Greetings in
the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My name is Allen Logan.
I live in Northern, Ohio along with my wife Margaret and our two youngest
daughters. Our oldest daughter lives down the
road from us and with her husband (picture was before her marriage); serves the Lord faithfully. We also have a son
on fire for Jesus; (our firstborn) who recently finished four years of active
duty in the U.S. military.
In my days
of knowing the Lord I have seen many precious promises fulfilled in my life, and
also my wife and children's lives. Many curses that the devil wanted to
continue to torment my children with have been broken as my wife and I have seen
the Lord walk faithfully beside us. We haven't arrived so to speak; but at
least we are all on that path that Jesus called straight and narrow.
The reason
for this ministry is that we have a burden for the body of Christ to come into
maturity, and also for those who don't know Jesus. A profound comment that I heard off a youth worship
CD goes something like this... "The greatest single cause
of atheism in the world today is Christians who confess Jesus with their mouth,
and then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle... That is what
an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."
I believe one of the reasons that our children have a
mature walk with Jesus is because my wife and I live a consistent lifestyle
whether we are in the public eye or in our home.
Assuming that you are considering
walking in covenant relationship with those of us in Shilohouse Ministries;
or are considering receiving ministry in your church from
Shilohouse Ministries; it makes sense for me to share a
little more about my motivations; which hopefully will help you begin to
understand how we believe ministry should function.
My personal conviction is that the
ecumenical positions of authority within the body of Christ are passing
away in our time, and in fact were really never intended to be a part of
leadership structure in the first place. I am insistent upon a biblical
framework of government; but it is not the same as most ecumenical situations.
I strongly believe in the biblical equipping ministries
of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher working within a
governmental framework of elders and deacons.
Equipping ministries and the spiritual
authority that goes with them should always be relational and never "lorded
over" others. In fact, genuine equipping ministries or ministers will
always be looking for ways to decrease and make
room for other leaders to walk in the spiritual authority given to them.
I am aware that this is not the reality
most of us live in, but true to my optimistic tendencies; I remain hopeful
that enough serious minded Christians are willing to work out their salvation in
fear and trembling; and change the face of the church as we now know it.
As leaders in Christ come together to
build the kingdom of God, we should continually foster an environment where we "Let
nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem others better than himself."
This being emphasized up front, some
ministers have recognized the
equipping ministry working in me as being apostolic; while others believe I am a prophet.
In reality one carries no greater
authority than the other, as both are foundational ministries in the body of
Christ as Ephesians 2:20 points to the household of God as
"having been built on
(both) the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone..." The point
being that this
is; NOT about us as ministers of the gospel, but
about
JESUS CHRIST as the 'CHIEF
CORNERSTONE'
When it comes to titles or positions of
authority though; I personally prefer the pattern that I presently see operating
in the Chinese church which is basically that the very aged men who have spent
years of their lives in prison for the testimony of Christ are respectfully
referred to as "Pastor" while men and women my age (47) are greatly honored to
simply be referred to as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What a foundational ministry looks like from
my
viewpoint can be shown by briefly describing one of the steps for building a
foundation in the natural. The main point that needs to be emphasized is the
preparation of the ground itself... in other words it is absolutely critical
when you prepare ground for a foundation; that all material that would cause the
ground to shift or give way underneath is removed before the foundation is
'poured' or set in place.
This best explains the simple function
of a foundation building ministry; which is to make sure that anything oriented in the kingdom of
men or 'the flesh' does not become part of the foundation. If you try to build
according to man's ways... the foundation will crack. Why? Because "...the
flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are
contrary to one another..." (Galatians 5:17a) Also a work
of the flesh will not bring forth "...a
dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
I am willing to be a bond-servant in any situation the
Holy Spirit leads me into as I am deeply burdened and motivated to work with
pastors, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and other apostles; again as the Holy
Spirit leads, and if that door is opened by the Lord and not man.
One thing
that needs to be perfectly clear is that those who walk in covenant
ministry relationship with us are not "under" our "umbrella" as another ministry.
We are all simply part of a what should be a continual
growing network of what the bible calls the ecclesia or "called out ones."
Even the word "under" hints of the Nicolaitan spirit which Jesus said he
hated.
To
Continue...
I
am a licensed
minister and I also have been ordained by
the dean of the bible school I and my wife graduated from
in 1992. (Earl Gardner who is also an apostolic minister). The fact that I am still in communication with this
brother 13 years after graduation demonstrates continuity and accountability in
both ministry and relationships. To me, I value relationship with this brother (and I believe spiritual father) infinitely more than
the piece of paper he signed.
Earl is also one of several excellent ministers of God who I call on for counsel
from time to time and welcome when they feel they need to speak into my life.
Having
benefited spiritually over the years as a result of this; I have strong
convictions that relational ministry (modeled so wonderfully by Paul and Timothy
in the New Testament) is necessary and is really the only option if we are to be
"built
together for a dwelling place of God
in the Spirit."
In one
sense; Shilohouse is a foundational equipping ministry that has a two-fold
purpose of establishing biblical framework of community, and communicating the
importance of this framework in light of the time we live in.
On the other hand we are simply the church that meets in
Allen & Margaret's house; being in covenant relationship with other house
churches.
To me the
issue of where I am led and who I walk out covenant relationship with, is an
issue of being completely obedient to the leading or unction of the Holy Spirit.
While we have had good exposure and have made an impact
in house churches around the nation; I do not see myself as a leader in a house
church movement that is somehow removed or separated from brothers and sisters
in the more traditional models of church.
I do however see Shilohouse Ministries as part of a
prophetic course correction that is happening in the western church.
My prayer is that we learn from the underground church in
China and also learn from the history of the church in Europe over the last 100
years. We will need these lessons for the hard times ahead.
For an example of what I am talking about:
CLICK HERE
While there
is much vision on this website, I have not written about purpose. My
purpose is to glorify Jesus Christ. I will by the grace of God accomplish
this by being a catalyst for a spiritual awakening of the church as we know it in this
country.
I do not personally need your money, but I do have a
believing wife at my side along with my two youngest daughters all dedicated to
serving the Lord. In light of this we receive offerings for the work of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been entrusted to us by our Lord:
CLICK HERE
I recently read
something by a sister named Christine that touched my heart and says what we are
really about more that anything I've ever written. She wrote " His ways
involve more waiting than doing... total obedience and no presumption... leanness
and not fatness... humility and not pride... tribulation and not peace & safety...
This is a people who have NO ABILITY to SAY or DO apart from JESUS.
Thank you for taking the time to read this...
The
LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’
Your brother and fellow bondservant in Christ
Allen Logan
Founder - Shilohouse Ministries
ALL SCRIPTURES UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ARE FROM "NKJV"
VERSION OF THE BIBLE
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