Daily Christian Growth For Your Children and Yourself

[bobinfaith]

Good morning, everyone;

I would like to ask a sensitive question regarding daily Christian Growth for your children, your grown up children, their children and yourself.

This is an area that I come across in the Church and outside of the Church, often. I have met folks in our community who do not attend Church, or any Church and shared their reasons or decision why.

Some parents I met when their children attended pre-school at a Church I served years ago, others dropped their children and teens off to attend midweek service followed by youth group (13-17) and children's group (5-12.) Many times the children attending, this actually ministered to their parents and eventually the parents would attend Church.

Some parents and individuals have shared why they don't attend Church from an experience they had with the Pastor, Church leadership, objectivity with the Church's doctrine or a discouraging personality conflict with another.

For those whose children are grown up adults, do they attend Church with their children?

Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages believers to meet together. Many just do not favor the gathering of fellow believers. What is your view of this passage?

Respectfully, many of you have shared your reasons here at BTF for choosing to worship within your home, by the lake, online Church service, personal worship / minister's message, etc...

I'm asking for an open, respectful and constructive discussion.

Please let me know your thoughts.

God bless everyone.

Bob

 

[TitusTwoWife]

My husband and I would like our kids to know that they  are the church if they believe. If two or three are gathered, there Christ is in the midst.

Worship is to be done by obeying the Lord from the heart at all times. It does not have to look like a traditional worship service.

Early Christian leaders were against large fancy buildings. Those didn't come till the 4th century with Constantine. Tithing came in at the 6th century with King Charlemagne.

I believe meeting for a meal informally to discuss the things of God is closer to how the early church operated. The benefit of this was that funds could be levied at urgent needs of the believers and the poor and not funneled into a paid staff or keeping up a fancy building.

 

[Yesua888]

My husband and I would like our kids to know that they  are the church if they believe. If two or three are gathered, there Christ is in the midst.

Worship is to be done by obeying the Lord from the heart at all times. It does not have to look like a traditional worship service.

Early Christian leaders were against large fancy buildings. Those didn't come till the 4th century with Constantine. Tithing came in at the 6th century with King Charlemagne.

I believe meeting for a meal informally to discuss the things of God is closer to how the early church operated. The benefit of this was that funds could be levied at urgent needs of the believers and the poor and not funneled into a paid staff or keeping up a fancy building.

A "network" of fellow Believers would be so good, but not always possible ...

 

[Yesua888]

Good morning, everyone;

I would like to ask a sensitive question regarding daily Christian Growth for your children, your grown up children, their children and yourself.

This is an area that I come across in the Church and outside of the Church, often. I have met folks in our community who do not attend Church, or any Church and shared their reasons or decision why.

Some parents I met when their children attended pre-school at a Church I served years ago, others dropped their children and teens off to attend midweek service followed by youth group (13-17) and children's group (5-12.) Many times the children attending, this actually ministered to their parents and eventually the parents would attend Church.

Some parents and individuals have shared why they don't attend Church from an experience they had with the Pastor, Church leadership, objectivity with the Church's doctrine or a discouraging personality conflict with another.

For those whose children are grown up adults, do they attend Church with their children?

Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages believers to meet together. Many just do not favor the gathering of fellow believers. What is your view of this passage?

Respectfully, many of you have shared your reasons here at BTF for choosing to worship within your home, by the lake, online Church service, personal worship / minister's message, etc...

I'm asking for an open, respectful and constructive discussion.

Please let me know your thoughts.

God bless everyone.

Bob

Hi Bob,
Yes, we have shared before ...
My prayers were to meet like-minded Christians, in a local community setting, however, as I said, my circumstances at this stage, are not "conducive" to this.
BTF is as close as it gets to attending "church", maybe even "closer", as it is a very Special Place to belong.
There are so many ways today, to tap into "Jesus" ...

 

[David]

Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages believers to meet together. Many just do not favor the gathering of fellow believers. What is your view of this passage?

Respectfully, many of you have shared your reasons here at BTF for choosing to worship within your home, by the lake, online Church service, personal worship / minister's message, etc...

I'm asking for an open, respectful and constructive discussion.

Please let me know your thoughts.

