Ahhh…. Home Church

Kaitlyn Playing for USCFA summer of 2011

                                              ” AHH……HOME CHURCH”

Often known as the Shema (To Hear) or in Israel as their Declaration of Independence, Deuteronomy (The Hebraic title “Ele Ha D’varim = The Place where God Speaks) has one of the most famous chapters in the old testament known to Christians today.
Beginning in verse 4 of Chapter 6, it reads: ”Hear ohIsrael the LORD is our God, the LORD is one. (5) And you shall Love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your might.”

This is often seen acted out at the Western Wall inIsraelas the Jews pray three times daily. We watch them as they rock forwards and back, saying their prayers (Amidah = from which the LORDS Prayer derives), and many mock them as they seem to be “religious” in their tradition.

However, there is a scripture that we keep very close to heart in this potent chapter in Deuteronomy. Verse 7 reads the following: “…and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

Dr. Karl Coke and his Timothy programs derive its entire curriculum on the following statement “The Home Is the Center for Spiritual Growth.”

United Fútbol Ministries likewise adheres to the same philosophy as we are trying to teach our players and their parents that spirituality begins in the home. I’m not just talking about praying before dinner and at bedtime; I’m talking about literally bringing the gospel into everything they do.

That’s the beauty of home church. We can allow our children to not only see that spirituality exists in the church house only, or at youth groups and church programs only, but in the home we meet with other Christians, worship, have sermons (Midrashes). We pray, talk about God in soccer, and in their lives, and they see others doping the same exact thing. MOREOVER, IT HAPPENS IN THE HOME. What that does is teach them that THE HOME IS WHERE ALL SPIRITUALITY should flow from. The church, and outside ministries are just an extension of what the HOME SHOULD BE TEACHING.

In addition, it allows our children to take part in that spirituality where they are otherwise removed from in other areas of church services and the like. In many churches, children are “dismissed” during worship because they are considered a “distraction” to those spiritual ones seeking the LORD. They are allowed to have cute little plays and productions, but don’t sit with their parents as they hear and pray and worship the LORD in Spirit and Truth.

In home churches and fellowships, we encourage our kids to get involved and they have. Sometimes with very comical results. Joshua in the video wants to do worship with us. Sometimes he gets so into it, he’ll close his eyes and mimic what we are doing. This causes his sisters to laugh because they think it’s cute. His response is not only classic, but it serves a point. In the home he has the freedom to express what is inside of his spirit and nobody will quench it! Nobody was distracted and many laughed when they saw this. IT was Medicine to the soul of many!

The bottom line is that even in bible study settings children are often left at home with a baby sitter so mom and dad can meet with other adults and do their thing. There is nothing wrong with that, but in today’s day and age when our children are being inundated with rhetoric and nonsense from the antichrist in our schools and textbooks, we need to take back that ground and begin to inject spirituality back into the home!

Here at United Fútbol Ministries and Lacey Home Fellowship that’s what we inspire to do. Bring the gospel into every aspect of the life, from work to sport, to church. However, it must begin and end in the home!

Peach and Love in Jesus,

Billy