Planting for Growth

There is an interesting article in this week's Time magazine about a new yet old phenomenon. It is the concept of people getting together in each other's homes on a weekly basis as community and discussing life, sharing life, and...well....for lack of a better term....DO-ing life. Much of the discussion after a meal is shared centers around God and how He fits into everyone's life. Some of the people that come are believers....some come just to learn more. Some come just to be part of the social environment.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1167737,00.html

As I have done research on this, this whole thing goes back in time to how people once lived. Rather than put on facades (and spend a lot of money) to SHOW the outside world what you are, you get to actually go into a place and be accepted for who you ACTUALLY are. After spending years in the credit industry and seeing the amount of debt that people have racked up to impress others, stay even with what society thinks, or just cure boredom with acquiring "stuff", I find the concept of spending time in fellowship with others and just being who you are and see other people for who they are to be fascinating.

The concept is called Home Church but I think that can be a bit misleading because of preconceived notions about what "Church" is. It is kind of the same thing as calling oneself a Christian. If someone tells someone, "I am a Christian," that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people....not all of it good. One could even make the argument that most of it is not good. I, for one, am not a Christian. I believe in Christ's philosophies and I try to follow His teachings as best that I can but I don't profess to have it down. The label "Christian" almost automatically invites "non-Christians" to attack or dismiss the Christian because of preconceived notions of what has happened in the name of Christ. The sadness of that is that it almost gives the "non-Christian" a free ticket to ignore and not even look into Christ's teachings.

From someone that sees behind the facades (remember, I have looked at your credit report), I see the struggle that many people live under every day....debt. While not all debt is incurred as a means to fill a hole much like an alcoholic or drug addicted person does, a lot of it is....whether or not the credit user wants to admit it or not.

Simple church, Home Church, organic church....it doesn't matter what the label is. It is people coming together and enjoying each other's company and discussing life. And, while this concept will totally blow many people away, after some time spent in this environment, you find that these people that you spend this time with actually can become family....good family. For those unfortunate enough not to have good family, it's a taste of fresh water. For those with good family, it's a tremendous enhancement to their lives.

It is amazing to me what is happening in other countries around this concept. In many of these countries, meeting like this is prohibited by the government. Yet, despite the risk of terrible consequences, people still do it. Man's yearning for community is so strong that it circumvents his need for security....WOW! It makes sense, though. The people are saying, "it is better to be dead than to be alone." In Western culture, we have total freedom to assemble...the problem is that, in many cases, the things that we assemble about aren't that life sustaining or really worth assembling over. "Let's go to the mall," or "I'll meet you at the bar," will get you through the day or night....but what happens later?....and if a price has to be paid for it?

So, if you run across someone talking about Home Church or something like that, be curious. Go visit one evening.....do you really have anything better to do than expand your circle of friends? Who knows...the person that invited you might someday become that brother or sister that you always wished that you had.

It's amazing. Life does keep getting better.