'Non-negotiable'....that's a bit strong I hear you think. Surely most things are negotiable? Not at all. I have a few non-negotiables I wish to share with you. You are free to disagree, but make sure (for your own good) that you are on solid biblical ground before you do. Any other foundation is at best suspect, and at worst, heretical.
My first Non-negotiable for church life may surprise you. The early church gathered pretty well exclusively in homes. So must we. The Acts of the Apostles gives us a clear mandate for insisiting that the church meets in the homes of the believers, or a person of goodwill to the church. There is no biblical mandate for buildings erected for 'church services'. Indeed the whole emphasis of scripture is against that model. There are a number of reasons for this:
They are expensive. I read somewhere that if all religious buildings were to be sold, the poor would have every need met in the entire world. A church meeting in a house can give 90% of their income away. Expensive to build and expensive to maintain. A drain on resources.
They foster and tend the view, that we 'go to church'. This plants in our mind that we turn up for a couple of hours on a Sunday and that's it. Church is 24/7/52. No less.
They mean 100's can turn up and spectate, whilst a few 'gifted' and paid people do all the work in presenting us with some stuff to respond to. Totally unbiblical. End of.
In a home, a handful of people can gather, share what they have brought to build one another up. They can eat together, pray together, share together, support one another, give and receive. A family, indeed!
Just as it was, and was always meant to be.
I am beginning to arrive at the conclusion, that here in the UK, the church which has lost this truth will be driven back to this biblical blueprint for gathering in the not too distant future. It may have to be persecuted to bring it about...so be it. If a child is not obedient, after a number of warnings, there has to be pain. It was always so.
Every single move of God over the centuries, has started in homes. Only as they have grown have they gravitated to buildings.
In passing, as I cease this rant, let me say this. I visit church buildings. I see 'foundation stones' inscribed with the words 'To The Glory of God'. Underneath I see the name of the person who laid the stone. To whom is the glory really given? Buildings have, since Babel, been to man's glory and no-one elses.
That's enough for now, more later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Church Buildings – a non-negotiable?
ReplyDeleteSo, the story so far is that if it is not in the Bible then it’s bad. If it is in the Bible then that is the way it should be forever and ever amen.
Let’s make a bonfire of everything in the church that is not biblical.
Accordingly, we see that leaders are not mentioned, as such, so out they go. Apostles, elders, deacons are GOOD and Leaders (especially leading elders) minsters, chaplains, vicars, rectors – all not mentioned in the Bible – so BAD and out they go. Popes ... oh let’s not go there!
Going back to the original we condemn all modern music, all computers with their blogs, all chairs, all amplification, all tea and coffee, all children’s work, youth work, seniors work, all cars, oh and all buildings - to the conflagration. We could of course sell them and feed the world for a month. We could live Amish-style as our forefathers did clip-clopping around in our horse and traps, eschewing all modern inventions on the premise that “non-biblical=BAD” We would meet together in small groups squeezing 10 people into the front room. Guided by the Spirit we would share and pray and worship and encourage each other.
But in building this enormous bonfire is that really the way that God wants us to go? Are buildings for church really a singular evil issue of such massive importance that it achieves a non-negotiable status?
It seems to me that the early church grew and developed and adapted to the times they lived in. The very first church met in a hired upper room probably of some considerable dimension. What is more, Jesus himself graced that hired building with his glorious resurrection presence. In Ephesus, the apostle Paul taught daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for around 2 years. In Troas, Paul preached for so long that a young man sitting in the open window sited on the third floor of the meeting hall fell asleep and fell to a rather temporary death. Surely that was not Mr and Mrs Smith’s front room. Other times Paul would preach in synagogues or often in the open air. Now this was acceptable in the clement climate of the Eastern Mediterranean but not in the wintery winds of Northern Europe. The church has grown and developed and adapted and accommodated to the times it lives. It meets all around the world in every country in houses and halls, in prisons and caves, in churches and cathedrals with thousands of languages and myriads of styles of worship and teaching. Yet the true church holds dear the central tenet of the gospel that Jesus Christ died, rose again and ascended to the right hand of God and as Lord of Lords ever lives to make intercession for us the Bride – the church.
Now sitting in a large congregation as passive recipients of the music via the worship group and teaching via the most entertaining orator is not, in my opinion, the model for the army of God to be mobilised. Our role as a congregation sometimes seems to be reduced to contributing financially and volunteering our service in order to maintain the mighty edifice of the church structure. However this is not an argument to burn down all buildings but to set on fire all the people who sit in the pews so that the presence of God is so strong that “service as usual” is disrupted.
In conclusion we listen to the words of the Saviour that on Peter’s revelation and confession of faith in the Messiah “I will build my church so that the gates of Hell will not prevail against it”
We, the church, come in all shapes and sizes and so do the places in which we meet.
Ian Jones
Thanks, Ian! Passionate answer. And a very good response to my 'non-negotiable'. Don't, please don't, burn anything. Sell it. Use the money wisely. At the moment 90% of all money raised by tithes and offerings is spent on paying church 'staff' and maintaining 'church buildings'. So don't waste the investment! Use it, before it is taken away. I jest not.
ReplyDeleteI shall come to such unbiblical titles as leaders, senior pastors, mimisters, chaplains, vicars later in my rants. But yes, they have no biblical place, and therefore no place in the Church.
Music, the 'services' you mention, eating and drinking, also will get the treatment. You (as you often are!) are ahead of me!
You are also, with respect, confusing the meeting of the church, with evangelistic events and the visits to a locality of a 'transchurch' ministry of Apostles, Prophets etc. The local house-church network will meet together in larger meetings (as did Jesus, sometimes) when the 'apostle hits town' - and it is considered necesary by the eldership.
If we were meant to have 'miriads of styles' we would have been given a mandate to do so. We are not. There is a biblical patern and a biblical instruction about what we do when we meet. We are disobedient, but with 1000's of believers leaving the church building everymonth in the US, the tide is turning. Soon it will be happening here. We always lag behind! The day of the megachurch is coming to an end (if it ever had one) and biblical church will emerge.
God has, by His grace, disrupted 'church services' in the past. The people were ignorant of what God wanted to do because revelation had not yet come. It has now, and He now expects us to be obedient. He has intervened by His Word. Only persecution will take place now to push the Church into a position where He can do His work.
Your last paragraph is true. Day by day in small groups ministering to one another. On other occassions in larger groupings for a specific event from time to time. It's all quite easy and straightforward really!