I'm just curious if anyone attends a home church or holds one in their home. We have not attended church since we moved here in June. Now I'm not sure if I even want to. I miss the preaching from our old church so much but I don't miss the drama or false feeling I sometimes get from church. I have been thinking more and more of my family worshipping at home together on Sunday mornings. Does this sound totally stupid? I'm not even sure how I'd go about it I just wondered if anyone else did anything like it.
We have been doing that a lot lately. My husband has been working 6 days a week for a long time and is so tired on Sunday mornings that I just don't have the heart to nag him about church. I get the kids up and they watch a Veggie Tales and then when daddy gets up we have devotions together and he teaches them from the Bible. We have had some truly wonderful discussions and I can see them getting a lot from it. I still crave the fellowship and know they miss it too, so I may start taking them to early church on my own and then doing home church with their father when he gets up. I will admit though that if we don't find a church soon where we feel welcome and get some fellowship we'll just stick to home. I have visited so many where they just don't seem interested in talking to anyone new.
I have friends who attends a "Covenant Church". Don't know if this is typical for all Covenant churches, but they have "corporate church" the first and third Sundays, and "home church" the second and fourth. Not sure what they do when there's a fifth! To be quite honest, that would be my number one choice for going to church. I like the idea of home churches. They don't have a Youth Group, but the youth are very close to one another. And the youth/children are naturally included in all things.
Michelle our reasons for not having gone to church here yet are pretty much the same as yours. Dh works 6 days a week to support us and he treasures those mornings (Sundays) when he gets to sleep in. His favorite thing is for me to sleep in with him, then while he stays in bed I get the kids up, make breakfast and coffee for us all. We could easily all have breakfast and then worship together. Jackie the more I think of it the more I too like the idea of the home church. I'm not sure really what to do though. Read the Bible or do some sort of Bible study as a family? Seems like every church tries to put Grace in Children's Church and I want her with me. Wow have my views changed on that in the last few years! lol! Also pretty much every youth group Sam has been apart of isn't what I wanted for her. Mostly kids I dont' want her around anyway and honestly the girls she is friends with here and spends her time with are all good, sweet Christian girls so there isn't a need for a youth group. Can anyone recommend a good family study or devotional or scripture to use?
I really don't like the idea of a family doing Home Church on their own. That's me, and I'm not saying it's "wrong" or anything. I feel that it's important for the believers to meet together as a group. We need the support of a group; also there's too great a chance of a person going off on some screwy interpretation of scripture when there's not a group to question the validity of it. When I say "home church", I mean a bunch of families meeting together in a home.
We don't, however I do think when deciding to do things like this there are a few important things to consider. God does command us to become affiliated with a bretheren...aka: a church. Does this mean it has to be a huge building with pews? No. Sometimes churches start in rented buildings, schools, and even homes, etc. I do think it's in the best interest of believers to find a 'church' that fits their needs, but I also personally don't think someone can get the same benefits out of studying in their home alone as they can with a larger group of believers (wherever this larger group of believers meet). It's not only important to make sure the Scripture is being interpreted by someone who has a theological and Biblical background (pastor) but I also think it's important to surround yourself with other believers. God calls this the body of Christ. I think studying at home is absolutely beneficial and actually everyone 'should' (as God commands) be studying the Scripture in their own homes on their own or in a Bible study, but God also tells us to find a church family to affiliate ourselves with. There are many more benefits to becoming a member or even a regular attendee of a 'church' that completely outweigh just studying with your own family in your home. There are reasons why God commands us to find a church family...and the ones above are just a few. God doesn't want us isolated from other believers...as we need to be there for each other for prayer and fellowship and spiritual growth. Just my 2 cents...or 3. Oh...ETA: I do think it's great to do home church with your family...at least you'd be doing something. However, I do think it would be wise to also look for a church family to affiliate yourselves with while you are studying at home. It can start at home, but also strive to meet the goal of finding a church family at the same time. God WILL help you find one if you want to. When we miss church one week, we supplement with something like this. The key word though is 'supplement'...it's not our base for our Biblical teachings...our 'church' teachings are. I think you need to have a strong base for the teachings in order to supplement on your own at home on a regular basis...JMO.
