Anyone else do church at home?

[SewingMom2many]

Just curious if anyone else out there does church at home. We searched for years for the right church for us and never found it so we decided to just do church at home by ourselves. I'd love to hear from anyone else who does this. We've only been doing it about 6 or 8 months now and so far, it's been working really well for our family. I'd very much enjoy hearing how other families do this and how it's working for them.

[milovany]

Oh, Bethany!! Someone is calling your name! :001_smile:

[*********]

Oh, Bethany!! Someone is calling your name! :001_smile:

 

 

Ha! LOL. You're funny, Milovany.

 

Yes, we do homechurch. Sometimes it's just our family, sometimes we fellowship with other believers, either in our home or theirs.

 

Usually fellowship with other believers involves a meal as well.

 

NestOf3 also homechurches. Or at least she used to. She's not around as much as she used to be.

 

I'm not sure of other posters who do, but we've had homechurch threads on here before, so I know there are others here.

 

Not sure what specific questions you have, but I'm happy to answer them.

[Amira]

We do, but our situation is a little different from most homechurchers. Our particular denomination is not legally registered in Kyrgyzstan, so we worship at home and over Skype with family and friends.

[frugalmama]

I have a question for those of you who homechurch with just family - what do you do when you need a pastor's recommendation for something?

 

I'm working on a homeschool scholarship form for a local homeschool organization and they want my pastor's info - well we don't attend anywhere due to health reasons and because really I don't believe it's necessary to go somewhere to worship.

[SewingMom2many]

Oh I should have searched, I thought it was a pretty slim chance anyone else did it :)

 

Did you start out on your own? We are kind of happy just doing our thing by ourselves at this point but who knows if that will change, dh is very introverted so I think it would be very difficult for him to be open to other families but maybe someday.

 

Would you mind telling me how your service goes (not sure what to call it, sorry if that's not the correct term). How did you meet the other families? Do you get grief from other people about not being true believers because you don't go to church?

 

Thank you so much for being willing to answer my questions! We believe in what we are doing but it's nice to hear that it's working for others too :)

[momto2Cs]

Not quite homechurch, or maybe it is... anyhow, our church is held in our Pastor's home, with just a few other families. We just started going. I like the smallness of it!

[SewingMom2many]

I have a question for those of you who homechurch with just family - what do you do when you need a pastor's recommendation for something?

 

I'm working on a homeschool scholarship form for a local homeschool organization and they want my pastor's info - well we don't attend anywhere due to health reasons and because really I don't believe it's necessary to go somewhere to worship.

I was wondering the same thing. We were looking into being a foster family for a local Christian organization but you must have a recommendation from your pastor so we never went further than looking at the application.

[Tarreymere]

We may end up doing that. We are over an hour drive from a place don't have to make compromises to attend and gas prices aren't going down. Our current 'compromise' church is not working out as well as we had hoped.

[Whereneverever]

If you home church without a pastor, what do you do about receiving the Sacraments? :bigear:

[Denisemomof4]

It was the best church experience I ever had. We rotated houses with a friend of ours. Some weeks the crow was over 50, other weeks it was around 20. All weeks were wonderful until a couple came in and wanted to change everything. They tried to take control, invited "weird" people to the group, etc. I was caring for my mom at the time and I stopped hosting because I didn't want all kinds of strangers in my home. It fell apart when we took time off for my mom's end of life care.

 

It was a wonderful experience.

[*********]

If you home church without a pastor, what do you do about receiving the Sacraments? :bigear:

 

Pardon my ignorance truly; do you mean how do we take communion? Usually one (or several) of the brothers shares about the significance of drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Christ. As many as want to will pray, before and after. We drink from one cup, we break bread from one loaf.

