Reflections on Our Home Church
Posted on March 9, 2006
We had an ice and snow storm this past weekend. It was nothing compared to the storms we saw in Illinois. However, since this part of the country doesn’t see much of the white stuff, the equipment and supplies are not as available to take care of the roads. So we have something called “snow days” around here.
This particular “snow day” took place over a weekend. The sleet started on Friday night and turned to snow by Saturday. In other words, we had ice on the roads with snow on top of it. Not a good picture by any means. Our church was closed for Sunday services. The interesting thing was, a few churches called off services. Other churches called off early services and kept later services. As it turned out, the sleet started again around 9:00. We were grateful to be able to stay in off the roads instead of trying to drive to church. I made a big breakfast and we took it easy.
Since we have previously been in home services, our family took it for granted that we would have our own “mini-service”. Brian has all the songs from church on the computer. Since we don’t have a worship team yet, we primarily do our songs from CD. It sounds weird, but actually works well. Anyway, as worship leader, Brian puts the CD’s together every Sunday. He has put them on the computer so he can compile a smooth running CD every Sunday. Because of this, we just picked out songs from the computer and had church here. Our youngest daughter was very excited to get out Mommy’s “instrument” (I have an accordian). We sang a few songs with the computer and the accordian. Then, our oldest daughter read Psalm 91. Brian read a Bible story to us, we prayed and our service was over. It was a nice time together and set our day on the right track. We did all this in our PJ’s. Pretty funny.
I told this story to say this…we were comfortable having church at home because of our previous experience. Our children are comfortable in a church building or at home. That is one thing that I would list as a positive in our home church journey. We have an understanding that God is everywhere. We can meet with Him at any time. A year after leaving that situation, I can look back and say the positives and negatives of the experience. Before I say much more, let me say that we did exactly what we were supposed to be doing and ended at just the right time. However, there are pros and cons to everything.
Some of the positives include those I just expressed. There were more, less important things that were good about home services. You are able to set your own schedule. If something comes up, you can switch easily. In fact, we would have either an early service or late service on those Sundays when we wanted to eat out for whatever special occasion. We missed the “church crowd” at the restaurants. Another more important good thing was the closeness that is development between people. We knew each other’s needs in a more intimate way.
Some of the negatives have to do with being without a “body”. There is a lot to be said about having a congregation to support you. Our children are thriving being taught with other children. My husband and I are thriving being taught with other people. Having a church family gives us a whole new dimension. We are a part of something bigger. We are also growing spiritually. There is something about people who hang out together at church. They seem to know that the common ground is Jesus. I want my girls to have that. I want to have that. We also had a tough time reaching other people for Jesus, because it was difficult to bring them into a group that was so close to each other. My husband has had the chance to bring someone to the Lord since we have been going to our “regular” church. That is something that I wouldn’t miss for anything. We have also been able to use the support of our church and pastor to answer questions. Yes, some of the questions came from the actual church service or sermon, but they were questions that needed to be answered at some point. They were questions that every new and growing Christian needs to ask and have answers for.
The conclusion that I came to this weekend is that our home services were nice and cozy. It was comfortable to us. However, there are more advantages to being in a “real church”. If God has called you to home church (and He does that), do it. You can and will thrive in it, because you are following the Will of God. It takes determination and commitment to do what you have said you will do. There aren’t as many people holding you accountable in your walk with the Lord. But there is something to be said for being just you and God.
The bottow line is, listen to the voice of God. Listen for direction. He will lead you in the path you are to follow. He will show you the next step when you need to take it. Home churches, start up churches, church plants, small churches, large churches and all other types of churches all have their place in the Kingdom of God.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Other posts by dljordaneku
»
