Ministry Within the Home

Hello to all my PBC Voice friends and family. Ready for another week of sharing? Let's get started!

Over the past few weeks, I have been reading Wolfgang Simson's book entitled "Houses that Change the World." You can check some of the most recent blogs to find out how this book has impacted me already. Here is Simson's "Fifteen Theses Towards a Re-Incarnation of Church":

1) "Christianity is a way of life, not a series of religious meetings."
2) "Time to change the 'cathegogue system.'"
3) "The third Reformation"
4) "From church houses to house churches."
5) "The church has to become small in order to grow large."
6) "No church is led by a pastor alone."
7) "The right pieces - fitted together in the wrong way."
8) "Out of the hands of bureaucratic clergy and on towards the priesthood of all believers."
9) "Return from organized to organic forms of Christianity."
10) "From worshiping our worship to worshiping God."
11) "Stop bringing people to church, and start bringing the church to the people."
12) "Rediscovering the Lord's Supper as a real supper with real food."
13) "From denominations to city-wide celebrations."
14) "Developing a persecution-proof spirit."
15) "The church comes home."

The reason for Wolfgang's theses is to provide vision, purpose, and clear direction to what he believes is a return to an Acts type of Christianity. In other words...a New Testament church. Thus far the book has been an incredible and interesting read. Much of what he shares is challenging to the current structure of the church. However, he doesn't in any way "condemn" although he may sound critical.

Why am I sharing this today? Well...in all honesty, I came across a quote that stirred me up again. This quote came from James Richards in a book entitled "Supernatural Ministry." Here's what Dr. Richards said: "When your home becomes a refuge of ministry, it affects your entire family. Your children and mate become involved in ministry. It is no longer something you do that takes you away from your family; it becomes something you do that involves your family. They get to see the results of personal ministry." How timely that this particular quote came across my reading path. As I have been thinking about having an expression of the body of Christ in my own house, I hear of the benefits that one man saw in the life of his wife and children. His children were growing up seeing people get saved, healed and delivered in their dining room! The prayed with mom and dad as they were praying for individuals. Ministry became a way of life.

This is important! In our current system we see families separated. Children go to their "place" for ministry. Parents go to theirs. We have artificially separated the family. In essence, church has become a place for me to "get mine" and for them to "get theirs." As a pastor, I understand the need to minister to particular age and affinity groups; but if we are not careful there may come a time when we will not be able to minister to both groups at the same time. Church in the home will break through the age barrier. I'm not saying that we have to stop having Sunday morning celebrations, etc. However, I want you to consider who you could reach in your own community while affecting the way of life for your family.

One other aspect of "doing church" at a smaller level is the type of true and genuine community that will come out of these local fellowships. Who knows? We might even be able to intervene in some troubled marriages long before critical stages since they will be sharing with a smaller group and thus feel comfortable enough to be real. Trust me when I say that there are a lot of churches that are looking for methods to reach out in tangible ways. Most pastors have come to understand that the larger the congregation - the harder it is to really minister to the whole. That is why you hear of small groups, Sunday School fellowships, etc. When we choose to go smaller, we will actually grow larger. Smaller groups multiply quickly. True community comes out of the smaller fellowships. Rather than building bigger to house this large group maybe we should consider taking smaller groups to a suitable house.

Here's my challenge to you: Think about it!

Think about the affects (long term) on the health and condition of church life. Think about communities being affected by the presence of the Body of Christ where they live. Think about the strength of your own family as you meet with other believers (many of whom have children) - growing together, praying together, worshiping together, and fellowshipping together. Things would be different wouldn't they?