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Home Church or Traditional Church - Does It Matter?

If your home church is like a traditional church, then no it does not matter.
But if it is like a New Testament church, then yes, for the Kingdom?s sake
it matters. Let?s take a look at some of the things that make a difference.

The New Testament has many references to the love the church had for
each other. Jesus said that men would know that we are his disciples
because of the love we have for one another. In the traditional church,
it is hard to form close relationships. You are not allowed to visit and
get to know one another during the meeting, so you are restricted to the
time in the foyer before and after the service. Then it is mostly limited
to polite greetings. How can you love people you don?t know?

Traditional Church is not about relationships, it is about service. If
you leave, you will not be missed, you just fill a seat. Home church is
first and foremost about relationships. You spend time talking and
telling about what is going on in your world, your hopes and dreams,
what God is teaching you, etc. You develop relationships.

Traditional church talks about but does not allow the priesthood of
the believer. The pastor is the priest, hearing from God for us, and
ministering the word and praying for us. There is no opportunity to
operate or learn to be used in the spiritual gifts. We are not ministers,
we are spectators. We are fed teachings and preaching, so we don?t
have to study or pray for our selves. The man of God is our
go-between. In home church, each person is encouraged, it is even a
necessity for each person to be used to bring something from God
each week. If they don?t, it gets stale. It is not about getting and being
blessed, it is about letting God using you to encourage and build up
the others. Jesus is the head of the body, and He uses each one to
build up the church. There are no lectures, there are discussions.
One may start by sharing what God has shown him, another will
add a scripture, another will tell how he walked that out, how God
moved in his life. All are engaged, all are learning. If there is a need,
we pray for each other, we do what we can to help. We are used
every week to heal the sick, as Jesus moves in our midst. It is a safe
place to learn to flow in giving out words from God, to heal the sick,
to minister in the Spirit. It is a place to grow by hands-on experience.

I was a deacon in a traditional church for three years. Traditional
church cannot run without money. Most of the money goes to the
building and salaries, a little to buy curriculum and support the
programs. The sad part was there was no money going out to help
the poor or do good in the community. If there was someone in the
church that was in financial need, even though they were faithful
members, there was no money to help them. What a contrast to the
church in the book of Acts where it says there was no need among
them, because they shared and had all things common. In home
church there are no buildings or salaries to support, so the money
can be used to help if someone in the church has a need. It can be
used to help the poor in the community, it can be used to support
outreach or good causes. Buildings and salaries are a black hole
that keeps the money people give to God from being used to actually
do kingdom work.

In traditional church the pastor is the head of the church, the CEO,
and the deacons are the board of directors. The church runs on a
program. There is little room for innovation. One cannot interrupt
the sermon to ask questions or give their input. One cannot be led
by the Holy Spirit to spontaneously sing a different song that is not
on the list for the day. Look at the New Testament church where
Jesus was the head and there was no program. Jesus would be the
one who spoke and sang through each member of the body. All they
did was host Him, and He would bring whatever He wanted each
meeting. There was no one man in charge. Jesus forbade the church
to have a top-down government. The elders were not over anyone;
they were servants to all. Decisions were made by praying and each
member hearing from God, or by common consent. He said it shall
not be so among you. The lords of the gentiles rule over them, but it
shall not be so with you. He really meant this. It was not until the
third century that emperor Constantine forced Christians to meet in
buildings and set up a clergy class to rule over them that all this
was lost. Traditional churches follow the Constantine pattern, not the
pattern that Jesus gave us and established for His church.

Does it matter if we do things man?s way or God?s way? For the
Kingdom?s sake and for the sake of a healthy church where each
member is a vital part, it matters. Many tried to eradicate the
church by killing the leaders, but new leaders would spring up.
You cannot cut off the head if Jesus is the head. The biggest
reasons the western church is not growing are that they have
rejected the New Testament patterns of Pentecost and church
government.

Again I say, yes it does matter!

Thanks, gene!

Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of god
www.YourTown4Jesus.com