Tag: organic church

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Perspective

Trespasses and Sins

I found this article by John Fenn of CWOWI to be very insightful.

Perhaps the single largest doctrinal error in Christian culture today revolves around the concept of forgiveness. What Jesus taught within the context of Jewish culture and Old Testament law is completely twisted by the modern church.  

Paul stated in Ephesians 2:1: “And you has He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Trespasses AND sins. They are not the same. 

A trespass is one person sinning against another. It is horizontal, person to person, and deals with injury. A sin is against God, it is vertical and deals with the guilt.

Our inner demand for justice is built around the injury. They did wrong, we want them caught. We want to hold them accountable. Church culture says ‘forgive them’ which takes care of the guilt, but it doesn’t address the injury they inflicted on us. That is our conflict. We will forgive, but we want an apology. We want them to admit what they did. We want them to make it right. 

Our inner demand for justice agrees with the Law of the Trespass. Everything Jesus and Paul taught on the subject is based on the Law of the Trespass.

Law of the Trespass: Leviticus 6: 1-7 

“If anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by making a trespass against his neighbor in something entrusted to him, or something left in their care or something stolen, of if they cheat their neighbor, or find something lost and then lie about it or not return it. If they sin in these ways and realize their guilt… 

“They must return what they stole or got by deceit or lying. They must return the lost property they found to their neighbor, and in anything like this that they lied about or did to their neighbor, AND add 20% of the value when they return it to the person they trespassed against. 

“Then they (with the other person) will take all this to the priest who will make a sacrifice for them, and they will be forgiven of these trespasses.” 

Notice they have to make it right with the person they trespassed against BEFORE they can be forgiven by God for that trespass.

That doesn’t threaten their salvation for the law is specific to each particular trespass. It means if they keep that which was stolen, or they never admit to the person they lied about something, or any trespass, and they never reconcile by admitting their trespass, when they stand before the Lord they will be held accountable. 

The victim may forgive them, but they haven’t done what is right to be forgiven by God, which is to apologize to the person they trespassed again. For that trespass they will be held accountable by Him.

What does this look like in modern times?

How do you add 20% interest in our day? In their day, if someone found a lost leather coat that was worth $500, they would have to return the coat and add 20% or $100, and give the person they trespassed against the $100 and the coat, THEN go to the priest to receive God’s forgiveness. 

Today, if we trespassed against someone and wanted to make it right, we would apologize to them, then that “20%” could be taking them to lunch, or meeting them for tea or coffee which you pay for. It could be sending a card or note after you reconciled, just to be sure all is right between you once again. That 20% would be doing something just to be sure you two are okay again.

BUT….If a person keeps the found coat instead of returning it, they become guilty of that sin of stealing before God. They won’t go to hell, but they will be held accountable for stealing.  

Jesus spoke of the Law of the Trespass in Matthew 5: 25-26: “Agree with your adversary (the person you trespassed against) quickly while you are on the way with them. Or they might deliver you to the judge, who will turn you over to the officer and from there to prison. I tell you the truth, you won’t come out from there until you’ve paid every penny you owe.” 

Christians have misunderstood this for years, thinking this is heaven or hell. It is not. It is simply an exhortation to reconcile with the person you trespassed against, for if you do not, you will be charged with theft, fined the 20% and sent to prison. That was the custom in that day. 

The larger passage is about anger without cause, and ‘leave your gift at the altar and go and be reconciled to your brother.’ It’s about being willing to make it right when you’ve trespassed against someone. 

This is the big one

Mark 11: 25-26: “And when you stand praying, forgive if you have something against another so that your Father in heaven may forgive your trespasses. But if you don’t forgive (their trespasses against you) neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

This is not heaven or hell, this is the Law of the Trespass. First, forgiveness is a decision, not an emotion. It is a decision to forgive that person who injured us. You don’t have to feel good about them or what happened for you were injured. They remain guilty before God unless they come to you and reconcile. 

That said, both Jesus and Steven asked the Father NOT to charge their executioners of their trespass of murdering each. We have that option of asking the Father to forgive them anyway, even if they don’t account for their injury to us or seek reconciliation. 

