Let me attempt to explain why switching to the house church model is such a good idea. It's important to realize I don't reject the idea of working with or on a regular church staff. Rather, I intend to work as if the one best way of doing church is the house church concept. As much as possible, I intend to implement that concept wherever I serve.
Whenever a move of God in your life places you outside the mainstream, you face a lot of questions from those who love you, and those whom you love -- that should cover just about everyone, since we are sent to a fallen world with the love of Jesus. More importantly, it addresses the motive for receiving and answering questions (1 Peter 3:13-17).
When we announced our decision to begin a new ministry, we were immediately asked by many, "Why a house church?" The root of the matter is this comes after some years of consideration, soul searching, prayer, study, and all the other stuff we do carrying out Jesus' advice to "count the cost." Indeed, I've already done similar work. With the weight of all that behind me, I can confidently assert I am being obedient to the Lord. Right away, those who suffer some insecurity in their spiritual walk will see this move as some sort of poke at them for not doing the same. I can't help that; you stand before God with your own conscience. Most certainly my choice signals I am willing to ask you at least consider my reasons as possibly applying to you in your own calling. Nothing would please me more than see a great move in the same direction world wide among Christians, and especially here in the US.
In previous writings, I've made it clear the evangelical churches are too tightly wound into the politics of this world. We demand tax breaks and engage directly in secular politics, even though we pretend the rules are rather strict. This has served as an invitation for reciprocation, the meddling hand of the government, and we believe the secular state has crossed the line. Not some easily identified, universally recognized point of departure, but the collective events of the recent past together show we can no longer believe in the system. What was once a more or less benign secular human institution is now decidedly hostile to the Kingdom. What we had not realized in the past is quite how unsurprising this should be to us.
Human civil government is required by the Covenant of Noah. Those of us serving the Kingdom of God -- in this world but not of it -- have at best an uneasy truce with such government. A constitution may be founded on principles we espouse from the Word, but it takes only a slight shift in personnel for those principles to be forgotten. Word your constitutions and laws as you wish, but someone determined to ignore God's mandates will find a way. The dominance of principled Christian actors in government is a thin hedge, indeed. A truly Christian government, once instituted, would fail quickly, because those governed will never be so dominantly righteous sin won't break forth in rebellion within the first generation.
The truth is, while the government is indeed evil, it was instituted by God as such so that it may effectively prosecute evildoers. An inherently good-doing government is impotent against the individual who does not have God and does not care to live in His righteousness. Caesar is assigned the duty of mitigating the violence that that man or woman will do. ["The Incorporated Church" by David Beck]
The very act of trying to weed out sinners from its population requires a government to wield the sword on our behalf.
No problem? Wait until you find yourself at odds with the majority, and declared persona non grata. It's easy to say Christians of good conscience will disagree, as will inevitably happen, but who gets to decide when you no longer qualify as "Christian"? If you've never faced the wrath of a professing believer who finds your uniqueness offensive, you've lived a very sheltered life, indeed. Do you want the power of the State behind their convictions? Neither do I.
So we have this thing in the US called "separation of church and state," presumably connected to the 1st Amendment. Parties on both sides of that separation argue over whether and how that rubric applies, but recent history indicates we are better off with a generally secular government paying no attention to churches either way - neither hindering nor giving much weight to their opinions. That we American Evangelicals feel a collective sense of loss from the latter half of that equation, that we sense a surging cultural tide against previous assumptions in our favor, does not justify engaging the democratic process as a solid "Christian" political front. Sinners will sin; throughout human history every culture has peaked only to slide down the other side. You are surprised the sinners demand more liberty to openly sin than we like?
Try suppressing them and they will see your efforts as an intrusion, and use all political weapons at their disposal to silence you. Use their methods -- fight fire with fire -- and you are no different. You lose your claim to the moral high ground. Oppose them morally and you will eventually lose, because they cheat. Get over it. Meanwhile, as they gain ground, don't in the least be surprised to see the sword of government turned against you in revenge. Having once engaged in agreements with the government, via the likes of 501(c)(3), you are bound by the contract. That the policy of government has changed does not let you out of that contract, because it was never promised to favor Christian faith in perpetuity.
For me and my house, it's already gone too far. We have opted out of the contract by starting a work which ignores the state. I am altogether certain the day will come when such peaceful opting out will no longer be acceptable to the state. Until then, we make the most of this opportunity.
