Archive for the christianity category.
An amazing but not an unsuspected trend:
Jan. 16, 2007 (UPI) — A new report says 51 percent of women in the United States are living without a husband.
A New York Times analysis of census results found that in 2001, more than half of U.S. women said they were living without a husband, compared to 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000, the newspaper said.
The newspaper said women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners. Women are also living longer as widows and delaying remarriage after a divorce, the report said.
The Census Bureau said only 30 percent of black women are living with a spouse, compared with 49 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of non-Hispanic white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women.
source: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20070116-092856-3691r
God meets us where we are, as always. No situation is perfectly ideal. Not having a husband didn’t keep Lydia from hosting the saints in her home. Acts 16:40: After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.
By the way, God has a very keen interest in the fatherless and widows. Do we?
Living Room Liturgy by Steve Grove, Jan. 9, 2007
Every Monday night, Meredith Scott and eight of her friends get together at one of their homes in St. Paul, Minn. They cook a meal, share what’s going on in their lives and pray together.
But Scott and her friends don’t call this a Bible study or a support group — they call it a church. They are part of the growing number of Americans who are shifting from traditional churches toward more informal, intimate settings, dubbed house churches.
….
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2781114&page=1
I was thinking today about the number of films and tv shows which had the catholic confessional somewhere in the plot. Several which I’ve viewed over the years used the theme of a priest who had incriminating evidence but could not divulge it, having received it in the confessional stall.
Scripture does encourage us to confess our faults one to another. This invites humility and seems to fit with the closeness which can come by meeting in homes. Yet this very same text is used by modern priests who offer confessionals as part of their services. Have they gone too far in so doing? Yes, they have.
James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Speaking of confessions, have you ever noticed how quickly we are to admit we a sinners *in general* but if and when it comes to admitting a specific sin, some - particularly we of the male gender - would rather die a thousand deaths than just “fess up?”
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, 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.
Yes, 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, too.
Religion When advanc’d in pow’r,
Will make you Husband every hour.
‘Twill make Men strive with all their might,
And therein Find a sweet delight.
If there were Nought besides that pay
Christ gives To cheer us in our way;
Should we not Do the best we can?
For there’s No such reward from man.
Shall others Work, and not regard
Their strength To get a small reward?
Whilst we Turn slugs and loiter thus?
0 that Their zeal might quicken us.
Why are our Hands, and feet so slow,
When we Unto our business go?
How can we Then Christ’s pay expect,
And yet the Christians work reject,
If this, then Also that embrace
Them both; If not, we both disgrace.
Some if They could these two divide,
‘Twould Please them well, with Christ to side
But if they May not, then it were
As good Cease pleading, they’ll not hear:
Rouse up From sloth, my soul betake
Thee to thy Work, no cavils make.
O strive And try, saints say that even,
The pain they Take hath much of heaven.
But yet Their best wine’s kept till last,
Their rest and Ease comes all so fast.
————
John Flavel
(1628-1691) was the son of a Puritan minister who died in prison. He was educated at University College, Oxford, and labored in the ministry at Dartmouth, Devon. His writings are deeply spiritual and experiential. This poem is from his 6 volume collected works.
————
Afterthoughts:
The word “religion” has fallen upon hard times, lately. It’s a biblical word and just means how life relates to God. It’s often mistakenly contrasted in our day with a relationship with God. Granted, one can have one without the other but they shouldn’t be viewed in contradistinction.
The final couplet, which is read downward (!) through the capitalized words in each line, is a needful antidode for those who believe that “being” in Jesus Christ excludes “doing.”
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOES the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7:21
I don’t believe this poem has seen the light of day in a long time. It did not appear in the google index. Enjoy!
Who would have guessed that, by some accounts, there are now more house churchers than Southern Baptists, the largest protestant denomination in the USA? House Churchers, therefore, are all around us, likely in every public place, even at every major intersection. If the “one in five adults” figure is accurate and you’re sitting in a restaurant, there are statistically several others present who could join with you for an impromptu church meeting.
These numbers mean that traditional churches have lost members by the millions, tithes and offerings by the billions. If “one in five adults” are participating in house churches, tens of millions of children would also be involved.
These new churches, we are informed, are not “cell churches” attached to a traditional church but real house church participants.
Is this the latter day glory or what? I am very optimistic in my prophetic views of the end times but I must confess that such figures exceed anything I could have ever expected. Oh me of little faith… The amazing findings of George Barna can be tracked in the articles below.
