Arminian Today

One of the most common arguments I hear from traditional (or institutional) churches is that house churches are opposed to leadership.  One blogger put it this way, “House churches want to play church instead of being the church.”  Traditional churches pride themselves on their clergy-laity division, that they have leaders in place whereas it is assumed that house churches oppose any thought of a leader telling them what to do.

Well this is partly true.  First of all we hold that Jesus is the head of His Church.  As did the New Testament.  As do all evangelical churches.  Colossians 1:18 says, “He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything” (NASB).  Ephesians 1:22 echoes the same thought.  Jesus is the head of His Church.  Not a pastor.  Not a pope.  Not a priest.  Not any flesh but only Jesus is Lord over His Church.  Therefore it is true that we in the house church movement oppose someone telling disciples what to do or think since Jesus is the Lord of His Church.  We need to heed the words of Christ as found in the Scriptures above the creeds and confessions of human beings.  We believe that leaders in the church are not to lord it over others faith but be examples of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 5:1-5).

The ironic thing about reading the New Testament is that you find not a lot of information about leaders in the church.  Only one letter in the New Testament even addresses the leaders from the outset and that is Philippians (1:1).  All of the New Testament letters are addressed to the saints when it would be assumed by modern traditional churches that leaders would first be addressed since the professional clergy set the tone for the local church.  The clergy set the agenda, the vision, the purpose, etc. for the local church.  This is not the case with the New Testament.

Leadership is addressed in the New Testament.  Jesus spoke about leadership in Matthew 20:20-28 but He contrasts the worldly leadership that the Jews had seen with true servant leadership that He called for and demonstrated with His life and death (Mark 10:45).  Leadership is addressed in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:5-9.  Ephesians 4:11 speaks of gifted people who God gives the Church but for a reason: to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry (vv. 12-16) and not to pay someone else to do the work of the ministry.  Leaders are mentioned in Hebrews 13:7, 17 and 1 Peter 5:1-4.  Elders are mentioned in James 5:14.  You’ll notice how important elders were to the New Testament Church.  What you will not find is the idea of one professional pastor serving over a church with a deacon board or a group of elders helping the pastor lead the church.  The word pastor appears only in our English Bibles in Ephesians 4:11 and the ESV correctly translates it “shepherds.”  Jesus is the true shepherd of the flock of God (John 10:1-16; 1 Peter 2:25; Hebrews 13:20).

So what does leadership look like in a house church then?  First of all, we have elders.  A biblical house church should have a plurality of elders (Titus 1:5) who lead the house church.  Their purpose is not to be over the people of God but among the people of God (1 Peter 5:2).  The elders are to fit the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.  The elders are not professional Christians although they could receive some money as a gift from time to time (1 Timothy 5:17-18).  No where does the New Testament call elders to abandon the “secular” for the “ministry.”  Elders are to lead by example and not as professionals who dominate the local church life (Hebrews 13:7, 17).

Secondly, leadership in the local house church is often consensus based.  In Acts 13:1-3 we see the Holy Spirit leading the church in Antioch and He does so through the people of God.  Notice that the people of God were seeking the Lord for Himself (v. 2) and it was during this time that the Spirit called Barnabas and Saul for a specific work (in this case to be apostles or sent ones; see verse 4).  The church didn’t quickly say okay but again they fasted and prayed to come to a consensus about this call.

In Acts 15 we find another example of consensus.  Here the church meets to debate the relationship between the Law of Moses and the grace of Christ.  The church comes to a consensus after much debate (Acts 15:22).

1 Corinthians 11:2-16 is another example.  Here Paul is addressing an issue among the Corinthians about head coverings.  His point throughout these verses is that the church needs to come to consensus over this issue as he states in verse 16.

What this looks like on a practical level is that house churches often move slowly.  Unlike the traditional churches who vote on issues all the time and are building buildings and doing this or that, house churches are slow to act and instead seek God for His wisdom, to study Scripture, and to come to a consensus over issues.  Some issues are quickly solved while others must be handled with much prayer and wisdom from the Lord.  Keep this in mind, however, that Jesus is the Lord of His Church and He is faithful to His Church.  We need only to wait on Him and obey all that He has taught us (Matthew 28:20).  No matter the issue, Jesus should be the main focus and His glory is to our aim.

