“CHURCH HOUSES”

And The

Early Assemblies

Jesus said to get out and go, but we have moved in to stay!

What you are about to read are questions and answers that relate to many of the activities of the early believers. Those who claim the “first century church has been restored”
should take another look.

The Institutional Church vs.House Meetings

Question

“In a recent message you spoke of the early believers meeting in private homes and similar places, and that the meetings were mutually inclusive, involving anyone who might wish to share or express himself. If believers adopted such meetings today, would there not be ‘voices of ignorance’ trying to teach one another, as well as a diversity of opinions? Would there not be more confusion than order?”

Answer

A number of people voiced the same concern. In such meetings, varied opinions would not be discouraged, as diversity yields growth. No one, however, would be coerced into conforming to someone else’s conception or interpretation of truth. Although everyone would be urged to look for pearls, a few would find lesser stones. Those few would not be rejected. As to “voices of ignorance” trying to teach one another, we must not forget that the early believers practiced the method I am here describing, and we don’t refer to them as “voices of ignorance.” Their “family circles” and “family discussions” brought out the best in each of them. The least effective method of communication is pulpit preaching and lecturing. The most effective method of communication is mutual dialogue.

There should be a mutual exchange of ideas by as many who might wish to participate, both male and female. Participation would not be compulsory, but everyone would be encouraged to get involved, for “group therapy” or mutual ministry would be the crux of each meeting. Someone with the gift of leadership would lead each session.

Question
“But how do you manage order in a setting where everyone is encouraged to participate?”

Answer

A good leader will maintain order, very much like an earthly father maintains order in a family discussion. Disorder was prevalent in the meetings at Corinth (I Cor. 14). Everybody was trying to speak at the same time. Paul told them to speak “one at a time” (verse 27). Then he told them that “everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (verse 40).

It is noteworthy that no “pulpit minister” or “pulpit pastor” is even mentioned or referred to. Where was he? Wasn’t he supposed to be the center of attraction and the core of attention? He wasn’t there. His office was invented centuries later, thus forming the first major cancer in the body of believers.

Question

“Some time ago, you indicated that it’s wrong to meet inside church buildings. Where do you meet? Do you meet in some structure?”

Answer

I have never indicated it is wrong to meet in some structure. I have said that our church structures are monuments that testify to our idolatry. A few readers—somehow—understood me as being opposed to meeting in any structure. The issue is not whether it’s right or wrong to meet somewhere. That is not what I addressed. The issue is whether or not we have built church structures and edifices and set them apart—sanctified them—as holy articles or entities. I say we have. If I’m correct, we are as guilty of idolatry as were the children of Israel who erected Asherah poles as symbols of worship. God told Israel in no uncertain terms:

“Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved [consecrated] stone in your land to bow down before it” (Lev. 26:1).

Protestants and Catholics have done just that! Catholics have not only set up “consecrated stones” in the form of church structures, but they have made idols and images and bow down to them. Protestants, on the other hand, have set up their elaborate edifices and crosses and view them as sanctuaries and revered designs. Oh, there may be a few exceptions, but the rule seems to be universal. There’s an old maxim, “Our heart is where our money is.” If we will but consider the hundreds of thousands of dollars—yea, even millions—that are spent on church structures, designs, religious inventions, and edifices, and compare that amount to the few dollars we spend on seeking and saving the lost and feeding the genuinely poor, we don’t need a professor to locate our hearts. If this isn’t idolatry, I’ve lost my ability to reason.

We fail to see that God no longer “lives in temples build by [human] hands” (Acts 17:24). His only sanctuary today is the believer’s heart (1 Cor. 3:16). But try telling the average pew-warmer this! He views his church edifice and its “sanctuary” as holy places, and feels that he must go there in order to worship and make contact with his God. Well, let me set him straight. His “sanctuary” is no holier than the building's toilet.

The water Catholics dip their fingers into upon leaving their “sanctuary” is no holier than toilet water—maybe cleaner, but not holier. All of this translates into idolatry, whether practiced by Protestants or Catholics. How in heaven’s name did we ever get this way? Most of the blame may be placed upon the shoulders of the professional clergy. They devise and invent and create and lead and we blindly follow. Are we no longer capable of thinking independently? Where have all the free-thinkers gone? Why have we succumbed to being robots?

Men seem to learn but little from history. Moved with pride, swept with unreasoning fears, in every generation there are those who spend their time and money to erect the same idols and to perpetuate the same errors of their sectarian forefathers. There has never been a human idol erected that did not betray God’s trust and eventually bring disaster to its erectors and their idolatrous followers. I will no longer have any part of it, so help me God!

Question
“Suppose the house meeting becomes too small to accommodate everyone?”

Answer

That would be an ideal time to start another house meeting. Apparently, the early believers used the same method. Each house meeting would be set up and organized in the same manner as the first group, with a leader who encourages mutual participation. It would not be an ideal time to build a “church structure.” The early believers did not build and own “church houses” and fancy edifices. They met in each other’s homes. Church buildings were not built until some time around the second century. They have become monuments to our failures. Jesus said to get out and go, but we have moved in to stay. We seem to want to do the opposite of what our Master instructed.