And somewhere, there must be a sizable group of “house church planters” who have been more fantastically successful than anything previously documented in the whole history of the church including the book of Acts. Might these please step forward and identify themselves? God will receive all the glory, of course, we just want to know who you are.
It should be noted that serious disparity does exist in the polling. The Time magazine article first mentioned it. Take, for example, the data reported in the Friday Fax, published by researcher and author Wolfgang Simson. About a year ago (May 13. 2005) it was documented that USA house churches “had probably doubled in the past 18 months, from 2,500 to 5,000.”
Hmmmm… Let’s take that “43 million” number of house churchERS and then double again the number of house churchES to 10,000 to represent another doubling for the year 2006 - this time in only a year, actually much less. That translates, I believe, into about 4,300 adults per house church!
What do YOU think about the implications of the alleged “70 million who regularly attend or have experimented with a house church?” What do you see in your corner of the world to confirm such an unprecedented shift in social behavior?
Me, I’ve gone door to door for 20 something years as a UPS delivery driver in more than a dozen counties in Tennessee and Virginia. I’ve gotten close to a lot of families along the way. Total number of known house churchers encountered? Zero.
Furthermore, I’ve read literally thousands of email messages, public and private, over the past decade from those within or interested in the house church community. Folks alooking for a local house church have outnumbered those who actually found one by a ratio of hundreds to one.
Where are all the house/micro/simple/home/nano/organic/family/nameless church bloggers, btw? If our numbers are greater than the Baptists (and all other denoms) why isn’t it reflected in the blog traffic and the tags? I see hundreds of reformed bloggers, for example, but hardly a few dozen house church bloggers who post regularly if even that many.
Question: Other than the Barna Group what other pollsters have examined this matter and what did they discover?
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=241
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=221
http://www.abpnews.com/1198.article
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50802
http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2006-02-13
How difficult it is to comprehend the reality of the one true church. Peter, the apostle, missed it even after having a special vision about it.
Some, having been burned in the traditional churches, write the whole thing off and reject everyone in it. I believe that may be a mistake. Btw, you can get severely burned in a house church, too. Sin does not differentiate.
Well, let’s say we’re at 40k feet and the pilot announces in a quivering voice that the jet engines have just malfunctioned. Could we not take the hand of another believer and pray for the safety of the plane and for those who haven’t yet made peace with God? Would the mode of baptism, church structure, the Sabbath, or one’s view of the great tribulation make much difference then? I doubt it.
The plane is planet earth. It’ll crash and burn but the new heavens and earth await those who follow the Lamb. Until then we might follow the admonition of Paul to be gentle with each other.
Jesus’ prayer in another “Lord’s Prayer”: John 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be ONE, as we are.
John 17:21-22 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be ONE in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be ONE, even as we are ONE.
My “tentmaking” way of living out my passion is by “Coaching” people on how to start and/or lead a Simple/House Church. I also coach people regarding their personal issues, and helping them move towards their dreams and goals.
If you’re new to the process of “Coaching,” it is a powerful process that helps you get clear about what God is up to in your life. It is a process of discovery achieved through dialogue and by wrestling with clarifying questions.
I have 20 years of experience helping to disciple (mentor, coach, teach, train, counsel) men and women into wholeness and life (with a capital “L”). I am a Professional Coach as well as a Church Planter, focusing on simple expressions of church.
I charge $150 a month for three (30 minute) sessions conducted over the phone. If you’d like to give coaching a no obligation “test drive” with me, email me and we’ll schedule a free session, to see if it’s a good fit for you, and for me. If you’re ready to get started, email me using the link at the top of the page.
The info above is from a house church site which can be located via google.com if one so desires. I am considering this person’s methods today, which I believe are unscriptural and antiscriptural - thus counterproductive. I am not considering his motives which I doubt not are noble and intended to advance the kingdom of Jesus.
First, being a true biblical tentmaker would exclude charging for ministry. If this person is a real Professional Coach and I don’t doubt that he is, would he really need to be collecting money from small churches to the tune of $100 per hour? And why capitalize these titles? Why withhold needful information to a brother until you are paid for it, making it an article of commerce? What happened to “Freely received, freely given?” What happened to “We don’t seek yours, but you.” Matthew 10:8 and 2 Corinthians 12:14: Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children (you Corinthians) ought not to lay up for the parents (we apostles), but the parents for the children.
If this is about “simple church” does one really need to be coached three times a month???
The apostle Paul confessed that “he had the care of all the churches upon him” yet he never solicited fees, offerings, tithes, or gifts for himself or his ministry. He was not selling anything, either, thank God. Nor did he offer freebies up front in order to market something else later. That’s what drug pushers do.
