Last week I was fortunate enough to talk to my brother and mentor Marc Lewis who is living and ministering in Thailand. We spent about an hour on the phone talking about a lot of stuff and then Marc laid the smack down on my as only he can.

You see, I am a part of a House Church and love it. I talk of it often and because what we do is so different from other forms of church I tend to think about church structure (as it relates to scripture and life) a lot. It was this tendency that Marc addressed. He basically said, “look Adam, it’s great that you are a part of a church body that functions Biblically and is healthy, but stop getting caught up thinking about one structure or another and start thinking about what is really important. Meditate on Jesus, on how to draw closer to Him, on how to share Him with others and on how to disciple others.”

Instant conviction.

Marc helped me to realize, I spend way to much time thinking about the structure or form that the Church takes, rather than really learning how to be the church in the world. And I also realized, this is a tendency that I have had for a while. Before thinking about church structure as it relates to House Church I was thinking about it in terms of Contemporary Church. Before that I thought a lot about the different forms of worship, wasting time considering the values of contemporary worship against traditional worship.

In the end, these things are probably worth having an opinion about, but not worth dwelling on, reading books about, and constantly blogging about, at least not at this point in my life.

So, for a time such as this, I am reminded that I need to continually deprogram. I don’t need to think about God through the lens of Traditional Church, I have already deprogrammed from that. I don’t need to think about God through the lens of Contemporary Church, I have already deprogrammed from that. And, no matter how tempting or easy, I don’t need to think about God through the lens of House Church. I need to think about God through the lens of my relationship with Him.

I know Him through my knowledge of Scripture, experience in worship and conversation in prayer. I recognize that His Spirit is alive and abiding in me as I abide in Him, and in that recognition admit that no one form, no one denomination, no one idea or man can lay claim to the full knowledge of an infinite God.

So, during this time in my life I am committing to viewing God through the lens of my eyes and scripture, nothing more, nothing less. I am exploring, deprogramming and growing. I love it.

1. britt Says:
   August 21st, 2009 at 2:56 pm

   very good.

   I was out the other night at Tabby’s and said much the same thing. I’m not out to convert people to house church, despite how valid some of the principles might be. I’m here on this earth to convert people to Jesus and Him alone.

   Peace.