A Sign for All of Us

I was looking at various church-related signs on the internet when I came upon this one.  I like it because it applies to all Christians.  Once Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior we have direct access to God.  This makes us all priests.  Jesus expects His followers to live lives of servanthood, which is what being a deacon means.  So if you are a follower of Christ and see this sign, feel free to park next to it.

Holy Spirit Control

Confession time: I am sort of a control-freak. I don't have to work at it; rather it comes quite naturally. I'm generally pleased in any situation as long as I think I know what is going to happen, when it will happen, and how it will happen.

I've realized that I have been thinking this way even during our church family gatherings. Yesterday as we came together, we began by singing some songs, reading scripture, and praying.  I was comfortable because I could have predicted this. Then something happened that was unexpected (at least for me).

Today's Gathering

I was going to write about our gathering today, but my friend Bobby beat me to it.  We had a great time.  Now we need to continue to live it out all week.

Sunday, Sunday

Sunday can be a wonderful day.  For most of us, it's the day of our primary weekly gathering with our church families.  I'm already anticipating our fellowship tomorrow.  I hope you are looking forward to yours, too.

Sunday can also be a dangerous day.  It can be dangerous to both our church families and to us as individual Christians.

Glad to See This

I'm not sure what this means, but I'm glad I won't be inadvertently offending anyone.

Why Does She Have to Park Next to a Dumpster? Where Does He Park?

Funny Church Sign

This one just makes me laugh.  Maybe it's because the sign isn't a marquee but is permanent.

House Church - Flexibility

I love this photo.  I don't know who this guy is, but regardless his flexibility is impressive.

In a very different way, the flexibility inherent within the house church (simple church, organic church) is also impressive.

Simply put, the house church can do whatever needs to be done to both edify the body and reach out to the lost. There are no institutional or tradition-based restraints upon this flexibility. The church can and should do whatever needs to be done. If the members see in scripture that they need to believe and/or live differently about a specific issue, change can occur immediately.

Thank You Bible Translators

A few days ago I began thinking about bible translation. The more I pondered it, the more thankful I became toward bible translators.

I'm basically a one-language speaker.  I can spout a few Spanish phrases, but I'm hardly functional.  Although we lived in India for a few months, my Hindi never progressed beyond a very basic level; I've since lost much of it.

Regarding the biblical languages, my Hebrew is currently pathetic and my Greek is not what I'd like it to be (sorry Dr. Black).  I'm still working at it, but it is a sort of one step forward, one step back process.

Like most of you I'm very dependent upon the work of bible translators. Having taken a few classes that required a good deal of translation work from Hebrew and Greek into English, I have a glimpse of just how difficult the effort can be.  It's one thing to put together a wooden, ultra-literal, word-for-word type translation. It's something altogether different to translate in such a way that brings out the truth, clarity, and beauty of the scriptures. It's both a science and an art.

House Church - Reproducibility

When it comes to the house church, reproducibility is a fairly easy thing.  When the house gets too small, it quickly becomes apparent that multiple gathering locations are needed. At that point, a new church is planted.

Let me be clear about a few things. I'm referring here to one group of Christians deciding to gather in two different locations. I'm not referring to the two groups putting up any sort of dividing walls between them. In fact, it could be that different people from the different groups gather together each week. Also, they could all occasionally gather together in a different, larger location such as a park, the beach, or some type of rented facility for the day.

A Quick Addendum

Just a quick thought related to yesterday's post:

I don't know any family that A) takes part in simple church life and B) has kids who are school-aged who C) does not home school their kids.  I can't think of even one.  I'm not sure what this means, but it struck me as interesting.

A Question About Simple Church and Homeschooling

Here's a question I've been pondering but haven't yet figured out a satisfying answer:

The question: Why is it that almost all families involved in simple church life also homeschool their children, but many families who choose to homeschool do not take part in simple church life?

For example, here in Savannah we know a small number of families (some we gather with) who have embraced simple church.  Every one of those families also educates their children at home.  On the flip side, we know many families who have chosen to homeschool.  Some of these families gather in a simple manner, but most attend larger, traditional churches that run the range of denominations, styles, etc.  A good number even go to Savannah's only mega-church.

To sum up, almost all who take part in simple church also home educate, but most who home educate do not take part in simple church.

