Dale Partridge - Plant a Biblical House Church - Reformation Seminary

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