I caught a Colorado Springs article about house churches a while back. It’s been on my mind and not just because it was espousing the positive benefits of house churches. (No one has to convince me that house churches are the way to go!) The article identified some of the positive benefits we have: building real relationships, studying the Word together with Christians, the connection of food and church – all of which are great!
But if I were to pick the main point of the article, it would be this quote by a long-time house church attendee: “We don’t get caught up in doctrinal issues because everyone just loves the Lord.”
Huh?
Really?
While this sounds really nice, I think there’s a big misunderstanding of what “doctrinal issues” really are. Everything that we teach and believe comes from knowing Biblical doctrine. So, it seems pretty clear that“doctrinal issues” are the one thing that house churches need to get right. If we don’t get caught up in the principles of Christianity, how do we love the Lord?
Without getting into the nuts and bolts, folks that read their Bibles should understand that we can’t just love the Lord without His help. We are saved by grace through faith as a gift from God (Eph 2:8). We also know that without this gift, we would not choose to love God, and in fact, we would fight against God.
So, once we understand that we are saved by God, can we just love God without getting caught up in doctrinal issues? If we don’t understand God’s revelation of Himself to us (through the Bible), then what are we loving? Spending time getting caught up in God’s word and knowing what He says – that’s what doctrinal issues are all about.
So, I’ll have to check, but I sure hope those who attend The Well are excited about getting caught up in doctrinal issues so they can understand why and how to love God – and how we can only do that through the sacrifice He made to love us.