Oh...and good family devotionals or studies...I am at a loss. Wish I could help you with that one. You could try going to YouVersion.com...you register and can do reading plans, etc....they might have studies there as well.
We live close to our church and even in bad weather we can usually get there without any problem. Freddy works weekends but the children and I still go to everything and Freddy comes when he happens to be off on a vacation day or holiday. I would miss my kids in my S.S. class and the kids would miss the youth group if we didn't attend. It is what works for us. We have had church at home when we someone was too sick or we were out of town on Sundays. My mama did out S.S. lessons with us when we were children and were sick on Sundays. I always loved that she did that for us.
Have you ever read the book So you don't want to go to church anymore? by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman? A year or so ago, I was struggling with some issues in my church and trying to make some big decisions. I hadn't heard of the book before, but the title was just what I was feeling, so I bought it. It gave me a lot to think about and God really spoke to me through it. My family was out of church for about a year, but early this fall, God led us to a church that I love! I pray that God will give you some clear direction in what He wants you to do.
But with us meeting on Saturday nights instead of Sunday mornings, I have to admit that I've gotten spoiled. My Sunday AM is MY TIME to sleep in! Carl gets up, I just lay in bed, I'll have my book and will read, then sleep some more, then read some more.... Carl and Phillip fix brunch and will often bring mine up to me in bed. I'd REALLY hate to give that up, and there's no way we could do that on a Saturday AM, because of soccer, etc.
I was just looking online and there is a link where you can read the book online. http://www.jakecolsen.com/index.html
Here is something else that might help you in the short run. http://waukeshabible.org/ This is my church's website. On it you will find archived sermons. It's something my church does for those who can't make it to service or who are unable to attend due to illness or severe medical conditions. I'm not sure what kind of church you are use to, but I thought of you when I remembered about the sermons online.
Thanks! I love listening to sermons online after the kids go to bed at night. I'll definitely check them out.
I forgot we have two Tiff's now! LOL You're welcome though. I love listening to other sermons as well, and not just our own churches. It's nice too when we miss a weekend to have it on hand.
Thank you for all the opinions and input. It isn't that I don't want to go to church, it is difficult with dh's job schedule. The last thing he wants to do is get up early on his one and only day off per week. He would like to go to church too - we just need 8 days in a week! lol! If I made him get up early and go he'd do it but he'd grumble about it being his only day to sleep in and then the whole day gets off to a bad start. I just thought with studying the word at home together as a family we'd all be getting something out of it rather than doing nothing which is where we are now. I would love to get together with another family or two but don't know anyone willing to do such a thing. My old next door neighbor and I used to talk of doing it but since I moved that isn't going to happen.
Someone once told me this and it has stuck in my head ever since...God gives you every second of the day, so give him the hour. I know for me, it's really something I think about every time I groan about getting out of bed early to go to church. Even though I try hard to give God attention throughout the week, going to our church service is really the only time I have to give him my undivided attention. I know those words have stuck to me, so maybe they will for him too?
Another good recommendation for reading is "Rethinking the Wineskin". We homechurch. Sometimes there are others, sometimes it's just us. We've been doing this for about 4 years now. We attended a home church with about 5 or 6 other families when we lived in Phoenix. We are considering attending another home church - at least once or twice a month - to get some outside fellowship. Also, for my husband - who's gift is teaching - to get the opportunity to teach to others more often. We enjoy home churching. I struggle because I'm a serious people person and I'm home all week with the kids anyway, so staying home for church is difficult - I miss corporate worship/singing type stuff. Although, I'm finding more of my friends complaining about their churches. Sigh. We'll see. God is good, He is very faithful to us, and our church time is very precious to us. On weekends that my daughter has a Sunday meet, we do the church time on Saturday - we make sure to fit it in. To us, which DAY is not important, BUT that we do take ONE day aside for Him, and for rest.