Lastly, the priesthood of the believers is vital to the local house church.  Each person can study the Scriptures and can speak for God (1 Peter 4:10-11).  All of us are called by God to glorify His name and to proclaim Him.  All of us can hear from God in His Word (John 8:47).  All of us have the Spirit of God living within us (Romans 8:9) and all of us can be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and He is able to speak through us.  We should be open to all disciples of Jesus sharing from the Scriptures or giving a teaching since we are all priests unto the Lord (1 Peter 2:4-11) and all of us can give input into the kingdom of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:26).  Elders are not to be the only ones teaching the Bible.  Elders certainly are to keep the house church sound doctrinally (Titus 1:9; 2:1) but elders are not to dominate the house church meetings.

Leadership in the house church is important and should not be rejected.  God raises up elders to glorify His name through their passion and examples.  Elders are not to dominate the people of God nor are elders to be professional Christians but they are to serve as servant leaders of God’s saints.  We need godly leadership in the local church but what we don’t need is more of the CEO-type leadership that we find in the traditional churches.  Only Jesus is truly head of His Church.  Let us exalt Him for His leaders while He Himself is our true leader.

Having previously discussed the problems with the clergy-laity system and how I believe it robs the people of God from being true priests unto Him (Revelation 1:5-6), I then looked at what it biblically means to be a pastor.  I noted that the word “pastor” is found in most English translations in Ephesians 4:11 and is better translated (as in the ESV) as “shepherds”.  The word “pastor” has largely remained part of our language because of transition and not because of accurate Bible translations.  I noted that Jesus is called “shepherd” or “pastor” in John 10:14 or 1 Peter 2:25 and He is called the chief shepherd in 1 Peter 5:4.  I also noted that no one in the New Testament were given titles such as Pastor Jim or Apostle David for only Jesus was viewed as Lord of lords and King of kings (1 Timothy 6:15-16; Revelation 17:14; 19:11).

Now let us turn to studying the Apostles.  The Apostles play a major role in the New Testament.  While on earth Jesus Christ appointed twelve men that He called Apostles according to Matthew 10:2-4 and Luke 6:12-16.  If you will notice Luke 6:13, we learn that Jesus chose His Apostles from among His disciples implying that He had many disciples.  We know from John 4:1-2 that Jesus was gaining and baptizing many disciples.  Jesus then prayed and from His disciples, He chose twelve men and He called them apostles.  It’s interesting that Jesus called them apostles.  Why this term?  We miss something of the term in the English translations.  Our traditions often rob us of seeing the bigger picture.  When Jesus called these twelve men “apostles” He was calling them, in the Greek, apostolos.  English Bible translations, like they do baptism, simply transliterates the Greek term into English and thus we miss its full meaning.  The word means “emissary, ambassador, authorized representative, delegated authority, a missionary.”  The term was used in the Roman Empire for their naval leaders who would carry bills of laden that contained the apostle terms of being under the direct authority of the emperor himself.  They were sent ones from the emperor.

The term used by Matthew in Matthew 10:2 is this same Greek word.  It means “sent ones.”  Yet when we hear the word “apostles” we automatically think of the twelve apostles of Jesus.  Yet the New Testament presents others who were “sent ones” of Christ Jesus who were not part of the original twelve apostles such as in Acts 14:4, 14 of Barnabas and Paul.  Romans 16:7 also reveals other apostles not of the twelve.  In 1 Corinthians 9:1-6 Paul builds his case for being an apostle despite not being part of the twelve.  In 1 Corinthians 15:5 Paul mentions the twelve and then says that he is also an apostle in verse 9.  In 1 Thessalonians 2:6 Paul writes about being an apostle and he includes among the apostles also Silvanus and Timothy (1 Thessalonians 1:1) with his usage of we.  The Bible also mentions false apostles in 2 Corinthians 11:13 and Revelation 2:2.  Jesus Christ Himself is called an apostle or “sent one” in Hebrews 3:1.

