Seeking God’s Direction: Home and Church

In my last post I told you that we had to leave our local church here in Fort Wayne because of my hyper-sensitivities, especially to sound,  and I explained my decades long battle with Fibromyalgia (FM). Since it is not working out for us to move full-time to Florida this year,  we are seeking the Lord on how to navigate a way of maintaining connection to other believers where we are, without my attending public worship services. I said I’d explain “in my next post.” Here we are.

I am wondering if you or any of your friends struggle with knowing how to belong to a local church. I’ve been exploring answers and options, looking for ones that are truly God-honoring. Where shall I start?

We can start with church history and see how the Body of Christ has grown and lived over millennia around the world. Sigh. Don’t worry. I’m not attempting a textbook explication! Church history begins in the Scriptures where we can explore the description of the early church in the book of Acts. Yes, description does not equal prescription, but is there wisdom and reason there, and is there a framework of prescription somewhere in the text? From biblical history we enter post-canonical church history (AD 100 until now). Here, we have the witness of the developing church (solidifying, conflicting, dividing and unifying) through creeds, councils, traditions, denominations, and practices over time.

This leads us to our own personal experience: how we were raised, church expressions to which we were a part, or church traditions we observed that other people followed. Maybe you are someone who has no church tradition to consider and find all of this flustering and confusing. Whether or not you’ve been a part of a church or many churches, the story of the church is complex to say the least.

I encourage you and I encourage myself not to give up or become cynical. God has given us His presence, His Word, and His Son. And each other. To paraphrase a particular theologian, “We are not saved by a perfect faith or a perfect church. We are saved by a perfect Savior.” Thus, we “lean not unto our own understanding” (Prov. 3:5-6), but we seek wisdom from above (Proverbs 9:10; James 1:5).

I took a photo of  the books mentioned below in footnotes 2 and 3, but could not upload the picture. Sigh. Therefore, I’m breaking the text with this pleasant scene of the River Birch tree that graces our front lawn.  (I have hundreds of photos that I’ve uploaded to my blog’s photo library from which I can choose.)

I can only say a core bit now, but here is a start.

Church history begins within the biblical text, in the book of Acts where the birth of the church is presented. Christ ascends to the Father on Mount Olivet near Jerusalem surrounded by His followers (Acts 1). His followers, including the eleven disciples, women, Jesus’ mother and brothers, a total of about 120 people, return to the upper room of a large home where they devoted themselves to prayer and speaking of the things that had happened (Acts 1).  Luke records in chapter 2 the account of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Peter’s speech, the resulting repentance and baptism of thousands of people bringing the number of believers to about 3,000.  “And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer’ (Acts 2:42).

Being of one mind, they met in the temple area and they took meals together “from house to house” (verse 46; read the whole context). For the next several centuries, the growing body of Christ met largely “from house to house” and “church” meant the gathered people or congregation of God in Christ (“ekklesia”: called out ones), rather than a building, site, hierarchical group or denomination. (1)

As the Body of Christ grew, church governing systems developed and church buildings were constructed, which you can read about in any church history text.(2) Christianity was born in poverty and remoteness. Scattered by persecution, it grew strong. Sharpened by conflicting beliefs, the church articulated its creeds (beliefs). In AD 313, the Edict of Milan granted Christianity the legal status of other religions in the Roman empire. Growing in secular power, it melded with the state, causing various degrees of corruption. Still within its confines the holy Scriptures were carefully preserved, and true faith in God and ministry could be found. The Reformation addressed many abuses while forming some of its own. Of providential importance during this time was the releasing of the Scriptures into venacular languages made possible first by Gutenberg’s printing press, setting off a tidal wave of human and civilizational growth.

The Word made portable and available in people’s own “heart languages” made the spread of Christianity more possible and effective than ever. I think of my own family’s religious history that goes back to 1708 with the birth of the “Brethren Church” in Schwarzenau, Germany. There, Alexander Mack (1679-1735) and Erust C. Hochmann “traveled together over many parts of Germany, especially up and down the Rhine Valley, holding evangelistic meetings in which they strove to give out the Word of God in all of its purity and devotional fervor. Both of these men were powerful preachers, men of wealth and culture, men who loved the Lord and who wanted to see His Word accepted in its purity and simplicity.” (3) Mack, considered the founding leader of the German Brethren, was from a Presbyterian background, while Hochmann came from a Lutheran heritage. They sought to return to the biblical purity and simplicity of the early church.

Making happy our front lawn. (And giving your eyes a cheery break as you read this article.) Do you hear what you see? “Oh happy day,” they sing!

Paul and I were married in a Brethren church, a Grace Brethren church in Worthington, Ohio (a suburb of Columbus) and spent our first three or so years in the fellowship. My undergraduate and first graduate degrees are from Grace College and Grace Theological Seminary which were founded by Brethren scholars and still hold to Brethren beliefs for the most part. Since we’ve moved many times, we’ve tried to become a part of sound, Bible teaching churches. Thus, we’ve been part of Baptist groups, independent groups, a Presbyterian church, and thirty years ago we even housed a home church for about three years. Since we’d like to be together in a church fellowship, we’re re-examining the house church option, which has become again a growing movement.

Recently we began exploring online the developing House Church movement here in America (also called the “micro church,” “neighborhood church,” and “church without walls,” among others). We’ve found a number of podcasts led by house church leaders. Very interesting. Then I researched “House churches near me” and found one a few miles from our home! We studied their website and just this afternoon met with the pastor of this house church and his wife. We’re getting ready to visit their gathering yet today! Amazing!

Here are some sites I’ve found.

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1.https://www.catholiccompany.com/blogs/get-fed/what-was-the-first-church-building; https://learn.ligonier.org/podcasts/5-minutes-in-church-history-with-stephen-nichols/the-earliest-church-yet https://www.historyhit.com/prayers-and-praise-why-were-churches-built/

2. B.K. Kuiper, The Church in History, (Grand Rapids, MI: CSI Publications, 1996). This basic history was written for Christian high schools or Bible schools. It is a place to start.

3. Homer A. Kent Sr., Conquering Frontiers, (Winona Lake, IN, BMH Books, 1972), 15. This gives the history of the Brethren up to

4. Gloria and Bill Gaither. I love this song, and you will find the lyrics in my book, A Traveler’s Guide through Suffering and Joy on page xxiii. You’ll also find the music on my website: http://www.KarenThomasOlsen.com .