Another Quote

Another quote from 'Houses that change the world'

Religion is what man makes out of God; Christianity is what God makes out of man. Christianity therefore is no religion. It is a living relationship with a living God. The moment Christianity becomes religion, it dies.

What it's all about.

All day I have been hearing people say, 'That's what Christmas is all about!' They are referring to - children laughing, family, the spirit of Santa Claus, things of the heart, a 'weepy' film, giving and receiving presents, food and drink etc etc. All good things in themselves but they've all missed the point!

I wish for all a really, truly happy Christmas in knowing and experiencing the immense love of God expressed in Jesus.

What is church?

I am busy reading the book 'Houses that change the World' by Wolfgang Simson. Just about every page has something worth quoting. Here is one about how we have distorted what the original New Testament Church was meant to be: 'The Bible absolutely does not teach us to say that a holy crowd gathering on a holy day at a holy hour in a holy sanctuary to participate in a holy ritual performed by holy men in holy clothes for a holy fee is a New Testament church.'

I'm sure there'll be more quotes to come!

What's the difference?

I have a number of friends who recently have opted out of congregating in a place we usually call 'church'. Like so many of what are termed 'emerging church', they want to connect with God without all the religiosity and system of 'doing church'. A couple of days ago I heard of one such couple who had invited another similar couple to Sunday lunch and as they were talking it was suggested that they start a 'house church' and that one of them could be the leader. It seems to me that they haven't left church at all. They are simply doing the same thing in a house instead of a specific building we call a church. Meeting together is good and necessary - we are told by Paul not to stop meeting together. But to call that meeting 'church' even if it is in a house and to appoint someone as a leader doesn't seem to me to be any different from what they have left except it may be smaller in numbers. I feel the enemy is so clever at making us think that we are planting a new kind of church but so soon we fall back into the old system of doing things. When God says He is going to do a 'new thing', that means 'not like anything we have known before'.