Church of the Ancient Christian Faith

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I have spent a large part of my life in the institutional church.  I have met many people in those churches who have touched my life deeply.  I have been in programs in those churches that have helped me grow in Christ.  But unfortunately, the institutional church is beginning to fail.  Statistically, 85% of all churches in America are either stagnant or are moving toward a state of serious loss of membership.  The institutional church can have advantages due to its size.  However, the size of the church can tend to be its undoing.  Many Christians today are looking to go deeper in their relationship with God and are struggling to find it in a regular church.  All over America, small house churches are sprouting up.  They allow their members a new sense of intimacy, spiritual growth and personal development like never before.  Since the church is small, each member is important.  By following the ways of the original New Testament church, the whole way that church is conducted is different and much more fulfilling.  Everyone gets a chance to contribute, and no one feels under pressure to have to “run the whole show.”

It is my goal to provide spiritual and social development for modern Christians that takes the best of both worlds and puts them together into one powerful organization. By giving a number of small congregations throughout our area the opportunity to reap the benefits of the small group church experience while having the advantages of a larger church, we are able to have a church that is both intimate and stable.  The church can assist you with deep spiritual growth and simultaneously be able to provide services that can make a difference in your life.

Before this kind of system can reach maturity, the basics will have to be mastered.  We must powerfully develop the love of Christ in our hearts and in our life.  We will be successful only if we live Jesus Christ.  We must allow ourselves to become so conformed to Him and his ways that love will flow from us effortlessly and unconsciously. 

It is then that people will want to have what we have and will beg us to bring them into our congregations.  To do this will take much prayer.  One of the problems of the institutional church is that often the pastor ends up being a kind of chief operating officer, and can become so bogged down with the details of church business that he is unable to do what is really most important, to be in prayer for himself, his family, his congregation and its spiritual needs. 

By having a fellowship that spreads out the responsibility for its functioning by giving the ministry to many ministers, your bishop and his episcopate can maintain their spiritual balance, and by doing so, can allow the Spirit of God to fully function through every member in the group.  It is by doing this that the fellowship can provide stability and strength for each congregation, thereby allowing each congregation to focus on what is truly important our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his love for us.

Isn't it nice to know that you could have a congregation that is there to support you every step of the way.  While situations may arise from time to time that will require your leadership to use its Godly authority, you will find that these are very few and far between and are done with great love and care.  But when you have leaders who are not spending minutes but hours in prayer and meditation every day, you can be assured that the working of the Holy Spirit will take its course as it should.

I just want to let you know that the Lord has been filling me with a powerful love for you all, more than I could ever achieve on my own.  You can be assured that in only the most unusual of circumstances will you not be prayed for by someone in this organization every single day. Because I do not have to micromanage every situation, I have plenty of time throughout the day to put in the hours of prayer and study necessary to keep this fellowship healthy.

I have given myself over entirely to the cause of Christ.  It is a way of living that is like none I've ever encountered in my life.  Each day, good or bad, I have the peace of knowing that God is in charge of my life.  I do not worry because now all I have to do is obey and He is responsible for the outcome.  I am working hard and receiving great joy from allowing God to develop me into someone who you can imitate spiritually, just like the apostle Paul did.  I very much need your prayers to be able to attain and maintain this way of life.

In what ever way you decide to go, please believe me when I say that my prayer is for a powerful blessing from God on your life.  May you always prosper in Him.

In His Service,

Rev. ++Timothy Buss, Th.D.
Patriarch Archbishop, Church of the Ancient Christian Faith