Dale Partridge - Plant a Biblical House Church - Reformation Seminary

The Western expression of church has moved so far from the Bible that Christians truly believe that everything they do on a Sunday is somewhere in Scripture. We think that by adding them to our Sunday experience, that we re somehow more fruitful because the numbers are growing. But we need to get past this lie.

00:00:00.080 The Western expression of church has moved so far from the Bible that Christians truly 0.92

00:00:05.920 believe that everything they do on a Sunday is somewhere to be found in Scripture. 0.60

00:00:16.960 We think that children's ministry, these music-centered gatherings, coffee shops,

00:00:21.680 bookstores, conference-style sermons, these elaborate programs and productions are somewhere

00:00:29.200 supported in the New Testament. Now, these things aren't necessarily unbiblical, but they are

00:00:35.020 extra biblical. And we think that by adding them to our Sunday experience that we're somehow more

00:00:41.720 fruitful because the numbers are growing. But we need to get past this lie. Size is not an accurate

00:00:48.740 indicator of fruitfulness. These efforts, they might appeal to the masses, but they actually

00:00:53.960 create a church setting that stands in opposition to the church atmosphere that we see in the

00:00:58.760 scriptures. The Bible is saturated with these commands to church members that require the kind

00:01:04.660 of intimacy that Jesus had with his disciples. And this means that we're talking about a small

00:01:09.400 group of Christians. It calls for sacrifice and servanthood. It demands fervent love and 1.00

00:01:15.420 confession and correction. You can't experience these things with 300, let alone 3,000 people.

00:01:22.640 You surely can't experience them by watching a sermon over the internet. And that's because of

00:01:28.220 one simple biological fact.

00:01:31.180 Size is the enemy of intimacy.

00:01:33.900 Now, I'm not saying that the traditional church

00:01:35.920 is sinful because of its size,

00:01:38.280 but I am saying that historically speaking,

00:01:41.060 when a local church is small, deeply connected,

00:01:44.500 and theologically sound,

00:01:46.220 it just tends to be more fruitful.

00:01:53.820 Now, the problem is when people think of the term

00:01:55.920 house church for many it generates images of rogue christians who meet without accountability and are

00:02:04.160 prone to adopting heretical christian doctrine that's not what we're doing we love the traditional

00:02:11.040 gospel-centered bible committed church in fact i would say that we share a nearly identical

00:02:16.640 ecclesiology we just carry out these doctrines in a house with 10 families instead of a building

00:02:23.360 with 200 and that's what st justin's is called to do to take these men who are qualified and

00:02:30.400 called to pastoral ministry and teach them how to exegete preach shepherd and plant a biblical

00:02:36.240 house church in their local community our faculty of phds scholars experienced pastors they cover

00:02:43.040 12 core theological disciplines from hermeneutics and biblical theology to church history homiletics

00:02:49.760 pastoral development and even house church multiplication you see we're serious about

00:02:55.360 sound theology because we're serious about the church and bottom line is almost every christian

00:03:02.640 even those that are in healthy churches can sense that something critical is missing in

00:03:08.560 the western expression of church and we believe that missing piece is deeply connected relationships

00:03:14.640 within the body of Christ. But as a shepherd, you're not able to guide a congregation to a

00:03:21.200 place that you haven't been yourself. And this is our call to you. Come and learn the ecclesiology

00:03:26.800 of a biblical house church.

Dale Partridge - October 15, 2020

Plant a Biblical House Church - Reformation Seminary

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