Time to roll your eyes and talk about tinfoil hats. That's okay, as my favorite t-shirt exclaims, "I am the wretch the song refers to." You aren't supposed to take me seriously unless the Lord moves in your heart. For those whom the Lord moves, read on.
I won't divulge the details because this is not about me. There are no grounds for boasting. However, it is pertinent to note I have served in a federal role, with a significant security clearance. That role put me in a position to read guidelines and directives which, though not in themselves state secrets, were certainly not routine traffic. Some of it made me weep. I went into that job with the best noble intentions, only to find the whole thing was a giant lie, a matrix of deception at different levels. What makes this paragraph relevant is my knowing for myself, beyond all doubt: The US is intentionally becoming a police state.
Unlike many underground Patriots, there is nothing here of screaming, wringing hands, or a call to arms. You may choose to plan armed resistance; it could be you are certain the Lord calls you to that. It is a darksome path, leading to a mad and surreal land, so count the cost. The only call to arms here is based on Ephesians 6:
Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (vv. 10-13)
Holding a Reformed, Amillennial eschatology does not mean we ignore the references to Armageddon, but we know it's merely a symbol of the human penchant for warfare. Not only between nations, it includes warfare between governments and their own people. There's nothing new there; have you not read where Saul chased David all over southern Judah? The nature of government is to control, and further to increase control, to include the very mind of man, if possible. The freedom of a Christian conscience was the sticking point in the Reformation, the essence of the political upheaval. A ruler, whether civil or ecclesiastical, cannot command the convictions God alone places in a soul reborn. The very existence of the regenerate soul threatens Satan's hold over this world.
In the Reformation, asserting the human conscience was a fresh, revolutionary idea. Today we take it for granted. So much so I must warn readers those changes in federal guidelines I mentioned above came more than a decade prior to 9-11. The powers that be know this is not something which can be done overnight, so they are taking their time, bit by bit. Professional police journals spoke of a return to Community Policing in the '80s, a revival of the "beat cop." This was meant to fail, as the excuse needed for the ubiquitous surveillance and intrusive information gathering we see now. Indeed, so certain were the elite minds behind this, they laid the foundations for a cultural shift at the turn of the previous century. In plain sight, but in the dreary, turgid prose of government publications, this plan called for a radical shift in education in 1905. Instead of building the intellect, the goal was conditioning for a new kind of slavery.
Yes, those who stand for election today, as do those who stand in the classrooms across America, are mere patsies for a secretive cabal, whose souls are owned and steered by the "spiritual wickedness in high places." This is not something unique to America, nor this time in history. Such powers have always been around, and Paul hardly bothered to mention them except to note we need not fear them, for we have the service and armor of much higher power. Realizing the very spiritual nature of this evil, we are hardly surprised when churches are also subverted to one degree or another. Does your church have a US flag in the auditorium? My parents probably remember when it was considered inappropriate, an intrusion of the state into God's affairs. And let me assure you, the introduction of Dispensationalism via Scofield's Bible notes, a wholly novel viewpoint in Christian history, was sponsored and advertised heavily by the same man who sought to personally manipulate three presidents -- Samuel Untermeyer. Scofield was a crook, a very crafty scoundrel with a brilliant marketing idea, and a man easily bought. Many in the pulpit today serve more the purposes of the secular state than the Heavenly Kingdom.
You see a great boasting of private education among Evangelicals. Homeschooling is a good thing! Why not the home church? I assure you tighter regulations are coming soon, but until they do, let us prepare the way. Historical research indicates those already poor were hardly affected by the Great Depression of 1930s. It could not touch them, for they had nothing to lose. Learn, Church, learn the lessons of history. Civilizations rise and fall, an endless cycle repeated until the Lord comes back, and ours today is on the decline. Is your congregation so deeply invested in this world you cannot imagine operating out of a backpack? That day will come, and I am certain in our lifetime. When His judging hand sweeps across the land, will He find your doorposts swathed in the Blood of the Lamb, or will you be caught in the courts of Pharaoh?
My household is packed and ready.
There's more than one kind of freedom. In this case, it's freedom from unnecessary rules. Make all the noise you like about welcoming anybody into your church house, the door is always wider at the house church. That's not a matter of superiority; it's a choice of mission fields. I can bring a Bible study to homes where I'll find people who wouldn't be caught dead in a mainstream church facility. If you've ever read materials from the old Lay Renewal Movement, you'll recognize that reluctance as a primary motive for having ministries outside the facility. There's a psychological barrier for sinners, and you can't wipe it away with advertising.
