{"id":3058,"date":"2011-03-26T09:58:11","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T13:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=3058"},"modified":"2011-03-26T10:29:05","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T14:29:05","slug":"church-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church of Many Buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>House church practitioners often accuse the institutional church of equating the church with the buildings the church meets in. “The church isn’t a building,” they say, “The church is the people.” We are exhorted to stop going to church, and start being the church.<\/p>\n

But it seems that house church people may be guilty of the same thing. After all, it’s right in the name: “house” church. What is a house if not a building?<\/p>\n

I suppose this might be part of the reason so many new names are popping up to help us describe “church.” We have organic church, simple church, and missional communities, but even here, in most of the books and blogs I read about this, the emphasis always seems to be that the church is only functioning when the people gather in a certain place at a certain time, usually in a house on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

So, either house church proponents need to stop criticizing the institutional church as being so focused on buildings and services, or we need to ask ourselves the same hard questions that institutional churches ask. For example, we must all ask how we can help people see that church is not when and where we gather, but is a life of following Jesus into the world? How can we show people that we do not “go to church” but the church goes with us?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The main barrier to overcome in both institutional churches and house churches, is the continual emphasis on regular “church attendance. Whether you have a Senior Pastor or a group of elders, they are forever encouraging people to “attend church” more often, to “come back to church next week,” and to invite their friends and neighbors “to church.”<\/p>\n

I am not saying that gathering together with other believers is not important. It is. It is vitally important. But somehow, we need to show the people that the church continues to exist and function in and through our lives even when we are not gathered. Again, as I mentioned above, we do not go to church; the church goes with us.<\/p>\n

Over the next several weeks, I will write a lot more about this. But for now, do you have any ideas on how to help people see themselves as the church, rather than view the church as a place where they gather?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House churches often accuse the institutional churches of equating church with a building. 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We are told to stop going to church, and start being church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redeeming God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-26T13:58:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-03-26T14:29:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/dont-go-to-church-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"headline\":\"The Church of Many Buildings\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-26T13:58:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-26T14:29:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/\"},\"wordCount\":401,\"commentCount\":22,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/dont-go-to-church-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Close Your Church for Good\",\"Theology of the Church\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/\",\"name\":\"The Church of Many Buildings\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/church-buildings\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/dont-go-to-church-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-26T13:58:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-26T14:29:05+00:00\",\"description\":\"House churches often accuse institutional churches of equating church with a building. 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