The familyhood church does not exist, and chances are I will never see one. :`(.
A familyhood church would be a real, live church but its members would not gather around a denomination. They would gather around the Lord and each other, and become a family. Every Christian living in a single neighborhood would gather and "be" the church. No one would ever drive across town again to find Christians with whom they agreed. Instead, they would meet with the people they live with.
The church is the most beautiful thing on earth, but she still suffers. She suffers from 2 things.
1) Belief that doctrine is salvation.
Honestly, I have heard someone talk about "a saving knowledge of the Trinity." Bzzzzt. Wrong. There is a saving knowledge of Christ, and it ain't head knowledge.
2) Belief in going to a church that believes "rightly"
How do you go to church at all? You are the church, and I have great news for you. All of the Christians that live in your neighborhood are the church with you. Only, you don't know them, do you?
On our ways to church, we drive by the houses of people we could know and love, because they have been born of the same Spirit as have we. They are members of Christ just as we are, but we don't even know their names. They are my brothers and sisters, and they live close enough to me that I could see them every day. But they are Assemblies of God, and Presbyterians, and Baptists, and I am not, so we go on not knowing each other.
This must change.
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2 comments:
Both of those are very good points. The question is how we move on from where we are, and get to where we need to be. I've turned it around in my head ... but I'm interested in hearing what you've come up with. What's the first step?
The first step is to admit that we have a problem. ;-)
Really, your question is on my mind almost every day. Guesses flow from my head and heart by the dozens, but I know none of them will work. I think the primary question is whether to start with nothing, or whether to start with a church that is willing to change its focus (I lean toward "nothing"). The next question is whether there are enough un-churched Christians who really want fellowship to start anything at all.
Those 10 years of home church taught me that empowering Christians to control their own destiny is a very, very good thing. I will keep searching, but I have no answer yet.
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