No dress code, no membership requirements, no forms to fill out, no schedules -- to some degree those things are necessary for a mainstream organized church. They are death to the house church. We have no use for tax exemptions, staff, budgets, or committees. All offerings are private gifts, and accountability is personal, between you and the Lord. No one passes a plate or basket.
The whole thing requires utter reliance on God to move in people's hearts. This is the practical side of Calvinism, again. Our convictions require a hands-off approach in first place. We don't convince sinners to come to Christ; the Holy Spirit does that. We simply explain the gospel message, answer questions, and wait on God to move. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit is sufficient for both sinners needing salvation, and believers needing a closer walk with Christ.
That we must take the message to them remains the command of Christ, the Great Commission. No where does the Bible say we are to persuade sinners to repent, but we are to expose them to the Truth. That means first we must live the truth. However, even our best witness is not our holiness, but the improvements we exhibit as the Lord leads us closer to Him daily. The primary Fruit of the Spirit we know about, but the power of the Lord is demonstrated by the differences others see in the growing quality of that fruit.
A critical part of that is a willingness to let anybody host a Bible study, if the Lord moves them. If I can stand to be in that house, that yard, that garage -- wherever -- with those people, they'll get the Word of God. If they can't take it, that's not my problem. They won't invite me back, but they got it at least once.
They won't be able to reject the message for the sake of rudeness, because I am bound by His Spirit to walk in love. I'm also bound to be direct and honest. Somewhere in that definition I can find a way to gently show the Love of Christ without being pushy. I have nothing to sell, no vested interest, no need for numbers, just a free serving of Living Water for anyone who realizes their thirst. If that means periods when nobody asks, it won't mean closing the ministry. There's nothing to lose, because I have nothing except that Truth.
Organizational Theory is incredibly boring. If you can stay awake through the classes, you can learn an awful lot, though. For example, as an organized group grows larger, natural human variations become a bigger problem. It's not additive, but geometric, insofar as any sense of quantitative analysis is possible. We tend to measure such things by counting the increased number of man hours required to put out the little fires of human conflict.
We notice a great many other things, especially viewed through a biblical lens. On the one hand, God's grace is greater than all our sin. Our foibles cannot get in the way of His divine plan, but they will hinder our perception of His glory as He operates sovereignly in our lives. We know from Scripture our greatest joy comes from truth revealed in us. Against this, we have added complications to seeing His glory when the size of our fellowship group grows. The natural human conflict arising from our fallen state can grab so much focus, we fail to see God's hand, and we miss out on the joy of His glory.
In adding more people to our churches, we ostensibly seek to share that glory experience. We are commanded to work with others in the Kingdom. The nature of our combined witness is the miracle of love binding together fallen humans who would otherwise -- in the flesh -- have no reason to notice each other, and perhaps many fleshly reasons to hate. The disparity of personalities, backgrounds, orientations, all pull us apart. They also serve to strengthen the glory of God. In a sense, it gives Him more options to involve us in His glory. It also increases the likelihood of including someone whose weaknesses are quite destructive. We must of necessity include people who will surely act contrary to the Kingdom values, who will use and abuse the organization for personal gain, or worse.
Thus, it's no surprise organizing even such a divine activity as worship and service of Christ means having rules and procedures in place to minimize such things. However, those same preventive measures inevitably serve to limit human variation. Either the member adapts, and becomes more like the group, or is excluded. In yet another perverse turn, it is this homogeneity which most empowers the abusers, should they ever gain control. We call this "corruption," and some of us life-long servants of Christ have seen too much of it.
Making a choice to keep things small and informal does mean forsaking certain opportunities. For those of us who have been deeply and frequently scarred by organizational abuses and failures, we gain the opportunity to break away from further abuse. Assuming we aren't seeking cultic control, we lose control over the variations, but have no need for it. For those of us who cannot serve Christ in the narrower strictures of larger, more formally organized bodies, house churches are an open door to reach others who cannot seem to fit in the mainstream church structure.
It is completely unnecessary for us oddballs to sneer at the formal institutions, any more than the reverse. We have seen where your mainstream church becomes, among other things, a breeding ground for preparing a few more of us. People who try it, give it their best effort in God's power, and find it doesn't work, often join us in a state fully prepared and highly sensitive to the needs of a segment of the fallen world unreachable to organized religion.
