Re: Naked Bible 98: House Churches. In this episode, Heiser interviews a couple of men who have been involved in ministries and fellowships outside of the traditional institutional church atmosphere. This, of course, is something near and dear to my heart. This is another lesson that makes no direct reference to Bible passages, but you should recognize how this comes from the Word.
At times the interview banter was sharp and witty, but often loquacious. It didn’t need to take as long as it did, but that’s what happens when things proceed off the cuff as they do with interviews. Items that caught my attention…
We need not do anything that Jesus didn’t model in His ministry. If you pay attention, it was seldom “preaching” as we think of it. Far more time was invested in what we would call teaching. It’s not proclamation, but education. His most important work came after He alienated the freeloaders in the crowds who never understood His teaching in the first place.
His best work was in the small group setting. That’s where people really changed the most. He dealt with a lot of bored freeloaders, and His teaching got far more seriously once He managed to alienate them with His Bread of Life message. The crowds generally left Him and only those who really wanted His teaching stuck around.
The new term is “alternative church” if you need a name for it. These two guys generally avoid the issue of labeling their work. It’s just fellowship in private home settings, most often over food, along with Bible studies and prayer time. Sound familiar? That’s what we do together every chance we get.
Joke: After sampling the so-called “emergent church” these two guys decided the Lord was calling them to the “submergent church” to avoid drawing too much of the wrong kind of attention. They don’t view churches as public accommodation, but private family gatherings.
Question: What if “church” was not a time and place, but simply the people being what Christ made them to be? Nobody is waiting for some authority role or figure to give them permission and guidance. They simply began meeting privately over meals and not bothering with the formal structures. They didn’t “go” to church; they were the church. They grow strictly by word of mouth, no advertising, no website, etc.
The mix of people varies all over the map, from former staff of monster churches to people who had never been in a church. They learned early on to fold the Lord’s Supper into the meals they always shared when they gathered. Their meetings ranged between 40-70 people, typically in small groups scattered around the house, with no guidance what group you decided to join. At some point they are gathered for 30-45 minutes of teaching. This included references to the Second Temple literature, something few churches would ever touch.
Then they all pray and gather to eat. After the meal, a few musicians pick up a tune and they sing a few worship songs. They finish with testimonies of just a few minutes to encourage everyone in their faith. Naturally, people hang around afterward in unstructured fellowship.
There was a lot more to the interview, including how they do leadership. The leaders meet separately at least once every week, and it includes both paid leaders and volunteers. The outline indicates how easy it is to identify a calling for outreach to the community around them. These alternative churches each find something they do very well, maybe two or three things, and this becomes their signature.
Instead of trying to build little kingdoms, they help other people build their own alternative faith communities, their own “house churches” and the leadership will show up regularly to encourage those they are training. Aside from homes, they’ve helped to establish communities that met in a funeral parlor, a college dorm, offices, coffee shops, etc. Even homeless people got in on this, bringing whatever food they could afford just so they didn’t feel left out. The table is a great equalizer.
And this model works in China and similar restrictive environments.
The two mention The Didache (Lightfoot’s translation), an early catechism of the Apostles. They stressed that it wasn’t necessary to write new books about this; there is plenty of material out there quite adequate to the need. They noted also that the Day of Ascension was a very early celebration now totally lost in American awareness. It’s the image of having a King who is sitting in the Heavens that matters so much.
As for baptism, they’ve used every kind of water tank you can imagine. And this leads to another variation from the mainstream: Confession of your sins is actually workable in this alternative setting. It’s redemptive, healing, not punitive. People simply do this quite naturally once they get used to this different kind of faith community.
They go on to mention special outreach efforts such as campus ministries. They recommend you don’t rent equipment, just use whatever is available at the site you use. They say their biggest problem is lack of good teachers. They emphasize that you pray for like minded people, because they are always out there. God will bring them to you.
