My struggle (prior to converting to the house church) was that I was (like most of us) a creature of habit. I had a Sunday morning habit/addiction that looked like this...
- wake up
- race around the house getting myself and my kids ready for "church"
- drive 20+ miles (as fast as possible) to a good sized church-building of my liking
- drop kids off at various Sunday School rooms (all the while hoping they'll learn something and simultaneously releasing myself from the responsibility of teaching them)
- teach an Adult Sunday School class (which I often viewed as baby-sitting the grown-ups who wanted their kids to be in a Sunday School class and had nothing better to do for the hour)... did that come across as cynical? Sorry!
- cut my lesson short due to time-restraints.
- race down the hall to the "sanctuary" for "worship" and to fulfill my obligations as a deacon (which mostly consisted of serving the "found" instead of those truly in need of Christ)
- drop a check in the plate (and wonder what really happens to the money besides keeping the machine running)
- wave goodbye to people I didn't really know on any deep and meaningful level, but found myself with week after week
I was addicted to the traditional church. God had to take me all the way to China to get a glimpse of the underground house church to break me of my addiction. I had a habit that at that particular church had lasted for 9 years, but the Holy Spirit broke me of it.
There is hope... He is moving still in the hearts of people. Hopefully he'll keep nudging people toward true community, toward deep and meaningful relationships with other believers, toward the image of Christ without all the trappings of modern day Churchianity.
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This was a response I gave to an article called "Something Different" my good friend Keith Giles wrote over on his [Subversive Underground] Blog.
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