Cathegogues

"And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts." (Acts 2:46)

Until AD 70 the early believers continued to gather at the temple for worship. And they met together from house to house in hospitality, fellowship, and presumably discipleship. Wolfgang Simson in Houses that Change the World says that the historic Orthodox and Catholic Church after Constantine formulated the religious system that had a cathedral based on the Old Testament temple and worship based on the Jewish synagogue. He calls it the "Cathegogue" and he says the Protestant reformation did not really do much to change that. He calls for us to move from church houses back to house churches.

In yesterday's blog I tried to generate some discussion to no avail. So let me try again. There is no doubt that the average church is a far cry from Acts 2 and Acts 4. We have opted for organization over being organic. We have chosen programs over the person of God. We have allowed form to shut out growth and life. So is Wolfgang Simson correct? Do we need to start over completely? He envisions meetings from house to house and city wide gatherings for celebration. God is certainly using the "House Church" movement in China, India, and many other parts of the world.

Whether we adopt his suggestions full fledged, I believe the church is in need of a major overhaul. We need to build back in accountibility and reproduction by multiplication. Traditional Bible studies and seminars are basically informational and built on the personalities of teachers, more than they are transformational and dependent on the moving of God. We need to pray that in these last days before Jesus returns that He breathe again on HIs church and call us to become what He created His church to be, a living organism that leads people to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength and which is submitted to going to the ends of the earth to make disciples.