 

I understand that the Catholic Church has other Sacraments besides communion. I can speak briefly about each, but feel free to ask if I miss something. :)

 

Baptism: Any believing brother can baptize. For example, I was baptized by my husband. :001_smile: My dh and I, along with our children and the rest of our fellowship, went to the local beach on a Saturday afternoon. That was very special to me. I suppose actually that any *believer* could baptize; man or woman. I've just never seen a woman baptize. Hunh. I'll remember to ask my dh what he thinks of that in the morning. I might mention here that we believe in baptism by immersion. I'm sure that varies among homechurches. ;)

 

Confirmation: Not something we practice.

 

Penance/Confession: (Please forgive me if the 'lumping together' of those terms is not correct) We confess our sins one to another when we feel prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit. We don't have any sort of set 'way' one needs to do this.

 

Anointing of the Sick: We understand Scripture to say that any believer can pray for the healing of another. Again, there is no prescribed 'way' we do this. Now, I've never seen anyone anointed with oil in a homechurch setting. I don't know why; I think that's perfectly fine. And again, I would be comfortable with any believing brother or sister doing such a thing. We do pray together for one another's needs, including healing. We believe the Lord is our Great Physician, and he can, does, and will heal his people when they ask in faith. (Which is not to be taken to mean that we believe the Lord will heal everyone from everything, and that if He doesn't, it's because of a lack of faith.)

 

Ordination: Not something we practice. We do not ordain bishops/priests/deacons. Or pastors, for that matter. We do strive to have a plurality of elders among our fellowship. But those who have the role of 'elder' even are not 'official' in any way. They just are because they are.

 

Marriage: Clearly we do this, LOL, but I've never actually seen anyone get married in a house church. All the fellow housechurchers we've known who have gotten married have done so in a church building. Not sure why that is, honestly. Perhaps mainly from a logistical standpoint, it'd be near impossible to fit everyone who wanted to attend the wedding into one house. And I can't really speak much to it, since I'm not sure of what all exactly is necessary from a legal standpoint; I don't remember from when dh and I got married. :tongue_smilie: (We were not believers when we married; we just went to a local church building of the denomination I had grown up in, and the Pastor there married us.) I'd actually LOVE to see a couple get married in our homechurch. I think it'd be so sweet. I assume that the person officiating needs some sort of legal, uh, certification to do so? I don't know.

 

Hope that all makes sense.

Edited March 25, 2012 by bethanyniez

[*********]

I have a question for those of you who homechurch with just family - what do you do when you need a pastor's recommendation for something?

 

I'm working on a homeschool scholarship form for a local homeschool organization and they want my pastor's info - well we don't attend anywhere due to health reasons and because really I don't believe it's necessary to go somewhere to worship.

 

I was wondering the same thing. We were looking into being a foster family for a local Christian organization but you must have a recommendation from your pastor so we never went further than looking at the application.

 

 

Honestly it's not come up yet. We've only been homechurching for, oh, about 5 1/2 years now though.

 

I suppose if I encountered that, I'd simply explain that we homechurch, and don't have a Pastor. I'd offer to give them the contact info to a brother or sister that knows us well and could speak about our character, faith, lifestyle, etc. If that wasn't 'good enough'? Then that organization is not for us. :)

[Whereneverever]

Pardon my ignorance truly; do you mean how do we take communion? Usually one (or several) of the brothers shares about the significance of drinking the blood and eating the flesh of Christ. As many as want to will pray, before and after. We drink from one cup, we break bread from one loaf.

 

I understand that the Catholic Church has other Sacraments besides communion. I can speak briefly about each, but feel free to ask if I miss something. :)

 

Baptism: Any believing brother can baptize. For example, I was baptized by my husband. :001_smile: My dh and I, along with our children and the rest of our fellowship, went to the local beach on a Saturday afternoon. That was very special to me. I suppose actually that any *believer* could baptize; man or woman. I've just never seen a woman baptize. Hunh. I'll remember to ask my dh what he thinks of that in the morning. I might mention here that we believe in baptism by immersion. I'm sure that varies among homechurches. ;)

 

Confirmation: Not something we practice.

