Tag Archives: House church

[21] Body Life Acronym: HAND

Dan shares the final episode of three “body life acronyms.” They are:

  • LEGS: Locally Established Gathered Saints.
  • ARMS: Authentically Related Missional Servants
  • The final one is HAND, Homes Available for Neighborhood Discipleship.

What can house churches do to make the neighborhoods in which they meet better? What can be done to keep small group churches from turning inward and closing themselves off from the surrounding community? Mentioned in this episode:

On Not Burning Bridges

burning_bridgeSometimes when I talk to house church folks, they look at me sideways when I tell them that I work closely with traditional churches. I served as pastor of one for nearly four years, even as I con- tinued as a house church rebel—came out of that a bit bruised and more grateful than ever for my simple church leanings. In short, I survived—I also work with a Baptist congregation in the area, pray regularly with pastors and attend prayer summits with pastors of “real churches”—wink, wink.

Because of all that, some house churchers act as though I am consorting with the enemy.

I don’t buy that attitude. I mean, really, do we need yet another splinter of the church called “housechurch?” We’re not in competition, here. Let’s face it, there are some folks who aren’t going to do simple church—can’t see why, but it’s true. Could it be that there are people in the world that will respond to the gospel in the traditional church as well as the house church? I’m betting that’s so.

It’s my opinion that preserving the unity in the bond of peace is a top priority. For that reason, I encourage house churches to encourage traditional churches. The Summit network has, in the past, helped a struggling small-town congregation financially. We’ve sent encouraging notes to congregations and visited local churches as a group to encourage them (that nearly backfired when the church we visited thought we might all be potential new members. Oops.) Most recently, it was the privilege of one of the fellowships to use some of their pooled funds to help a local pastor with a scholarship to the annual Prayer Summit.

In spite of the fact that we have grave doubts about the paradigm we call “the traditional church,” that shouldn’t keep us from being supportive of our brethren who labor within it. There is much work to be done on behalf of the kingdom. We can do it more effectively if we build bridges for the task rather than burn them.

Sweet n’ Small

We had one of those nights at Gathering 242. By that I mean that there were a lot of folks that were absent for various reasons, like babies getting born (welcome, Josiah!!) retreats and day trips and people out of the country. Nevertheless, we had a great time. The six of us enjoyed taco salad for supper then, after clean-up we settled in for a time of music and sharing. As always, Ben humbly carried us into worship and song. Later we talked about abiding. What does it mean to abide in the Lord and for Him to abide in us? Sweet time. We broke up around 9pm. Next week will be Gary R.’s last week as he goes off to start a training school in Sisters, OR. (called “Summit” coincidentally). We’re going to pray for him.  Blessings!