To really get to my answer to this question, I need to explain some things I've come to believe about the current, more institutional, structure of church. I believe that the existing structure, as it stands in most organized churches, is flawed. Like it or not, the current structure encourages and promotes passivity.
Services are a passive experience, no matter what time of day they are. The church body assembles and is led in a time of worship. While there is participation in this worship time, it is the responsibility of the worship leader to take the church body into the presence of God. Once they "arrive" the speaker proceeds to share the Word of God with the church for that week. Upon completion, most churches typically ask the body to actively offer their tithes to the church. Later in the week, a smaller committee assembles and determines how best to utilize these tithes. Small groups, or home groups, are often setup with a specific leader who takes as his/her responsibility the burden of preparing a lesson and leading the group through a study of some sort.
Commonly quoted statistics are that 20% of the church does 80% of the work. In other words, 80% of the church is passive. They are waiting for somebody else to take responsibility for their spiritual journey. They are waiting for their pastor to share the Word of God for the week in his sermon rather than engaging and actively pursuing the Word on their own. They are waiting for the church committee to decide what mission to support instead of actively throwing themselves into a heartbreaking environment and getting their hands dirty.
Granted, the church didn't set out to become this. It wasn't on purpose, it is just the by-product of the existing structure. Pastors are encouraged to increase numbers through passionate speeches and sophisticated programs. They are rewarded, both in prestige and monetarily, for doing so. That is why I have become excited about the home church structure. You can't be passive. It's almost impossible, just based on the way it is structured. If you don't engage the Word, it's your fault - not the pastor's. If you are not supporting a mission that you are passionate about, it's your fault - not the committee's. If you are not growing spiritually, it's your fault. The structure of a house church surrounds you with people who help hold you accountable to actively engaging what God is doing in and through your life.
Frankly, I don't care if it is a house church or a small group inside a larger church or even a huge mega-church as long as everyone is 100% engaged and actively involved in pursuit of God and his mission. From what I have seen, the house church is best equipped to encourage total commitment on every front of one's spiritual life. Doesn't mean it's the only way to do this, but structurally it is the easiest.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree -- this can happen in many different ways and you've found one that lights you up. In our church we have the more traditional small group model, with the direction of those groups meant to be similar the house church you're describing. It doesn't always happen, but it does happen.
Like every model, there are drawbacks. In ours, the "plan" is diluted by those who are passive but want to appear active by being in a group, or simply want to connect with a group of people to fill emotional needs and nothing more. Your idea creates an environment that is very exciting and alive, and engaged even. However, it will be very easy to sequester yourselves without even realizing it from the rest of the body. You've found something great, unfortunately it'll be tough to share that with the larger body, and it needs to be shared!
What do you do to be sure you're staying connected to and growing/mentoring other believers as well? What's your platform to teach others what you've learned?
I hope Jason replies to this comment too since it's his post, but for me, sharing the idea of the house church is not vital. When I stepped out of the traditional church and asked the Beutlers to form a house church, I didn't have anyone in my life that was currently attending a house church or was an advocate of the house church. The idea had to be purely from God because I had no prior influence. I hope the same things happen for other Christians who want to experience deeper relationships and authentic community. I hope that their motivation doesn't come from outside influences because that type of involvement usually is temporary.
Anyway, we don't intentionally alienate ourselves from the larger Church body. I just think that the larger Church body at this point is not ready nor equipped to engage with house churches. I pray that this will change soon or the American church will soon end up dead like it is now in Western Europe.
Post a Comment