 

Penance/Confession: (Please forgive me if the 'lumping together' of those terms is not correct) We confess our sins one to another when we feel prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit. We don't have any sort of set 'way' one needs to do this.

 

Anointing of the Sick: We understand Scripture to say that any believer can pray for the healing of another. Again, there is no prescribed 'way' we do this. Now, I've never seen anyone anointed with oil in a homechurch setting. I don't know why; I think that's perfectly fine. And again, I would be comfortable with any believing brother or sister doing such a thing. We do pray together for one another's needs, including healing. We believe the Lord is our Great Physician, and he can, does, and will heal his people when they ask in faith. (Which is not to be taken to mean that we believe the Lord will heal everyone from everything, and that if He doesn't, it's because of a lack of faith.)

 

Ordination: Not something we practice. We do not ordain bishops/priests/deacons. Or pastors, for that matter. We do strive to have a plurality of elders among our fellowship. But those who have the role of 'elder' even are not 'official' in any way. They just are because they are.

 

Marriage: Clearly we do this, LOL, but I've never actually seen anyone get married in a house church. All the fellow housechurchers we've known who have gotten married have done so in a church building. Not sure why that is, honestly. Perhaps mainly from a logistical standpoint, it'd be near impossible to fit everyone who wanted to attend the wedding into one house. And I can't really speak much to it, since I'm not sure of what all exactly is necessary from a legal standpoint; I don't remember from when dh and I got married. :tongue_smilie: (We were not believers when we married; we just went to a local church building of the denomination I had grown up in, and the Pastor there married us.) I'd actually LOVE to see a couple get married in our homechurch. I think it'd be so sweet. I assume that the person officiating needs some sort of legal, uh, certification to do so? I don't know.

 

Hope that all makes sense.

 

Interesting, thanks!

[*********]

Oh I should have searched, I thought it was a pretty slim chance anyone else did it :)

 

Did you start out on your own?

 

Yes and no. :D The Lord clearly called for dh and I to quit attending the church building we were members at. And around the same time, we met some people who were doing ministry to the homeless, and hey! They didn't go to church at a building either. They fellowshipped in their home. I can't recall right now how dh met them originally; maybe on-line? But from there, it's just grown and expanded. We met the orginal family, they introduced us to others, who knew others, and so on.

 

We are kind of happy just doing our thing by ourselves at this point but who knows if that will change, dh is very introverted so I think it would be very difficult for him to be open to other families but maybe someday.

 

We have had seasons where it's been just us for a time. Leave it in the Lord's hands; he will guide you where he wants you. Do remember that we are not to forsake the gathering together; we are a family, and it's important to be with other believers.

 

Would you mind telling me how your service goes (not sure what to call it, sorry if that's not the correct term).

 

Well, we've been to different kinds of meetings, but they're all sort of similar. We don't have an 'order of service' or anything. But generally it begins with people bringing hymns/songs, perhaps someone will have an encouragement, exhortation, etc. from the Lord to share. Many pray. Then usually one of the men has something specific he teaches on; whatever the Lord has laid on his heart to share. Perhaps more than one man will teach. And any brother who has something to add (or even correct!) to the teaching will share. Then perhaps more songs, prayer, etc. It's very organic, but also orderly.

 

ETA: When it's just our family, of course it's a bit different. Dh reads a passage from whatever we're currently studying in the Word, and teaches on it to the children. I add as I feel led. We may pray, we may sing; we may not. But singing and prayer are things that can happen throughout our day at anytime. But we do always have a time of reading from the Bible and discussing what it means. Dh just picks a book, and we study through it together as a family. Right now we're in John; we just finished Hebrews. Zee reeeeeally wants to do Genesis next, so that's likely. Dh and I feel the children are doing a wonderful job of learning the truths of Scripture. The Lord has been very faithful to help teach them through us, while teaching us at the same time.

 

Do you get grief from other people about not being true believers because you don't go to church?