Why do you think this is the case?

On Preparation

As we gather as the church, the purpose is mutual edification to the glory of God.  In order for this to occur, the bible shows us a pattern of everyone present at the gathering edifying everyone else.  The model we see is one of preparation leading to edification.

The church makes a mistake if its gatherings fault to one of two extremes.  The most common mistake is one we are all familiar with: the traditional church's planned gathering.  We've all seen the limitations upon edification that come from a scripted worship service. Most of the body is muted while a few people do almost all the talking, etc. This planning has good intentions and often leads to a nice ceremony, but it stifles the body.

Another mistake is the opposite extreme. This usually occurs in simple church or house church gatherings. The mistake is one of no preparation. When this occurs, everyone shows up looking for the Holy Spirit to lead, but little edification happens because no one is prepared to add anything. This type of extreme spontaneity can lead to people saying things they wouldn't normally say in order to fill a gap in the silence. I'm not speaking about a legitimate form of prophecy, but rather speaking words that simply fill a void.

The Reformed Tendency to Create Superstars

What is it about Reformed folks and the tendency to create superstars?

I write from "inside the camp" of the Reformed, if by that we are talking strictly about God being sovereign over salvation (I reject the Reformed view of the church; no surprise there).

I've compiled a short list of some of today's Reformed superstars: John Piper, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, Alistair Begg, C.J. Mahaney, Timothy Keller, Thabiti Anyabwile, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, David Platt, Matt Chandler, Kevin DeYoung, and Josh Harris.  There are several more.

"Generous Justice"

Timothy Keller is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I've read four of his books so far and have liked each one of them.  Generous Justice is my favorite of the four.

In this book, Keller tackles head on the issue of Christians' responsibility to care for the poor and needy in society.  Throughout the text, he links the gospel itself to our treatment of the poor.  In the final sentence of the book Keller writes, "A life poured out in doing justice for the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true gospel faith."

House Church - Unity

One of the goals within the house church / simple church /organic church is to embrace unity and avoid division.  Specifically, all Christians are united in the person of Jesus Christ.  Since we are in Him, we are one body.  Everyone who holds fast to the biblical gospel is part of Christ's body, His church.

We strive to live out Ephesians 4:4-6, where Paul writes, "There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

Along these same lines, the house church attempts to avoid any division related to what are commonly referred to as "secondary doctrines." Although doctrines of this type are important, they are not seen as worth dividing over.  They may include baptism, the Lord's Supper, spiritual gifts, church polity, etc.  Through the years many Christian denominations have formed because of division over secondary doctrines.  The house church rejects this idea.

Mirror, Mirror

I post this simply for fun.

House Church - Missions

The focus upon missions, both locally and globally, is something that all churches should gladly embrace. This is true for both traditional churches and simple churches. Therefore, this is an area of church life where there both can and should be much agreement.

Every follower of Jesus Christ that I have ever met has agreed that everyone needs to hear the gospel.  We may not agree on exactly how to go about "doing missions" most effectively, but we are united in understanding that every individual on this planet absolutely needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

In local bodies of believers we can pray, give, and go (that may sound a bit trite, but I think it's an accurate descriptor of our involvement). These are areas where we can unite as churches regardless of the church model we follow. We can team together in praying, giving, and going. In fact, we should.

It's Not Because of Bad Church Experiences

I've both read and heard it said that the main reason people switch to the simple church model is because of bad church experiences they have had.

I obviously cannot speak for all those who have departed from the traditional church for a simpler, organic model of church life.  However, I can tell you that our family most emphatically did not leave because of "bad church experiences."  In our lives Alice and I have been a part of several solid, evangelical, traditional churches.  We've had a few negative church experiences here and there, but who hasn't?  Overall, we were pleased with and didn't give much thought to the traditional model until a few years ago.

I've written at length about why we made the decision to leave the traditional church; I won't bring all that back up again here.  Let me simply say that we did not leave because of bad experiences.  Rather, we left because of the bible.

My Wife and Noel Piper

Noel Piper (John Piper's wife) has invited a series of guest writers to post on her blog in recognition of Black History Month.  Noel asked my wife Alice, who usually blogs here, to add to the series.  Alice has written a short post about her first experience with racism as a child.