Jesus said at His resurrection: “Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.” We are given the authority to use His name against demons, to use His name to lay hands on the sick. We can come before the Father in His name to seek mercy and grace to help in time of need. We can also ask the Father to forgive a person’s trespass even if they don’t reconcile first with us and add that 20%. OR…we can ask Him to deal with them. 

Paul in II Timothy 4: 14-16: In v16 he says when he was first indicted in Roman court none of his friends went with him to court, and he said: “I pray God that it won’t be laid to their account.” 

But just before, in v14 he wrote this: “Alexander the Coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will reward him according to what he did.” 

In the case of Alexander the Coppersmith, Paul chose not to release him from the injury he did to Paul. I’m sure Paul forgave him the guilt, but he didn’t release him from the harm he did to Paul. Paul chose to let the Lord deal with him. That meant if Alexander never repented, he would stand before the Lord to give account on that harm of which Paul wrote. 

There are some people who will not apologize for the injury they did to us, and we forgive them vertically, but we want them to face the consequences of their action. That is what Paul did – let the Lord deal with Alexander the Coppersmith. That isn’t unforgiveness. It is forgiving them vertically, but because they won’t do what is right horizontally, we release them into the Lord’s hands and go about our business.

The link to the article is here.

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Biblical Church

The Problem With Success

It’s so encouraging to hear stories of House Churches growing and expanding. In Jason Shepperd’s book, A Church of House Churches, he describes an initial group of forty people meeting in 2 House Churches expanding over time to thousands in 75 House Churches. They also started Church Project, a more conventional church that meets twice on Sunday and has about 4,000 people gathering. It seems there are other Church Project Network churches. Together there are 8-10,000 who consider Church Project their church.

Many of us that have established House Churches, have seen imperfections in the conventional church model and would never consider going back. It might seem odd for a House Church network to grow and become successful and start a conventional church. Jason Shepperd describes it like this:

All of this happened with no centralized office, no phone number. No receptionist. No office foyer. No mailers. No marketing.

The rest of his book, which is only around 100 pages, seems like a defense of his decision to incorporate a conventional church and a network of House Churches. He writes the following:

But, God has also seemed to value the large gathering of His people. There is a value to corporate worship. In the Old Testament, people gathered regularly for feasts and festivals and the worship was pretty phenomenal, planned out and prepared and had a ton of people present. In the New Testament, where House Church was birthed, large corporate gatherings still happened. The apostles taught people by the thousands. They were kicked out of the Temple courts and rented Solomon’s Colonnade, a lecture hall contiguous to the Temple, for weekly gatherings for thousands of people.

I’m not sure what smaller communities will look like in Heaven. I’m not sure what diversity will look like in Heaven with age, gender, skin color, etc. But, the glimpses that God has given into corporate worship of His people in Heaven, joining with the angels, will be phenomenal.

God seems to love the corporate gathering of His people in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and in Heaven.

One of my mentors, Teryl Hebert, was a conventional pastor that dissolved his church to pursue a more relational model. There are a number of House Churches he is overseeing. Teryl holds corporate gatherings about 3-4 times a year so new people can meet others, they can worship together and they can discuss material and spiritual concerns as a community. From my experience, this seems to be the trend for House Church Networks…not developing a traditional weekly corporate gathering but setting up meetings whenever the need arises.

The author claims there is scripture to justify the Church Project but never gives any except the references to the Temple court and the Colonnade. Maybe they rented Solomon’s Colonnade for a time, but Christ followers were kicked out of there also. Beyond that, there seems to be no Biblical references in the New Testament for the church meeting in large venues with thousands of people.

It would be interesting to hear comments from those that have experienced Church Project. From the book it appears that this movement is highly successful, vibrant, growing and financially helping lots of people.

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Books / Videos

Losing Our Focus

This is such a great article by John Fenn of CWOWI. I know it resonates with me; I hope it resonates with you also.

What’s the buzz….

