UNDERSTANDING THE CONTROVERSY by: Rev. Dr. Timothy Hoflund, D.D.

Those in the so-called "House Church Movement" like to tout the faults and flaws of the "traditional" or "temple" church as fuel for their attack on the traditional church, supposing that the inherent weaknesses are reasons to abandon the traditional church and declare it to be very UN-New Testament.  Perhaps we should look at it in another way, from a different perspective.

If humans are involved then rest assured there will be flaws in the subject matter and that includes every form of Church gathering!  There is an old saying that goes something like this:  "If you find the perfect church, you had better not join it or it won't remain perfect if you do!"  The meaning of course is simply that none of us are perfect and if we think that we are, we will be proven wrong!

So it is with the different forms of Church Gathering!  We do not have to put any of them under a microscope to discover faults and flaws, they are quite visible to the "naked" eye.  Therefore this will not be a "micro" examination but a Biblical, frank evaluation of the faults evident in the Temple or Traditional Form of Church Gathering.  These will not be necessarily in order of importance nor an exhaustive listing, but will be a look at some of the more egregious conditions that are prevalent and must be addressed to be repaired or corrected.  Another thought is that perhaps, just perhaps, we are too quick to declare a short-coming to be a fault and condemn it!  Perhaps, just perhaps, God instituted the Church to gather in several formats in order to make a complete organism, a perfectly functioning institution with several aspects ... just like the Body has many members which are to all work together ... just like the Ministry has several facets, all of which are to work together, cooperating with one another so that the WHOLE ORGANISM is successful!

So, let's look at the short-comings and flaws of the "traditional" or "temple" form of church gathering and see what we come up with.  Certainly some are very serious while others may be less significant, some are repairable while others may need to be discarded.   

The Temple or Traditional Church House produces ...

• Imperialistic Image ... That is, one can easily get the impression (rightly or wrongly) that a church house with it's imposing architecture and size ... that it exists to be served! 
• • This of course directly opposes the instruction and example of Christ Who plainly states that "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."  Matthew 20:28 
  • The Church, the Body of Christ on earth, exists to be the servant of God TO humanity!
• Primarily Financial Concerns ... Here is a "can't win for trying" category.  If a church house is too impressive, people think that the church just wants money to pay the bills; if the church house is small and/or in poor shape, people think that the congregation is a group of poverty thinking down casts.
• Insensitive ... Traditional, temple church buildings have caused people in general to relegate the Church to a building, a place, instead of a local Body of Christ!  Places and buildings are insensitive to the needs of people and communities.  Places and buildings are not able to interact with the conditions in which distressed souls find themselves!
• Inflexible ... People must come to the Church on the Institution's terms and conditions!  Again, this is in direct opposition to the instructions and examples of our Lord.  Yet, when people think of Church, they commonly think of a place with a name sign to which they must go if they are to receive ministry.  To make matters worse, it also requires that people come on the institution's schedule, that if people are to share in ministry then they must rearrange their lives and life activities in order to do so!  By "life activities" I am not referring to weekends at the lake or recreational times, but am instead referring to their employment; work schedules, etc.
• • One of the worst cases for example brought my involvement into a very tragic situation.  A family's house burned down and the wife/mother had been placed on life support, but the husband had to make the decision to remove her from life support because she was pronounced brain dead with no hope of recovery.  This alone was tragic beyond imagination, but to make matters worse it happened on a Saturday night and the hour was very late.  The family's pastor had to excuse himself to go home because his Sunday morning services required him to be fresh and alert!  So he left and I was called at 2 am to come minister to this husband making the most horrible decision of his life.  Imagine!  A stranger had to go minister to a man because his pastor's church had a schedule that was unforgiving and unmovable!

 Now these are just a few of the short-comings of the traditional church that are viewed as faults, and indeed, some truly are faults ... severe faults!

Because the Traditional Churches have established themselves as a place with a name, there are some very real short-comings that are and have been creating conditions which are anything but what Jesus desired when He established HIS CHURCH!  Here is a short list of what the Temple Churches have become or the perceptions they have bred ... 

• Churches have become "staged events", orchestrated and choreographed in order to provide a weekly ministry performance for the members to enjoy.
• Churches have become "spectator events", spiritual interaction is kept to a minimum and controlled by confining "discussion" to a class room setting called Sunday School.
• Churches are no longer viewed as "Spiritual Training Centers" where the membership is activated, engaged, equipped, edified and empowered to go forth into the daily world and actually do the work of the ministry as Scripture calls for!  See:  Ephesians 4, for example.
• Churches are most often NOT community ministry centers ... benevolence ministry is a thing of the past and instead of the Church doing what Jesus requires, people in need are referred to the Social Charities such as Salvation Army, Red Cross, etc.
• Churches are being pressured to increasingly become "Centers of Tolerance" rather than "Agents of Reconciliation"!  Government dollars are funding churches now to the point that the government can and does require churches to accept and acquiesce to the desires of sinners rather than speak to the condition of the sinner!
• Churches are being stifled from speaking out against politicians who are promoting anti-righteousness and sin because the institutions are more concerned about losing their financial favor with the state than they are concerned with being the watchmen of society!
• Churches are failing to develop spiritual intimacy ... churches have become numbers oriented rather than fruit focused.  What is so sad, traditional churches so often mis-define "fruit" to be numbers!  Church growth is certainly in part, numerical.  But fruit is much more than numbers added!  Fruit is spiritual development of the BODY, of the SAINT and BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!
• • Churches have replaced the Holy Spirit with human programs!
  • Programs can never do what the Holy Spirit can accomplish!

IT MUST BE NOTED ... not all Traditional or Temple Churches have these short-comings and faults!  In fact, there are a great many very large "Temple Churches" that are functioning very much like Jesus intends!  But these great Bodies are doing something that the majority of traditional churches are not ... BLENDING ALL GATHERING FORMATS TOGETHER TO ACCOMPLISH THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY!

Most Traditional Churches that make use of house gatherings or cell groups do so AS A PROGRAM!  It is something that they have added to their agenda as just another element of extending the temple!  Now even in this, there are many benefits that come into the traditional churches that small groups just usually produce ... but they are minimal and not really meant to fulfill their actual potential!

It is because of the above listed faults ... and more that I did not bring to light ... that so many saints are disillusioned with the Traditional, Temple centered Church!  These are the reasons why so many are advocating the abandonment of the Traditional, Temple centered Church altogether in favor of "something new"!

However, I am convinced that God does not desire the overthrow or abandonment of the Traditional, Temple centered Church in favor of the "House Church".  I absolutely believe that God desires that all facets of The Church are activated and work cooperatively while there is yet time on earth to do so.  I am just as convinced though, that time is closing the doors of the True Church functioning within the framework of the Temple centered Church! 

I do not believe that Church Temples will cease to exist, but that most of them will be filled with apostate members who have compromised with the state and in fact will become social agents of the state operating as charity centers, but under the will and rule of the government and society and no longer under the will and leadership of our Heavenly Father by His Holy Spirit!

So what is the conclusion?  That we are in a time of transition which is preparing God's people to function in much smaller gatherings but will be accomplishing much more actual works of God's Gospel Ministry!  But this time of preparatory transition is not for we humans to disassemble the Traditional Temple centered Church, but to capitalize on what time we have left to become a cohesive Body with all it's parts working in right order!

Remember the warning of our Lord ... 

"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:
and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."  1 Peter 4:17-19