If anyone could have exempted themself from the workforce, would it not have been Paul? As a traveling, itinerant evangelist/apostle/missionary he was entitled to support but that is a far different situation from the settled “local pastors/elders” who were enjoined to work just like he did. See Acts 20 below for this little known text. Most students of the Word know the “more blessed to give” part but the context of the local leaders being exhorted to follow the apostle’s example of tentmaking seldom registers.
Of course Paul did occasionally recieve aid but that isn’t the same as “services for fees.” So, are we really wiser than he? I doubt it. Has not the commercialization of the church adversely affected it? I believe, I know that it has and that the gospel should not be an article of commerce anymore.
By the way, when I was an unregenerate person one thing that greatly influenced me toward the gospel was the fact that the Jesus and his apostles were not money grubbers nor were they covetous, Judas excepted. I also was familiar with a true man of God who always volunteered his services in the churches as a guest speaker. His habit was to quietly put the checks given to him by the churches back into the collection plate with a gift of his own. God used these things to slowly melt my stiff heart. When I observed up close this volunteer elder, I knew the gospel was real.
I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work WE MUST help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:33-35.
——————
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13: Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
“Be not weary in well doing.” Now that’s another pithy saying which is often taken out of it’s original context which is OK because it can stand alone. Still, the context is that of an apostle who paid his own way.
I hear today a lot of fantasizing about wanting to be “apostolic” but little or nothing said about this aspect of it.
If I interpret these words rightly, Paul is saying that unless one is following his counsel, example, and tradition concerning a lifestyle which includes being gainfully employed then he is guilty of “disorderly” conduct and should be “withdrawn from” that he might be ashamed and repent.
Truly, the first will be last and the last first when it’s all over on planet earth. But it’s sad to see those in the house church community adopting the fund-raising practices of the world. Why? Because we have total freedom to do what is right. Sorry, but I cannot see a true apostle promising that for “an offering in any amount” he would send the first portion of his next book. Nor would he have collected names for a “free” newsletter, calendar, or magazine intended to milk donations out of the recipients. Nor would he have charged for “coaching sessions.” Rather he:
… dwelt two whole years in HIS OWN HIRED house, and received ALL that came in unto him. Acts 28:30
By the way, several years ago the leading “Christian counselor” admitted that that industry would be better left to volunteers.
Why would a man redirect his life’s work at its zenith?
Two years ago, in an interview with Christianity Today, Larry Crabb, a Christian psychologist and best-selling author, announced, “In the end, all counseling—intentionally or not—deals with issues of sanctification. The primary context for healing, then, should be the Christian community, not the antiseptic world of a private-practice therapist.”
Put simply, Crabb has had a conversion experience, and his new thinking has direct implications for pastoral work.
Crabb coined the term ‘eldering’ to describe what he believes ought to go on in the local church between older, wiser members and younger, struggling men and women. He believes this interaction can often be more redemptive and healing than traditional psychotherapy.
http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1997/spring/7l2037.html
1 in 5 Adults Attend House Churches, According to First Hard Statistics
By Hannah Elliott, Published July 6, 2006
DALLAS (ABP) — For the first time, advocates of the house-church movement in America have solid facts to back up their enthusiasm — and those stats are shocking: Perhaps one in five American adults attends a house church at least once a month.
While attendees themselves have long said that an increasing number of Americans are moving from First Baptist on Main Street to living-room congregations, the very nature of home churches — decentralized, undocumented and unadvertised — has made them difficult to study. Until now.
In a June 19 report from the Barna Group, evangelical researcher George Barna said 70 million Americans regularly attend or have “experimented with” a house church. That’s an increase of 8 percent since 1996, the report said. Moreover, the movement is taking on evidence of permanence, he said.
“The traditional ways of thinking about and experiencing church are rapidly being revolutionized by a form of religious choice, in which people are taking greater personal responsibility for their spiritual experience and development,” Barna said in the report.
“Today, house churches are moving from the appraisal phase into the acceptance phase. We anticipate house-church attendance during any given week to double in the coming decade and a growing proportion of house-church attenders to adopt the house church as their primary faith community.”
Furthermore, the study noted, more than 20 million adults attend services in home churches each week. Over the course of a month, that number rose to 43 million. Findings were based on a year of research that included phone interviews with more than 5,000 adults nationwide.
from the Associated Baptist Press
http://www.abpnews.com/1198.article
Charles “Chuck” Swindoll is a popular radio and TV preacher. I, for one, heartily agree with many if not most of his teachings.