 

:001_huh: :lol: That may be the understatement of the century. :D My parents (who are professing Christians) have decided we are in a cult. Of course, they have never ONCE come to a meeting. Ever. And yeah, lots of other people think we're weird, or couldn't possibly be actually doing the 'right' thing, or whatever. And then there's those who feel very defensive simply because we no longer are involved with the institutional church system, but they are. Yeah, we get grief all right. :tongue_smilie:

 

And none of it matters. Because we firmly believe we are doing what the Lord is telling us to do. It's really that simple. We are instructed in scripture to could ourselves blessed because of persecution for the sake of Christ. So that's what we strive to do.

Edited March 25, 2012 by bethanyniez

[Whereneverever]

Oh, and I should note that I am not now, nor have ever been, part of the Catholic church. ;)

[*********]

It was the best church experience I ever had. We rotated houses with a friend of ours. Some weeks the crow was over 50, other weeks it was around 20. All weeks were wonderful until a couple came in and wanted to change everything. They tried to take control, invited "weird" people to the group, etc. I was caring for my mom at the time and I stopped hosting because I didn't want all kinds of strangers in my home. It fell apart when we took time off for my mom's end of life care.

 

It was a wonderful experience.

 

That's so sad, Denise.

 

I pray the Lord brings you to sweet fellowship again soon. :grouphug:

[SewingMom2many]

This has been so very helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to all of my questions. Like I said, we believe in what we are doing and we aren't planning to change but sometimes it's hard when every other person thinks it's wrong. When we left the church and explained what we were doing to the pastor, she said it was very wrong. I've struggled with what she has said even though I feel this is what we have been led to do and that we have made the right decision for us.

 

Leave it in the Lord's hands; he will guide you where he wants you.

^ This is what I need to remember. Thank you for saying this.

 

 

I appreciate you telling me how your service goes. Dh does most of the teaching for us and I help and add to it when I can. It's mostly aimed at our kids but I would love for dh and I to have more of a study time together. I think I'll talk to him about this. The only thing we don't do now that I wish we did was music. I always enjoyed listening to the organ at church when I was growing up so maybe I'll get a CD that we can sing along with. We are getting a piano soon but it's not the same as hearing the organ music.

 

 

:001_huh: :lol: That may be the understatement of the century. :D My parents (who are professing Christians) have decided we are in a cult. Of course, they have never ONCE come to a meeting. Ever. And yeah, lots of other people think we're weird, or couldn't possibly be actually doing the 'right' thing, or whatever. And then there's those who feel very defensive simply because we no longer are involved with the institutional church system, but they are. Yeah, we get grief all right. :tongue_smilie:

 

:lol::lol: My dh has a good sense of humor and when people look at us strangely after we've told them that we homeschool and we also have church at home he loves to tell them (with a straight face) that we have started our own cult. Unless they know him well they aren't sure how to react lol

[Parrothead]

Penance/Confession: (Please forgive me if the 'lumping together' of those terms is not correct) We confess our sins one to another when we feel prompted to do so by the Holy Spirit. We don't have any sort of set 'way' one needs to do this.

 

 

Close enough. :D The correct title for penance/confession is "The Sacrament of Reconciliation." One generally "goes to confession" and "does penance after."

[Zebra]

We started out 8 years ago with the idea that we would do "homechurch" and now we "unchurch".

 

A lot of people leave organized religion, and leave all the beliefs behind. I didn't do that. I still believe a lot of what I believed before, I just don't believe "church" is a place anymore. It's a people.

 

You will run into problems. Co-ops who want your pastor to sign off won't allow you. If you go to a religious co-op, you may be treated as an "outreach case" and won't be able to teach, or whatever. I remember I went to this Mom's group a few years back, and there was a Bible quiz. I blew everyone out of the water, I didn't mean to, I was shocked they knew so little. They could not get over it, and it made them so uncomfortable I never went back. I know what it's like to be treated as the "mission field" now, and it's not pretty.

