Yesterday was a very good day.  It was my birthday and the day ended up having my wife orchestrate a small surprise gathering of friends at a local restaurant before church.  Then she brought a cake, baked and decorated to look like an open bible,  to share with my Wednesday class, which was also twice as large because of a Christmas displacement issue in our church so that another class needed to attend my own.  And anybody who knows me knows how much I like to talk about God and His Kingdom.

Yes, it was a very good day.  But it was not that many years ago that the things that went on today would just not have moved me, especially the gathering of that many people around me.  I know I have probably stated it here already, maybe even a couple of times, but I just didn’t use to like people.  Now it seems, I almost can’t get enough of the fellowship of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

This is also sort of what I taught and what I had in mind when I posted about the house church issue Tuesday.  It seems from reading the comments that not very many of you really knew what I was asking about.  I am no expert either, but from what I have read, the house church concept is about more than just a small amount of believers gathering together.  So while very small churches may find they practice what the concept is calling for, they have not set it up on purpose.  Most small churches would love to get larger.

It seems to be about some Christ followers not seeing a way to find authentic relationships within the structure of the modern church.  Instead, they find it necessary to stop “doing” church and start “being” the Church, at least to a few like minded believers.

When I first heard about it I thought it was probably just a new movement among the younger crowd to find a way to feel good about going to church, without having to go to church.  But now I don’t think so.  Sure, there are probably a few of these around, but from some of the things I am reading, it seems this movement is being fueled by those that are feeling disillusioned about the reality of any love being found in a lot of churches.  And the way the churches are set up, they do not push the great commission because it would hurt their model.

It seems the church model has become based mostly on a business model.  Growth is based on selling a product instead of training an army.  And the product is the church itself.  They want members, and they do not want these members to leave.  They want the amount of members to increase more than anything else and are willing to do most anything to achieve this, including obscuring the Truth, sometimes even denying it.  The modern church does not truly foster real, meaningful fellowship either.

When soldiers are in training together they know that someday they will be sent orders.  These orders will move them out of training and into the actual war.  Our churches do not want too many to leave and enter the war.  We want to build up the numbers, not the body.

True soldiers also develop a sense of camaraderie that we should also strive for.  If you’ve ever seen a group of veterans get together years after they served together you realize how truly close these guys are.  They were there for each other in a way most of us can’t imagine.

We should be the same.  We also are in a battle, not for lives in a temporary sense but in an eternal one.  We may not see torn limbs and bloody wounds, but one day we will know of the weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And even here, we all know someone, maybe even our own selves, that need the comfort of knowing someone “has our back.”

The house church model seems to be about these very things; a smaller group of believers that want to reach out and minister to each other in real loving relationships.  But with the goal of building each other up for promotion and advancement to actually leave and spread outward; taking the battle to other places by starting new fellowships and doing it all again.  Imagine that, advancing the Kingdom, instead of growing a “business”.

The reason I believe the ones espousing this model are real about their desire to love and disciple each other, and then send each other out to really advance the Kingdom, is that it seems to be a model that is focused on relationship rather than numbers and money.  It seems most of the people involved are not paid staff.  They are just Christ lovers that take the mission seriously.

It all boils down to the fact that we need each other.  Christ even prayed that we become “one” as He and the Father are “one”.  (John 17:11)  And it was because He was sending the out into the world; to conquer and destroy the works of the enemy.

I know Heath has a lot more knowledge about this.   He is actually a part of a house church.  Go to his sites here and here for more.

It does seem that a lot of us tend to “do” church when we are supposed to “be” the church, as I noted earlier.  The house church model seems to about this whole concept, this being the church.   I may be wrong and if I am, please let me know.  I am not saying that the churches out there can’t fulfill the mission either.  But we are letting a lot of souls fall through the cracks.

In smaller settings, the cracks would be fewer.

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Church, Enemy, Fellowship, God, Kingdom, Love, mission, relationship, Relationships, Truth, War, Work