CHURCH AS JESUS INTENDED PART 3

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In the early Church not only were there no church buildings but there was also no such thing as any Christian denominations. The denominational or independent churches of today are nowhere to be found in the New Testament except Corinth where they started to crop up and there were strongly condemned by the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:10-13).

Even though the multitude of Christians in a city would regularly gather in their respective house churches, all the Christians in every city were viewed as one body, as members of one church in their respective city. And the spiritual leaders were not divided in a city but were a single overseeing body of pastors/leaders. Nowhere does the New Testament use the word “churches” (plural) in a city, but only “the church at Jerusalem” or “the church at Antioch” or “the church at Ephesus” etc. (Acts 11:22; 13:1; 20:17; 21:18; 1Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 4, 7, 14). And there are no exceptions to this fundamental truth.
In the New Testament the word “church” was used in three different ways:

  1. The universal church: All believers in the world were members of the one single universal world church ꟷ Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18).
  2. The city church: All believers in every city were members of one city church ꟷ “The church at Jerusalem… the church at Ephesus” (Acts 11:22; 20:17, etc.).
  3. The house church: All believers were a part of one House Church ꟷ “They met in homes for the Lord’s Supper… in their home for church meetings” (Acts 2:46; 1 Corinthians 16:19, etc.).
    There was no other kind of church other than the ones condemned by the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Every believer was a member of the universal church, a city church, and a house church. In other words, Jesus has His universal group, His city group, and His house group.
    All elders/pastors in a city were a single body of leaders subject to one another and all responsible together for unitedly overseeing all the Believers in their city. This has many extending implications for reaching cities for Christ and literally fulfilling the Great Commission in every nation. And this is one big reason why the early Christians were fulfilling the Great Commission in their generation. We’ll look at this in more detail later.
    The word “church” in the Greek is “ekklesia”. This word has nothing to do with any kind of building. The word means only a “gathering” or “assembly” of any group of people for any reason. It was not a religious or Christian word at the time and had no such connotation. It was a very common word used for any group of people that would gather when Jesus used the word, and He said, “I will build my church.” There were lots of “churches” or “groups” at that time for any number of purposes. Jesus was simply saying, “I will build My group!” In time Jesus’ group became so dominant in the world that the word “ekklesia” began to only refer to Jesus’ “group” or “church”.

In the 4th century when Constantine had Christians take over large pagan temples to worship in, the word “church” then began to take on a very foreign unbiblical meaning. Now instead of the word “church” meaning Jesus’ group or gang of followers, the word “church” began to be identified as a building! Today we say, “Let’s go to church.” But we don’t go to church, we are the church!

Extracts from Jim Cotter’s excellent book Church Revolution Today. http://www.housechurches.org

CHURCH AS JESUS INTENDED PART 3

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The only “building program” in the New Testament is the building of men and women up in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament God did not reinstitute a new physical building program as He did in the Old Testament. God sovereignly destroyed the only physical building in the world that had any reflection of Him!

In the New Testament, in every town and city, Christians gathered in house churches. It was through all these small house churches everywhere in cities that Christians so rapidly multiplied and “turned the world upside down” for Christ. Only when we follow God’s model can we expect to do the same.

