In November 2004, The Well congregation radically voted to leave the building and become a community of house churches, beginning in February 2005.
I was scared to death.
Inwardly, I wrestled with my thoughts: “This isn’t what they hired me to do! By taking these people out of their building, am I leading them off a cliff?” Night after night, I lost sleep.
Like Noah making God an ark in a season of drought, I felt like God was urging us to do something that made no sense. Even after much research, I still felt clueless as to what our church might look like apart from the building, apart from everything I had ever known the church to be.
I’m sure there are a lot of pastors or church leaders out there who face fears just like mine. Often, we don’t have answers to the questions people ask. We feel the pressure of leading God’s people, when all along we must remember that it is God who guides us each step.
Slowly, I began to learn just this: that neither God’s moving The Well out of its building nor the church as a whole was about me. And had I waited for God to reveal His entire plan for The Well (instead of just the next step), I would have missed out on learning this crucial lesson—a lesson I continue to be taught as God unfolds His plans for The Well.
Faced with a cliff of your own? Share your journey with us!
I appreciate you taking the time to go through your journey into becoming a house church. I’ve been very intrigued and keep coming back for more insights. May God bless your endeavor as you live to glorify Him.
By: Mike on June 17, 2009
at 5:14 PM
It is interesting how God only reveals as much as we need to know in order that we will step out in faith.
By: Rob Ross on June 20, 2009
at 4:56 AM