It's Christmas Eve and our hearts turn toward home. There, in the intimacy of the family hearth, perhaps around a crackling fire (in our home's case)or the Christmas tree, families and friends gather together for the season of giving.
It's almost always the "home" that comes to mind,not a cavernous auditorium or Cathedral, although many might go to a place like this for a midnight service, or as part of their tradition once/year when we think of Christmas.
Homes have a very significant place in the moving of the Holy Spirit. It was in a home, the upper room, that the fire of heaven first came down, birthing the church: "Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole "house" where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest of each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.(Act 2:2-4)
Pentecost, the incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit began in an urban center. Thousands heard and responded; there were 3,000 added to the church that day, an instant "mega-church," but it seems the movement was honed in the closeness of people's homes. They did go to the temple courts, but it was in their homes where they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It seems you have to get smaller to get bigger; you have to grow in greater intimacy and community in a smaller setting in order to effect the neighborhood right around you. Sadly, I think many American Charismatic/Pentecostal churches are missing out on this. We gather together in mega-centers, filled with all the amenities of the shopping mall; there fellowship is supposed to be built around the in-house Star-bucks center just like at a food court, or the latest spectacular, entertainment event that will draw the crowds. Many people really only know the back of many people's heads or shake their hands in the so called "fellowship time." In our fragmented times, people are longing for intimacy and we draw them to the event where the Spirit is really supposed to move.
Our homes are where we retreat to. That's the place where we expose ourselves to the things we would never think of engaging in at the mega-center. That's where we take in America's fixation with celebrity and entertainment. It's a separate thing from the "church."
In the book of Acts and in many countries where the gospel is exploding, it is in the community of the home, the place where you can break together and truly connect with other believers that powerful things did happen and continue to happen. Like the nucleus of a hydrogen bomb, electrons and protons, and neutrons mix together in the smallest part sparking the fire into a chain reaction that is incredibly explosive.
This closeness is mentioned many times in the Book of Acts: from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.(Acts 5:42). Peter who spoke to thousands in the Jerusalem Public Square, enters the house of Cornelius, a gentile, and before he is even done speaking to a large gathering of people in the home, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message and they were were filled with the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues and praising God!
My wife and I have made it a practice now that when any believers visit our home, we have a time of prayer. We gather to meet with the living God, not to watch the latest entertainment from T.V or Hollywood In recent months, we have had some incredible times of prayer and praise, and it has not happened at the traditional morning "prayer" at the church or the twice a year special week of prayer. It has happened after pizza or tea or coffee. It has happened in the home in the community where we live. This is where God wants to empower us; we are to go out from the church, not point everyone to the mega-center and say that is where you can meet with God. Inviting people into your home is much less threatening; you can meet with God, see people saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and healed all in the comforts of the home.
I believe this is going to be a critical thing to understand in the times ahead. What if the Mega-churches crumble, what if the places where we try to reach our kids and neighbors with one more entertainment event can't hold them. Can a person actually be saved without a power point or light show?
When the Spirit of God is moving, you don't need any of this. Community, intimacy, connection, oneness, a sense of belonging and unity, can be unleashed out of the home!
It really is the place to turn to. God is just waiting for us to seek Him and open our homes as a place for prayer and praise.
It is from a home that the world was turned upside down!
I agree with the importance of home fellowship. Historically we can look at 2 diff models. One is China and the other is Russia. Both met in big buildings...but the Chineese also met in home groups as well. Both were hit by oppressive governments that wanted the church to crumble sothat they could succeed in full power. The Russian church died out because the people didn't have trained leaders who were used to leading small groups and could continue under ground, where the Chineese on the other hand had such leaders and the underground church is running stronger then ever there. Many times people will say we need to do one or the other, meet in homes or meet in the church, but it's when the leaders of the small groups can meet and be fed themselves as they seel where God is directing the body THEN meet in homes to help field questions and give the insight to a personal daily life of that direction that we see the church really thriving. If we wish to see the Spirit move as He wishes then it is about utilizing both.
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