My New Home Church

[sitebuilder]

Dear Friends,

After 20 years of being in a traditional (institutional) church, and about 6 months of research, my family is about to start a Home Church.

It has been comforting to read the many people who also feel God has called them to meet and honor Him in this way.

Only just recently have we made the firm decision to leave our "church building" and to move in this direction. However, there have been many years where I have felt that "something is wrong". Our intitutional "church" did not seem to match up with the example given to us in the NT. So, for many years, I found myself quietly fighting with this. Not even realizing that I was doing so. Not realizing why I found myself questioning the leadership of the place I called "church". And this questioning is what has brought me to where I am today.

So as said earlier, these past 6 months, even while attending the building I have been for these many years, I have been researching and seeking God's heart in this matter. And I believe that we are going to "do it".

We have a couple of families around us that are also excited about being part of this, and this is where I believe the Lord is having us begin.

Honestly, I don't have all the answers. I don't know all that we should do, or for the things I believe are important, how to execute them in our Home Church. But God is God ... he is my Lord and my God. He will help answer these questions. And those others that will be part of what we will call our Home Church are also mature and insightful Christians. We will all seek God and God will reveal how we should serve Him in this way, both through prayer and by His word, God will be our guide.

Pray for us. We are excited but we are also in new territory. We have many things that God calls his church to do and be, for each other and for our community. Pray that we can do the many things we are called to be, that we can serve each other, that we can honor God .... and that our motives and hearts will be in these honorable things in whatever we do.

If you have any encouraging words, now would be a good time! :)

[discernomatic]

Wow! That is taking a big step. I would like to find such a group too, or help to found one. Just a bit of advice. There are a few home church systems available, but I would be wary of them. Some are already being used to spread false doctrine that will make a home church a burden rather than something that brings freedom and fellowship.

Here is a link about the church outside the camp: http://www.intotruth.org/dev/outside.html . One good link about problems that can arise with cell churches or house churches is: http://www.intotruth.org/apostasy/cell-church1.htm . Make sure that you don't become a cell belonging to another church. I have seen handbooks and literature for establishing home churches but those I have seen are all connected with questionable doctrine, I would be careful when picking through something like that.

I think that it is best to just read the Scripture and pray about it, when thinking about how to go about it. If you are really in the Word and in prayer, depending on the guidance of Jesus Christ and not your own or somebody else's then I do not think that you can go wrong. Be discerning. Test everything. May the Holy Spirit be with you and guide you in your endeavor.

discernomatic

[StevenL]

sitebuilder

My wife and I, with a few others, have been meeting at home now for over 10 years. I will never go back (exclusively) to the "church" way. It's amazing what God can teach you when you get the church blinders off of your eyes and let Him show you what is really written....what the Words really mean. It's a pity, really, what has happened to the church world.

I pray the Lord bless you and your Spirit family....that He will lead and guide you in HIS Ways and His Thoughts.....that He will give your assembly great peace and joy in the Truth....that He will bear MUCH fruit in you.

And.....be ready to face the misunderstanding of the church folks. Most of them will hate what you are doing because it exposes the deficiency of what the churches are doing. Darkness HATES being exposed. Just set your faces and walk on with God. If you are true and sincere in what you are doing, He will NEVER fail to meet with you and to speak with you and your assembly....He will work Wonders in your midst.

God bless you. Will be looking forward to seeing you on That Day.

[discernomatic]

StevenL has a point there. Others may and probably will not understand what you are doing. If you have seen some posts here in the Unchurched section you will read about some of the opposition others have encountered. I am under some hard artillery fire right now because of it and because I dare to speak out against manipulators and false doctrine on my site. Always be sincere to God, others and yourself.

God Bless,

discernomatic