House Church Talk - Technical Questions

[Glenn Frank]

Philip asked a bunch of good questions about what constitutes the divide
between a HC and and an IC. He also asked about at what point a HC becomes
an IC.


I started to answer, point by point, but then deleted it all.

I think the point is that BEING THE CHURCH is not about the structure or the
procedure so much as it is about the life with the Lord. Some HCs are just
smaller boxes into which we confine God, as apposed to the Bigger (but just
as constraining) Boxes that ICs put Him into.

When a HC becomes mostly about program... When it becomes about Titles...
When it becomes a "show" rather than a simple healthy Christian personal and
deep growing relationship where the One-Anothers are practiced and the Lord
is honored and allowed to work among the people... Then it has become a box
that we put God into and limit what He will do among us. At that point, it
does not matter if it is an IC or an HC, it has just gone wrong.


This passage come to mind when I think about what constitutes a "program" or
a self-promoting religion rather than a true gathering of believers:

Mat thew 23:1-15
===================
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law
and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do
everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not
practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's
shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move
them. 

"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries
wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at
banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be
greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you
are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one
Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you
have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant.
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will
be exalted. 

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the
kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you
let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel
over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make
him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

====================



Glenn Frank


Ps... 
The following article is great in talking about the issue of a HC not being
the only ingredient...

Why House Church Isn't the Answer
Those who look to House Church as a panacea for what ails the church may be
sorely disappointed when they get there. What do we really have to fix for
church life to be productive and powerful?
http://www.lifestream.org/LSBL.Feb02.html