House Church Update
I know that all 2 of you that will be reading this will be more curious about Javier than house church so I will just pass on the news that he is doing great and was smiling lots for me this morning.
House church has been a wonderful thing for me. I went into it pretty skeptical and didn't have huge expectations. So far it has far exceeded even my deepest hopes, the ones that I didn't let myself entertain. I feel at home, I feel comfortable, I feel challenged, I feel like I have bitten into a meaty morsel of faith every time that I go. We spend more time laughing than I ever would have expected to and I feel like the people around me are people that I'm getting to know on multiple levels. It has been good.
We have a meal together, we sing sometimes, we pray for each other, we study together. The thing that gets me most excited is that everyone participates. There is no spectatorship but there is also no push. People feel comfortable sharing and even disagreeing.
When I tell people that LT and I want to plant house churches, people ask what is the difference between house churches and conventional church small groups. I think that small groups could run like a house church but there with Small groups there is the feeling that the larger gatherings are equal or greater to the small group. On paper a congregation could be a "church of small groups" but it is fairly difficult to do. When the Lord blesses us with more house churches, we will have large group meetings 3 or 4 times a year for large group worship. A lot of the difference is simply in priority. Although, we also don't owe anything in terms of debt apart from our mortgages.
So, I am thoroughly enjoying where we are at. I hope more will come who see this as a way that they can grow closer to God as well as those who want to plant churches themselves. For the moment we are just pleased with how God has been working up until now.
House church has been a wonderful thing for me. I went into it pretty skeptical and didn't have huge expectations. So far it has far exceeded even my deepest hopes, the ones that I didn't let myself entertain. I feel at home, I feel comfortable, I feel challenged, I feel like I have bitten into a meaty morsel of faith every time that I go. We spend more time laughing than I ever would have expected to and I feel like the people around me are people that I'm getting to know on multiple levels. It has been good.
We have a meal together, we sing sometimes, we pray for each other, we study together. The thing that gets me most excited is that everyone participates. There is no spectatorship but there is also no push. People feel comfortable sharing and even disagreeing.
When I tell people that LT and I want to plant house churches, people ask what is the difference between house churches and conventional church small groups. I think that small groups could run like a house church but there with Small groups there is the feeling that the larger gatherings are equal or greater to the small group. On paper a congregation could be a "church of small groups" but it is fairly difficult to do. When the Lord blesses us with more house churches, we will have large group meetings 3 or 4 times a year for large group worship. A lot of the difference is simply in priority. Although, we also don't owe anything in terms of debt apart from our mortgages.
So, I am thoroughly enjoying where we are at. I hope more will come who see this as a way that they can grow closer to God as well as those who want to plant churches themselves. For the moment we are just pleased with how God has been working up until now.