On his radio broadcast of 3/22/06 brother Swindoll noted that he was a frequent conference speaker. He went on to say that of the conferences he regularly attends the “pastor’s conferences” were, by far, made up of the most depressed delegates.
I can see why. To think that one person is essentually responsible for pastoring an entire church would bring just about anyone to a very low level indeed. It’s like giving a person a pick and a bucket and saying to him: Go over to that mountain and remove it.
If a church has several hundred members, most pastors wouldn’t know all their names, much less be able to minister to their personal needs. How could he/she spend time with each one in order to establish a working relationship with them? And if you don’t know someone, how are you going to love them, council them, and “one-another” them?
God’s plain plan for his church is that elderS (plural) be the shepherds of the flock. Acts 20. 1 Peter 5. Oh, I know that many groups give lip service to the plurality notion but sqirm loose of it in their practice.
Can we look at the great animal and plant kingdoms, beholding their perfect order, and then dismiss the idea that God also has definite arrangements for his own Kingdom? No doubt having a smart and smooth “teaching elder” in place simplifies things BUT the price is that the other elders never develop their own teaching gifts. If I’m not mistaken, the most detailed instructions of a church meeting in 1 Corinthians 14 call for several speakers rather than a single sermon by one person.
——————
Wonder if Chuck is really satisfied with his clergy persona. Wonder how his wife likes being the typical preacher’s wife who has to look and act so much like the typical preacher’s wife. Were his kids the typical hell-raiser PK’s?
Chuck seems to enjoy bucking the clergyman image now and them. On the cover of his “Laugh Again” he’s perched on a new Harley in a black leather outfit. Here’s a paragraph or so from Chapter One:
Cynthia and I are into Harley-Davidson motorcycles.
I know, I know…it doesn’t fit our image. Who really cares? We stopped worrying about our image years ago. We should be ashamed of ourselves? We aren’t. We’re having a mutual mid-life crisis? We hope so. We should be better examples to the youth? They love it! Actually, it’s only a few crotchety adults who don’t. What are we going to say to our grandkids? “Hey, kids, wanna ride?”1 And how are we supposed to explain it to the “the board?” They don’t care either.
We are having more fun than anybody can imagine (except fellow Harley riders). One of the best things about the whole deal is that those guys and gals down at the bike shop don’t have a clue as to who we are. We have finally found a place in our area where we can be out in public and remain absolutely anonymous. If anybody down there happens to ask our names, we’ll just tell ’em we’re Jim and Shirley Dobson. Those Harley hogs don’t know them either.
………….
When we came back to our senses, we realized that somehow we were sorta misfits. I mean, a responsible senior pastor and radio preacher in a suit and tie with a classy, well-dressed woman who is executive vice president of Insight for Living perched on a Harley-Davidson in a motorcycle showroom. Everybody else was wearing t-shirts, torn jeans, boots, black leather stuff, and sported tattoos. I saw one guy who had a tattoo on each arm…one was a snarling bulldog with a spiked collar and the other was a Marine insignia—the eagle, globe, and anchor of the Corps! A few folks were glancing in our direction as if to say, “Get serious!” And Cynthia leaned up again and whispered, “Do you think we ought to be in here?”
“Of course, honey, who cares? After all, I’m a Marine! What I need is a pair of black jeans and leather chaps and all you need is a tattoo, and we’ll blend right in.” The jeans and chaps for me, probably someday. But Cynthia with a tattoo? I rather doubt it. Somehow I don’t think it would go over very big at formal church dinners and the National Religious Broadcasters banquets.
Hey, glad to hear somebody’s having fun out there. All I do is work. Oh well, it seems that way. Ditto for my home-schooling wife and mother of six. LOL. Me, I’m not jealous, no way. I’m glad for folks that can throw down 25 grand for a motorcycle and a membership in the elite Harley club. LOL. Chuck wants us to laugh, doesn’t he?
While we’re laughing … What about all those folks who sport the Harley shirts, jackets, and decals on their cars and trucks? Most of the ones I know don’t own the genuine article. Reminds me of how we can have the appearances of a true profession of faith in Christ and yet have no actual possesion of Him.
What, btw, would have been the value of 10 grand invested in H-D back in say 1986? Oh, don’t take my word on it. Just go to the link below as you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway:
“If you had invested a mere $100 (one hundred dollars) in Harley-Davidson, Inc. common stock at the end of 1986, the year of our IPO, and reinvested all dividends, the value of your investment on December 31, 2005, would have been approximately $16,140.”
http://investor.harley-davidson.com/HDvsSP500.cfm?locale=en_US&bmLocale=en_US
