CHURCH BUILDINGS ARE NOT IN THE BIBLE
-by Andrew
Strom.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~revival/lie-2.html
-The second
article in the series on "The 9 Lies of Today's Church".
This is a simple statement of fact: Church buildings are not in the
Bible. Period. They simply do not exist. They are another invention
of man. You can search the entire New Testament from beginning to
end and you will find no mention of them at all. It was only after
two centuries, when the church was slowly giving way to apostasy and
deception, that church buildings began to appear. Even then, they
were often just two houses joined together. It was not until after
300AD, when the church fell into Roman apostasy, that "cathedrals"
began to be built.
A lot of
people think that us having church buildings today "doesn't really
matter". -They say buildings are kind-of 'neutral'. -That they don't
really affect us. They are just a building, after all.
But I
disagree strongly with this. I believe there is a whole mindset and
a whole pattern of "learnt behavior" that goes with church
buildings. We find this difficult to see, because we are so used to
them. But I believe that they are VERY harmful and affect us in all
kinds of ways that we are not even aware of.
Below are
some brief quotes from scholars and historians who have looked into
this subject:
"'We have no
temples or altars.' This statement, referring to Christians, comes
from the pen of the apologist Minicus Felix, c 200, and all evidence
supports its accuracy. Throughout at least the first two centuries
there were no church buildings as such" (-J.G. Davies).
"When the
church was very young, it had no buildings. Let us begin with that
striking fact. That the church had no buildings is the most
noticeable of the points of difference between the church of the
early days and the church of today. In the minds of most people
today, "church" means first a building, probably something else
second; but seldom does "the church" stand for anything other than a
building. Yet here is the fact with which we start: the early church
possessed no buildings and carried on its work for a great many
years without erecting any." (-Ernest Loosley).
"The church’s
greatest period of vitality and growth until recent times was during
the first two centuries A.D. In other words, the church grew fastest
when it did not have the help or hindrance of church buildings."
(-Howard Snyder).
ANDREW STROM
again: Isn't this a remarkable thing? Here we are in the 21st
Century, still pouring so much money and pain and sacrifice into our
buildings - and yet the whole concept is not even in the Bible!
So how did
the early believers gather together then? Well, there are two
answers to this. A lot of people in the "house church" movement will
tell you that the early Christians simply met in homes. They are
right, but that is only half the story. For in the early church in
Jerusalem they not only met in homes, but the apostles also held
massive OPEN-AIR meetings every day. -Huge outdoor gatherings.
Where did
they hold these great open-air meetings? -In a place called
"Solomon's Porch" - which was in the most crowded and well-traveled
part of Jerusalem. In fact, it was right "in the face" of hundreds
and thousands of people passing by on foot. Solomon's Porch was in
the 'Courtyard of the Gentiles' which was a huge open courtyard (the
size of 5 football fields) attached to the main Temple. In a lot of
ways it served as the "town square" of Jerusalem. Hundreds upon
hundreds of people passed through it every day. And there they could
see the apostles, teaching and healing the sick right in front of
the whole world. What a great place for Revival meetings!!
(-Actually, this is where Jesus preached when he was in Jerusalem
also).
That is why I
talk so often about an "outdoor church" and a "street revival". The
fact of the matter is that the original church WAS an 'outdoor
church'. But you would never know it looking at today's church,
would you? What we do today is hide ourselves away from the world -
behind 'four walls' (which usually cost a fortune to build). How
sad. And how unscriptural.
Jesus'
ministry was mostly in the open air. John the Baptist's ministry was
very much in the open air. The Book of Acts church in Jerusalem was
mostly in the open air. But we are the very opposite. And it is
costing us millions each year to erect more "walls". No wonder we
don't impact the world like we should!
Apart from
the huge outdoor gatherings, the only other place that the early
believers seemed to meet was in homes. There they would gather most
days, sharing their lives with one another. -Eating and taking
communion together, praying, operating spiritual gifts and teaching
new converts. -A whole lifestyle of love and community. That is what
the early church was like. And no "church buildings" in sight.
Read this
carefully (-Acts 2:42-46, NIV): "They devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread
and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and
miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were
together and had everything in common... Every day they continued to
meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes
and ate together with glad and sincere hearts." (-See also Acts
4:32-35, Acts 5:12-16, etc).
So now we can
see why, all the way through the New Testament, Paul speaks about
the "church that meets in so-and-so's house":- "To Archippus our
fellow soldier and to the church that meets in YOUR HOME" (Phile v
2); "Aquila and Priscilla great you warmly in the Lord, and so does
the church that meets at THEIR HOUSE" (1 Cor 16:19). See also Rom
16:5, Col 4:15, etc.