Rome burned in July of the year 64 for 6 days. Nero blamed Christians, which started the first federally sponsored persecution of Christians. 10 Caesars persecuted Christians on a federal level, right up to the time it was legalized by Constantine in June of 313AD. (Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Maximinus, Decius, Valerian, Diocletian, (Constantine & Galerius, early in Constantine’s reign would be 11)

Up to that point persecution had been localized and sporadic. In Jerusalem Acts 7 records Stephen’s martyrdom less than a year after Pentecost. James, the brother of John, was killed in Acts 12, about 10 years after Pentecost. 

As Christianity began to spread, unbelieving Jews followed Paul and stirred up trouble. In Acts 18: 12-16 in Corinth, Greece, the Jews tried to make their persecution of Christianity a federal case. 

The passage tells us the Roman judge Gallio, who would be like a Supreme Court judge in our day, ruled against the Jews, saying their case against Paul was not a federal case. This gave Christianity about 10 years of relative peace with Rome, though Paul continued to be persecuted by the Jews within their religious system – and when they could spread it to local government, they did so. 

What is amazing is the letters of the New Testament barely mention persecution. Peter’s first letter is about the subject, but without naming specific instances. The letters from Paul, Peter, James, John and Jude are about Christ in us, what He has done for us, what our lives in Him should be. 

Compare that with many Christians today and their focus. Were the authors of the NT informed on current events? Certainly. Was that their focus? Not at all. 

Today, we use the excuse of ‘wanting to know what God is doing’, to surf the web, and honestly, much of it is focused on what the devil is doing. But we don’t see that in the pages of the NT. They were all about what Christ in them meant to their lives, how they could be more Christ-like, and urging us to develop the healthy relationships in Christ so necessary for growth in Him and as people. 

Whatever happens in the world has not caught the Father or Lord by surprise. The Father is still going to provide just like He has always provided to this point – if your gaze is focused on Him and not on the fear of world events. 

The issue with many is not lack of faith, but a high level of unbelief. That comes by looking at circumstances more than looking at the miracles He has already done in your life. When you count up all that He has done to get you to this point, then whatever is ‘out there’ in the world seems rather inconsequential – for He had not change, His arm not shortened to save. 

Focus on what He is doing in you; that’s what He asks of each of us daily. If we seek Him and His righteousness, the rest will be added. 

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Books / Videos

House Church

House Church: Embracing Authentic Community by Vanessa Hensel. I really enjoyed reading this short and sweet (like the cover photo) book. Below is an excerpt from this book.

Over time, I realized that my perspective had been not just slightly, but majorly misaligned. My concerns were centered on myself, my perceived failures, and worries, when, in reality, they were inconsequential. In a thriving house church community, Jesus should be the focus. He is the reason we come together, and the logistics and execution are left in His capable hands. Since this revelation, hosting has become a joyful and adventurous endeavor, significantly liberating my walk with Jesus. Whenever I find myself magnifying trivial concerns into insurmountable obstacles, the Holy Spirit promptly reminds me of that transformational week, and His peace reestablishes itself in my heart. His continual presence is a paramount blessing and an absolute necessity.

As mentioned earlier, the weekly gathering isn’t the main objective of the house church community. It serves as a summary or a catch-up session encapsulating the events and interactions of the week. The communal life should permeate all facets of our lives beyond the weekly gathering. Every possible activity that can involve other community members should be an opportunity for engagement. Whether it’s a coffee shop visit during lunch break, taking kids to the dentist, retail therapy, or selecting plants for your garden, these mundane tasks can become communal endeavors. Similarly, shared interests and hobbies present excellent opportunities for connection.

We need to dismantle the American ideal of independence and self-reliance and foster interdependence within our communities. Our daily mindset should be reoriented to see every situation as a potential opportunity to spend time with our community, working in unity as much as possible. There is no task too big, small, mundane, or challenging that can’t be shared with the family. A collective effort makes tasks lighter, struggles less burdensome. We must let go of the notion that we can handle everything independently, even if it’s possible, because it contradicts God’s plan for us. The worldly view encourages self-reliance and individual resilience, but God calls us to rely on each other and live in community.

