Hosting a house church has certain challenges – as we have learned over the last year.  Over the next few weeks, I plan on posting some of those challenges.

Why?

Discussion.

Some may be starting a house church and others may be thinking about it. Perhaps these discussions will help us all think through some of these challenges and exchange ideas on how to deal with them. So, please – jump in on the discussion and share your challenges and ideas.

The first challenge – The Sickness.

Yesterday, we had sickness in our house. Since we host a house church, this obviously posed a challenge. Having a sick person in our family also affected other families as a result. In our arrangement, we use Lifechurch.tv video teaching for our sermon content – which is delivered via web streaming. We watch the message together as a group and have some great discussion afterwards. Choosing to do house church this way does have some technical requirements to be able to watch the message on a large enough screen. Not everyone has the Internet connection or geekiness to do church like this every week. I understand that.

Anyway, we really had two options. Either the sick person ended up quarantined while people come to the house for church or we cancelled church at our house for the week. So, this week we cancelled. Being so close to Christmas, we didn’t want anyone (parents or kids) to get sick.

Other families that normally attend had to make a change.  Sure they could watch the message from home, depending on broadband and computer availability. There are other options as well. They could meet together at another house, if available. They could have a small family church. Or, they could go to a traditional church that day.

If you are currently doing house church, how do you handle this?

Thoughts? Ideas?

I heard snippets about North Point Community Church‘s “Be Rich” campaign. Andy Stanley, senior pastor, challenged North Point and their other campus locations to be generous, share what God had blessed them with and help meet the needs of others. The results were amazing.

We don’t all belong to a church like North Point. But, each of us, whether as churches or small groups or home fellowships or just individuals, can make a difference with as much or more impact.

I believe that if individuals, churches, small groups, life groups, home fellowships or community groups simply reached out to make a difference where they are, then THAT impact would dwarf what North Point and the other campus locations were able to do.

Encourage us all.

What are you or your group doing to help others?

 

A competition for advertisements promoting a ban on all religion? hmmm….

In all fairness, the clip was accompanied by the following disclaimer:

THIS IS A SATIRICAL SEGMENT. ABC TV and the ad companies involved do not think that invading New Zealand, banning all religion etc are actually good ideas.

Well enough.

How would you respond to the points made by the two producers that actually agreed to take on this challenge?

What about the judges?

Notice I asked how you would respond, not how you would react.  A reaction is an emotionally, driven action.  A response is guided by reason and consideration.

Thoughts?

Life has been interesting of late. I have spent the last few months learning a new job and all the related duties.  It has definitely been interesting.

In addition to that, Michelle and I have been brainstorming with our kids about ways our house church can reach out into the community. They have some really good ideas.

As for church, Palmetto Gatherings, summer has been a challenge.  Everyone’s summer schedules have kept people pretty busy.  However, we just started a summer session of Financial Peace University. While I have implemented a number of Dave Ramsey’s suggestions, I am excited about going through the full FPU experience.

Going forward over the summer, I hope I can post more regularly.

In the last month, thousands of people have been affected by devastating tornado destruction. Hundreds have died – in fact, almost 500 deaths from tornadoes just this year. What if that were you? I urge you to listen/watch this video and experience only PART of what these tornadoes can do. Even better, turn up your speakers and close your eyes.

Now, imagine if you were there. After the terror from the tornado, you walk out – as a survivor – to what.

Devastation.

While Joplin, MO and Tuscaloosa, AL have been the top stories, there are thousands of people across a dozen or more states that need help. Yes, we can offer our prayers, but these people need physical and monetary help too. While many had insurance, there are those that did not. Given the current state of the economy, many may have lost the last things they had left. Now, in addition to losing jobs and being in financial trouble, these same individuals are dealing with this tragedy.

But, how can we help?

Many organizations have set up donation locations where you can drop off food, water, clothing and other necessities. Look for one in your town.

If you want to financially support organizations that are on the ground providing direct relief, here are several worthy organizations to consider:

North American Mission Board Disaster Relief from the Southern Baptist Convention.  Teams from states around the region are on site with self contained feeding units capable of serving thousands of meals per day, chainsaw teams, mudout teams and counselors.

Donate here.

Most of us are familiar with Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child.  This group does SO much more related to relief work around the world.  Teams are on the ground in tornado damaged areas providing supplies, cleanup and assistance.

Donate here.

 

The American Red Cross does much more than collect blood donations.  Currently, the ARC is providing relief supplies, operating and maintaining shelters, and coordinating other relief efforts.