In Ephesians 2:20 we learn that the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus being the cornerstone.  Why the foundation of the apostles and the prophets?  The ESV Study Bible is helpful here:

There are several views about the apostles and prophets referred to here: (1) Some think that they were “foundational” because they proclaimed the very words of God, and some of their words became the books of the NT. Since a “foundation” is laid only once (i.e., at the beginning of the church) there are no more apostles or prophets today, but their function of speaking the words of God has been replaced by the written Bible, which is the foundation today. (2) Others argue that these “prophets” are very closely tied to apostles in the phrase “the apostles and prophets,” and that these prophets do not represent all who had a gift of prophecy in the early church (see note on 1 Cor. 12:10); they were a small group closely associated with the apostles (or else identical to the apostles) to whom God had revealed the mystery of the Gentile inclusion in the church (see Eph. 3:5, where the same phrase, “the apostles and prophets,” occurs). In this case ordinary Christians who had the gift of prophecy in Ephesus (4:11) and other churches (cf. Acts 11:27; 19:6; 21:9–10; Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:10; 1 Thess. 5:19–21; 1 Tim. 1:18; 4:14) were not part of the “foundation” but were part of the rest of the building that was being built (that is, the church) and would continue so throughout the church age. (3) Finally, some think the “prophets” here could be the OT prophets, though the same words in Eph. 3:5 point to prophets of the NT era.

I believe that the prophets here in Ephesians 2:20 along with 1 Corinthians 12:28 means that the apostles and prophets helped plant the churches.  The apostles were “sent ones” as in Acts 13:1-4 who went out preaching the gospel (as all disciples did according to Matthew 28:19-20) and planting churches.  The prophetic element was not so much as in the Old Testament sense of the word but declaring the words of God that we know have fully in the inerrant New Testament.  Ephesians 4:11 again mentions prophets after apostles.  All these gifted people were needed by the Church to establish a true Church.

Now I don’t mean to undermine the authority of the Apostles in the New Testament Church.  In fact, according to Revelation 21:14 the city of heaven is said to have been built on the foundation of twelve and upon them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (ESV).  In eternity, the twelve will still have a unique place in the history of the Church and the salvation that came through Jesus Christ.

So who are then New Testament apostles?  First, there are the Twelve.  Second, there were other NT apostles such as Paul and Barnabas.  And today, we call modern apostles as “missionaries” or “sent ones.”  Their purpose is to build churches in places that Jesus has not been named.  Romans 15:20-21 establishes this type of ministry.  Apostles can often serve God “full-time” and depend on the churches but sometimes they do work such as Paul did in Acts 18:3.  Paul even makes his case in Acts 20:34-35 for his own hard work so that he could help others.  How radically different from most money hungry pastors today?  I love his words in Acts 20:33 where he says that he did not covet anyone’s silver or gold or apparel.  How we need that in the Church!  By the way, the longest Paul ever remained in one city: 3 years in Corinth.  How different from many “missionaries” who stay in cities sometimes for years building usually one church or two at the most.

We need “sent ones” today to build the Church.  My vision is to see modern apostles going into cities such as for example, Phoenix, and planting house churches under the leadership of the Holy Spirit and elders (Titus 1:5) that the Spirit raises up (Acts 14:23).  These house churches would then send out more sent ones to plant more house churches.  Disciples making disciples as Jesus commanded.  These sent ones are “full-time ministers” in the sense that they are supported by the Churches to plant more churches just as Paul did in the New Testament.  These men are not professional Christians but would work if necessary as Paul did.

The word “pastor” appears only in Ephesians 4:11 yet who is the name on the marquee of most churches?  The elevation of pastors to the role that we find them in in the modern Church is not based on the New Testament but human traditions.  The Protestant Reformation, while very good and needful, produced a system that went from one pope to many popes.  In some cases, the pastor of the local church is the star, the main attraction, the leader, the man of the hour, the man with all the answers, the priest who stands in the gap for the people of God, and the man who studies the Scriptures and helps us laity apply this mysterious Book to our lives.  The pastor often sets the agenda of the local church and he comes up with many of the ideas for the church to grow.  The pastor, according to normal evangelicalism, is to fulfill Ephesians 4:11-16 and help build up the body of Christ by teaching the saints of God about God from the Bible.

