Load of us gathered in our house today. Had a bit of a chat, eating snacks and drinking tea (there was a sly bottle of beer being swigged i remember). Bit of guitar playing, song singing and miraculous physical healing. You know the usual when two or three are gathered, well more like acts than what many british churches are like. But hey this ain’t no church, it wasn’t a meeting or a service, not even a cell or a youth group. However, we aren’t all that cutting edge in the whole community and lack of services thing. It has been done before (acts2 etc). So we don’t go to church, I know that some people think that I should and that you are going to express your concern but come on.
I got disillusioned with Church and it wasn’t what helped me get back to God after I ran away from Him. That was the love and prayers of people around me, friends and family. It hasn’t been church that has been my guide on my journey of faith, that was friends and family. I go to church and I wish I was in the pub with my mates, maybe playing pool. When we are church together, when we gather as a community passionate about God, then I have never wished to be anywhere else. It can be uncomfortable when my character is challenged, when my barriers are pushed, and I may feel like legging it but I still want to be there with my friends and family, with that presence of God. (Local churches just don’t do it for me… though I don’t want to dismiss them, they still work because God’s deal is a simple one. We don’t have to do it in a prescribed way for God to honour it; when 2 or 3, love thy neighbour, preach the good news)
I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian (that’s about accepting the love and following Him) because as Christians we are the Church. So the difference lies somewhere amongst the bedding of services, structures, congregations, membership, rules and regulations, red tape, politics, doctrines and theological positioning, hierarchy and sunday dress. I can see how a bunch of misfits gathering can evolve into a meeting or a church even but that’s not where we want to go. We want to break into something new and stand against man-made tradition, man-made religion, man-made boxes. We don’t want to conform, unite yes. We want to learn from the previous generations; the wisdom, maturity, experience, patience, perseverence and the list goes on. We want to learn from the previous generations; the mistakes, disillusionment, disappointment, bitterness, entrapment and the list goes on.
I am so grateful to God for bringing me up in my amazing family and great home church but this is about me shaking some cages and spreading my wings. People have always seen my potential to challenge and revive, so I’m giving it a go, just as they encouraged.
An after thought: I am well aware that the early Church honoured their local temples. So if the original plan was for the community being Church and somehow involved honouring the local church then I hope I am doing that.