October 14, 2014
Faux Church
While visiting with a member of the clergy we
discussed the number of churches in town and he brought up the fact that his
friend had a home church. I soon realized the church he was describing was one I
had tried unsuccessfully to contact. I told the pastor I was bewildered because
I intended to visit the church or do a telephone interview, but the phone number
was incorrectly listed and I had no response to my email on the web site. “Oh
no, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be interviewed for an article; they’re just a small
home church.” Curious. There are a lot of people who favor a home church over
the collective church, but I don’t understand putting a listing in the
newspaper if you didn’t want visitors or exposure. I can’t help but wonder if
these folks are trying to legitimize being a church in their own mind, to their
friends and family, or to the IRS.
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----At some not-too-deep level of knowledge about other people we must admit that what we truly know is only a set of possibilities. You could be right. The church may only be trying to legitimize with a listing. But again, they could be legitimate and just don’t want examined. Their legitimacy is in their hearts. It’s for God to judge, but for us only to discern.
-----The first information I would desire for discerning would be what they think is wrong with all of the Lord’s fellowship happening in some fifty other churches around the valley? One of the most fundamental bones of the Lord’s body is fellowship. Of course, that doesn’t mean the biggest church around has the only legitimate fellowship. Maybe this little home church has that. But one of the small, background reasons why we go to any church is because there are things we don’t like about the rest of the church’s we don’t attend.
-----Who knows? Maybe they have some extra special godliness which must not be spoiled by us others in the rest of the churches. But then again, they might want something more real than the organizational veneer of conventional church. But if so, I would think they might want to share what they know about doing church right. After all, that is part of discipleship’s nature.
-----Until you’ve sleuthed enough information, the truth is that you only know what you now really do certainly know. The rest is speculation. And the welcome mat of fellowship is giving the benefit of the doubt to what you really don’t know until you actually know differently.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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