Simple Church Minute 78--Simson's Thesis #4

78—WS#4

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Last blip, I mentioned Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses Towards a Re-Incarnation of Church.  Today, we discuss Thesis #4, which is “From Church Houses to house churches.”  About this Simson says that (quote) “From the time of the New Testament there has been no such thing as ‘a house of God.’ At the cost of his life, Stephen reminded us: God does not live in temples made by human hands.  The church is the people of God. The church, therefore, was and is at home where people are at home: in ordinary houses.  There the people of God share their lives in the power of the Holy Spirit, have ‘meatings’, i.e. they eat when they meet; they often do not even hesitate to sell private property and share material and spiritual blessings; they teach each other in real-life situations how to obey God’s word-and not with professorial lectures but dynamically, with dialogue and questions and answers.  There they pray and prophesy with each other, and baptize one another.  There they can let their masks drop and confess their sins, regaining a new corporate identity through love, acceptance and forgiveness.”(Unquote)

            We are beginning to see some of the centuries old denominations begin to collapse from the weight of having accepted leaders who do not believe the historic faith in Jesus.  Believers have left to where they can receive life, and unbelievers who were there for societal reasons see there is no longer a social approbation holding them there, resulting in a lack of income in such organizations.  Further, as believers learn more of what is going on in the church in persecuted lands, one can notice that a church doesn’t have to have a name, building, and academically trained individuals to be real and a real force to stand against a sinful society.

            You can read back and ahead about Simson’s 15 Theses at www.simsonwolfgang.de .  You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info about simple forms of worship at http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website) .