For these blessings, we thank you mainstream churches, even as we thank the Lord.
The final point is actually the other edge of the sword's blade, the other half of the previous point: People love you; organizations and institutions do not. Indeed, the latter love only themselves. That is, insofar as an impersonal entity can love anything.
We have learned long ago when a revolution reaches the final stages, it is institutionalized, it is the establishment. It is no longer a revolt. A revolt is passion, a drive to change. Once it has succeeded, it stands to preserve those changes. The faith community during the First Century AD was a revolt. It was the final realization this world is not worthy of our focus of energy. It is something to be escaped, and until then, to be disrupted by eruptions of Eternity expressed in human lives.
When you organize and institutionalize, that becomes the end in itself. We so easily forget the organization is a mere tool, to be cast aside when it no longer serves the purpose. To go a step further with institutionalizing the organization, you have killed the purpose. Jesus Christ died for you out of a divine love too deep for any other expression. Organized religion loves only itself. It uses people as the tools to keep itself alive and growing.
That a great deal of love and grace can be found within the halls of institutional religion shows only the possibilities of love under any circumstance. True loving hearts are what makes that work, not the organization within which they operate. If the organization does, indeed, serve the greater purpose of love, then things are in proper order. However, it is absolutely unavoidable on this earth that the organization's existence will take a bite out of that love.
The bigger the organization, the bigger the bite. Organizing means depersonalizing to some degree. So it must be. Organization is the enemy of the Holy Spirit, but can still serve some useful purpose, offer some gains otherwise not available. So we cannot kill the organization, because we otherwise cannot have more than one person involved at a time. Perhaps we should remind ourselves the secret is in the design of the organization.
If your organizing is in the Western mode, it is by definition unbiblical. Let us not forget Scripture is an Eastern product. Western civilization is by no means Christian. It is a result of essentially two blended cultures -- Latin and Teutonic -- with a bit of Christian flavoring. That Christian flavoring itself is derived, not from the original source. Thus, the Christian element is more of an add-on, something more affected by the other influences than vice versa. A biblical organization is by definition more Eastern (in the sense of Near Eastern).
The primary model of biblical organization is the family. As a model, our first line of departure from the thing itself is obvious: the lack of genuine shared DNA. That is, we need not be blood kin to organize as a family. Roles can be assigned on some other basis. This is where the Lord takes over as Father and Founder, by the Blood of His Son, which flows in spirits and souls, not in veins. Recall the previous allusion to loving in Christ those whom, in the flesh, we may have great reason not to love at all. In Him, we love the unlovable, because the love of Christ is more invasive and more contagious than any other force man can imagine.
The Western model of organization removes the personal intentionally. It seeks some mythical equality and fairness, raising that to the level of godhead. When the Word says "God is no respecter of persons," it is not about fairness, but about His knowing truly what's behind the human facade. It's inherently unfair God made me less than perfect in body when so many others are relatively normal. It's inherently unfair God calls me to serve in a way which guarantees poverty, when so many others of His children are wealthy. It's inherently unfair, too, I have the skill and intellect to write things people want to read, when others can't type or spell. Well, you are reading this, aren't you? And what makes you so special in the Kingdom you have a the ability to read English when millions of Christians do not? If you want fairness and egalitarianism, you don't want God.
However, if you seek the familial love of God, you'll find yourself driven to treat others with grace commensurate to their varied needs. You won't program that love and grace, with memorized evangelism spiels carefully crafted to appeal to that segment of the population most likely to convert easily -- at least psychologically -- and most likely to attend regularly, and most likely to give generously. Instead, you'll simply love all comers, all who pass through your personal space, whatever God tells you that may be. You'll live His truth, to include speaking words of truth when the time comes, and concern yourself not at all with results. For you, the giving is the thing which makes you alive.
It should be obvious at this point, house church is all about creating a family of grace. The institutional church simply cannot work that way; it has to be "de-institutionalized." That is, to the degree the institutional church matters to you, love and grace do not. If you could convince everyone within the organization it can be torn down and disposed of at the slightest provocation... well, you just try that and see what happens. The knee-jerk reactions of horrified looks will answer the question.
The mainstream church is more about the organization and facilities than about the people.
By Ed Hurst
revised 27 January 2007
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