 

But, it's kind of like homeschooling :D. If you homeschool you must wear a denim jumper and have 14 children, and if you unchurch you must be an unwashed heathen.

 

This is the book that made me realize I didn't have to go to church anymore, if you're interested.

 

http://www.jakecolsen.com/JakeStory.pdf

[lisamarie]

DH and I grew up in the same home church. His dad ended up doing distance learning to be a pastor on paper so that he could marry/bury. FIL married us but we rented a church since our guest list was 350.:lol:

 

The church disbanded when my DD4 was a baby and we've been rather adrift ever since. We attended an Evangelical Free Church for 2 years and left because the pastor was just...watered down. We went to an Anglican church for a year and LOVED it, but then the pastor quit and moved to a new church and we didn't like the new guy and the direction he was taking the church. We have been sort of going back the EFC church from before for lack of anywhere better (both our parents are there so that's the only reason), but the new pastor (they fired the old one soon after we left) preaches sermons that are just weird, contrary to our beliefs, etc. Even my parents are seriously considering leaving, and my dad does not do anything without seriously examining it, researching it, reading oodles of books on it, etc, so it's not just us.

 

At this point we goto church about once a month, but mostly we do church at home. We have a little prayer time with the family and read scripture, sing, and pray.

[lisamarie]

This is the book that made me realize I didn't have to go to church anymore, if you're interested.

 

http://www.jakecolsen.com/JakeStory.pdf

 

Thanks for the book suggestion. I think what I need is someone to tell me that yes, it's okay to not goto church anymore. That we can stop beating ourselves up over trying to find somewhere. We live in a smallish city with not a lot of options. Plus we have some extenuating circumstances that makes us "unacceptable" to a lot of churches (we belong to an ecumenical, charismatic prayer group which marks us as heathens to a lot of organized churches).

[Heather in Neverland]

We home church out of necessity. We would actually prefer to go to church but all of the churches on this island are of a particular denomination that we do not believe in so it was either sit under teaching we disagree with or home church.

 

Sometimes it is just us and sometimes it is with another family. We typically watch sermons online by pastors we respect, pray, talk about the sermon, etc.

 

We pray that God sends someone here to plant a church we can go to but until then, this works for us.

[sweetsouthern]

:bigear:

 

does anyone watch teachings online?? like perphaps hillsong, joel olsteen, etc (just naming two off the top of my head) and if so have any recommendations?

 

we moved here about a year ago and its clear we dont fit in with any local church. we REALLY need to do something more as a family, but we keep slacking (partly because we dont know how to start and partly because we live with other family members who dispise all church things). so :bigear:

[Dee22]

We started out 8 years ago with the idea that we would do "homechurch" and now we "unchurch".

 

This is the book that made me realize I didn't have to go to church anymore, if you're interested.

 

http://www.jakecolsen.com/JakeStory.pdf

 

:iagree: This is very similar to what happened in our family.

[sweetsouthern]

:iagree: This is very similar to what happened in our family.

 

 

i would LOVE! to hear more about "unchurch"... if anyone can share :bigear:

[Pam Wilhelm]

We home church out of necessity. We would actually prefer to go to church but all of the churches on this island are of a particular denomination that we do not believe in so it was either sit under teaching we disagree with or home church.

 

Sometimes it is just us and sometimes it is with another family. We typically watch sermons online by pastors we respect, pray, talk about the sermon, etc.

 

We pray that God sends someone here to plant a church we can go to but until then, this works for us.

 

This is sort of what we have run into.....except we're in the middle of Minnesota! The closest Church for us is a little over an hour away and the next closest is over 2 hours away. I have been in contact with our headquarters/Mother Church in Boston about us starting a small group where we are, but they just told us to drive the distance. :001_huh: So we have started just doing church at home. I would rather go to a regular church but it is apparent to us that home church is what we need to be doing right now.

 

I love all the ideas everyone has presented, thank you! Keep them coming.

