Leaving the Comfort of Home
Yesterday I was asked to share about our house churches’ approach to mission with some leaders at a local congregation here in my city. And this opportunity has had me mulling over what has helped us as we’ve followed Jesus into the harvest.
But one of the ideas that I’m having trouble shaking is the idea of how comfortable a Christian subculture can be. It’s a common thing–I’ve seen it in my life and the lives of others–that when we give our lives to Christ we often also join a church. And each church often desires to draw us into its influence–sometimes for good and sometimes for poor reasons.
Whether it was for good reasons or bad reasons, this can have the effect of limiting our influence among the lost. We can spend time building relationships, practicing disciplines, and enjoying the benefits of being the church…and all of these things are good in their place. But all of this can also steal us away from spending time with those who need us the most–the lost.
I’ve also seen believers in the pursuit of holiness and closeness to Jesus pull away from the world. They want purity and distance from temptation–and again, this is good. However, we can develop our own little Christian ghettos–places so secluded from the world–that we become judgemental toward the sin of the world. We aren’t able to lovingly interact with a world that is just as lost as we were. In fact, we look down on it.
Enjoying relationships and pursuing holiness aren’t bad things in the right context. But we have to be willing to “leave the comforts of home” so to speak. We have to be willing to forsake the benefits of Christian culture in order to reach a non-Christian one. All cross-cultural missionaries know the pain and power of this vital step. As part of a church you love, you have greatly benefited. But because of the call of Jesus to a particular mission field, you have to leave the church that you’ve benefited from in order to start a church where there is none.
I believe God is calling more than just a handful of people to cross the ocean and live out this reality. Instead, God is calling His entire church to take on the identity of a missionary and that will mean having to leave the culture of Western Christianity and crossing into the worlds of the inner city, the business world, and even suburban soccer moms. Not all of us will cross oceans, but all of us can re-arrange our schedules, change how we spend money, and change how we relate to the unsaved.
There’s nothing wrong with home. It’s just that unbelievers don’t live there. The world by and large has stopped coming to our doors for answers. And the ones who truly, really need the gospel certainly aren’t swinging by for another meeting. So you’ll have to go to them and get used to living near them. But take heart, you’re in good company. God has already gone ahead of you.
More on that tomorrow…
Encouragement Means Going First
Encouragement. It literally means to put courage into people. But how does that happen?
At the most basic level you can encourage someone by cheering them on. For those who are simply tired, this is helpful. And it’s pretty easy to encourage someone to not give up by simply telling them to keep going. Cheerleaders and the people who hold cups of water on the sides of marathons fall into this category.
But at a certain point a different kind of encouragement is needed. This isn’t point where I’ve simply become tired in doing something I know how to do. This is where I’ve never done the thing that I’m trying and it seems hard. Maybe I’ve never seen anyone else do the thing I’m trying and it looks impossible. Cheerleaders and uninvested spectators can warm your heart but aren’t super helpful at this stage.
What’s needed here is a different kind of encouragement: Someone who has traveled this path (or a similar one) and tells you that what you are attempting is possible. It’s happened before. I’ve seen it happen. You can do this. This is the mountain climber above you that is shouting down from the top that you can make it, too.
It’s not even so important that the person gives you advice about how to do things. That’s helpful. But just the simple fact that a person has been where you are and done what you are attempting is enough to add courage to the human heart.
What becomes essential, then, for this higher level of encouragement, is for you to be farther down a path than the next person in order to encourage them. And what this means for all of us, friends, is that we shouldn’t be content just to remain where we are, but find more ways for us to push boundaries in our lives. It becomes critical to step out in the areas we are called to in our lives and let our light shine.
It imparts courage to others.
And then in all of the places where we’ve got experience, we turn and encourage those who have less. It’s important for them. It’s also important for us.
“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today’….” (Hebrews 3:13).
Reason #2 We Started a House Church
Editors Note: This is my second post in my ongoing series describing why we started meeting as organic house churches. You can find the first post in the series here.
Yesterday started off like any other Sunday. A buddy of mine and I usually begin the day doing some one on one discipleship at a local McDonald’s. Before we had even begun to pray, we were talking with the store manager about her boys, some of the struggles she has with them, and how the gospel fits into that equation.
But one thing became quite clear during our conversation: Our neighborhood lacks men to help raise the boys in this neighborhood. After the manager went on to her normal duties, the idea lingered with us. We talked about how much more need there is than what we ourselves can handle. We prayed that God would raise up more guys to invest in the kids in our neighborhood. Then, we moved on to our normal discipleship topics.
The next step in our Sunday routine was to join our families as we met as a church. One of the newest families that has started to come is a single mom from our neighborhood and her three boys. Out of the ordinary for yesterday, though, was the addition of two boys from another family in our house church network. They were friends of my oldest son who were wanting to spend some time with us for the day. Our plan for the day after we met as a church was to take my kids and the two boys two a local play area (think Chuck E. Cheese, but on steroids).
But my buddy and I, after talking throughout our meeting, decided the single mom that had joined us could use a break. So, he loaded her three boys in his car, I loaded my four kids and their two friends into my van, and we hit the trail to the play place. It was a fun day. The kids broke up into different groups. I intermittently got to talk to my friend in between chasing after one kid or another or waiting in line for face painting. Everyone had fun. Most importantly, it was our chance to practice what he and I were talking about earlier that morning.
Which brings me to the reason we do house church: Spiritual family. Our afternoon yesterday was full of activity, but it wasn’t just “ministry.” It was pouring into different kids and families that fills holes that the world has left in their lives. These holes can’t be plugged by another program. They are only plugged by flesh and blood humans who have been touched by the Spirit of God.
We’re able to do this not just because we don’t have programs. We’re able to be spiritual family to others who need it because spiritual family is the “program.” We’ve decided to make relationships around Jesus–even ones that don’t always focus on “spiritual” activity–the point of what we do. And this practice of family is exactly what the world, in all of its brokenness, needs.
“God places the lonely in families…” is a truth we’ve come to live by. And it’s one of the reasons we’ve continued to start and meet as house churches.
Photo Credit: Cracked Ball by Earls37a
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 