House Churches...Your Opinions

My experience with home churches is that they are not governed by NT principle, but rahter are people who have a problem with authroity. They don't like the fact that God has ordained spiritual leaders to shepherd them. IMO elder rule is not what God intended for the local church.

True pews, hymals and pianos were not found in the NT but they were not invented at that time either! Just because the NT church did not use a certain practice, or did use a certain practice, does not neccissarily mean that Christians today must do the same.

Many house churches I know of looked to the book of Acts to justify their practices, but they show that they do not understand that Acts is a book of transition. The chruch was sill formulating and learning its purposes on this earth.

 

After doing an in depth Bible study I have come to believe that elder rule is in fact what God intended for the local church. God never intended His Church to become a multi-million dollar industry that puts one man in a position of authority on a pedestal above the rest of those Spirit-filled believers within the congregation. Christ is the head of the Church, not the local pastor.

I would encourage you to check out some of the links I provided, especially this one, from a Professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. :

http://www.daveblackonline.com/unleashing.htm

 

I don't understand how you can come to such a conclusion based on WHERE people gather.

 

I would agree. A small group that denigrates traditional churhes and Christians simply because they meet in a traditional church is spiritual elitism and divisive.

With that said, I host a weekly small group in my house and our church makes it a priority to get folks plugged into smaller groups for deeper bible study, community and accountability.

I also think it is important for our small groups to be accountable to the larger community of a traditional church. That doesn't mean the church dictates what the small group does, but there should be both support from the larger community to the small groups as well as support for the larger community from the small groups.

There are pros and cons to both smaller groups and larger corporate groups. I believe a healthy balance of the two is important.

While I think there are some noble aspects to trying to follow the example of the early church, seeing that model as the defacto standard for Christians is what lead to the Restorationist movement in the 1800s. I don't think we need to repeat that mistake again.

 

Lorelei,

I agree with you. I do not attend an "in home" church, but it is how the original churches of the New Testament were designed, and it is how many churches in nations that are hostile to Christ survive.

 

My experience with home churches has been that those who attend respect those who lead, no matter what title you place upon those who do it.

My experience with formal churches is that most members that need sheparding don't get it because they don't take the time to get to know each one to find out what their needs are. In all of my experience I have never seen a church actually implement Biblical discipline.

My point was simply that what we think of traditional is not necessarily ordained as necessary.

Also, not having these things means you don't have to spend money on these things. We spend ALOT of money beautifying a building when that money can be used to directly minister to others. I am not saying these are necessarily bad things, but being without them can have it's benefits too.

This is simply not true. Many do understand that the church was in transition but they also understand that not even Jews met in temples every Sunday Morning, Sunday night and Wed night (Or Saturday as the case may be). There was not a "temple" in every town and to meet in them weekly was not the norm. Their observances were done among families and in close communities as well.

Transitioning from the age of law to grace doesn't mean we MUST transition from meeting in homes to modern day churches. We are told the Lord is where two are three are gathered together...

~Lorelei

 

Accountability is always good thing, but does a house church need to be started or authorized by another church to become a "real church"?

 

I have to respond to this: "They don't like the fact that God has ordained spiritual leaders to shepherd them. "

Do not assume that just because a man stands in a pulpit, has a theology degree, and is ordained means that God ordained him.

 

Great point and for the record, I do not attend an in home church now, but we were for a short time. I do know others who do though.

I am not opposed to either way of meeting. I think formal churches have many things to benefit as well. In our society is harder for us to "find" people of like minded beliefs and having a designated place to go is a good thing. Having a building can stand as a witness to non-believers and give seekers somewhere to go.

As you said, where Christians are persecuted they have no other way. There could come a time when we are one of those nations. Let us not forget to praise God that we have the option to choose where we meet!

~Lorelei

 

Granny Gumbo,

You better watch out Saddleback started out as a house church.

I feel there is nothing wrong with meeting in a house. What are they going to do when they grow?

 

We met together a long time and my pastor preached long before he was ordained. The only credentials needed to preach the Word of God is to be saved by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and led by the Holy Spirit of God.

