A Big Influence

A number of people have asked me why I am leaving the professional pastorate and the institutional church. The answer is that God has convicted me, through what I have seen in scripture, that I need to be involved in simple church life that follows the biblical model.

The biggest influence on me is what I have read in the pages of scripture. We know that God loves His church. I believe that in light of this love, God has given us all we need to know about what He wants for His church in the bible.

A second influence, albeit a much smaller one than the bible, has been the book House Church: Simple, Strategic, Scriptural. This book focuses on what the name suggests: house church life in the New Testament. The book is refreshing because it is full of scripture. The authors look at what the bible tells us about church gatherings, the Lord's Super, the role of elders/pastors, congregational decision-making, meeting locations, giving, etc. Everything is analyzed from the perspective of the biblical model.

The authors do not assume, as most Christians do today, that we have all sorts of freedom in the way we function as the church. Instead, they assume that what we see in the bible is the way the church should be. I agree with them.

I highly encourage you to read this book. You may not agree with all of it (I didn't), but you will probably at least find yourself challenged. You may feel uncomfortable, but it is a good uncomfortable.

If you live near Savannah, send me an e-mail. I have about ten copies of the book at home just waiting to be given away.