Donate here.

These agencies and their volunteers are working hard and providing relief where they can.  However, a combination of a tough economy, which decreases financial support, and a higher number of weather related disasters this spring, makes their job even tougher.

There are many other agencies working to provide relief as well.  If you are familiar with one of those, please list the contact info in the comments.

Please help if you can.

How can you be different when normal is all you know?

Answering that question is the challenge we are facing with Palmetto Gatherings Home Fellowship.

When we started Palmetto Gatherings, we felt led to start something different for a number of reasons.  First, there are many people that may feel uncomfortable stepping into a church, but are just fine with stepping into our family room. Second, there are those out there that have become disillusioned with or have been hurt by “church”.

Jesus didn’t come to start a church or an organization, he came to start a relationship – with each of us.

So…how do we apply that and do something different? Something personal? Something that creates relationships and helps those in our community?

Well, being a house church network is different. That is true.  Especially here in the Southeast aka “The Bible Belt”. But, beyond that.  How do you become different when normal is all you know? Most of us involved in launching PG have been part of a traditional church.  That is the model we know.  How do we break away from that mold?

For the past 4 weeks, Lifechurch.tv has been doing a series called WEiRD.  This series is based on the book by their pastor Craig Groeschel – Weird: Because normal isn’t working anymore. This series has challenged me even more in this area. One thing Craig said has stuck with me:

If you want what many people have, do what many people do.  If you want what few people have, do what few people do.

So, I’m opening the discussion.  Help PG become WEiRD. Finish one of the following statements in the comments:

1. To be different, a church should…
2. I think it would be weird but successful if a church…
3. People would be happily surprised if a church…
4. No church has ever done this, but I wish they would…

Thanks for your help!

Average:

“approximating the statistical norm or average or expected value”

or

“a statistic describing the location of a distribution”

or

“around the middle of a scale of evaluation”

We are all familiar with the term average. We use it to compute final grades, compare pricing, and compare athletes. But what about us.  No one wants to be considered average. Average has the connotation of being unexceptional, normal…even boring.

But we are all average.

There is an adage that says:

You are the average of your five closest friends.

In other words, your beliefs, actions, values, etc generally come out to be the average of those of your five closest friends.  If you struggle with certain things in life, addictions, work ethic, etc., it’s a good bet that this average plays a part in that. But, it’s not all negative.  We can also exhibit an average of the good qualities – work ethic, work/family balance, how we treat our spouses and children.

But none of those are my question.

At one of the Catalyst Conferences I attended, we were asked to get out our cell phones and scroll through the phone book.  We were challenged to review that list to determine if we were solely surrounded by other Christians.  If there were no non-Christians in the list, why not? How could we possibly reach others for Jesus if our circle of friends only included Christians.

Well….here is the main question I’m pondering. And, no I don’t have the answers….I would love your feedback.

As a Christian, should I only include Christians in that five closest friends circle?

Of course that has all kinds of sub-questions.  How do I manage the influence that my non-Christian friends may have on my beliefs, etc? Do I need to regularly evaluate my five closest friends since I am the average of their beliefs, etc?  How do I evaluate myself and the contribution I make to this circle? Those are just a few.

What do you think?

 

You have probably heard of this website/movement before, but if you haven’t I urge you to check out I Am Second.  The project is awesome.  Their films focus on one person at a time that is dealing with….well, life.  Struggles, addictions, blessings, tragedies, you name it.

Many of the people featured in the films are popular actors, athletes or musicians.  Others are like your next door neighbor.  But they have all dealt with something in their lives that others can identify with.

The best part is that each of these people have realized that they could not be where they are today without Jesus.  It’s not about them. It’s about Him. They are second.  Here are a couple to watch, so you get the idea.

Brant Hansen – Radio Host, Mornings with Brant on WAY-FM

and

Vitor Belfort – mixed martial arts fighter

I want to be second.

For Jesus to truly change my life, I need to be second.

What about you? Are you first in your life or are you second?

What if we fed the hungry?

What if we gave drink to the thirsty?

What if we welcomed strangers?

What if we gave clothes to those that have none?

What if we took care of the sick?

What if we visited those in prison?

What if we helped those that weren’t like us?

What if we didn’t care what others thought about us as we served others?

What if we stopped to consider the needs of others before the wants of ourselves?

What if we quit talking about our faith and started walking out our faith?

What if…