HOME CHURCH PART 2
A friend of mine passed along a great article by Jim Elliff of Christ Fellowship in Kansas City. I think he makes a pretty good case for Home Churches.
posted by mjm @ 9:29 AM
3 comments
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I think home churches are a great idea. As Noah commented on your previous home church post, "there are biblical ways and unbiblical ways of doing it." But I think that applies just as much to "traditional" churches. Just because a person is "ordained" or "commissioned" doesn't mean they're teaching the Truth. I don't understand why a certain group of people need to decide whether or not another person has been called by God to be a minister of the Word. I think God's Sovereignty extends into home churches, as well as the rest of the world, so that His plans are accomplished for His glory.
I think a part of our "concern" over home churches comes from our pride - we want to have the power to tell people what's right or wrong, or who to listen to. I think we need to check ourselves and humbly acknowledge that God's ways are not our ways, and that we don't know it all. Yes, we should stand up to teaching we believe is in error, but not with a mind so closed that we would be unwilling to admit that we might be wrong ourselves.
Josh, I am not trying to be proud here in my not embracing all home churches outright.
My experience with folks in America that start home churches is out of dissatisfaction with their local church. Many of these people just get frustrated with the church and give up and want their own power…they generally know nothing of submission to authority in a pastor that they have been under (this may be a good thing, and it may be a bad thing). They want to cut the cord and be on their own before they have even experienced what the local body has to offer (I’m speaking of biblical fellowships that have pastors that teach the truth).
My friends that have started home churches grew to hate the institution of the church. I agreed with them and went along with this thinking for about 3 or 4 years. I started to realize that their doing this was out of a desire for autonomy from any type authority and their move to this appeared to me to be out of angst, frustration, bitterness, not a clean heart. They grew tired of the institution of the church, and quite frankly I had and sometimes am tired of it. But this is the church we're talking about. The glorious body of Jesus Christ. They made the decision to leave, and I made the decision not to give up on the institution of the Church just yet. What they are doing in reality is setting up a different type of institution and I feel this is slightly hypocritical.
I personally feel that a biblical house church would be commissioned by a biblical local body of believers much like a church plant…is this not a model we see played out in the Bible? The leader of the church plant would sit under the intentional discipleship of a biblically truth teaching mentor. Then they would be set free and come back for support and support the original ministry.
A home church that is just out there isolated is not, in my opinion, God glorifying. We’re all on the same team! To cause a division for isolation could be a terrible thing.
I'm tired of seeing people give up on their local church bodies because they don't even try to communicate with the leadership to change their ways to be more biblical. I'm tired of people talking behind the leadership of the church's backs and growing dissatisfied with the teaching. I desire to see a bunch of men coming into a church body saying I'm here and I'm devoted to this church. And when these men devote themselves to the church they commit to watch out for the health of that church through communicating with the pastors. If it doesn't work out after seeking to edify the body then seek wiser counsel than me. Email your mentors like Piper or some other godly guy.
I think that men who don’t have the nerve to approach the leadership of their local church and communicate that they are dissatisfied with it, are not qualified for leadership in a house church. What happens when the home church gets difficult? Will they quit and start another one, or give up??
There are biblical ways and logically good ways to do house churches, but analyzing of the heart needs to take place first. What are the motives? Have they tried everything to reconcile their differences with the local church they are already in? If their motives are clean…cool. If they have tried everything, which in most cases they haven’t, then cool start a house church and seek counsel from someone you see as a godly mentor...which is biblical…and if you can’t get it pray for the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ in your isolation.
House churches are good though…if there is a biblical approach to them. I don’t think saying, “house churches are biblical,” is enough. We have to ask…how does it take place from start to finish…in regards to structure, raising up of leaders…identifying leaders etc. There has to be some kind of a vision for the pragmatics of the fellowship.
House churches are biblical. Personally I had hoped when I started to lead the ABF to have something similar to a house church atmosphere where we meet in homes for worship, reading the Word etc. It hasn’t worked out exactly as I had hoped, but we can still try. House churches can exist in larger “institutionalized” churches too. Creating a schism in a truth teaching, bible believing church for local autonomy in a house church is dangerous. I firmly believe God’s sovereignty works in house churches too. Look at China, India, etc. God is working mightily in house churches in those countries.
I believe there is a danger in forming house churches in America out of nowhere. I believe in many cases that it is cowardice in the sheep’s clothing of an appearance of piety. Running away from where God has already placed them…and they aren’t making it work, or aren’t even trying to make it work.
If you are pursuing Christ and are clean in your conscience toward your local church and have ZERO bitterness toward them and the institution of the church and feel called to start a house church cool. Go for it…call up the pastor and ask him how the ministry might be able to support, prepare, and send you out in your ministry. There are two aspects to a call to leadership in Christian ministry...internal call and external call. I would argue that a person's leadership must be affirmed by an elder of some sort...hence a commissioning. If you don’t feel comfortable to approach your pastor for this support I would question if your motives are completely clean.
I might be wrong in some of this, but we have to be very careful with this.
Here are a few quotes that I find helpful...
BB Warfield...Pp. 10 from The Religious Life of Theological Students. "'Take heed how ye hear'; that if you do not find Christ in the conference room it is because you do not take him there with you; that, if after an ordinary day's work you are too weary to unite with your fellows in closing the day with common prayer, it is because the impulse to prayer is weak in your heart. If there is not fire in the pulpit it falls to you to kindle it in the pews. No man can fail to meet with God in the sanctuary if he takes God there with him.
How easy it is to roll the blame of our cold hearts over upon the shoulders of our religious leaders!"
John Calvin...Pp. 1030 in the Institutes Book IV.16 "Therefore, those who more boldly than others incite defection from the church, and are like standard-bearers, have for the most part no other reason than by their contempt of all to show they are better than the others. Augustine, then, speaks wisely and well: 'The godly manner and measure of church discipline ought at all times to be concerned with 'the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' [Eph. 4:3]. This precept of mutual forbearance the apostle ordered to be kept. When it is unkept, punishment as a remedy proves not only superfluous but even dangerous, and on that account no remedy at all. Not because of their own contentions, these sons of evil strive to drag along or at least to divide all the weak common folk who are entangled in boasting of their own name. Puffed up with pride, mad with obstinacy, deceitful in their slanders, troublesome in their seditions, these evil persons feign a rigid severity so they cannot be shown to lack the light of truth. Holy Scripture bids us correct our brothers' vices with more moderate care, while preserving sincerity of love and unity of peace. This principle they prostitute to the sacrilege of schism and the occasion for cutting off the brethren from the fellowship.'"
These quotes should really drive us to examine our motives.
I'm open for correction guys...are some of my concerns valid. If not please let me know.
Sorry for the long post.
In Christ
Noah
I'm not trying to say that home churches are better than local churches, or that I'm thinking of leaving the church. In some ways I'd love to be a part of both - and I see the potential for an ABF to be like a home church within a local church.
Looking back at my previous post, I could interchange home church & traditional/local church. I think they share a lot of the same challenges. And I think they both are full of well-intentioned and selfish-intentioned people - which I guess is just to say that there are sinners in both.
I think we can all use godly leadership & teaching - whether we're senior pastors or seminary professors, or accountants or computer programmers.
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