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Books / Videos

Gospel Houses

Here is an excerpt from Gospel Houses written by Art Thomas. The book is a great resource for creating and sustaining House Church. It is packed with practical and real life scenarios of doing life together that will help your House Church grow and become effective. After reading this I found myself refreshed and fired up to go out and make disciples.

A shepherd’s primary responsibility is not to feed the sheep or make them healthy. A shepherd’s primary responsibility is to make sure the sheep are alive. Yes, this involves feeding them, caring for them, and monitoring their health; but these are all activities we do with living sheep. Otherwise, we find ourselves rolling carcasses from one pasture to the next, force-feeding and grooming them in hopes that something will change for the better.

The gospel is God’s power for salvation. It’s the mechanism that makes dead things live. And it’s the one meal that provides eternal life for sheep.

A moment ago, I said that the main problem isn’t the shepherd. But this doesn’t completely absolve shepherds of all responsibility. Yes, the main problem is dead sheep, but shepherds have been entrusted with a life-giving message that must be lived, proclaimed, and applied so that the sheep can live and thrive. When shepherds focus first on feeding and not on resurrecting, the work is hard, and messes ensue. Shepherds must make the gospel the priority in ministry to the sheep. As mentioned in chapter 13, it’s the solution to every problem. All other teaching or advice build on a gospel foundation so the Holy Spirit can express Jesus’s life through each person.

Far too many pastors are tempted to shepherd the old man. They give advice that even a person dead in their sin could follow. They try to manage people’s behavior. And when that behavior can’t be managed, they find ways to cater to unsanctified personalities.

Living sheep are harder to control but far easier to lead and serve. And that’s great because our mission was never to control the sheep anyway. Healthy, living, thriving sheep often take care of themselves. They eat on their own. They multiply without the shepherd forcing the issue. And they raise up the young with natural instincts and minimal help from the shepherd.

Jesus doesn’t expect you to shovel dead sheep from one pasture to the next. That’s not Christian leadership. He expects you to shepherd living sheep–people who have been made alive by the Spirit through the power found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Books / Videos

Is This Book For You?

I usually wait until I finish reading a book before I add it to my Resources page, write a commentary and then, if something really touches me, create a blog post about it. I had only finished reading the introduction of the book When the Church Was a Family by Joseph H. Hellerman when I came across a truly honest and inspirational few paragraphs which I want to share.

Is this book for you? The author states that his book is for the Traditional Church Leaders and what he defines as the Emerging Church Visionaries (House Church included). The paragraphs below are addressed to the Traditional Church Leaders.

A good portion of those who serve the institutional church sorely recognize the need for renewal and reform in the way we do ministry. Our programs are tired, our services have often become repetitive and nonengaging, and – most notably – we increasingly struggle to keep people connected with one another in ongoing networks of mutual support and accountability.

We tried for a season to play the consumer game by appealing to our people’s felt needs through programs such as “Three Keys to a Healthy Marriage” and “How to Find Success at Work.” You have surely heard the sermons, and you may very well have preached them yourself. The spiritual bankruptcy of consumer Christianity has become quite clear in retrospect. Indeed, it has completely backfired where the cultivation of community is concerned. The “let us meet your needs” approach to marketing the church, which became so popular among the baby boomers in the 1980’s and 1990’s, has only served further to socialize our people to “prefer a variety of church experiences, rather than getting the most out of all that a single church has to offer.” This hardly encourages lasting Christian community, so we continue to long for genuine renewal.

I trust that those of you who are attempting to revitalize an existing congregation’s values and structures will find this book a promising vision for church as God intended it. But I must caution you in advance to prepare yourself for an acute paradigm shift. A return to the community orientation of early Christianity requires much more than a slight course correction in our weekly programming or the addition of another line item to the church budget.

Contextualizing New Testament social values in our congregation requires us to significantly revise the way that we conceive of church. And there will inevitably be a cost to pay as leaders. For as is generally the case during seasons of renewal, those of us who have the most invested in “church as it is” will inevitably be called upon to sacrifice more than the others in order to liberate our people to experience “church as it was” during the New Testament era.

