"To be a Christian is, by definition, to be part of the community of God’s people. To be united with Christ is to be part of his body. The assumption of the New Testament is that this always finds expression in commitment to a local church. The centrality of the church means the centrality of the congregation or it means nothing. Commitment to the church is easy while the church is an abstract, universal reality. But the New Testament assumes commitment to real people in real local churches with all their faults and foibles.""The household model in some way defines church. The church is the “household” of God (Ephesians 2:19–22; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 3:6; 1 Peter 4:17). The ability of a potential leader to manage his household reflects his ability to care for God’s church (1 Timothy 3:4–5). For New Testament Christians the idea of church was synonymous with household and home. The false teachers on Crete at Ephesus “must be silenced, because they
are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach” (Titus 1:11; cf. 1 Timothy 5:13). And if a false teacher comes, John says, “do not take him into your house or welcome him” (2 John 10). In both Titus and 2 John the most natural reading of the text is as a reference to local household churches. Our point is not a slavish adherence to homes as the location for church gatherings or a denial of the value that purpose-built buildings can bring. The point is that as they grew, the apostolic churches became networks of small communities rather than one large group, to safeguard apostolic principles of church life. It matters little whether these small groups are called churches, home groups, or cells, as long as they are the focus for the life and mission of the church. Small communities determine a size in which mutual discipleship and care can realistically take place. They create a simplicity that militates against a maintenance mentality: there are no expensive buildings to maintain or complex programs to run. They determine a style that is participatory and inclusive, mirroring the discipleship model and table fellowship of Jesus himself. One of the key expressions of New Testament ecclesiology is “one another” (sometimes translated “each other”). This is often missed, perhaps unsurprisingly, by academic theology. It is simply the practical expression of
the priesthood of all believers. Whatever flexibility there might be about the structure of church, these principles are binding. We are to disciple and exhort one another, to love and care for one another."
"All too often home groups become inward-looking because they lack a missionary mandate. Yet home groups have great potential to be a context in which Christians can do mission together as a community. If, as seems evident from the New Testament, churches grew by continually dividing, this has profound implications for our view of church growth. A vision for church growth must be a vision for church planting."
- Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church, p. 87,88 and 93,94
4 comments:
"It matters little whether these small groups are called churches, home groups, or cells, as long as they are the focus for the mission and life of the church."
Huh? Small groups (also known as home groups, which meet as smaller "communities" within a larger church, according to the authors) can be called *churches*? Where is the foundation for this idea in the Bible?
In the Bible, churches have elders, who are appointed (and/or voted in, according to one's ecclesiology!) and who teach with authority. Church members are to submit to these elders (if the elders are not clearly sinning or going dramatically against principles of Biblical wisdom, as one understands them). A small group/home group may or may not have an elder. Small groups are simply *not* "churches," in the Biblical sense of the word.
Unless your church is 10 people. That might qualify as a small group and a church. Not very often in our part of the world, but all over the world it is happening.
It would probably be good to read the whole chapter.
z
Zach,
If a church has 10 people, *and* it has a plurality of elders, then it fits the Biblical definition of a church. Until then though, it is ten Christians meeting in a house (or an apartment, or some other sort of building, or outside somewhere), but Biblically speaking, it is not a "church."
I plan to read the whole chapter and all of the other ones too, when I have the money to buy the book, Lord willing! :-)
I can't be sure from so short and excerpt, but do the authors distrust episcopal hierarchy? The use of the post-Luther phrase "the priesthood of all believers" seems to imply the supremacy of small Bible-teaching groups - which can produce dangerous pockets of heterodoxy if there is no type of oversight.
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