Oikos Ministries
Pastor José U. Rivera Collazo & Claudia Escobar Rivera
Pastor José and Sister Claudia are God’s servants spearheading Oikos Ministries Global. Bi-cultural by heritage, and one in Christ Jesus, they model a trilateral approach and diversity to ministry in every sense of the word.
Our approach to the Gospel is organic – not hype but relationship. We believe in and are vested in the fivefold ministry as well as house churches modeled after the first-century church.
José has been in service to the Lord all his life. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the U.S.A., he has over five decades in his Christian walk. He is a devoted husband to his beloved wife Claudia Escobar Rivera, who was born in El Salvador, and who migrated to the U.S. as a teenager with her family. Sister Claudia’s gifting is strongest in the prophetic, the intercessory aspect of prayer, and children’s ministry. Both José and Claudia have served God’s people in Cuba and Colombia.
José is a father to two daughters, Michelle and Yasmin, and a son Uriel Alexis and grandfather to seven grandsons. He is also a mentor, coach, teacher, and influencer in the lives of many ministers, couples, and disciples in the U.S., Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. At the age of sixteen, the Holy Spirit called José to be a Pastor, and was ordained at the age of 33. He led a congregation in Lowell, MA, for 15 years.
Very passionate about the Word, he agrees with Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg: “We don’t need another Bible; we need to understand the one we have.”
He founded Oikos Ministries Global in 2009 in the state of Florida. A model for house churches that will “reintegrate the heart of the family back to the heart of God”. Currently, José and Claudia have been commissioned by God to establish the headquarters of Oikos Ministries in Arizona.
He’s a published author. The book Bone of my Bone and Flesh of my Flesh, in English and Spanish at amazon.com with several other writing projects in the works.
What Is Oikos?
“Oikos” (Pronounced OH-EE-KOS)
The word "Oikos" comes from the Greek term that refers literally to house, and on a broader sense to the household. It encompasses the entire family, and in the 1st Century, it also covered servants that lived within the house.
At the start of the Christian era, believers viewed each house as a place of ministry (service) to others.
Note: Oikos and the Church are one in the same. Oikos is the Church, not a physical temple.
Interlinear – Greek/English Bible:
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, (oikos) did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart…”
Romans 16:5 Likewise greet the church (ekklesia) that is in their house. (oikos)
Colossians 4:15 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church (ekklesia) which is in his house. (oikos)
1Corinthians 16:19 The churches (ekklesia) of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church (ekklesia) that is in their house. (oikos)
Philemon 1:2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and to the church (ekklesia) in thy house: (oikos)
Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; (oikos) whose house (oikos) are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
In 1st. Timothy 5: 3-8, the Apostle Paul outlines for his readers the importance of compassion in the family highlighting the cause for widows. He asks for immediate care to those truly in need. He speaks of young widows with children and older widows with grandchildren. He states the duty to their own family first and then to repay their parents or grandparents as this is what pleases God.
The recommendation is to pray night and day for God’s help.
There is strong encouragement to each believer to practice these things so that others will not criticize them. The importance of caring for relatives borders on a commandment of v.8 - “whoever does not care for his own relatives, especially his own family members, has turned against the faith and is worse than someone who doesn’t believe in God”.
The importance of Oikos is echoed in Titus1:6-9, pointing out to those seeking eldership in ministry, need to practice their behavioral and attitudinal adjustments at home before exercising leadership in the House of God. Otherwise v. 16 states: “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”
In 1st. Timothy 3:5, Eldership / Deaconate / Leadership in the house is challenged by the question: “If someone does not know how to lead his family, how can that person take care of God’s church”?
