugliness which has been evident in the most part to date…
When someone pretends to be what they’re not then there are problems…
When people are transparent about their problems but allow the Holy Spirit to live through them, then over time, their lives change and those problems fall off…
The Source…
If no one was manipulated (whether overtly or covertly) to give to anyone who presently ran a ‘church group’ how many ‘church groups’ would there be in existence in our world?
Imagine a world where you could be a part of a local expression of The Church where you never needed to give anything, no money at all, but everything was provided for you freely…
You were never pressured to take out your wallet, you just sat and soaked up the good things that were going on in that place and were genuinely blessed to go out and live your life in that freedom…
Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Where your participation was entirely voluntary…
Where you only gave of yourself and your time and your gifts as you desired, freely from your own heart…
Where there were no offerings taken up and no collections, no lectures on the importance of giving and where you were left alone to come as you are and get to know Jesus…
Action…
I am going to start a local expression of The Church like I am presenting above…
This – and nothing else – is what I want to be involved in with respect to the Church…
It will be a place where I will be honest that I’m not perfect…
It will be a place where we are free to give ourselves to the Holy Spirit for Him to make us like Jesus and show us more and more and more what Jesus is like…
It will be a place where we will pray for each other to be completely set free to express Jesus to each other and to everyone else who is not yet a part of the family…
It will be a place where we experience God’s miracles…
Where we experience God, our Father’s, provision…
It will be a place where we discover true family…
True belonging and true acceptance…
The Father’s love in an environment of no condemnation…
No control and no expectation…
Where we can each discover our purpose for being on this planet…
And be released to fulfill it knowing that we have the backup of the family…
If you’ve read this and your heart is burning within you with a passion to experience this, please get in contact with me (andrew@transparency.consulting), I’d like for all of us who’d like to be a part of this to ‘speak to each other’ – to start brainstorming a way for us to ‘get together’ and make this a reality… 
Andrew J Horton
01 July 2018
Amen to this Andrew 🙂
We are in agreement on this Shan, You know what that means, Praise the Lord… 🙂