When Was The Last Time You Invited Someone to Your House?
When was the last time you had people from your church over to your house?
The New Testament speaks of churches in homes. See Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:9, Colossians 4:15,Philemon 1:2.
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Years ago, when I became a Bible Worker at a church in Texas, an elderly saint informed me of a group of people who began having church in one of their houses. She wanted me to get them to come back to the “real” church because, according to her, having church in a house was not “real” church. Realizing that having church in a house was indeed “real church,” I reached out to them and began a wonderful friendship. We worked together and played together, even though they “assembled themselves together” for worship in a house, while the rest of us assembled at the church building.
God’s remnant church will look like the original church, and the original church first met in homes as well as meeting in the temple court. Meeting in buildings dedicated to Christian worship came later.
By the way, the order of service most Adventists follow for worship service does not come from the New Testament. It comes from the Methodists. Nothing wrong with that. Just saying. Occasionally I have gone to preach in a church building that only had about 15 members present. Instead of having church in the sanctuary “Methodist style” I persuaded them to come into the fellowship hall where we all sat in a big circle and had a “home church.” Instead of preaching a sermon I led out in a group Bible study. It was informal yet reverent and Bible-based. Many told me they found it refreshing. It was what I imagine church to have been like in the New Testament.
Notice even the churches that met in temple courts also met in homes.
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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:46-47 NIV
To me, the fact that they met in each others’ homes shows me how dedicated they were to the church. They took the church home with them! The New Testament church was not compartmentalized. There were no boundaries between what belonged to the church and what belonged to them. Their home dining room was just as much church property as the fellowship hall.
Do we compartmentalize today? For example, let’s look at church fellowship lunches. Are they social or anti-social? For instance, do we meet for lunch at church so we don’t have to actually invite each other over to our house? We say we all meet at church so we can all socialize together. Really? Then tell me why when I visit various churches I see so many people eating alone at fellowship lunch. I often see families sitting alone at tables that could have just as easily been sitting alone at home. But it makes us feel more sociable if we eat alone at church?
Of course many people do actually fellowship during fellowship lunches. Still, I have to wonder why we aren’t meeting in homes more often? Again do we compartmentalize? Do we fellowship on neutral ground while protecting the privacy of our home? Does our church have borders, or do we hold all things common?
It may be said that we can’t invite the entire church over to our house at once, so some may feel left out. To that I would say, over time invite several people, and those who feel left out can invite people to their house! It works both ways, you know. 
The New Testament church did not compartmentalize. They held all things common, even meeting in their homes. I believe the remnant church should reflect the New Testament church. In the last days Satan is working hard to polarize us and make us unsociable. Meanwhile God is drawing us together to make up, not an isolated people but a great multitude which no man can number, who reflect His character of love and hospitality.
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I love your articles. They always open my eyes to see things in a different way and reveal some tricks of the devil. I really believe the church home is one that is really needed. Where you can start to actually feel at home and hence be more open and know each other's strength and weakness to be able to help each other grow physically, mentally and spiritually.
Lately I’ve been finishing my schooling in a different city. There are no relatives or friends to call on here. I’m glad to have had this experience because it has taught me how much genuine hospitality means to a stranger in town.
When I visited the churches here, often no one even spoke to me, much less invited me to dinner. At one church there was a potluck but I wasn’t invited to stay and even got the distinct impression that the food was prepared for a group in the church so there wouldn’t be enough for me if I did.
As a long time Adventist I simply began to speak to members and get involved because these are my siblings in Christ so I don’t need an invitation to love or serve.
How many come, I wonder, who actually need the invitation but don’t receive it.
Nancy - what a sad commentary on today's SDA church. I pray that I will always reach out to the visitors in our church with hospitality and warmth.
What a wonderful and refreshing commentary. As a child growing up every Sabbath we invited guests and members over to our home. With that in mind food was always prepared for more than our family. It was a wonderful way of getting to really know who people were and developed friendships that are still on going some 50 years later. Today my wife and I still practice this method of friendship and interestingly enough help visitors to our church recognize that there is a healthy aspect to this form of living,loving and witnessing . This form of Christian bonding and caring is irreplaceable . As Christians I think this is an awesome concept that can replace this individualism and antisocial society we live in today.
Much Love Be Blest family.
Thank you all for your interesting, heart felt comments. Happy Sabbath!
Thank you! Happy Sabbath.
Here is my take, first a question. Our study this week is the church after Pentecost. Is it a model for us today? How would we manage 20M plus members? who would help pay the teachers, Nurses, Doctors, and Caregivers in our institutions? If you Read Acts 2:42-43. One could easily realize that something was missing from this activity on a daily basis! (Working). They are eating, praying, being taught, having fellowship, and observing miracles. It is a great time, but it does not seem like a "workable" long-term plan.
I think some members feel uncomfortable inviting people to their homes for fear of being judged on what they have. Sometimes members portray a different image at church than they have at home, and by inviting church members, they will feel embarrassed. However, to build lasting relationship with church members, I agree with you that we have to fellowship with them outside the church, and inviting them to our homes is the ideal place to show them our love and affection.
I agree Jacob, and that's what I mean by compartmentalizing. I had a conversation with a pastor once that went like this.
Pastor: It can be lonely being a pastor, because members don't invite you to their home because they are afraid the pastor will see them drinking Pepsi or something like that at home.
Me: So the pastor just drinks Pepsi alone in his home while the member drinks Pepsi alone in his home?
Pastor: Right.
That's sad. We should be who we are all the time. When we compartmentalize we are hypocrites and teach our kids to be hypocrites.
The sad thing is our children see all these inconsistencies and when they turn 18 some of them simply leave church because of the hypocrisy.
It is not only that members are embarrassed to invite others home for fear of what they will see, it is also fear of not knowing people and in some societies, people come to church and you invite them to your home, the next thing they are the same ones to take advantage of you. As a result, it is preferable to have them fellowship at church. It is true that we need to follow the New Testament church model as much as we possibly can but not be foolish because not all Isreal is Isreal.
Joy I am sure not all Isreal was Isreal in New Testament times either. The same risks that exist today existed back then. For example, even when it comes to the good Samaritan story, I hear people say you have to be careful now because its dangerous now. Yet the Samaritan knew the man had been robbed and the robbers could be lurking in the bushes to rob and beat him too. Sure we should always be careful, but the same risks existing today existed in New Testament times too. I am not saying you are saying this, but some people like to suggest the Bible is not practical in our culture today, while it is very relevant to our culture today.
Years ago when I was a student literature evangelist in Sweden, a non-Adventist family in the city of Akersberga near Stockholm took me and my friend Sampson (two strangers from Africa) into their home without time for background checks even though they had a teenage daughter in the house. We stayed there for three months without paying rent or buying food. Thankfully, we demonstrated Christian behavior, and that family has remained lifelong friends. It is worth taking a risk to do good, since our Lord took a huge risk to come here and die for us.
We are individuals with different likes and dislikes. We were created with this ability. I have never like butter on bread, Others love butter on everything. When discussing the faults of of the church, we are told to love one another. Some see the social aspect as a biased segment that is unloving if some feel neglected. At the same time, the purpose of attending a church should be remembered. Jesus is there to feed the members Spiritually.
I had a teacher that would invite new Adventist to his house on Friday in time for the Sabbath to begin. He taught them how to open the Sabbath and enjoy its beginning.