“Attending a house church…”

We too attend a home-church fellowship. We gather as families (children included) and worship, pray, discuss the Word, eat meals together, encourage and pray for one another, etc. What does your dh think, MJ?

There’s a wonderful group of believers in Indiana, who answer lots of common questions about home churches on their website

http://www.allathisfeet.com/

You can download articles & books for free. You can also request any of the books in printed format and they will send them to you at no charge, as part of their service for the Kingdom of God.

Heather

MJ,

You wrote: I’m a little fuzzy on what you meant about it being a “heart attitude”. Could you help me understand better?

I was responding to your concern about Hebrews 10:25. The heart attitude is one that is in a waiting mode until God shows you where He wants you (humility and expectation). The opposite attitude would be one that says there’s just nothing out there and so we’ll stay home (pride). My point was that your attitude of the former shines plainly and so there should be no concern that you are violating scripture.

Blessings,

Cindy

MJ,

I apologize for not attending to your question and just being selfishly jealous of the others. 😉

It must be hard especially with well-meaning family saying you need to find a church. But be strong in the Lord, knowing that above all others God wants you to be in a fellowship of believers to learn, grow, mature, and encourage one another. So it will be in His timing and in His way. I will be praying for you and your DH. It will be interesting to see what God has instore for you guys and possibly your neighbors. Keep us updated.

Shelly

Wow! I didn’t realize Cindy and my little side-comments would take off into such an interesting discussion, but I’m glad it did! Unfortunately, Hebrews 10:25 has become one of those verses which is often plucked up out of context and used to guilt folks into never missing an “authorized” church service (certainly not by anyone here, but I have been the target of this unfortunate action). For me, the real beauty of this passage begins with the overall context of the new covenant’s superiority over the old, the priesthood of Jesus (Spirit-grace) has replaced the insufficient priesthood of men (sacrifice-law). It is in that amazing, paradigm-shattering context that we read Hebrews 10:19-25:

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(TNIV)

I would continue to the end of the letter as the writer of Hebrews says some of the most amazing things regarding this new life in Christ, our assurance of it and how we are to live, but for the sake of space I will refrain. The main thing I would like to point to is that this “assembly or meeting” of believers has absolutely nothing to do with a building or location, it’s a non-issue which has unfortunately been made into a major issue. In fact, it is only one of two places in the new testament that the greek word “episunagoge” occurs (the other being 2 Thessalonians 2:1… interesting). If the author of Hebrews meant this passage to refer in particular to the regularly scheduled meeting of believers he/she would most likely have used the word “sunogoge (as in James 2:2). The “epi” in “episunagoge” adds the meaning of “over” or “above and beyond” which implies that this instruction is aimed at a more informal kind of “assembly” which happens outside of the regularly scheduled gatherings, like coming together on a friday night with other families for supper and a sweet, open time of friendship and fellowship.

The primary instruction in verses 24 and 25 is to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds”. The writer then specifies how to do that: by meeting together and exhorting (encouraging) one another. If we abandon being together, how can we possibly “stir up love and good works”? The emphasis, then, is on the PEOPLE, not the place. It really doesn’t matter if the place of meeting is a modern, air-conditioned venue with a big parking lot (and probably highly mortgaged, but that’s another issue), a tiny apartment or an obliging field. What matters is that believers come together in order to celebrate and experience kingdom life with each other.

If location did matter, then I fear many of the meetings I have witnessed in places like Sao Paulo, Brazil and Nyeri, Kenya would fall outside legitimacy and those wonderful brothers and sisters might then be seen as “forsaking the assembly” by meeting together in a field, a park or a grass hut. Do you see how this argument simply falls apart outside of our western notion of “doing church” under a steeple? Otherwise we would come mighty close to saying that certain verses may not necessarily apply to folks in other cultures, implying that our western way of doing things is the correct way… dangerous! Was the bible written for our 21st century American christianity or is it sufficient for all believers in all places at all times?

The Church, then, is not a place but a PEOPLE. Jesus is coming back for a BRIDE, not a building. The beauty of the Kingdom of God is that it transcends time, place, social class, ethnicity, gender, age, political affiliation… you get the point. Our citizenship is now in Christ’s upside-down kingdom where the first will be last and the last will be first, where there are no celebrity christians, and where we are truly free. Okay, I’ll stop now! I have more to share but I don’t want to overstay my welcome 🙂 For the record, I personally have nothing against meeting in mainstream church buildings, I’ve seen Jesus there too. Our family has simply opted out of that system, just like we opted out of the educational system because we found something that resonates with our heart. That was our choice and I don’t judge any brother or sister who chooses differently. Like Cindy wisely said, it’s really about the attitude of our heart.

Here are a few books that helped my husband and I understand the idea of home/house church. We found them to be written in the right spirit of wanting to help and encourage, they are not angry, church-bashing books (which are certainly out there too!).

~Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

~Reimagining Church by Frank Viola (the sequel to Pagan Christianity)

~So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore? by Jake Colsen (don’t let the title throw you, it is written in the form of a fictional story and addresses some really deep questions) It is available in pdf form here: text to link

Grace and Peace, but most of all Love,

Rachel

Rachel, I agree with Nedra, your post was beautiful! I would love to chat over tea sometime. 😉

Shelly & MJ, you don’t have to be jealous of home churches because they too, have challenges of their own. Just like homeschooling does. 😉