Categories
Biblical Church

Great Quotes

Charles Spurgeon

Does God need a house? He who made the heavens and the earth, does he dwell in temples made with hands? What crass ignorance this is! No house beneath the sky is more holy than the place where a Christian lives, and eats, and drinks, and sleeps, and praises the Lord in all that he does, and there is no worship more heavenly than that which is presented by holy families, devoted to the fear of the Lord.

Charles Spurgeon

As the church started in the home, it is going to come back to the home.

J. Vernon McGee

The church is never a place, but always a people; never a fold but always a flock; never a sacred building but always a believing assembly. The church is you who pray, not where you pray. A structure of brick or marble can no more be the church than your clothes of serge or satin can be you. There is in this world…no sanctuary of man but the soul.

John Havlick, Southern Baptist pastor

The expression ‘in church’ (en ekklesia)…refers to an assembly of believers. There is no suggestion of a special building. Indeed, the idea of a church as representing a building is totally alien to the NT.

Donald Guthrie

Even the meetings of the ‘whole church’ were small enough for a relatively intimate relationship to develop between the members.

Robert Banks, Fuller seminary professor speaking about the early church.

The early church was able to defy the decadent values of Roman civilization precisely because it experienced the reality of Christian fellowship in a mighty way… Christian fellowship meant unconditional availability to and unlimited liability for the other sisters and brothers – emotionally, financially and spiritually. When one member suffered, they all suffered. When one rejoiced, they all rejoiced. When a person or church experienced economic trouble, the others shared without reservation. And when a brother or sister fell into sin, the others gently restored the straying person. The sisters and brothers were available to each other, liable for each other and accountable to each other. The early church, of course, did not always fully live out the New Testament version of the body of Christ. There were tragic lapses. But the network of tiny house churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire did experience their oneness to Christ so vividly that they were able to defy and eventually conquer a powerful, pagan civilization. The overwhelming majority of churches today, however, do not provide the context in which brothers and sisters can encourage, admonish and disciple each other. We desperately need new settings and structures for watching over one another in love.

Ronald Sider, seminary professor

For two or three centuries, Christians met in private houses…There seems little doubt that these informal gatherings of small groups of believers had great influence in preserving the simplicity and purity of early Christianity.

W.H. Griffith Thomas, co-founder of the Dallas Theological Seminary

For the first two centuries, the church met in small groups in the homes of its members, apart from special gatherings in public lecture halls or market places, where people could come together in much larger numbers. Significantly, these two centuries mark the most powerful and vigorous advance of the church, which perhaps has never been equaled.

David Watson, Anglican priest and evangelist

Since in the first and second centuries church buildings in the sense in which we think of them today were not yet in existence, families would hold services in their own homes.

William Hendricksen, Reformed scholar

The New Testament Church began as a small group house church, and it remained so until the middle or end of the third century. There is no evidence of larger places of meeting before 300. There is no literary evidence nor archaeological indication that any such home was converted into an extant church building. Nor is there any extant church that certainly was built prior to Constantine.

Graydon Snyder, Chicago Theological Seminary

Those…desirous of being Christians in earnest…should…assemble by themselves in some house…those whose conduct was not such as befits Christians could be recognized, reproved…or excommunicated… Here we could have baptism and the sacrament…and direct everything towards the Word and prayer and love…

Martin Luther

It strikes me that there would be a great deal of good done if persons who have large rooms in their houses would endeavor to get together little congregations… Where there is a Church in the house, every member strives to increase the other’s comfort, all seek to promote each other’s holiness, each one endeavors to discharge his duty according to the position in which he placed in that church.

Charles Spurgeon
Categories
Biblical Church

Martha, Martha, Martha

Christ In The Home of Mary and Martha by Johannes Vermeer

 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

If you’ve been a Christ follower for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard this portion of scripture expounded on and preached on. I’m not here to do that. I find it fascinating that an interaction in a home between two sisters and Jesus has been forever immortalized in scripture.