“Oh, for fallen man,
When will he regain his footing again?”

Question
“What ‘acts of worship’ would be emphasized?”

Answer

Everything would be an expression of worship, for worship for the committed believer never ends, if I understand Jesus’ statements correctly in John 4:21-24. He said simply that worship in the new age, the Christian era, would be anytime and the place where we are. The Lord’s Supper, when offered, would be the nucleus of attention. The Supper would be a period of jubilation and pondering, not a death march.

At this junction I’d like to quote from the late Charles Spurgeon regarding worship, temples, and houses. The quotation may be found in his message, “Additions To The Church.” Please do not by-pass this, as it contains wisdom worth digesting. Trust me.

“New Testament believers did not think that religion was meant only for Sundays, and for what men now-a-days call ‘the House of God.’ Does God need such a house? He who made the heavens and the earth, does he dwell in temples made with hands? What crass ignorance is this!

“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. There is no worship more heavenly than that which is presented by holy families, devoted to His fear. To sacrifice ‘home worship’ to ‘public worship’ is a most evil course of action. Morning and evening devotions in a cottage are infinitely more pleasing in the sight of God than all the cathedral pomp which delights the carnal eye and ear. Every truly Christian household is a church, and as such it is competent for the discharge of any function of divine worship, whatever it may be.

“Are we not all priests? Why do we need to call in others to make devotion a performance? Let every man be a priest in his own house. Are you not all kings if you love the Lord? Then make your houses palaces of joy and temples of holiness. One reason why the early church had such a blessing was because her members had such homes.”

Question
“But what about the pulpit preacher? Where does he come in?”

Answer

He wouldn’t. He would not be needed unless the congregation opted to place him in full-time evangelistic work. Mature and older men called “elders” would shepherd and guide the body of believers, as it was 2,000 years ago. Their role would not be authoritative, but likened unto gentle and loving fathers. They would not play the role of dictators but function as wise leaders.

Question

“I’ve already read a great deal of the articles on your Web site. What you say resonates completely with my spirit and articulates what my heart has longed for for years. Now I will begin to pray that God will lead me to set up a home church, for that is where I belong.

“For years, whenever anyone asked me which Church I belonged to, I always answered, ‘I go to the Methodist Church but I’m a Christian.’ I’ve always known that Church, as we know it, is wrong. I was so indoctrinated with the concept of the Institutional Church, I could not find a way to reform it. I see now that it is because the Institutional Church does not need reforming. It needs ‘chucking!’

“Any true believer knows that true spiritual growth rarely occurs at ‘Church.’ It most always occurs in the small group meetings—Bible studies, cell-groups. I was constantly trying to figure out how to get everyone who ‘warms a pew’ to also get into a small group. Now I see so clearly that the whole wasteful Church Institution is the problem. Chuck the Institution and the real work of God’s family can happen. I look forward to reading more of your articles and getting your newsletters.”

Answer

This is only one letter among many I’ve been the recipient of lately relative to the Institutional Church and house meetings. More and more believers, in all religious parties, seem to be getting the idea, as this dear sister has, that “Church” is the problem, not the solution, and that house meetings provide far more spiritual growth. When the Institutional Church is surrendered in favor of house meetings, freedom in Jesus is enhanced. There is no freedom, or at least very little, within the confines of the Institutional Church.

According to a recent survey, both Protestant and Catholic churches are complaining because so many of their members (puppets?) are leaving and attending house meetings. So be it! May God speed the day when the Institutional Church will be forced to close her doors and join the many who have “seen the handwriting on the wall.” Within the next decade, look for some drastic changes, for they are surely coming.

Question

“I would love to be part of a house church. My husband suggests that for us to start one would take more energy than we have. We are in our 70s and are care-givers to our daughter. What would you suggest?”

Answer

Starting a house meeting is an easy matter. Tell a few friends, whether believers or unbelievers, you want to start house meetings and invite them. Or, talk to a Christian friend and suggest that she/he start one in their home and that you and your husband will participate.

House meetings are not restricted to delving into the scriptures only. Yes, they should be used as a guide and reference tool for specific spiritual and doctrinal matters, but you might wish to take a few minutes in each session to share your good fortunes and problems with one another, just as we might do as a family when we are gathered around the dinningroom table for a delicious meal. But whatever arrangement you mutually develop and decide upon, use Jesus as your Pilot.

I can envision the early believers doing just that. And don’t be concerned about getting “off of the worship track” and onto the “secular treadmill,” for everything we do, in word or in deed, we’re to do it for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31 & Col. 3:17). To do something for the glory of God and in His name is worship! That covers the whole life of the committed believer, not just during “worship services”—whatever that is.

