Many home churches are looking for those to join them amongst people in their area who have dropped out of traditional church. A home church can be frustrated when these people aren’t discovered, or when they are discovered they don’t wish to join any gathering of church. However, on the other hand, many home churches become frustrated when some of these people DO join them. The folk who come from traditional church background sometimes come with baggage that can be difficult for all concerned!
I was reading some of Paul’s writings in the New Testament this morning, and I was again impressed that he was careful to LISTEN to the Builder of the Church (Jesus of course!) and OBEY what he led him to do. This is so important for us. When are hearts are tuned to obedience, we see that Jesus is always about guiding us towards the extension of His Kingdom in some way. May I suggest the following -
a. If you are frustrated because Christians in town who are not involved in any gathering of church, but won’t come to you either, leave them alone! God is more than able to guide them to you if you are meant to have them journey with you.
b. Seek those God is seeking by being prayerful about the contacts you are making daily in your life. Perhaps conversations are meant to lead on to sharing about our faith in Jesus in some gentle and sensitive way without on the one hand ‘bible bashing’ or on the other hand, not giving Jesus the credit, through fear, that He is leading you both to a ‘moment’ in Him. I once heard of someone who said ‘I wanted to build a church, but I bought a dog instead’! Dogs and their owners often get into conversation!
c. Some groups seek God for particular areas, streets or houses in their district to focus in prayer and prayer walking. In doing this, Luke 10 gives important principles. Seek the ‘person of peace’ who is probably not a Christian and build a relationship with them. It may be that a couple of folk from your home church can be welcome to meet with them in their home and they may have friends or wider family who may wish to join in for discussion about spiritual matters. A home church may be built from this! People are more open to pursue matters of spirituality than to ‘go to church’. I believe there is a greater openness ‘out there’ than we realise. A home church came out of someone delivering junk mail in their area! Some people join Neighbourhood Watch or other groups in their neighbourhood in order to get to know those who are not yet Christians. The greatest barriers to Kingdom growth are our own lack of faith, our fear and our busyness! We often aim for the easy options, but they aren’t usually the most fruitful. We receive many requests for ‘a home church in our area’. This often doesn’t work for various reasons, so we prefer to point people in the direction of starting a home church where possible. OIKOS can assist you to start a home church. Contact us through the web page. Please click on ‘no comment’ at the foot of this posting if you would like to chang it to a comment on what’s happening in your home church or neighbourhood!