Yet none of this is based on the New Testament.  None of this is found in the examples of men or women in the New Testament.  A case can be made from the Old Testament about singular leaders such as David or Solomon or Moses but these applied to the theocracy of Israel.  The Church is not a nation.  The Church seeks to establish the kingdom of God but the kingdom is a kingdom led only by one, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:15-16).

The word pastor is found in most English translations only in Ephesians 4:11.  The ESV correctly translates the word as “shepherds” as opposed to pastors.  Where did the idea of pastors in Ephesians 4:11 come from?  Much like the word “baptism” (Matthew 3:11; 28:19), the word pastor is simply a traditional translation.  The Greek word for pastor is the word Poimen and is translated 29 times in the New Testament.  In every case it is translated as “shepherd” or “shepherds” and most of the usage is aimed at Jesus.  For instance, Jesus is called the shepherd in John 10:11-16 and 1 Peter 2:25 and other places.  Jesus is called “the chief shepherd” in 1 Peter 5:4.  Using the traditional translation then of Ephesians 4:11, it would be proper to state that Jesus is our pastor.  No one is called “pastor” as a title or office in the New Testament other than Jesus.  Elders are to “shepherd” the flock of God (1 Peter 5:2) but notice the plurality and not the singular as we see in most churches today.  The idea of one “pastor” is not found in the New Testament at all.  Leadership is always seen in plurality in the New Testament (see Titus 1:5 for example or Acts 20:17, 28).  Hebrews 13:20 likewise calls Jesus the “great Shepherd of the sheep” (NIV).

Today we use the term “pastor” all the time.  We call people “Pastor Bill” as a term of their job.  The New Testament never uses titles for disciples.  The only title we find in the New Testament is Lord for Jesus Christ (Luke 6:46; Romans 10:9; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14).  Even Paul is never called, “the Apostle Paul” nor is Peter called, “the Apostle Peter” but Apostle refers to what Paul was doing and not some title.  Apostle means “sent one” (Matthew 10:1-5; Acts 13:4; 14:14).  Paul always uses this term to show what he was doing (see for example Romans 1:1-7 where Paul clearly builds his case for being sent out to preach the gospel).  In the New Testament you’ll never find titles for disciples but only for Jesus as disciples are merely slaves of the One who is worthy (Luke 17:10).

Why all this fuss then about pastors?  I am not trying to attack men of God who do passionately want to exalt Jesus.  I am merely trying to build a case that what we need for the Church is a return to exalting Jesus Christ above flesh.  Jesus needs to be exalted as the rightful leader of the Church (Colossians 1:15-20).  No man ever gave their life for the salvation of souls or to establish the Church of God like Jesus, the perfect Son of God (1 Peter 2:21-24; 3:18).  Jesus died to establish the kingdom of God.  Jesus died to reconcile us back to God the Father (Mark 10:45).  Jesus tasted death for every person (Hebrews 2:9) so that we might be righteous in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  The true disciple of Jesus seeks to exalt Jesus by worshipping Him by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:2).  We have sadly elevated men to places Scripture never places them at and then we wonder why there is such a high burn-out rate among pastors?  They are doing something that God never intended them to do.  Jesus will lead His Church and we need only to follow Him (John 10:27-29).

So should there be leaders in the Church?  Absolutely!  But not one person.  The only One worthy to lead the Church is Jesus Christ through His Spirit (Acts 13:1-4).  I fear that we don’t trust the Word of God nor the Holy Spirit to direct the Church so instead we gather pastors to lead us but we ignore the Spirit of God.  Not so with the early disciples (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21).  The Holy Spirit led the Church and they followed Him faithfully.

For more on church leadership and the New Testament model, see Frank Viola’s book Who is Your Covering? and also the article by Jon Zens,  Building Up the Body: One Man or One Another?  

People jump from church to church in the United States all the time.  Some leave for godly reasons and yet I think most leave churches because of pragmatic ideas such as they enjoy the “worship” at another church or they want a larger children’s or youth ministry.  Some leave for preaching.  But most don’t truly leave churches for biblical reasons.