[Embracing Grace]

We do! We started with just our family (including my parents and brothers), and then more joined us. I grew up with a home church in Russia, so it seems very natural and normal for me. Our fellowship (as we call it) is Messianic, so we celebrate the Sabbath on Friday nights with the traditional candle lighting, a meal, and a Bible study on the current Torah portion and the New Testament readings. My husband, and any other musicians we have, get their instruments out and do an informal worship session after the study. We also celebrate the Biblical Holidays together. Currently, we have around five families, and we meet mostly at our house since our kids are young and do better in their own surrounding. We don't have an official pastor, although dh does the teachings. He runs the website http://www.hebrew4christians.com, so we follow the format of his work for the weekly study.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Embracing Grace

[Zebra]

Thanks for the book suggestion. I think what I need is someone to tell me that yes, it's okay to not goto church anymore. That we can stop beating ourselves up over trying to find somewhere.

 

If you love your organized church, and want to go, by all means go! But, my comments are directed at people who are wondering if they can leave the church. If they are "allowed" to, and my heart goes out to you, because I have been there myself. It's a tough road. But, it's possible and okay. You can leave the organized church. You are allowed to.

 

Unchurching is the term I use, because it reminds me of unschooling. It's really hard to explain. Just simply, imagine that you are going to apply the concepts of unschooling to your "church going". You don't sit down and try to do church at home. I do not believe that I have to go to a building every week, listen to a pastor preach, give an offering, sit in a pew, or that I even need a specific community of Christians. We still read the Bible, and learn verses and attend interesting religious events when we feel like it. We have Christian friends. Which is what a lot of people who "go to church" do too, I just don't think I need the Sunday service/membership in a church/authority of a pastor part of it.

 

Again, not for everyone. I'm not trying to start a debate, just explain my view on the matter.

[Geo]

Like MeAmy, our family doesn't "go to church" anymore. Not going has strengthened us to rely on God alone, not men. It's good.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Geo

[Mommyfaithe]

Just curious if anyone else out there does church at home. We searched for years for the right church for us and never found it so we decided to just do church at home by ourselves. I'd love to hear from anyone else who does this. We've only been doing it about 6 or 8 months now and so far, it's been working really well for our family. I'd very much enjoy hearing how other families do this and how it's working for them.

 

We do. Dh and I go to church once in a while....without our kids. I do not like the social agenda of the church, and since our church is extremely inviting to all sorts of people, ( putting this as nicely as I can....our church does jail ministry, drug rehab ministry, etc.)....I do not feel my kids are safe there. I love the preaching, teaching and as an adult I can handle myself, but it is not good for my kids.

 

We tried many other churches and none of them fit us well......so, we home church...and our kids attend youth activities at a different church....lol....sounds like a mess, but it suits us.

[Scarymelon]

About ten years ago we were very active in a home church; there were about 10 families and we lived in a suburban neighborhood together. We met on Saturdays around dinner, singing, etc. We were part of a very loose affiliation of fifteen or so homechurches around the country. It was really great while it lasted, but it didn't end very well. We last about eight years, and then two people had an affair, and the man that had been somewhat of an informal leader of our network and inspired us sort of went off the deep end. We fell apart around that point. It was a very real experience for me in a way the mainstream evangelical church I grew up in was not. We have not found a church we want to join since then.

[shinyhappypeople]

We "unchurched" for about 6 or 7 years. Then, younger DD expressed an interest in going to Sunday School. DH and I chose to honor her request and I started taking the girls to the church I used to attend (Pre-kids).

 

I have a TON of baggage with regard to church of my childhood, but it's been helpful (albeit painful and complicated) to go back to a relatively healthy, sane church and resolve some of it.

 

However, we may return to "unchurching" very soon. The local church we attend is making some huge changes to the children's ministry program and I no longer feel totally comfortable sending my kids there. Their desire to reach more kids is fantastic, but some of the changes leave me with a squicky feeling. Doesn't mean they're wrong, but maybe it means that church is wrong for us. Make sense?

