WHY HOUSE CHURCH

In his book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church,” Reggie McNeal, author, consultant, and church leadership developer, wrote, people are leaving the institutional church in order to “preserve their faith” and because they find church-based activities “poor substitutes for genuine spiritual vitality.”

At the time we began this journey of faith, we had no idea of McNeal’s thoughts or words; however, those words accurately describe our situation. We are not anti-church. Rather, just the opposite is true…we love Christ’s church, but we believe, to better grow our faith, we needed to walk away from the consumeristic mindset plaguing today’s traditional church in order to “preserve our faith”.

The Lord makes clear faith is an active element in our lives, not just a belief we hold. We want an outlet that offers deeper relationships, deeper community, deeper spiritual maturity, and deeper walks with God. We found that in the house church model.

We recognize this model is not for everyone and that the traditional church model meets other people’s needs – and that God uses both to advance His kingdom. For that, we rejoice and seek to walk beside the traditional church, not oppose her.

The Decision Point

As we wrestled with the possibility of transitioning to a house church, we considered Jesus’ words to the religious (Mark 7:1-11) as he chastised them for honoring their traditions more than God’s commands.  And, as we considered and discussed Jesus’ explicit accusal, we applied it to ourselves within the traditional church.  Consider …

Commands of God

Traditions of Man

  • “Dress” for church
  • Communion (how-to, who can administer, when to take, etc.)
  • Worship (band, music style, posture, length of service, etc.)
  • Worship leader (must have, staff member, etc.)
  • Church building location
  • Day and hour of worship service
  • Baptize (how-to, who can, where, etc.)
  • Women teachers
  • Programming (VBS, Sunday School, small groups, etc.)
  • Age-based ministry (youth, singles, young married, older saints, etc.)
  • Prayer posture (head down, eyes closed, etc.)
  • Sanctuary rules (what can be done, what’s not allowed, etc.)
  • Missions giving in lieu of being missional
  • Pastor’s education requirements
  • Pastor’s “job”
  • Paid staff
  • Bible translation preference
  • “Airing dirty laundry” via gossip, prayer list, etc.
  • No life change – just appearance at church
  • Rejecting any kind of spiritual authority
  • Building (location, type, use, etc.)

This, of course, is not a complete list, but just some of the ideas we discussed.  Perhaps, you could think of others that belong on either side.

The eye-opening exercise, for us, came when we asked these two questions:

  • If neglected or changed, which side would upset the “church body” more?
  • If neglected or changed, which side would more likely result in the pastor’s dismissal?

We no longer wanted to place the traditions of man above the commands of God.  So, for us, we decided gathering as a house church not only made sense, but preserved our faith.

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