That is a good and fair question, and I believe it needs to be answered with Scripture first, not church culture first. Hebrews 10:24-25 does matter. The Bible says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another” ~Hebrews 10:24-25. That is not a throwaway verse. God did not design believers to drift alone, grow alone, fight alone, and suffer alone. Sheep separated from the flock are easier targets.

The Christian life was never meant to be lived like a coal pulled out of the fire. Pull one coal away and it cools fast. Keep it among the others and the fire keeps burning. That is why Scripture speaks so often about “one another.” “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” ~Galatians 6:2. “Exhort one another daily” ~Hebrews 3:13. “Teaching and admonishing one another” ~Colossians 3:16. That cannot happen if every believer lives sealed off from other believers.

But here is where we need to be careful. The Bible does not define faithfulness by merely sitting in a building. The church is not the building. The church is the redeemed people of God. “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular” ~1 Corinthians 12:27. A man can sit in a pew every Sunday and still be cold toward God. Another man can meet with believers in a home, pray, study Scripture, serve others, and walk faithfully with Christ.

So the issue is not just, “Do you attend somewhere?” The issue is, “Are you truly gathering with believers under the authority of God’s Word, being strengthened, corrected, encouraged, and stirred up to love and good works?”

At the same time, we need to say plainly that staying away from fellowship because of laziness, bitterness, pride, or a desire to avoid accountability is not biblical. Some people do not want fellowship because they do not want anyone close enough to challenge them. That is dangerous ground. “He that separateth himself seeketh his own desire, and rageth against all wise judgment” ~Proverbs 18:1.

But there is another side. Some people have left churches because the doctrine was corrupt, leadership was abusive, sin was being excused, or Scripture was being replaced with tradition, entertainment, politics, or man-made authority. In those cases, leaving is not rebellion. Sometimes it is obedience. Scripture says, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” ~Romans 16:17. It also says, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” ~Galatians 5:9.

Nobody should be pressured to sit under false teaching just so others can say they “go to church.” That is like telling someone to stay in a in a sinking boat just because they are on a boat.

For our children and grandchildren, the responsibility starts at home. God told Israel, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children” ~Deuteronomy 6:7. Fathers are told to bring their children up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” ~Ephesians 6:4. A faithful gathering of believers can help, encourage, and strengthen that work, but it cannot replace it. If Christ is not being taught at home, a church program will not magically fix that.

So my answer is simple. Yes, believers need fellowship. Yes, Hebrews 10:24-25 still stands. Yes, we should avoid isolation. But no, we should not pretend that every building with a church sign is safe, biblical, or spiritually healthy.

The goal is not religious attendance. The goal is faithfulness to Christ.

If a believer can gather with a sound local body where Scripture is honored, Christ is preached, sin is confronted, and the saints are encouraged, they should not treat that lightly. But if a place twists the Word, hides sin, or replaces Christ with man’s system, the believer must obey God rather than man.

Biblical fellowship is not just being in the same room with religious people. It is believers walking together under the authority of the Word, pointing one another back to Christ, and helping one another stay faithful until the Lord brings us home.

 

[bobinfaith]

Good morning, everyone;

Thank you for your good posts with Scriptures defining Christian growth between you and the Lord and importance of the gathering of believers. This gathering of believers does trickle down to men, women, friends and especially children.

The gathering of family, friends, community can take place anywhere, homes, parks, coffee shops, Christian forums, ZOOM and comparable online meets and for those who choose to attend the Church sanctuary.

For me personally, when we enter the Church building we truly believe God's presence is there. We immediately enter a spirit of worship, peace, calm and preparation for the worship service.

The gatherings of believers in home churches flourished during the Gospels. It wasn't until the 3rd century when Christians began attending Church buildings for worship.

Prior to the electronic age Christians had a high attendance at sanctuaries during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Many towns observed Sunday worship and closed their businesses. Today, there remain many Churches around the world that still fill their sanctuaries. God bless them for that.

However, in these times there are also growing homes, parks, coffee shops, etc... that also fill believers.

Acts 17:24-27, 24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. - NIV

When the gathering of believers seek the Lord regardless of the boundaries, inside or outside, He is not far from each one of us inhabiting our praises and worship.

God bless you all.

Bob