 

I miss unchurching. It was lonely but I also had a very peaceful, vibrant relationship with God. It was amazing what God did in my heart without me being involved in it. I just opened myself up and said, "Go for it." And, over the course of several years, he did.

[CupOCoffee]

I shall be intently listening to and watching this thread. For reasons that would take too much space to write, our family does not attend church. I want to start something at home with the kids. However, DH would not be the one taking the lead (more complications).

 

Is it wrong to do it without him? I mean, my kids "do" Bible as part of their school day, but I want to do something more, something that is on Sunday, like going to church would be. I would love to be able to watch something, someone's teaching, and then discuss with my kids.

 

Are there any "televised church" out there that aren't totally wacky? I remember the days of Jim and Tammy Baker, and others of that era. Are there any others out there?

 

~coffee~

[Marylou]

www.sermonaudio.com

 

www.desiringgod.org

[*********]

www.sermonaudio.com

 

www.desiringgod.org

 

:iagree: These are good. Also www.sermonindex.net.

[CupOCoffee]

www.sermonaudio.com

 

www.desiringgod.org

 

:iagree: These are good. Also www.sermonindex.net.

 

If these are in response to me, thank you! I will check them out!

 

~coffee~

[TheReader]

:iagree: These are good. Also www.sermonindex.net.

 

thanks for the links (all three; can't figure out how to quote a quote...)

 

we're just beginning to pursue this idea as well; these look like good resources for us.

[laughing lioness]

We've been doing home church for just over a year. It's a small gathering of between 8-12 people. We pray, worship and listen to CD's of teachers, with lots of stops to discuss and interact. Sometimes we have meals together, we've celebrated various feasts/holidays together and have traveled together for worship/teaching. If interested, Ive' recorded some of what we've done under the "Faith" heading on my blog).

My dh is the facilitator but most of us in the group have been studious Chrisitans for a long while so everyone has lots to contribute. I love that part. No one is passively waiting for a "leader" - everyone brings food, everyone brings worship music, everyone brings their thoughts and prayers and resources. It's not planned, not everyone brings stuff every week.

I won't say it's been the best time of my life spiritually but it's good. We read Pagan Chrisitanity a couple of years ago. I don't particularly like Viola's style of writing and I think he misses some points, but over all he put words to my own disquiet. I wrote a review of it here.

Edited March 26, 2012 by laughing lioness

[momto2Cs]

We've been doing home church for just over a year. It's a small gathering of between 8-12 people. We pray, worship and listen to CD's of teachers, with lots of stops to discuss and interact. Sometimes we have meals together, we've celebrated various feasts/holidays together and have traveled together for worship/teaching. If interested, Ive' recorded some of what we've done under the "Faith" heading on my blog).

 

I won't say it's been the best time of my life spiritually but it's good. We read Pagan Christianity a couple of years ago. I don't particularly like Viola's style of writing and I think he misses some points, but over all he put words to my own disquiet. I wrote a review of it here.

 

I'm going to have to look for that book (bolded.) After reading your review, it sounds really intriguing. It may also be helpful to my dh and I, especially dh, as we go through this time of transition.

 

Our background with religion is spotty - we both grew up attending church - mine was Church of Christ, his was about 4 different denominations. We have both practiced Wicca during the time of our marriage, but felt uncomfortable at times--like we were missing something. Two years ago, the kids asked if they could try Sunday School, so we wet to a local Episcopalian church for a while. We left when the pastor fired the choir director in front of the whole church because he "didn't like her." In the meantime, my mom and sister had found a congregation they liked, a small congregation that homechurches. We started attending their services/gatherings just a few weeks ago.

 

I really like it! The gatherings are pretty informal, just a few families coming together to worship. Our pastor leads prayers, gives a talk, other people talk and give testimony, we all gather for a meal afterward, etc. It is very different from the churches I have attended before!