Having been brought up in the teachings of the Missionary Baptist (ABA), I guess we thought we had to have scriptural authority (tho' they did not dictate over us), and he had to be ordained.

We fellowship with that church of like faith whenever possible, and we have others who visit us from time to time.

 

Patrick,

There is a movement in the SBC to stop building "Mega" Churches, and to encourage churches to "plant seed churches." They feel this is actually more biblical.

The idea is that the super large churches can't really do a good job of living up to the New Testament church ideals. You can't "fellowship" in a true, uplifting, Christ like way, if you have 4,000 people filling the pews. So, you form smaller churches in the neighborhoods around you, where people can know one another.

They also believe this limits the problem of church turning into a Sunday Morning Entertainment session, and gets back to being a house of worship.

I don't see much difference in the home churches doing that.

I know a wonderful SBC church here in town that started out as a "home church." A group of seniors in town, mainly elders from churches that changed way too much as they grew larger and larger, wanted to get back to basics. So they started out meeting as a prayer group, then as a small church. When they outgrew the house, they rented a meeting hall, and then they built a small church. They built it small on purpose - they say when they outgrow it, they'll know its time to "seed the city."

Remember, the old churches, the first churches, were not just "Sermons," they were meals, they were "extended families helping one another daily." We may be great at filling our choir lofts, but are we great at treating each individual attendee as a part of our extended family?

 

Thank you for your concern, patrick (btw, nice name, that's what I call my youngest son), but there is no way Liberty will ever become a Saddleback, lol. We meet in a home because at the present we number 8 souls...so it would not be feasible to meet elsewhere. In the event we should 'grow', (tho' Noah preached 120 yrs and his bunch only numbered 8), I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it...in the meantime we stay busy.

 

You start looking for a larger meeting place and or you can start another "house church". The former is usually what happens.

 

Texas Sky,

To say a larger church cannot be a good New tetament church is laughable. I can show you many who are doing great things for Christ. I can also show you some that are not.

Fellowship is not based on size. Most relationships form thru Sunday school. Small groups are where lasting fellowship is forged. I know what you are saying. I understand your points. I don't think anything is wrong with a small church or a mega church as long as they reach out to a lost and dying world.

We have to realize God's is not concerned about size. Where 2 or 3 or gathered together. Where I am at a church plant would be silly. We have over 60 baptist churches in my town. We need people in the pews already in churches. We need to preach the gospel and go out and reach people with greatest story ever known.

I have nothing against a home church, as long as they are grounded in the word of God. They aren't there fo a Holy huddle and have a desire to bring others in the family.

 

There are many institutional churches that are not New Testament churches, just like there are many house churches that are not New Testament churches, that is to say many of these churches regardless of location or size don't follow the teachings of the Scriptures. But, you can't put all churches, institutional churh or house church into one group because there may be others like that.

The Church is the Body of Christ, within that body there are many different places that the various members of the Body choose to fellowship. The purpose of church is not preaching or worship, but gathering to practice the "one anothering" found throught the Scriptures. Instead of simply "going to church" a couple of times a week, we as Christians need to "be the Church" 7 days a week!

 

This is an excellent discussion.

JGrubbs, thank you for the links. Will check them out.

"The Church is the Body of Christ, within that body there are many different places that the various members of the Body choose to fellowship. The purpose of church is not preaching or worship, but gathering to practice the "one anothering" found throught the Scriptures. Instead of simply "going to church" a couple of times a week, we as Christians need to "be the Church" 7 days a week!"

Amen!

 

Churches is not about size large or small. It is about follwing Biblical standerds.

 

Why would that be elitism or divisive? Why would that be different than meeting in a small office building or something like that? </font>[/QUOTE]Maybe you missed the word "denigrate" in my post.

In other words, some who are in house churches (note: I am not saying all) are very elitist as though they are better Christians because they are meeting in homes and don't worry about church buildings, etc. It's fine if that is their choice, but sometimes they make other christians sound like they are not as good or as spiritual or as NT as they are.