Close Your Church for Good, Chap 4, Sec 1. I finally begin to share some practical ways you can close your church for good. The suggestion in chapter 4 is to cancel your church service.
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If your church is going to die, you’ve got to go for the guttural. Strike without fear. Make sure the first blow is the only blow. Aim for the center. One bullet; one kill. The heart of the typical church is the Sunday morning service. If you want to kill your church, the best place to begin is by cancelling the church service.
I can already hear the Bible pages beginning to turn, so let’s face the music and deal head-on with a favorite verse of pastors who are trying to boost Sunday attendance.
Do Not Forsake the Assembling
Generally, when someone suggests that Christians don’t need to attend church, a pastor or other church leader is quick to quote Hebrews 10:25. This verse warns believers against forsaking the assembling of themselves together. But let’s be clear. Nowhere does the passage say how often believers should meet, where, or with whom. Nor does the text does state what should be done when they meet, other than encourage one another. Aside from this, it is questionable whether the passage can directly be applied to believers today since the original recipients of the letter were former Jews who were now being pressured through persecution to return to the customs and laws of Judaism.
Which raises an interesting possibility. The word that the author uses in Hebrews 10:25 for “assembling together” is episunagōgē, which could possibly be an allusion to the Jewish Synagogue. Maybe the author is telling his readers that even though they face persecution at the Synagogue, they should continue to go. It is just as likely, of course, that these Jewish believers in Jesus had started their own “Christian Synagogue” patterned after the Jewish traditions, and it was this they should not abandon, even in the face of persecution (cf. Jas 2:2; 5:14). If either of these theories are true, we must be careful about using the verse to guilt people into “coming to church.”
Having said this, however, I do not believe the verse is referring to a synagogue. The word used in Hebrews 10:25 is also used in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 where Paul is writing about the ingathering of believers for the Day of the Lord, after which time we will spend eternity with Jesus. Many take the term in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 as a reference to the rapture, but this is not necessarily so. Instead, this word (like the term for “church,” ekklēsia) refers not to a time and place where believers gather together on a regular basis for singing and sermons, but rather to the activity of God in gathering together a people for Himself to accomplish His will. Therefore, both 2 Thessalonians 2:1 and Hebrews 10:25 remind believers that God has gathered the church out of the world for a purpose. Some people are in the habit of forsaking this purpose, and this we must not do.
So what does Hebrews 10:25 teach? It is telling believers to fulfill their God-given purpose, and encourage others to do the same. And what is this purpose? Each person has their own unique purpose in God’s plan, but the general purpose of us all is to live life and love others like Jesus. Sitting in a building for two hours on Sunday morning may not be the best way to accomplish this purpose. This may be helpful for some, but not for all. To allow people to fulfill their purpose, we must set them free from the manmade requirement of “attending church.” One way to do this is simply to cancel the church service.
Hello,
I really like what you have to say about the church .I was wondering how you view the scriptures about being under elders ??
Jay,
Great question. While each individual passage in Scripture bears consideration, my general approach toward elders is similar (though not identical) to that of other organic church proponents on the issue of elders and deacons.
I do think they are crucial, but the biblical meaning is not what is often meant (or done) in most churches today. I would like to see elders perform more of a regional oversight function, than seeing them as absolutely necessary for each individual gathering of believers.
Jeremy,
Thanks , I can see the scriptures applied to the elders functioning this way .Thanks for your response . Are you apart of an organic church now ?
What’s an “organic” church? Is it one without pesticides?
what they did when they gathered is quite clear from the scriptures. in addition to encouraging each other, they assembled to celebrate Christ’s death andresurrection on the first day of the week – the central purpose (AC 20:7) an addition to this, they assembled to pray, fellowship, and to hear the apostles’ doctrine (Ac 2:42), which I assume they did not view as a boring waste of 2 hours, as is the fundamental structure of books like this which seem to be written to appeal to an entertainment driven society.
Thanks for visiting the blog, Andrew. And thanks for the comment. However, it is clear that this may be the only post on this blog you have ever read. That’s fine, but before you make such accusations about what I believe and what I write about, you might want to check a few more posts next time.
Jesus said on this rock I build my church and gates of hades shall not overcome it.
Yes, He did say that…. Your point?
Thank you Jeremy. I’ve been saying this for years. Religion will always keep you in bondage , worshipping the”flesh” through “sensationalism” “hypism” and playing on your emotions.
They have you doing so much”church work” that you never get around to doing what God purpose in your heart/life to do. Truth be told: sitting in church with the “theatrics” and “churchercise” get some word of the Word and go home is not it.
Question? So what did you do for Christ? Feed the poor, give water to those that thirst, visit those inprisioned, sick or destitue? Did you preach,teach or make disciples today? Until we do what Jesus has commanded us to do by/with His Spirit leading and guiding us NOT man…then and only then will you begin to see the move of His power in your life and in the lives of others.
You did an injustice when you combined the two words, “assembling together” to make your point. You can’t define what a single word means by trying to define what a phrase may or may not mean.
Strong’s #1997: episunagoge: especially a Christian meeting (for worship):–assembling (gathering)together. Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: episunagōgē
1) a gathering together in one place
2) the (religious) assembly (of Christians)
An important reason for being with other Believers is: “At that time those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared Yahweh and had high regard for His name.” (Malachi 3:16). Husband and wife, friends, or a body of Believers called a ‘church’ can speak to one another, encouraging each other’s faith. God hears them and takes notice.
Churches are not necessarily man-made constructs. That we see in Revelations where each church, no matter what sin was going on in it, had its own assigned angel with a lamp stand that signified the Light of God in it. Since God established the church, probably not a good idea to shoot it. Let God decide if He wants to remove a church’s lamp stand. Sometimes He wants a church to continue only because their “sin hasn’t reached its full measure” (Genesis 15:16).
In other words, live by the Spirit, keeping in step with Him (Galatians 5:26-27).