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Large gatherings for the early church was for learning... like a seminar or a college lecture.
Buildings do not make church wrong, but I do agree it make going to ''church" and event. Small groups and bible study are great tools for believers. I encourage you to open your home for your neighbors... and have food! it helps... who knows? maybe you can feed the 5000!!!! only kidding <><
I have been studying a little on the "House church" or "Organic church" movement..The Idea is when there are so many members that they divide in order to be able to have room for more..For example,say there is a meeting at my house..We begin with 5 people, later we have grown to 15 people..We may decide amongst us with the help of prayer that it is time to begin another house church..Usually one member who perhaps lives the furthest will be moved to begin a house church in his home..An elder will volunteer to help that house church get started ..He will stay with that house church until it is established spiritually, then he may move on to another home that desires help to establish a house church.. And so it goes on and on They may periodically rent a place to hold a meeting of all of them for something to be discussed amongst them.. http://www.housechurchresource.org/
Last edited by Miss Blue; 03-03-2009 at 12:38 PM..
Reason: add link
Large gatherings for the early church was for learning... like a seminar or a college lecture.
Buildings do not make church wrong, but I do agree it make going to ''church" and event. Small groups and bible study are great tools for believers. I encourage you to open your home for your neighbors... and have food! it helps... who knows? maybe you can feed the 5000!!!! only kidding <><
lol
I don't mean to make it sound as if churches are wrong. I just wonder about this...always have. Money just gets poured down the drain on mortgages and such. I don't know...
Hmm. They had to hide? But Paul used a building one time to have a large place to gather. It was public.
Is it what God wanted? Are we pouring money into buildings that should be going to widows and orphans?
This has always weighed heavily on my mind.
I agree. Only some Christians had to hide (during those times of persecution). Other times their meetings were held out in the open, in full public view.
Are we pouring money into buildings, that we ought to have spent on widows and orphans? IMO: YES, we are! We see it on TV all the time: televangelists say "GIVE, GIVE, GIVE!...sow some seed money!, and God will make you prosper and be rich too". (so they can build thier NEW church building, sanctuary, college, etc". (And, all too often, buy a new mansion, diamond studded gold ring for every finger, and a new Mercedes for themselves) (I'm talking about the big-time televangelists...not your average small-town pastor struggling to get by on $20,000 a year)
We don't need a multi-million dollar sanctuary, whilst poor people in our midst are ignored and have no decent place to live. (I have watched it happen) All we need is a decent place to meet. And that could be a home, or just a place rented for the day...we don't need to own it. There is just way to much emphasis placed on having special buildings. And, once built, then there is ongoing maintenance costs for forever. Jesus never taught that we should gather all our money together and then go spend it on a fancy, ritzy, church building, complete with huge stained glass windows and a million-dollar pipe organ. So, why are we (some) doing it? If I were a pennyless homeless person (not through my own inaction or laziness) staring at all this vanity, what would I be thinking? Would I truly be welcomed there? To prosper doesn't mean to be a millionaire while conveniently ignoring the poor. Just IMO.
It actually grieves me to give a tithe that goes toward a mortgage and such. I much prefer buying groceries and giving to the food bank (which our local church just gave up to a secular organization). Gas money to someone I know is hurting. I've had someone help me out within the last few months that way...what a God-send...I mean it.
I've spent much time praying about this. I thought I'd bring it to all of you. I truly desire a life following Christ...I'm tired of making missteps.
Thanks to all of you for working this out with me.
Hmm. They had to hide? But Paul used a building one time to have a large place to gather. It was public.
Is it what God wanted? Are we pouring money into buildings that should be going to widows and orphans?
This has always weighed heavily on my mind.
Hey SW, good thoughts. I do not believe what is happening today with "buildings" is what God wants AT ALL. I recently saw something somewhere (memory going) about a church that puts every single dime towards exactly that...helping others. Even the Pastor does not receive a salary. They had some of the most creative ways of taking care of their needs and others. I wish I could remember who, what and where that was. THAT is a fine example of how it should be, imo. Smaller, more intimate "churches" doing only God's work and meeting wherever the roof doesn't leak.
Very Very good thread SW...
i agree with you much...
Our church--building that is, is small and simple...they expand as the population grows...but we are not know for being one of the "fancy" churches....
I like it like this...for I do not understand all the money that goes into a church building to make it "pretty."
I agree with most others that the "church" is a body of believers...not the building.
Church buildings are pagan. Don't get me wrong, some of my best and dearest friends are pagans and wiccans and heathens. But church buildings are pagan.
For 350 years Christians met in each others homes. they never had a spire, they never had a pulpit, they never had an alter. What changed? Constantine. When he made Christianity the official religion, supported by taxes, the pagan priests followed the money and became "instant Christians." And Constantine, when he gave tax money to Christians, wanted to be able to see what it was he was paying for, so he had them build "churches" "sanctuaries" and "chapels." Who did he get to design these buildings? The architects that built the temple to Diana, to the Sun, to all the dieties of the era. Why a spire? it put God above all (doesn't matter that Jesus said that where ever two or more are gathered in my name, there will I be also).....made God a partner with the Emperor. Hide the scripture and the letters and the teachings that were handed down for 300+ years.....tell the people what you want them to know, not what God taught. And so began "church services" where one guy (formerly a pagan priest) would "teach" and all the followers would listen. If he taught good enough, he made a lot of money......there was no money in a house church......it cost money, in fact, to feed all those guys.
Todays denominations, parsing Jesus's words thinking they are "mature Christians" becasue they have the Bible, developed by the same pagans that had the church buildings built, memorized, are like our kids arguing over whether Remington or Underwood are better typewriters in a computer age. They argue over trivial nonsense like "Do you have to be immersed or sprinkled to be baptised" when Jesus was telling his followers to be totally immersed in His love. They would rather argue over the cost of a stained glass window than the impact of drugs on a community. They think they are doing a wonderful thing by bringing old, worn out toys and clothes and appliances and giving them to the "less fortunate." Of course they usually need a receipt so they can deduct it as a charitable contribution.....after all, these "clothes closets" cost a bit to maintain........
Church Buildings are pagan. If Jesus had thought they would be a good idea, he would have built one......he grew up helping a carpenter, didn't he? He knew how to build. Money given to the Church building is money paying for egos, and nothing more.
Tell you what, get together with a few like minded people, take all the money you would have given to a church somewhere, go buy a bunch of new clothes and toys and appliances and go give it to someone who needs it. Don't hand out a bunch of second hand junk and go home feeling you have done "the Lords work." It doesn't work that way.
It actually grieves me to give a tithe that goes toward a mortgage and such. I much prefer buying groceries and giving to the food bank (which our local church just gave up to a secular organization). Gas money to someone I know is hurting. I've had someone help me out within the last few months that way...what a God-send...I mean it.
I've spent much time praying about this. I thought I'd bring it to all of you. I truly desire a life following Christ...I'm tired of making missteps.
Thanks to all of you for working this out with me.
If your church doesn't have one, start a benevolent fund in the church and give to that.
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They may periodically rent a place to hold a meeting of all of them for something to be discussed amongst them..