If I could have a dream church, what would that church look like?  Anyone who has read much of my blog knows that I prefer smaller groups, house churches, and yet I love the presence of God.  I love theology but don’t want to sit under theological teaching that is boring, lifeless, and without a passion for Jesus Christ or His kingdom.  I love to sing songs of praise to God but I am not about the typical concerts that many attend on Sunday morning and we call “worship”.  I am not big on buildings, love missions, and hunger for prayer. So what would my dream church look like other than the book of Acts?

1.  A Church That Glorifies God First and Foremost

I want to be a part of a church that loves God, fears Him, and honors Him above all.  Colossians 1:15-20 speaks of Jesus being Lord of all and that He reigns over His Church as head of the Body.  I want to be in a place where that is not merely a theological cliché but truth.

2.  A Church Where The Holy Spirit Moves

By my words I don’t necessarily mean in a charismatic sense of the words.  Many people read that and think I am saying that I want to see charismatic gifts in operation but the reality is that I want the Holy Spirit to lead us by His Word and through His presence (Acts 13:1-3).  Since the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, I love to hear His truths being soundly taught (Titus 2:1).  I do want to be in a place where we don’t limit the Spirit by saying that He can do this but He can’t do that.  I am open but cautious.

3.  Where Missions Is Important

Jesus commanded us to go (Matthew 28:19).  How can we sit back and not go?  I love to give money to missions.  I love to pray for missions.  I believe that Genesis 3:15 shows that even from the dawn of time our God was a God of missions.  His heart is for the lost to be saved (2 Peter 3:9).  He gave His Son in that regard (John 3:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:1-6).  If God so has a heart for the lost, should not we?

4.  Where People Are Getting Saved

I want to be in a church were people are truly getting saved.  I have never been a part of that type of fellowship.  I have been in churches where some people did get saved but I want to be in a place where God is always using us to spread His gospel and see people set free from sin by His grace.  The Church in Acts was always growing, always seeing souls saved.  I want to see that.  I often pray that I would see drug addicts, homosexuals, liars, adulterers, perverts, religious people, etc. come into the kingdom by God’s grace (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).  I want to be in a place where God is adding to His Church those who are being saved (Acts 2:47).  I want to be in a place where midnight baptisms are the norm (Acts 16:30-34).

5.  Where Discipleship Is Lived Out

Hebrews 3:13 implies that the disciples were to encourage each other daily.  Sadly, many churches have people who either don’t even know each other, their names, their lives, etc. but rarely speak to each other.  I don’t want that.  I want to be in a place where people know me and I know them and we can share this life together and encourage each other to victory in Jesus.  The older saints use to greet each other with, “Do you got the victory today?” but we don’t speak that way toward each other anymore.  We do need to.  We need to encourage each other toward following the Lord.  Discipleship, according to the Jesus model, is to walk and talk with each other and learn from one another.  The way that we learn to pray, to worship God, to evangelize, to be godly in our marriages and raising our children, etc. are learned from following the examples of others who are setting the path before us.

6.  Where We Split All The Time

And yes I said split.  I don’t mean that in a negative sense.  I mean that when the church becomes too big to know each other and be able to relate to one another and use our gifts with each other (1 Corinthians 14:26), its time to split.  Nearly all scholars agree that the early Church was a network of house churches.  In Rome, for example which was the largest city in the world at that time, the disciples met in various house churches throughout the city.  The church was one in Rome but many people in many places meeting.  They split.  I want to be in a church where we have about 10 to 15 in our meetings, people get saved, and boom we split.  We start another house church with leaders of their own (Titus 1:5).  I don’t want to be in a dead church where the same few meet for years without souls getting saved.  I want to be in a house church where people are coming to faith in Jesus and we are always in need of splitting.

