I got away for my birthday, and the USA today paper that was left outside my door at the hotel carried a prominent story about house churches. Seems I can’t get away from the idea wherever I go.
One figure particularly surprised me: 5% of Americans attend a house church. If that’s the case, we need to be aware of the increase in interest in a simpler, more relational engagement of church. Speaking from personal experience, there’s a whole host of people that are reachable that would never go to a regular church.
In the sober living home where we are establishing a church, there’s no doubt in my mind that every person there would not have shown up in church on a Sunday morning. Yet they’re hungry for stories of Jesus. We start each gathering by asking, “How did you experience God this week?” Then we open the scriptures to the gospels, read a story, then ask these questions: “What does this show us about Jesus?” “How did the people respond?” and “What are you personally taking away from this passage?” Questions like this are more than enough to launch productive spiritual conversations.
So here’s a question for you: How do we take Jesus into the lives of people, into the communities that already exist?
Great questions Bob! The issues are so much bigger than whether we meet in a church building, a house, a condo, or a sober living residence. It is important to ask “How do we take Jesus into the lives of people, into the communities that already exist?” It is important to be thinking of how we can partner with community structures around us and be yeast worked into the dough of society.