While we obviously have much to learn from the Apostles, I don't think we necessarily have to exactly model the exact way they had church back then. As cultures change, our ways of doing things will change.
Here in America, if our economy keeps crashing, our way of doing church here will probably change once again, by necessity.
The Apostles regularly went on the sabbath to the Synagogues and preached to the Jews Jesus Christ...when are you guys gonna go do that/?
That was before they broke from Judaism. After they broke from Judaism Christianity EXPLODED. They didn't need buildings, pews, pulpits, sound systems, programs, drama camps, blah, blah, blah. They took the world by being the church. Not by trying to drag people to a building they call a church.
Now, for the record... the church I attend has a massive campus just on the edge of Centerville Ohio. We meet there on Sundays at 9:30am and 11:30am. Throughout the week we attend our house churches. We have roughly 100 house churches in our fellowship and a very active board of elders. We call our Sunday services "gatherings". They are gatherings for worship and for general teaching. However, most "ministry" takes place in the house churches. Each house church is led by an elder who performs about 90% of pastoral care.
My point however is that having seen these things first hand, I know that if we lost our building tomorrow... our fellowship would continue without missing a beat. Most churches would fold if you took their building. In fact, our house church elders have examined what things would look like if we simply formed a network of house churches and perhaps rented space once a month for larger evangelistic gatherings.
It works quite well. The closeness and intimacy within the group is beyond anything I've ever experienced in a traditional church service.
if you are holding church in your house, isn't that still taking people to a building? until you preach on the streets, and in the market places, and basically everywhere you go, you probably are not emulating the Apostles.
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While we obviously have much to learn from the Apostles, I don't think we necessarily have to exactly model the exact way they had church back then. As cultures change, our ways of doing things will change.
Here in America, if our economy keeps crashing, our way of doing church here will probably change once again, by necessity.
*Sigh*
It's like no one reads I Corinthians 14 and how Paul structured church gatherings. Notice something here,
I Corinthians 14:26-38 (ESV)
26What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. 27If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. 28But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
36Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. 38If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
Please notice... these smaller, more interractive meetings wherein the entire body discussed Scripture and everyone shared are structured by Paul and these things are considered, "a command of the Lord".
Frankly, if all we do is have a traditional church service without smaller groups where there is body ministry as described here... we're violating a commandment of the Lord. The Lord doesn't command that we have church the way we do today. However, the Lord does command the structure and method Paul describes here. This method includes:
- Everyone being able to bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
- Gift of tongues coupled with interpretation, two or at most three.
- Two or three anointed teachers speak and guide the meeting.
- If a saint attending has a revelation or something to share, whoever is speaking must stop and give them the floor so that all might be able to prophesy, learn, and be encouraged.
- Those who address the group must realize that their spirits are subject to the anointed teachers guiding the group.
- Women (or anyone for that matter) are not to use the time for socializing.
- Those who think they are spiritual Christians should acknowledge that this order is command from the Lord.
So, if we BELIEVE the Bible, interactive meetings like these isn't an option. It's a command from the Lord.
Now, having a large church building and a traditional Sunday service isn't a sin. It's cultural in the West, that's all. But if all we do is assemble in a building to hear a sermon and listen to bang clang music... we've missed the entire purpose of meeting and entirely missed out on the "body ministry" the Bible commands.
if you are holding church in your house, isn't that still taking people to a building? until you preach on the streets, and in the market places, and basically everywhere you go, you probably are not emulating the Apostles.
*Sigh*
You guys don't get it. The Bible (I Corinthians 14:26-38) illustrates that our meetings should have the following elements and guiding principles:
- Everyone being able to bring a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.
- Gift of tongues coupled with interpretation, two or at most three.
- Two or three anointed teachers speak and guide the meeting.
- If a saint attending has a revelation or something to share, whoever is speaking must stop and give them the floor so that all might be able to prophesy, learn, and be encouraged.
- Those who address the group must realize that their spirits are subject to the anointed teachers guiding the group.
- Women (or anyone for that matter) are not to use the time for socializing.
- Those who think they are spiritual Christians should acknowledge that this order is command from the Lord.
If our "form of church" will not allow for these kinds of meetings... we are failing to meet as the Apostle Paul admonished us to meet. It doesn't matter if it's in a house, a park, a coffee shop, a library, a book store, a bus stop, a town square, or wherever. The point is that the above elements should be present. They are to be elder guided and interactive meetings where anyone present can address the group by sharing a song, a hymn, a poem, a passage, a testimony, or whatever the Lord leads. If a meeting is too big to facilitate this, it fails to allow for the body ministry Paul admonishes us to have because it is a "command from the Lord" (I Corinthians 14:37).
For example, on any given Sunday when your pastor is speaking... could I ask to speak and share a word that the Lord has placed on my heart? Could you in turn share what passage has been ministering to you and what the Lord put on your heart? If I had a question could I interrupt the pastor's sermon to seek an answer? Could the entire congregation do any of this? Or would the pastor be upset because was interrupted and he didn't get to "preach a sermon"? Would there by too many people to allow for such an open and interactive meeting? Would we be relegated to passive spectators who hopefully learn something? If so... your church is most likely too big to abide by I Corinthians 14:26-38. You need to form home fellowship groups or house churches or something to fulfill this calling of Scripture.
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until you preach on the streets, and in the market places, and basically everywhere you go, you probably are not emulating the Apostles
You're exactly right. We've had house church (simple church) gatherings at Tim Horton's in Dayton Ohio, a Tim Horton's in Beavercreek, a coffee shop called Higher Grounds in Tipp City Oh, and several parks. On the 28th of this month my current house church will be gathering at a local park to share the Word with the lost and one another. We'll also have baptisms right in the lake. lol Yes, we take church everywhere! LOL
The issue isn't so much the building vs. house. The issue is... is the group meeting too large to fulfill I Corinthians 14:26-38 and disciple believers to reach their world?
Also, we don't teach and lead in these house churches to just gather members. Our elder wants everyone in the house church to become equiped to host and/or lead another house church gathering. He stated that if he still sees the same faces in four years, he's failed the Lord's vision. In four years he stated that every household represented in our current house church should be at least hosting a house church on their own.
A loose and general rule among the elders I know is that we take no more than 12 men and their families. We help them cultivate a relationship with Jesus, teach them doctrine, teach them about their salvation, teach what Christ has done, teach them how to share the gospel, teach them how to study the Bible, teach them how to lead and guide a house church, teach them how to disciple others and train them. The process is targeted to last nearly 3-4 years. Then we SEND them to win the lost and host their own house churches wherein they train others to do the same.
It's ALL about helping people become disciples of Jesus.
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