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The Only Kind Of New Testament Church
Mentioned In The Bible
What is the only kind of local church mentioned in the New Testament? One
with a steeple and a cross on top? No. One with a big sign out
front? No. One
with lots of pews? No. One with a nice pulpit and sound system? No.
One with hundreds or thousands of members? No. One with a robed
choir? No. One with a youth pastor and a singles ministry? No.
One with lots of "programs"? No. One with three
"services" a week? No. One with a baptismal font up front? No. One with
a nursery and Sunday school classes? No, No, No! Well, then you ask "what is the only
kind of local church mentioned in the New Testament?" A house church,
no other kind, believe it or not (not synagogues either - check out the article
"Where should believers meet on the Lord's Day?"
for a Bible study that covers this issue in detail)...
Rom 16:5
- "Likewise greet the church that is in their house.
Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto
Christ."
1Cor 16:19 - "The churches of Asia
salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the
church that is in their house."
Col 4:15 - "Salute the brethren
which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house."
Phm 1:2 - "And to our
beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy
house"
Well, you're not saying that there is something wrong with conventional
churches now are you? Yes I am! And its not just my opinion.
Check out your own Bible. Conventional churches that
meet outside of the home in special religious buildings where people all sit in
rows and stare at the back of the heads of people they assume are their brothers
and sisters in
Christ while playing Simon-says with the guy called the worship service leader
are unbiblical churches. That
being the case, such churches are a very SUBoptimal environment for achieving the things that Christ
purposed for His church - such as close fellowship (the kind you have or should
have with your own family) and the bearing of one another's burdens.
Conventional local congregations put on an unbiblical religious show every week
called a worship service. Biblical local congregations congregate... they
meet together, they meet each other, they know each other, they interact with
each other... in other words, their meetings resemble family reunions, not
Broadway plays and not Catholic masses. There is no visible clergy/laity,
them/us, pulpit/pew, holy-man/regular-guy, costumes/plainclothes distinction. People refer to each other by
name, not by titles. There is no preoccupation with building maintenance
nor pastor's salaries but rather with discipleship, soul winning and ministering
to one another's needs.
Got it? Well don't feel bad if this sounds strange and radical to
you. It took me a while to realize that I had been entrenched in something
I and others now refer to as "churchianity" which is a form of
godliness and outward show perpetuated by the religious establishment of our
day. While there are many fine Christians in many conventional churches
throughout our land, they need to realize that they are responsible for their
own spiritual growth and its not something that can be abandoned to "the
clergy". Yet the structure of most conventional churches promotes
this abandonment whereas churches that meet in homes and conduct interactive
biblical meetings encourage individual growth and accountability. Don't believe
this? Have you really tried church the biblical New Testament way?
"Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
[John 4:22-24]
Ray Kane
For more articles related to
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