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Here's a scenario which might appear strange to us but not to those who lived in the earliest days of the church:
A guy my age (53), as a father, grandfather, and yes, as a great-grandfather might have several dozen of his own kin coming over for a regular meal and a meeting in Jesus name. That's not to mention all the in-laws of each married child from the other side of their families. Several dozen would certainly qualify as real church according to anyone with whom I'm acquainted including my own relatives which disapprove of house church.
Young teens married then and lost no time in bearing children. There was no birth control being practiced as a rule and the lights went out early.
It would have been quite possible to host a "family church" in which the teeming crowd overwhelmed the house. We can't assume that all the family members would have become Christians, nevertheless the numbers could have been surprisingly high.
In round figures, Carolynn and I might have married and had the first of our 6 children at age 15, who each had 6 kids by the time we were 40-something... you get the idea and can have fun with the math. That's a big bunch, no? It must also be mentioned that the average age of a male in the Roman empire was only 40-something at death. So I've been told. Wars, disease, and persecutions took their toll.
I don't get the idea that "family church" was the norm then but I believe it is perfectly acceptable and not to be apologized for. I do believe that we should invite others, too, whenever possible. Each person brings something. Why would we not welcome them into our fellowship or hesitate to join theirs? If we are practicing hospitality we surely would. That said, I do believe that the meetings were to be intentional and regular but that wouldn't exclude spontaneous ones. What is 'regular' may vary, I freely acknowledge. That's a topic for another day. I just wanted us to consider the domestic situation of some of the large Christian families in the ancient world. The bible, btw, mentions several household baptisms. There are also major implications here for the Lord's Supper and eldership.
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Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and he may sit in the boat all day long and just drink beer.
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D said: I don't get the idea that "family church" was the norm then but I believe it is perfectly acceptable and not to be apologized for.
I agree with the spirit of what you are saying, but disagree wholeheartedly with your argument against yourself - that maybe this isn't the norm. I think it is!
We've been studying this topic a lot, and what has struck me in doing a "Bible survey" with church and families in mind, is that Jesus was not establishing something new when he said "Find a man of peace... tell them the Kingdom of God is among/within you") , but returning to the original model God created in the beginning when he made families first (not institutions) and then again when he brought Israel into a land. Having a blank slate, he created this whole society based on a set law, which was to be implemented by local community and elders (in our translation called "judges") and 3 annual festivals that would be like family reunion. The Tabernacle was "His House" and had household servants to tend it -- just like every other household. There was food for those who came, and even the sacrifices, as much as they were surrounded by ritual, were really a sanctifying of a basic daily need - food preparation!
His ideal was to be a Theocracy, with each man the priest of his house, and a tribe that would serve as priests to the whole nation by simply serving God in his place. Jesus ushered in the era of having "a new heart and a new mind" which would help with the one flaw in ancient Israel -- the little problem of "each man doing what is right in his own eyes" instead of doing what was right in God's sight!
You pointed to something we've also discovered - that a family is God's plan for every human need, and that every institution is a displacement of the family. A baby can be born in a home or a hospital. An elderly person can be in a family or in a nursing home. A sick person can be cared for by family members or by hirelings. Children can be raised by strangers or raised in the "fear and admonition of the Lord". Even single people, according to the Bible, are to be "set in families". All these institutions are fairly recent - and the more you study them, the more questionable are the benefits! Yes, some babies may not survive at home who would in a hospital birth -- but then, mothers are so traumatized by hospital birth they don't want more babies! It's a net loss to the family!
This may seem an impossible dream, to push away from all these institutions, but a great deal of what is done by "professionals" is really do-able by a "lay person". 99% of even hospital care is not brain surgery! Last year I had a sick animal, and the vet taught me to give shots, do an IV and give meds. The "75% fatal condition" was conquered in my kitchen, with only a 15 minute training session to prepare me! Yet, if my child got dehydrated from the 'flu I'd go to jail for trying to save him myself, should I do the same!
I'm babbling! Thanks for raising some great thoughts here,D. We, too, are striving to raise a large, godly nation for the Lord, and we're so excited to be meeting more and more people who have a greater vision for their family than to "send them off to college to be lawyers".
Babies, brother, babies is what it's all about! They are HIS children according to his own words in Malachi, and he wants more of them!
Blessings, Laurie Ann
-------------------- Posing as an Ordinary Housewife :)
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The church and family are seldom contrasted in Scripture as the former includes the latter. But the church is frequently styled in domestic language and metaphors. An example taken from the context of apostolic directives: If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 1Timothy 3:15.
I wouldn't be too dogmatic about this inquiry and there is always room for disagreement as long as we are honestly working from Scripture. I'm sure that you are. I am talking about the usual and the unusual at this juncture - both perfectly acceptable, imho. The norm for you will be the norm for you.
Surprisingly to me is that fact that Jesus didn't have much to say about family solidarity. Quite the opposite at times.
Still, I see over and over a coming together as the church but rarely as a mere family. Could this be because the (extended) family meetings were the norm and needed no reinforcement?
When the memorial meal was abused, those to whom Paul wrote were reminded that they had houses (plural) to "fill up" at. The elders (plural, as usual) were to be proven at home before shepherding the flock beyond it. In James we read about the "best seats" in the house. In John, about the love feasts. These nuances and the direct phrases "coming together as the church" and "hosting the whole church" strongly suggest to me that church was ordinarily something extra-familial.
No doubt, too much can be read into these texts. No doubt it has. There is, btw, a whole section in this Cafe about sacerdotalism, the study of how things turn into institutions and formalities.
One of the operative words is 'sunerkomai,' used in the Corinthian correspondence 8 times for "coming together" as church. I need to check the verb tenses of the several Greek words which mean "when you come together." Greek has many tenses which English doesn't to describe habitual, regular, and repeatable actions. That may offer an additional hint.
The main thing is that our doors and lives are open to others. This comes under the heading of hospitality which should be beyond dispute. Others have already illustrated this point.
May the Lord bless your household including your animals, LA. You remind me today of how God regarded Ninevah: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also MUCH CATTLE? Jonah 4.
Just babbling, as you say and fast moving off-topic. Time to install a washing machine here at the Anderson's, then to head out into the darkness. Keep the home fires burning!
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