7.  Where Scripture Is Our Standard For Life and Doctrine

Paul wrote this to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16, to watch his life and doctrine closely.  The Church, because of so many errors out there, needs to protect herself through faithful teaching and preaching from the Bible.  If we are to see people saved and growing in the Lord, they must hear sound doctrine from the Bible.  I don’t want to be in a fellowship where the Bible is ignored or only referred to.  I want to be in a place where the Bible is the inerrant and infallible guide for the Church.  We heed its principles because it alone is inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

8.  Where Prayer Is Passionate and Practiced

How many churches fail to pray.  How many churches major on so many things but not prayer.  Prayer is the life of the Church.  Prayer connects us with God and He with us.  Prayer is not so that God can bless our works, it is our work.  Jesus said that His house would be called a house of prayer (Mark 11:17).  He taught His disciples to pray always (Luke 18:1).  Paul said the same in 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  Paul told the disciples in Colosse to continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2-3).  Prayer is so vital to the Church.  Prayer brings the presence and power of God as we seek to exalt Him in prayer.  Prayer opens the door for missions.  Prayer takes us deeper in our knowledge of God and His Word.  Prayer produces miracles as we seek the God of miracles (Mark 11:22-24).  Jesus said that we could ask for anything in His name and He would do it (John 14:13-14).  That is incredible to read and to imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).  Yet how many churches do you know who truly pray?  How many churches (other than IHOP) spend hours on their faces crying out to God?  How many churches do you know where people truly pray and seek God’s face and not His hand?

9.  Where Money Is Used For the Correct Reasons

Money has caused many problems in churches.  Entire churches have split and even closed because of the love and abuse of money (1 Timothy 6:10).  Jesus warned us not to let money become our god in Matthew 6:24.  Jesus also said that it was difficult for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God because of their love of money (Luke 18:24).  Money was very important to God in the New Testament Church yet we find in the book of Acts a church that used money to glorify God.  In Acts (and the Epistles for that matter), money was used to A) help the poor and suffering (Galatians 2:10), B) help hurting Christians (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and C) to help plant new churches (2 Corinthians 8; Philippians 4).  Yet sadly, most churches today use money for buildings (nearly 85% goes toward this) and salaries.

However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands.

- Acts 7:48 NASB

In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul says that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit.  Earlier in 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul said that the Church is God’s temple.  So which is it?  Are we as individuals the temple of God or is the Church His temple?  The answer is of course that both are.  Because the Church is composed of people within whom the Spirit of God dwells (Romans 8:9) then the Church also is God’s temple since He dwells in us (1 Peter 2:4-10).

Yet the reality is that there is nothing in the New Testament to suggest that God dwells in places such as buildings or holy edifices such as temples.  In fact, Stephen said in Acts 7:48 that God does not dwell in houses made by hands (ESV).  Stephen goes on to quote Isaiah 66:1-2 where God Himself says that nothing can possibly contain Him.  Not even the temple in the Old Testament could house the entire presence of God.  How could it?  What could contain the presence of God?  In 1 Kings 8:27 Solomon says even the highest heavens could not contain the presence of God.  God is omnipresent.  He is a present help in times of trouble said the psalmist in Psalm 46:1.

So if God does not dwell in houses made by hands and if nothing can fully contain the presence of God and if we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, are His temples then why do we often refer to a building as “the house of God.”  I was raised to believe that the building we went to and called “church” was “the house of the Lord.”  I can still hear the Sunday school leader saying, “Welcome to the house of God.”  When I was baptized in 1992, I still believed that the building should be called the house of God.  Yet all this begin to change as I studied the New Testament.  I became convinced that the building is not the church nor is it the house of the Lord.  God does not dwell in houses made by men.  He dwells in me!

Once again we have adopted Old Testament language when we speak of the New Testament Church.  Just as the old covenant had priests so we have priests (clergy) and just as the Levites collected tithes for Israel, so we teach this for the NT clergy.  Just as the sons of Aaron ministered before the Lord at the tent of meeting and then in the temple so we refer to the NT clergy ministering before the Lord in the church building that we call “the house of God.”

The problem with this teaching is twofold.  First, the teaching is just not biblical to teach that a building is the so-called “house of the Lord.”  Secondly, it confuses people who think that at church we must sit quietly or offer incense or say prayers or do other sacred rituals but then we go home to our house and do what we like.  The reality is that a building is not the house of God.  His people are!  We are to be holy at all times (1 Peter 1:15-16) and not because we are in a building.  No building is holy.  Only the person is.  Children grow up thinking, as I did as a child, that God lives in a building that we call “church.”  But the reality is that He doesn’t.  It’s just a building that will burn like all other buildings.  So much money and time are wasted on buildings that will not last instead of pouring that money into helping people and evangelizing the world for Jesus Christ.  How much more could be done for the kingdom of God if buildings didn’t stand in the way.

