What's
Happening At Your House? © 2001 by Susan Gaddis Reproduction of this article for resale is strictly prohibited. NOT FOR RESALE |
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The church is made up of God’s people and a family is the smallest unit of that church. The meeting place for the church is not necessarly the church building, but it is in the homes of families—including a single person’s dwelling! Homes are to be the basic location for the living out of the Christian life because families are where relationships begin. Our own families are to be extended to include others who will walk with us in the day-to-day development of our faith. A once a week service in a church building is not “church!” Such services are only one expression of the real church that is meeting each day of the week all over the community in families and homes. “Christianity as a way of life and the church as the family of God is best lived out in natural settings in daily life as we see in Acts 2:40-47. Sadly the church has been confused with physical public building and Christianity often seems more like pulpits and classrooms rather than a redeemed people rescued from a ‘crooked generation,’ Acts 2:40.” Don McGregor The gospel spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond during the first century because it didn’t need a “church” building. Although the Jewish Christians continued to meet in synagogues for traditional Jewish services, they also met in homes. House churches became common and, because the “church” is actually a group of redeemed people, many of the New Testament letters refer to the “church that meets in so-and-so’s home.” When a larger gathering place was needed, the local synagogue was sometimes used, as more and more Jews became Christians. The synagogue was available to the early church because many of the believers started out as Jews and still, in many ways, considered themselves Jewish. Some early church buildings were eventually built over Jewish synagogues or took over the building when the local Jewish community converted. Peter’s mother-in-law’s home is one example where a house eventually because a larger building that was used by a larger group of believers when they wanted to meet corporately but had outgrown a home setting. They just added on to Peter’s mother-in-law’s house until it became a “church” building. However, house churches remained the basic meeting place for believers as the Gospel spread beyond the Jewish community and into the Gentile world. The fastest growth of the Gospel today is still in countries where “house churches” are the foundation of the corporate body of believers. A family decides to follow Jesus and begins to practice the ways of the Lord. They invite their neighbors who come and begin to meet with them on a regular basis to learn the ways of the Kingdom. A pastor is chosen to lead the growing group. Once that house church becomes too big for its location, the group splits and becomes two house churches with either a new pastor or the old one ministering in both homes. Many churches today still use this “house church” principle by encouraging their families to meet during the week in a “cell church,” “home group,” or other small group. Once a week they meet corporately in a larger gathering in a bigger building to celebrate, worship, and receive teaching together. Even within this balanced setting, it is still to be emphasized that the family is the basic unit of the church and must be the main place where daily worship and teaching happen. Homes and families are God’s primary way of spreading the Gospel and growing His people up into “all the fullness of Christ.” That is where the generations come together in the most natural setting. It is where the “rubber meets the road” in practicing the principles of the Eternal Kingdom. If Christianity doesn’t work at home, then it isn’t going to work elsewhere! That is why it has been said that the Cross doesn’t belong on the church building roof; it belongs on the roof of our homes. Everything that we expect to be happening in the “church” building is actually to be happening first in our homes and families. The “church” building is simply the place the church (people) often meet to celebrate and learn corporately what can then be taken back and applied at the real location of church – our homes and families. Note from the following scriptures the things that are to be happening in our families and homes:
God is also concerned that certain things do not happen in our homes and families. He gives stern warnings in His Word about the kind of communication that is not to be happening in our homes.
If something doesn’t speak of truth and bring peace, I am not to let it past the gates of my property. I am not to let my family lie or promote strife. This would also be true for visitors, certain kind of magazines, books, and television programs that we allow into our homes.
If the words spoken in our home and family are harmful or deceitful then God warns us that we will be uprooted from our dwelling place. This consequence might be seen in a family that moves around a lot and is unsettled. Truth, right judgment, and peace are to be expected in a corporate church setting, as is the absence of harmful words and deceit. However, what we expect of the corporate church is often neglected in our families. Yet our families are the smallest unit of His church! We must practice the positive things listed above, and avoid the negative things listed, or else we become a “double-minded man (or woman) and unstable in all our ways” according to James 1:8. If we want the corporate church to look holy, we must practice holiness at home. Our families are where every ingredient of integrity and holiness begin for the larger gathering of the corporate family of God. Our families are where we learn to hammer out the principles of Godly relationships daily. If family is not a priority in our lives then we are neglecting the most basic “boot camp” training of Christianity. As men and women, we usually have to work outside the home to help bring in the financial resources needed to support a family and give to ministry. However, a career is never to become more important than our family. The same is true with ministry. God has called each of us to fulfill certain ministry callings. He has given us gifts to help us in those callings. Still, ministry is not to become more significant in our lives than our families. In fact, all outside ministry is to be an outflow of our own ministry within our families. Requirements for leadership stress this principle, as corporate church leaders are to already be leading their families in the ways of the Lord. The qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3:2-12 and Titus 1:7-9 for leaders do not include spiritual gifts, only godly character and a godly home life. Does this mean that we won’t ever experience sin in our families? Of course not! But when sin does appear, a godly family will handle it according to scriptural instructions. Discipline and correction are necessary in dealing with the “foolishness” that is born in the heart of a child (Proverbs 22:15.) Perhaps your grown children will walk away from the faith. That is their choice. However, it is your responsibility to raise them in such a way that they will always know where to come back to when the time comes that they need Jesus. Even in the midst of adult-children-in-rebellion, a family must always be the safe harbor where a person can return and know they are loved and accepted even if their behavior is unacceptable. It is within this atmosphere of “love, acceptance and forgiveness” that a person can know he is truly “family.” That doesn’t mean you have to accept sinful behavior. Love the person, welcome them home, but ask them to leave their sinful behavior, or lifestyle, outside your house. This is the principle that the corporate church is to model to the world and it is the same principle that is to be foundational in our families. Application questions:
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