I have extolled the virtues of home churches many times before. I need to do so again. The home church I attend just completed a twelve week cycle. We won’t meet again as a group until the end of summer. The twelve weeks were great. The food was great. The teaching was great. The prayer time was great.
I can get great teaching anytime I want, on the internet, on tv, from a book. I can get great food anytime I want. I live in a community with more great restaurants per head than anywhere in the world. My wife is a great cook. I don’t even have to leave the house.
I can hang around with people in any many places. I can go to ball games or bars. There is an international festival this weekend where I could rub elbows with a hundred thousand folks. The thought is frightening.
What I can’t get anywhere else is an atmosphere where folks are willing to share about the battles they are facing. In the last twelve weeks, we learned about and prayed for an amazing number of issues. It isn’t that our group is more needy or has more battles than the average group. The truth is we were blessed to be in a situation where we felt it was safe to share those battles. Above all else, that’s what a home church or cell group provides. It’s an atmosphere that only gathered believers can have. Only when believers gather is the spirit present and active to allow the interaction that occurs.
Television teachers are probably lots better than the average pastor, but if a church is really good, the pastor knows the sheep and can offer personal pointed guidance and teaching with love that the most eloquent learned teacher can never give. Consider this. A pastor can’t know everyone in his flock that well. He can set up a community of small groups where that level of intimacy and vulnerability is possible. Groups where there are those mature enough in the Lord is preserve privacy and provide prayer and support.
Everyone you know is fighting a battle. It’s a reason to be kind to everyone, but you can’t really help unless you are aware of the exact nature of the battle. You can’t really be helped unless others know the nature of your battle. You have to put yourself in a situation where vulnerability is safe and real help is available. That’s a home church or cell group.
There I’ve said it again.
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