http://www.housechurches.net

In the New Testament Jesus’ followers came together to “break bread” and “remember the Lord” only in house churches. Why only in houses churches? Jesus may have many more reasons that we don’t think about or understand, “His ways are not our ways.” But I can think of at least 10 pretty good reasons:
1. Identification: God does not want to be identified with a lifeless dead building anymore but rather only with life – the life of Spirit-filled believers.
2. Invitation: No one ever feels defensive when invited to come to a home, but rather gratitude and appreciation.
3. Extension: A house church is like a large family. It is just a large spiritual family. How a family operates is similar to how a house church family functions. Thereby, a good family becomes a good model for a house church and a good house church becomes a good model for a family.
4. Participation: A group as small as a house church allows everyone to participate and enjoy doing so. There is no such thing as “pew warmers”. House churches naturally foster real spiritual growth among everyone. In a traditional church, you are like a “spectator”. You walk in and are ministered to, spoon-fed, and entertained. You sit, you listen, you hear music, you hear a sermon and then you walk out. It’s like a spectator sport where you go, sit, watch and walk out. But believers in the New Testament church were not spectators ꟷ they were participators!
5. House Unity: Believers that meet in small house churches all feel very close to one another and experience true practical unity, quite unlike and impossible to experience in a large church congregation.
6. City Unity: Small house churches feel a greater need and desire to have unity with the larger body of Christ throughout their city, breeding a citywide spirit of love and unity with all believers in their city. The big building church congregations are so large that they often don’t see outside of their own big organization, unlike the small house churches.
7. Multiplying Leaders: The more leaders that develop within any group in society, the greater that group will multiply. Small house churches automatically stimulate spiritual leadership where large church building congregations with their professional clergy intrinsically suppress multiplying leaders.
8. Spreading the Gospel: Preachers are more apt to follow the New Testament example of going out to the public to preach the gospel when they don’t have a big church-building organization for people to come into. They’re more apt to follow the New Testament command to “GO and make disciples…”
9. Money: Billions of dollars are spent on church buildings, while if the same dollars were spent directly on people it would have an explosive impact the world over for the Kingdom of God.
10. Our Heavenly Father knows best: If we are not able to see any good reasons for house churches, we should still defer to house churches for no other reason than it is the only New Testament example that God Himself gave us. Does not our heavenly Father always know what is best? “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?” (Isaiah 45:9).
The implications of the precedent that God set in the New Testament for meeting in-house churches is staggering once you understand all the benefits and implications of it. Here are 8 more important implications:

  1. Spiritual growth explodes qualitatively and quantitatively because everyone is committed and involved in a house church.
  2. Real accountability with all the believers becoming close, loving one another, and being “subject one to another”, as the Scripture instructs.
  3. Potential leaders have real and practical opportunities to develop and multiply rapidly unlike possible in traditional churches.
  4. All Believers can be more individually encouraged and motivated to share their faith in all their workplaces and marketplaces.
  5. Eliminates the destructive clergy/laity class system so unbiblical and oppressive in traditional church organizations. In house churches, all the Believers are not just “priests” in theory but in practice (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
  6. Stimulates all Christian men to rise up and see their spiritual opportunity and responsibility to become mature men and spiritual leaders within house churches, thus greatly benefiting and affecting their own physical family, their workplace, and their whole community (1 Timothy 3).
  7. Allows for and galvanizes the “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers” to get out of their “church” buildings and follow Paul’s example to preach in public areas and from house to house (Acts 20:20).
  8. No money is diverted into building programs or church bureaucracy etc. but all funds go to help any faithful believers that are in genuine need and into the growing number of spiritual leaders to “fill all the city with their teaching about Jesus” (Acts 5:28).

Extracted from Jim McCotter’s book Church Revolution Today.

CHURCH AS JESUS INTENDED PART 2

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Jesus Christ started His New Testament church after prophesying the very destruction of His physical temple! Yet today most Christians are busy spending their money and time building more new temples!
In the New Testament Christ made it clear that His only building program was going to be His church, but “church” in Greek, “ekklesia”, was not a building! The Greek word “ekklesia” is defined only as a group of people. Furthermore, God once and for all abandoned His Old Testament physical building program the moment Christ died on the cross… “At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:51). At that moment the “Spirit of God… tore” out of the temple! Never to return! Yet 325 years later Constantine and his mother Helena started the unbiblical precedent of building temples again for God’s people! And the Christian clergy/priests have been promoting Constantine and his mother’s unbiblical precedent ever since!

http://www.housechurches.net

“The woman said to Him, Sir, I perceive you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship?’ Jesus replied… ‘The time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way” John 4:19-23
In the Old Testament God was to be identified with and in a building, the holy temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus made clear in the New Testament that worship was no longer to be identified with or in a “place of worship”… but rather “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” And then Jesus made clear, “The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way!”
With the new covenant the Spirit of God left the physical temple and started a new building program, a “spiritual temple” (1 Peter 2:5). No longer would the Spirit of God reside in any temple or church building. No longer does the Spirit of God want to be identified with any religious or church building. Now the Spirit of God resides only with and in His people, Christ’s new “ekklesia”, Christ’s group ꟷ “All of you together are the temple of God!”

