Category: Biblical Church

My mom, at 93, still has a sharp mind. Her detailed recollection of childhood and life events is incredible. I recently asked her if she remembered doctors making house calls. She did, and then began telling me all the instances when doctors came to her home.

House calls for doctors are a thing of the past and so it seems the same can be said about pastors. Pastors have a tendency to isolate themselves from the sheep in order to preserve personal time and family time. It’s understandable, they’re overwhelmed.

We all love the story of the Good Shepherd going after his lost sheep.

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 

Luke 15:4-5 (NKJV)

Jesus got his feet dirty traveling around. He didn’t set up shop somewhere and expect people to visit him at his “church” once or twice a week. He became intimately involved in people’s lives. He was intensely relational, He went after lost sheep and He made house calls.

I remember a good friend I had at a large institutional church. When his daughter was born he asked me to be the godfather and I was happy to accept. As he rose in the ranks of hierarchy, he eventually became an assistant pastor. At that point the senior pastor advised him to change his phone number and not give it out to anyone. I had no way of communicating with my friend and our relationship ended.

The church structure dictates that isolation for those in leadership is the way it has to be, but it’s contrary to everything Jesus taught and modeled. My friend only lasted a few years after his appointment, he left the church completely disillusioned. I’m sure many of you would be able to share your own heartbreaking stories.

I like to ask people, who have spent years attending church, tithing and volunteering their time, if they’ve ever been invited to the Senior Pastor’s home just to hang out or even go out for coffee. I’m usually met with puzzled looks as if I asked them something inappropriate. I grew up in church and have been on staff but I’ve never been invited to a pastors home, never ever. Doesn’t that seem strange? We pour our lives out for a church or ministry and develop only superficial relationships with the hierarchy.

The question is then, whose pattern should we be following? Whose pattern should our pastors be following? Jesus made house calls, he got involved in people’s lives, he went after wandering sheep-does your pastor follow Christ’s example? The model of institutional church is broken, the gap between clergy and laity doesn’t lend itself to forming meaningful relationships. There must be, and there is, a more excellent way and I encourage you to search for it.

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Next month I will be traveling to the beautiful country of Tanzania.  This will be my second trip.  During my first trip I was accompanied by my friend Lee who had been there previously.  Traveling with someone who knows how to get around was a great anxiety reliever and made my time there enjoyable.  

I had that same sense when reading this book.  Wayne Jacobsen feels like a loving guide who’s been there before and is trying to help navigate our journey to find true church.  You can tell he has scars from past experiences but there’s no sense of bitterness in his words.  This is a great travel guide and I would highly recommend this book if you want to have a truly enjoyable time on your journey.  An excerpt follows.  You can find more information and free resources at www.lifestream.org.

Finding a traditional congregation isn’t any more difficult than finding a McDonald’s hamburger. They are everywhere and they are not subtle about it, with ever-taller steeples and bell towers that intrude into the cityscape. But what do you do if you no longer fit into those conformity-based structures? How do you find the church Jesus is building if there’s no sign on the door?

I never foresaw the day when I’d no longer be an active member of a local congregation and getting here hasn’t been easy. As much as I respect those who still find it an important part of their spiritual life, it is no longer an important part of mine. Both of the congregations I was part of in my adult years hit a glass ceiling where the institutional needs came in conflict with the life of Jesus I was seeking. I wasn’t ready to give up on the desire to participate in his church as a vibrant community of friends cooperating with God’s unfolding work in the world, and I discovered that I could have a more fruitful connection with people and share Jesus’ life more freely without all the accoutrements, political intrigue, and routine that our institutions force on fellowship.

Most people who leave end up doing what I did, looking for another group to fill the Sunday morning void and the friendships they lost by leaving. During the last couple of decades, many have found their way into home groups and other more informal gatherings. When they come together to give rise to a community of friends sharing the life of Jesus and his heart for those around them, they can be wonderful places for the church to find expression. A home or sharing a meal is the most natural environment for us to experience his family as we focus on him and his work in us, rather than the meeting.

Unfortunately, however, an entire industry has emerged in trying to make them just another system. Sometimes called house church, simple church, or organic church, books and articles tout them as the model most consistent with the first-century church. These groups meet weekly in a home often beginning with a meal and then sharing a similar ritual to many congregations with a mix of songs, Bible study, prayer, and planning activities. While such gatherings offer the potential for a deeper relational connection, however, it doesn’t always pan out that way.