Just remember this truth: you are the temple of God and everywhere you go, He goes!  Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God who dwells in us His people (Colossians 3:17).

In my previous post on house churches and I why I love them, I want to continue with five more reasons why I believe that house churches are so useful to the kingdom of God.

6.  House churches allow for the church to be “real and relevant.”  Those terms have been hijacked by the seeker churches.  I know of one seeker church in my area that has made that their statement of faith essentially.  But are seeker churches or emergent churches really “real and relevant”?  They might be more progressive in their music and in their styles but both still maintain the clergy/laity system, both still operate with a focus on “the show”, and both still make church mostly passive.  But the house church is not that way.  They require that the person attending the house church be a real person and be relevant by using their spiritual gifts.  House churches, by nature, want people to be involved and they want the attendee to add to the discipling experience (Hebrews 10:24-25).

7.  House churches need no advertisements, no glamour, and nothing of the world to draw sinners.  I would add that the house church is not designed for the lost.  The lost are outside of the church as they are not children of God (Galatians 3:26-29) but the church is for disciples only.  Disciples are then equipped and edified to go and make disciples in the world (Matthew 28:19-20).  Jesus never told His disciples to make the church attractive to sinners.  He never said for us to sit back and seek to get the world to come to us.  In fact, just the opposite.  He said that we were to go (Mark 16:15).  He told His Apostles to expect to be persecuted for their faith (Matthew 5:10-12; John 15:18-27).  The house church is not designed at all to attract sinners.  It is not designed to offer “kicking music with a hot band” or “relevant messages.”  The house church is just what it is, a place where Christians gather to worship together the Lord Jesus and to break bread (Acts 20:8).

8.  House churches can use the money that God gives them for His purposes.  House churches have no budgets.  They have no salaries.  They have no bills of any kind.  They take all the money that they can and use it for the purpose that God has called them to use it.  House churches, like the Church in the New Testament, do not require any tithing and need not hear sermons on tithing because they have no clergy to support.  House churches can be generous whereas the institutional church must use their money largely to support their buildings, their salaries, and their agenda.  Not so with house churches.  They can actually obey God and use the money to honor Him alone.

9.  House churches offer intimacy among the saints.  Consider the names that the New Testament ascribes to Christians.  We are not just called Jesus’ disciples (Acts 11:26) but we are called His children (1 John 3:1-3), saints (1 Corinthians 1:2), brothers (1 Corinthians 1:10; Galatians 6:1).  In essence through Christ we the family of God.  But is this reflected in the modern church?  How can it be?  The average church is designed for the person to show up, take their seat starring at a stage, listen to the music (but never leading or even suggesting), listen to a sermon with just one person speaking the entire time, and then give their money and go home.  Sprinkled in there might be a Bible study again usually listening to one person lead, a prayer meeting, or a Sunday school class.  But all of this is designed to keep us at arm’s length.  We never get intimate.  Ask yourself this, “When wsa the last time open sins were confessed in our church?  When was the last time James 5:16 was visible before the whole church?  The house church, however, not only allows for intimacy among saints, it calls for it.  You sit in a living room with a few others who want to know how you are doing in the Lord.

10.  House churches are best for evangelism.  Why?  Because the disciples meeting in house churches are being equipped for missions and to be sent out to make disciples.  The purpose of the house church is not to invite sinners to come and see our show but is designed to fulfill Ephesians 4:11-16 and to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry among themselves and helping us to become more like Jesus to make an eternal impact to the glory of God.

Conclusion

House churches are biblical and wonderful.  They are mighty tools of God that He can use to honor His Son and to exalt His name as we worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).  God never intended the church to become a business.  He intended His Church to be the place where we come together to exalt the Lord, experience life together, and to go and make disciples.  I pray that more and more house churches will continue to come up in the United States as people learn more about God’s Church from His Word.