The House Church:

[gloryseeker]

In many respects I agree with you. While it may sound like I am broad stroking everyone in a category as the digger tries to incorrectly point out, I am not.

Human nature is not complicated at all. It is not hard to figure out what is in the heart of a person. A good salesman will figure out your hot buttons within a matter of minutes. While I realize that nothing is 100% when dealing with people there are always underlying motives of why people do things.

There are those who will take scripture and try to prove that tithing is not mandatory or it is Old Testament or under the law. I have never seen a "giving" person try and make this argument. There are some that profess "we" are the church and the gathering together is not biblical. I have never seen a person who faithfully attends church try and make these arguments.

Having said that let me discuss what you have said. After the first quote you referred to calling people who go to house churches lazy. I didn't say this, so I am not looking at these as lazy, but you did make an interesting analysis after this statement. You talked about how, "Many (if not most) ministers who function as elders in the house church...AND work a full time job where they have deadlines, a boss or manager, a work schedule, family obligations, the works..." While this is true I would answer that their lives are trying to "budget" God in around their schedules.

I know I'll catch flack for this, but God should be first. By that I mean, before our mortgage, job, car, deadline, boss, etc. Why is it why declare the Lordship of Jesus but allow "other" things to take priority? The reason is because "we" have to take care of our own lives. Read Matthew six there is a beautiful passage of scriptures about not taking thought of your life, to seek first the Kingdom, and that God will provide.

I have found this is true. The reason many Christians struggle is because they are trying to make it and be a Christian. Be a Christian and allow God to take care of the stuff.

You do make a great point about church hoppers. The mentality and spirit behind this is really what I am addressing. I even understand people coming out of "oppressive" churches. But just because a person was in an "oppressive" church doesn't mean that "church" is wrong, it only means they were in the wrong church. If people would pray about where God wanted them instead of going where they like, to a church that is close, or to the denomination that I am, they would find that God is faithful to direct them to the right place. I have seen many people move because of a job transfer and say that they will find a church when they get to the new city. How backwards is that. If God is first, then find the right church and the provision of a right job will be there for you.

You mention a church of 400 or 600 and how that it is impossible for the Pastor to know where everyone is. You are absolutely right and this illustrates why the spectator church doesn't work. This is where elders and deacons come into play. When a church is properly set up the needs of the people, the business of the church, and the direction of the ministry all flow together.

You also mention about how you in your lowest points were not strengthened by others because everything looked right. This is the problem with the spectator church. Church is not about coming to listen. It's about coming to edify. If people came to church prayed up, having an encouraging word, looking for someone to speak a word in due season to then the Body would build itself up.

While I would agree this is a strong argument for the house church in that the size will dictate people get more involved it is also needed in the structured church. The problem is that many pastors don't want people to use their gifts as they view this as a threat to their position. It is however, the way God designed the church. We are a body and we contribute one to another.

Your last point I do have to TOTALLY disagree with you. You are right in that the church spends a lot of money on buildings and landscaping, but my reaction to that is, "Who cares?" God's not broke! As for the people that struggle I do think that the church has not done it's part in helping the poor. I will agree on that.

Churches struggle to pay their bills because they are doing things that God didn't tell them to do. I have a saying that I have used a lot that I have found to be true, "What God orders He pays for and what we order we pay for."

Unfortunately I have ordered a lot thinking it was God. God's not broke, He's not holding back, He wants to be glorified in the earth and if a Las Vegas casino can spend billions of dollars on it's hotel to attract drugs, gambling, and prostitution why can't God have house that resembles His Almightiness?

Our church has NEVER had one special offering. We have NEVER had an offering where we had to have a certain amount to pay a bill. Our church is small with around 50 people (30 adults with only 20 that are always in attendance). Most of our adults are older and on a fixed income. Most families make less than $40K a year. We are by no means a rich church, we have no large givers, we have no outside supporters.

We have a facility that people make comments on how nice it is, we put over $30,000.00 into missions last year, and we have a lot of money in the bank. Why? Because God is faithful! We seek God, do what He tells us, and expect Him to pay the bills.

Now, stop and think. America has been the biggest reason the gospel has gone around the world through our missionary programs. If you have 20 in a house church you would never have the kind of money to fund missions and expand the gospel. There would be no where near the outreach through the world with small nucleolus's of people. Our $30K in missions is a drop in the bucket of what it takes to spread the gospel, but most churches that are 2-3 times larger than us can't put that much into missions. A house church could never send someone to the mission field and keep them in ministry.

Finally, and I apologize for being so long. You said, "I think that many in the house church movement just want to see their funds go to..." We give to God not to the church. Even though our money goes into a ministry our giving is to be to God. If the church has a God called minister then that person has to answer to God and God is perfectly capable of taking care of His work.

People do not see the rewards promised through giving because they give to the church instead of worshiping God in their giving.

Blessings!