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” 1 Corinthians 3:16

The only “building program” in the New Testament is the building of men and women up in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament God did not reinstitute a new physical building program as He did in the Old Testament. God sovereignly destroyed the only physical building in the world that had any reflection of Him!

When Christians deserted the house churches and met in large pagan temples, all they could do then was, as they continue to do today, sit in rows and listen to a sermon from some clergy/priest. This was contrary to what all believers did in house churches for over 300 years from the time of Christ and His apostles.

The church dramatically changed from being a participatory gathering to a spectator gathering. The church was now completely transformed into a whole different foreign and unbiblical “church” format and structure. It was nothing like what they had been instructed to do as described in the Book of Acts.

As might be expected, most clergy do not refer to such church history or such Scripture violated by it. However, there are a few unbiased Christian leaders that have written about some of this. Frank Viola and George Barna are two that have documented much of the pagan church tradition in their book Pagan Christianity.

This post is an extract from Jim McCotter’s book. Want more, can I suggest you purchase his ebook.


CHURCH AS JESUS INTENDED

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https://housechurches.net

All of the following verses clearly show that New Testament churches were only and always house churches. What about all the verses that are in the New Testament where believers met in church buildings ꟷ ZERO!

  1. “Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives… they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying… They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus” (Acts 1:12-14).
  1. “On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability” (Acts 2:1-4).
  2. “They…met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity” (Acts 2:46).
  3. “From house to house, they continued to teach and preach” (Acts 5:42).
  4. “But Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church…he went from house to house” (Acts 8:3).
  5. “When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer” (Acts 12:12).
  6. “When Paul and Silas left the prison, they returned to the home of Lydia. There they met with the believers and encouraged them once more. Then they left town” (Acts 16:40).
  7. “There were many lamps in the upstairs room of the house where we were meeting” (Acts 20:8).
  8. “I taught you publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20 NIV).
  9. “Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila…also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home” (Romans 16:3-5).
  10. “And give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus” (Romans 16:10).
  11. “Greet the Lord’s people from the household of Narcissus” (Romans 16:11).
  12. “Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them” (Romans 16:14).
  13. “Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believers who meet with them” (Romans 16:15).
  14. “Gaius says hello to you. He is my host and also serves as host to the whole church” (Romans 16:23).
  15. “For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brother and sisters” (1 Corinthians 1:11).
  16. “The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings” (1 Corinthians 16:19).
  17. “Please give my greetings… to Nympha and the church that meets in her house” (Colossians 4:15).
  18. “They must be silenced because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach” (Titus 1:11 NIV).
  19. “I am writing to… Archippus, and to the church that meets in your house” (Philemon 1:2).
  20. “If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ, don’t invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement” (2 John 1:10).
  21. “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come, and we will share a meal together” (Revelation 3:20).

Since there is no verse in the New Testament that says “the church met” in any building, that may be one of the reasons a necessary qualification for being a New Testament leader/elder was to be “hospitable”: “An elder… must enjoy having guests in his home…” (1 Timothy 3:2).

All New Testament churches only met in believers’ homes. None of the apostles, no church leaders, or Christians ever even mentioned meeting in or constructing any kind of church building. House churches were the only church pattern for meeting in all of the New Testament. And the New Testament home church pattern was the only church model for all Christians for over 300 years!

I strongly urge anyone interested in knowing more about church as Jesus intended that you get Jim McCotter’s book Church revolution today. Jim has been involved in establishing hundreds of house churches and indirectly thousands,

BUILDING CHURCH GOD’S WAY

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Church do you love your community? How is that expressed? Are you truly serving Jesus with your resources?

Build buildings that don’t load your church with debt and can serve your community. Is this what we see happening today?

God has raised up Dan Cook, architect and construction company owner and founder of Building God’s Way  to serve the church in these last days. Listen to several pastors talk about  church buildings that will serve Christ and the community.