When you
really look into it, you discover that the New Testament Church was
simply one huge network of house churches - all united "as one".
These were not independent fellowships or denominations. They were
"one church" - one body - under the leadership of the apostles. No
divisions or separations at all. How very different from today.
THE DAMAGE BEING DONE
So what harm
is it doing - for our church life to be so focused around church
buildings today? -I believe it is doing enormous harm. You cannot
stray so far from the New Testament pattern without it doing
tremendous damage. But we in the church have been living with church
buildings for so many centuries now that we hardly even notice.
As Beckham
wrote concerning the Roman influence on today's church: "Using a
combination of the Roman governmental and feudal systems, Emperor
Constantine developed a church structure that has lasted for
seventeen centuries.... People go to a building (cathedral) on a
special day of the week (Sunday) and someone (a priest, or today, a
pastor) does something to them (teaching, preaching, absolution or
healing) or for them (a ritual or entertainment) for a price
(offerings)."
-This is the
way the church has operated right through the Dark Ages and up to
now. All of the above comes from Romanism, not from true
Christianity. It cannot be found in the New Testament at all. But
today we accept it as "normal". And it is robbing us blind. How
deceived we are.
Here are the
specific ways that I believe 'church buildings' damage and ruin
Christianity:
(1) Church buildings lock us "inside" - away from the world that we
are called to reach. This one aspect alone is good enough reason to
abandon them.
(2) They waste colossal sums of money - literally billions of
dollars just in the USA alone. This often puts real "money pressure"
on preachers and congregations alike. And it tends to make modern
Christianity revolve around "money, money, money".
(3) Church buildings completely scramble our concept of what the
"church" is. Many of us start to think of it as a BUILDING - instead
of actual PEOPLE. We start to talk about "going to church" instead
of realizing that "We ARE the church". This often leads to
Christians leading two separate lives - their 'church' life and
their "rest of the week" life. What a disaster! It also leads to all
kinds of foolishness - such as referring to our building as 'The
House of God' and treating it as 'holy', etc. No end of confusion
and deception revolve around all of this.
(4) The
building is really the center of an entire mindset of "Religion" and
error - dating from the Roman takeover of the church 1700 years ago.
It is the CENTERPIECE of the deception.
(5) The very concept of separated, walled-off congregations - each
in its own little 'box' - lends itself to denominations and
divisions and sects. Separate church buildings are a very big factor
in DIVIDING the Body of Christ today. If we can get out of the
buildings, there will be far more unity.
(6) Just think of all the committees and boards and fund-raising and
loans and accountants that we could get rid of - just by getting RID
OF OUR BUILDINGS! This is the 'red tape' and the subtle "money"
pressure that ties the church up with the affairs of this world
rather than the true work of the kingdom. How clever the devil is.
(7) Instead of "going into all the world making disciples", what
often ends up happening today is "going into all the world and
erecting monoliths wherever we go." The energy and time and money
wasted on these things is staggering.
(8) Above all else, the best argument against church buildings is
this: They are NOT IN THE BIBLE.
At this point
a lot of people ask questions like, "But what happens when the
weather is bad?" or "What do we do during winter?" The answer is
pretty simple: We hire a warehouse or a disused car park or
something for 4 months and go out again when the weather improves.
We also have our HOMES to gather in, all year round.
Remember, the
early church was very PRACTICAL about such things. If you need to
hire some place temporarily then DO IT. But please do not get stuck
in a church building!
I believe we
are about to see a powerful move of God and a great 'SHAKING' in the
church - that will bring her into the kind of glorious, united,
OUTDOOR Christianity that we have been talking about here.
Personally, I can't wait!
________________________________
SOURCES:
-Ernest Loosley, "When The Church Was Young".
-J.G. Davies, "Secular Use of Church Buildings".
-Howard Snyder, "The Problem of Wineskins".
-Beckham, "Second Reformation".
- www.churchinfocus.org .
-Darryl M. Erkel, "Church Buildings or House-Churches?"
- www.housechurch.org , "Miscellaneous House Church Quotes".
-M. Brown, "Revolution in the Church".
To comment on this article, please send an
email to-
prophetic@revivalschool.com
To join our weekly Prophetic/Revival email List, on which these
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-THE "OUTDOOR CHURCH" HOMEPAGE.
- PROPHETIC SUPERSITE.
- REVIVAL SUPERSITE.
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