Whose Church Do You Go To?
This is a letter I recently wrote to our home church. We use yahoo groups to communicate with each other. I got it into my head to start proactively teaching things about how a home church should in my mind operate. We do operate this way. But there are many new people that understand it with there brains but don’t yet feel it with their hearts and the don’t act like it’s true. And there are many people who have been around for a while that need to be reminded lest they fall into old habits.
If you are interested in how our home church works beyond this article feel free to drop me a line john@historicfuture.com
Dear Chuch Family,
Have you ever been asked who the pastor of your church is? What they are really asking isn’t “who takes responsibility to disciple you and make sure you grow spiritually?” Instead what they are really asking is “who is the person that is the figurehead visibly in charge person?” If someone asked you who is the leader or in leadership at our gathering who’s picture immediately comes to mind? I know intellectually we know and believe no one person is in charge. In fact we strive to give God His proper place as in charge through the Holy Spirit. But I bet if we took a survey and asked the question of everyone in the group whose picture immediately comes to mind when asked the question who’s in charge on Sunday someone other than Jesus would come to mind. Several people are easy to identify with leadership for various reasons. Mike Bourque because it’s at his house that we worship, Mike Bishop because whatischurch.com has been the catalyst for so many of us gathering together or perhaps Brant because he invited so many people. A picture of a person other than Jesus is perfectly normal because that is how we are trained to think.
Let’s look at scripture.
1 Samuel 8
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Emphasis added
We can see how Israel like us wanted a King like all the nations. That’s what they saw all around them. And the natural tendency is for us to follow the crowd. But in the end it’s clear that doing so was a rejection of God. (Saul by the way wasn’t all that great a King.)
So how do we actually”give God His proper place as in charge through the Holy Spirit? “ This goes back to the picture in our heads of who we think is in charge or the more deceptive version of the question who is in leadership (which is the same question in sheep’s clothing.) The fact that someone other than Jesus is the person’s picture that we see is proof positive of what our unconscious believes about the situation. That unconscious belief directly impacts how we act. Why for example don’t we think about ourselves in that light? If God is in charge by way of the Holy Spirit in us is not the Holy Spirit in each of us? Then aren’t each of us “in charge” as much as the next?
What does “in charge” mean in the context of home church? I like to use the term church family. I think it better represents what we do. I submit that “in charge” means something very different than the hierarchical concept of chain of command that we are used to. Church family life leadership is flattened. The parents are God. Each person is individually a child of God. With the wives being subject to their husband (no pun intended) and the children subject to their parents. The remaining differentiators are maturity, gifting, opportunity, and God’s timing. Maturity is the state of knowing what to do or say, gifting is the God given power to do or say it, opportunity is having the chance to do it, and finally God’s timing is that internal sense that God wants it done or said now or later.
In charge loses its meaning in this context. “No one is in charge” or “Jesus is in charge” is a very real state of being when anyone who has the maturity, gift, opportunity, and God’s timing to do something within the proper context of the few layers of hierarchy that God has put in place like the family structure is able to do it. Here is an example. Last week a woman wanted me and others to pray for her. I was told by my wife to meet her and the woman in the back room. Out of respect I went to the woman’s husband and told him about it then we went and prayed. Did I have the maturity to pray? Opportunity? Gifting? Was it God’s timing for us to pray for her? Did I respect the limited hierarchy of nuclear family that God put in place for our benefit? Now was I in charge of that prayer? Up to the last question most of us would have answered yes. But clearly the only thing I was in charge of was obeying God.
What about you?
Peace, Love, Patience,
-John
This is a letter I recently wrote to our home church. We use yahoo groups to communicate with each other. I got it into my head to start proactively teaching things about how a home church should in my mind operate. We do operate this way. But there are many new people that understand it with there brains but don’t yet feel it with their hearts and the don’t act like it’s true. And there are many people who have been around for a while that need to be reminded lest they fall into old habits.
If you are interested in how our home church works beyond this article feel free to drop me a line john@historicfuture.com
Dear Chuch Family,
Have you ever been asked who the pastor of your church is? What they are really asking isn’t “who takes responsibility to disciple you and make sure you grow spiritually?” Instead what they are really asking is “who is the person that is the figurehead visibly in charge person?” If someone asked you who is the leader or in leadership at our gathering who’s picture immediately comes to mind? I know intellectually we know and believe no one person is in charge. In fact we strive to give God His proper place as in charge through the Holy Spirit. But I bet if we took a survey and asked the question of everyone in the group whose picture immediately comes to mind when asked the question who’s in charge on Sunday someone other than Jesus would come to mind. Several people are easy to identify with leadership for various reasons. Mike Bourque because it’s at his house that we worship, Mike Bishop because whatischurch.com has been the catalyst for so many of us gathering together or perhaps Brant because he invited so many people. A picture of a person other than Jesus is perfectly normal because that is how we are trained to think.
Let’s look at scripture.
1 Samuel 8
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Emphasis added
We can see how Israel like us wanted a King like all the nations. That’s what they saw all around them. And the natural tendency is for us to follow the crowd. But in the end it’s clear that doing so was a rejection of God. (Saul by the way wasn’t all that great a King.)
So how do we actually”give God His proper place as in charge through the Holy Spirit? “ This goes back to the picture in our heads of who we think is in charge or the more deceptive version of the question who is in leadership (which is the same question in sheep’s clothing.) The fact that someone other than Jesus is the person’s picture that we see is proof positive of what our unconscious believes about the situation. That unconscious belief directly impacts how we act. Why for example don’t we think about ourselves in that light? If God is in charge by way of the Holy Spirit in us is not the Holy Spirit in each of us? Then aren’t each of us “in charge” as much as the next?
What does “in charge” mean in the context of home church? I like to use the term church family. I think it better represents what we do. I submit that “in charge” means something very different than the hierarchical concept of chain of command that we are used to. Church family life leadership is flattened. The parents are God. Each person is individually a child of God. With the wives being subject to their husband (no pun intended) and the children subject to their parents. The remaining differentiators are maturity, gifting, opportunity, and God’s timing. Maturity is the state of knowing what to do or say, gifting is the God given power to do or say it, opportunity is having the chance to do it, and finally God’s timing is that internal sense that God wants it done or said now or later.
In charge loses its meaning in this context. “No one is in charge” or “Jesus is in charge” is a very real state of being when anyone who has the maturity, gift, opportunity, and God’s timing to do something within the proper context of the few layers of hierarchy that God has put in place like the family structure is able to do it. Here is an example. Last week a woman wanted me and others to pray for her. I was told by my wife to meet her and the woman in the back room. Out of respect I went to the woman’s husband and told him about it then we went and prayed. Did I have the maturity to pray? Opportunity? Gifting? Was it God’s timing for us to pray for her? Did I respect the limited hierarchy of nuclear family that God put in place for our benefit? Now was I in charge of that prayer? Up to the last question most of us would have answered yes. But clearly the only thing I was in charge of was obeying God.
What about you?
Peace, Love, Patience,
-John
Labels: home church
posted by John Husband at 8:12 PM
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