The healthiest factor of the house arrangement is that you won’t need a “celebrity” in the likes of a pulpit minister to spoonfeed you. All of you will mutually study together and learn together—and without any overhead expenses! This means you may take all monies pooled together, if that should be the group’s decision, and help support authentic evangelism or send it to Food For The Hungry or some similar humanitarian organization whose main function is to feed the genuinely destitute in foreign lands. You will not need a treasury!

Among the humanitarian endeavors my wife and I are involved in, Food For The Hungry is one of them. So, good luck in your new venture, and may the Lord increase your number.

Question
“With your emphasis on home churches, which is good, are you also emphasizing the necessity of biblical elders within those assemblies?”

Answer

Men with the gift of leadership will naturally rise to the top. For in every kind of cause, regardless of its nature, there must be either formal or informal leadership. When men with the gift of leadership rise to the top, and they will, the house group may formally or informally recognize them as their shepherds. No rituals are needed. No “special service” is required. If the group wishes to formally recognize their leaders, a simple announcement from someone who speaks for the others will suffice.

And so it is—or at least should be. I think you will agree that a comprehensive reformation is due throughout the Christian community. We haven’t arrived yet. The journey is long. Hop into the saddle and let's go!

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Additional Closing Remarks

Recently, I heard about a group of believers in Wisconsin that’s spending six million dollars to build a church building. About the same time, I received news from Florida that another group there had spent thirty-six million dollars on a church edifice.

These believers who are squandering millions of dollars to construct idols in the form of church edifices will need to give an account to the Lord for their wasteful and profane extravagance. Their story has been repeated over and over for centuries by those who have “come in to stay,” even though Jesus said to “get out and go.”

The Solution? House Meetings

Just ponder for a moment how many genuinely destitute people could be fed and clothed, and how many authentic evangelists who are willing to herald the Good News to the unregenerate full-time could be adequately supported if these believers were to abandon their idolatrous church projects and scatter throughout their neighborhoods and start house meetings?

All of them together could still pool their contributions into one fund for the purposes mentioned above, or they could support these endeavors individually. Their pulpit ministers and “youth pastors” would be forced to find a job and go to work or transfer their gifts into full-time evangelism.

In house meetings, there is no need for district or diocese “Bishops” and/or “Elders” to supervise the various groups. Their ecclesiastical positions would be as useless as Milk of Magnesia in a washing machine, for each house meeting would be autonomous and select its own qualified leaders. Outside “parish” leaders would be an infraction upon heaven’s blueprint.

When will we ever realize that our church idols speak of our idolatry as much as the idols contrived by old Israel? In spite of the fact that God clearly warned them against making idols and revering them as something sacred, they built them nonetheless and bowed down to them. God told them in no uncertain terms:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them” (Exodus 20:4-5).

Protestants & Catholics Are Guilty Of Idolatry

Both Protestants and Catholics have trampled upon this injunction and are guilty of the very thing God condemned—idolatry. Have we forgotten Paul’s visit to Athens, Greece? The record says, “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols” (Acts 17:16). To give this a modern-day paraphrase, “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of church edifices and other articles of worship.”

If this great apostle were to re-visit the earth in the flesh today, he would look around at our countless idols—church structures and other objects of “holiness”—scattered across the landscape and proclaim, as he did almost 2,000 years ago:

“Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘To an unknown god.’ Now what you worship as something unknown, I am going to proclaim to you” (verses 22 & 23).

If you will substitute “church edifices” and “holy articles” in the place of “objects of worship,” you will get the true picture of our sordid predicament today. “Oh,” but you say, “We don’t worship church edifices and other objects!” Come, come, now, let’s not play the word game. Most if not all church structures and “religious” articles are revered as something sacred. They are not to be defiled, contaminated, dishonored, or spoken evil of. And if that is not a form of worship, I’ve lost my marbles. The whole thing in a nut shell is that we, like old Israel, have constructed idols and designed comfort zones for ourselves while the world goes to hell.

Tear them down! Smash the statues! Or convert our edifices into shelters for the genuinely destitute—the “down-and-out” of our society. Use them for humanitarian reasons, not for “worship services”—whatever that is. Either that or convert them into office buildings, sell them, and take the proceeds to reach the lost and to feed the hungry. But whatever decision is made, we must get rid of our idols!

“Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves” (Lev. 19:4). “Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land and bow down to it” (Lev. 26:1).

The practice of bowing down to images and figurines and statues is no different than my going to a creek bed and talking to a bed of rocks, or picking up a load of fire wood, placing it upon a large stone, and bowing down to it as though it were something holy.

The first time “worship” is mentioned in the scriptures is in Genesis 22:5. The Hebrew definition of “worship” in this passage is “to bow down.” This means that anytime we bow down to any object for the purpose of revering it in a spiritual sense, we are worshipping that article. Yet God says that we are not to bow down to them. Why are believers intent on doing just the opposite of what God says? Let’s get with it. Time is fleeing.

as of 10-2005

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