Mary was at Jesus’ feet hearing “His word”. Luke never mentions what Jesus was talking about but instead records the words of a disgruntled woman accusing Jesus of not caring about her plight. Surprisingly, Martha never interacts with Mary directly, instead she wants Jesus to correct Mary’s behavior. There is no indication if the situation ever comes to any resolution. Did Mary, after hearing the discussion, get up and help? Did Martha put away her things, stop working and listen? I guess we will never know.

Jesus was in a home, doing life with people. If you’re doing House Church you know people have all sorts of theology and beliefs and sometimes those beliefs must be lovingly challenged. What better environment to discuss disagreements or misunderstandings than among a group of spiritual family members.

If scripture was still being written today maybe some of your House Church conversations and disagreements would be immortalized too.

Categories
Biblical Church

Bigger is Better?

NPR recently posted an article entitled “Megachurches are getting even bigger as churches close across the country.” The article highlights Liquid Church located in Parsippany, N.J. which is growing at a rapid pace.

For the last several years, Liquid Church has been one of the fastest-growing churches in the nation, and a big part of its success has come through assimilating smaller, more traditional congregations. Four of its seven campuses – all in New Jersey – have come through these mergers.

NPR article by Scott Neuman

An unfortunate truth mentioned in the article is that the average Christian congregation has about 65 members and a third of them are over 65 years old. With smaller and declining congregation, these churches are ripe to become satellites for the megachurches of the world.

If you facilitate House Church, you sometimes fight against the mindset that bigger is better. Early on, doing House Church, I had a friend that was attending our group and also attending a traditional church. During one of our meetings he began to complain about the traditional church he was attending. He had written a song and wanted to perform it at his church but the music director said no. My friend was very upset at the rejection he received. He was on the worship team and had been attending for years, but the answer was still no.

Naturally, I suggested that he share his worship song with us. He never did. The mindset that there is more worth performing in front of a large gathering than in front of 8 or 9 people is troubling. The lines between performance and ministry get blurred. Does Jesus loves us more if we minister or perform in front of large crowds? Are large crowds a sign of success and health?

In John 6, Jesus talks about eating His body and drinking His blood. This didn’t go over well with many of His disciples.

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

John 6:66-69

It’s fascinating that Jesus decided to do life with a small group of people; take some time and meditate on that. Why did He chose to do this? What was His motivation? Perhaps there is some merit in His example. For me, I’m content with doing life with a small group of people; maybe you too should give it a try.

Categories
Biblical Church

The Missing Link

The excerpt below is from John Fenn’s book Return of the First Church, Chapter 8 entitled “The Missing Link”. In this chapter John addresses the topic of accountability. This first part of Chapter 8 is subtitled “Character Building Forged in the Midst of Relationships”.

Righteousness in Christ is designed to be worked out in the midst of relationships. It is within this context and understanding the New Testament was written but is outside the thinking of most in the traditional church. Again, the reason for this is because the pyramid does not foster relationships. It’s all about the structure and program and person at the top. But withing the context of the New Testament interpersonal and inter-generational relationships among family and friends in someone’s living room and workplace were the norm, thus strong character was developed within these relationships.

Being a teacher, I like to refer to many scriptures when I am teaching. I am known for telling people to turn to a passage, then backing them up to the previous couple of versus ‘to set the context’.

If you’ve ever been quoted by a newspaper or other publication, you probably know what it is to have your words taken out of context, and the anger and frustration you’ve felt as you try to explain yourself. (Usually only digging yourself in deeper)

If you’ve ever been in an argument and someone says you said something, but you know it’s been twisted because it was taken our of context, you know how important context is.

The whole of the New Testament was written within the context of strong interpersonal relationships developed through the church (the people) that met in homes. This was their culture. Therefore, it is only within this context that we can fully understand the meaning of the New Testament.

Just like someone quoted out of context, what they said was true, but the context in which it was spoken is the only way to gain a full understanding of what was truly meant in the quote. If we today, try to read what the scripture says out of the context of the way it was intended, we introduce error into our understanding.

Therefore, when we try to understand the New Testament through the eyes of a pyramid style church, we are seeing things askew because the context of the NT was not a pyramid, but rather a flat V or square building, with leadership at the bottom, within the culture of close relationships meeting in homes.