I’ve been in home groups that had more hoops to jump through than many congregations. One even had rows of folding chairs with an aisle down the middle and a lectern and piano in front of a lighted cross on the wall. House church, indeed! While most aren’t like that, it did serve as a metaphor for the many house churches that use the same dynamics of conformity to control people. Control in a small group is even more destructive. Just because people gather in smaller groups and meet in homes doesn’t make them immune from the concerns expressed in the last chapter about more traditional congregations. House churches, too, can practice religious performance and miss out on life in Christ, be captive to insecure leaders, and copy a model instead of following the Master to end up just as much an expression of human effort.

In hopes of creating an international movement a lot of time and money has been invested in refining the program, identifying spokespeople, and hosting conventions in hopes of spreading a house church model as an end-time hope to revitalize the church. As much as I have enjoyed and love the people I’ve met in that conversation, I’m afraid they are falling into the same traps that originally drove them to house church. I’ve watched these people compete for visibility and influence, push their pet programs and books, and try to build a leadership-dependent infrastructure.

The problem is not the venue; it is our preoccupation with anything other than him. Any time we try to replicate a human system, it will eventually lead people away from the new creation. Even things that start out with a lot of grace and freedom quickly become pressure-filled with obligations and expectations. Real relationships don’t need them, and utilizing them rarely fixes the problem. As with any other expression of the church, enjoy it as long as it expresses his kingdom and give it a wide berth when it no longer does.

“We’ve stopped going to church and are going to start something in our home this week. Can you give us any tips as to what we might do and what we might want to avoid?” I get that email almost every week. My counsel is always the same: Avoid starting something. Once you start some “thing” your focus will shift from connecting with people to ensuring that the “thing” goes well. Home groups, with a nucleus of people who are looking for something different, are easy to start but they are difficult to sustain when the focus is on a meeting. People will eventually grow bored with house meetings but they won’t grow bored with one another if friendship is engaged.

You will find the church easiest when you stop looking for an “it,” and simply love the people God has put around you. Start with growing friendships instead of trying to find a group to join. It was no accident that the church began at Pentecost without any strategy or preconceived notion of what it would look like. They weren’t told to start Sunday services or have midweek home groups. They simply did what their new experience with the Gospel and their engagement with his Spirit led them to do. 
Learn to follow him and then engage others around you with the reality of his kingdom and watch how that bears fruit.

Wayne Jacobsen, Finding Church

I recently came across this quote from T. Austin Sparks.

The truth is that subjection to Jesus Christ is not a miserable life as a vassal.  It is a life of triumph, a life of victory, a life of glory, a life of fullness. It is the blinding work of the enemy with men, to make them think that to belong to the Lord, to have the Lord in their lives, means they are going to lose all that is worth while, and be shut down, and then all the time be poor cringing creatures, hardly able to lift their heads up, going about as beggars. That is Satan’s lie.  The Old Testament brings it out here so clearly that, when all things were subject to, submitting themselves to, God’s appointed king, it was a time of fullness, such as the people had never known: and so it is when Jesus is Lord with us in heaven.

T. Austin Sparks, God’s Spiritual House

The Old Testament scripture he is referring to is found in 1 Chronicles 24. In this chapter, David is preparing to hand over the many resources he has collected to Solomon, so he can begin construction of the House of God.

Now David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries. I will now make preparation for it.”

Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon, for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his day.

I Chronicles 24:5, 9

As we examine our lives, are they full of victory, glory and fullness? If not, maybe there are a few things to consider. Have we been blinded by the enemy to believe that life truly devoted to Christ is slavery? In this case, we hold back from completely surrendering to our Lord. We want to keep various portions of our lives separated from Him. It’s hard to give up everything.

However, I think there is something more troubling. Consider our corporate church culture. We are taught that we need to help our church/pastor fulfill his vision for his house. We are given gifts and talents to help build up the ekklesia but instead we use them to build up a man’s vision of his church. You might think this is harsh but would you consider the fruit of the church today to be “exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all countries.” Would you consider that the church is at rest with our enemies? It appears something is not working. Church based and founded on dynamic personalities will never achieve this. I know from personal experience.

So the question is, whose houses are we building? I truly believe, and have experienced, that when we submit ourselves to our King, not a dynamic leader, our lives and the life of the ekklesia will be exceedingly magnificent.