Church buildings

…The persecution they endured certainly prevented them from having those buildings, yet spiritually they were more mature than most of us. It is important to go back there.

One question is, brethren and sisters... do we really need them?

We DO need assemblings, absolutely. But do they have to be in a church building? Can we not assemble anywhere wish to? The earliests Christians generally assembled at their houses. The persecution they endured certainly prevented them from having those buildings, yet spiritually they were more mature than most of us. It is important to go back there.

One question is, brethren and sisters... do we really need them?

We DO need assemblings, absolutely. But do they have to be in a church building? Can we not assemble anywhere wish to? The earliests Christians generally assembled at their houses. The persecution they endured certainly prevented them from having those buildings, yet spiritually they were more mature than most of us. It is important to go back there.

There are lots of home churches. There are also lots of churches meeting in rented meeting space, school gyms, barns, and community rec centers. One near us meets in a car dealerships show room. The church is the people, not the building.

Having a dedicated building makes many things easier but meeting in someone's home is perfectly fine.

One question is, brethren and sisters... do we really need them?

We DO need assemblings, absolutely. But do they have to be in a church building? Can we not assemble anywhere wish to? The earliests Christians generally assembled at their houses. The persecution they endured certainly prevented them from having those buildings, yet spiritually they were more mature than most of us. It is important to go back there.

1000s and 1000s of home groups spread out, independently operating, holds no accountability.

Accountability to who?

Anyone. They are free to teach anything they choose

and there's no one to correct them

or out them.

Your conclusion does not follow logically. Spiritual maturity does not come about by meeting in homes.

One question is, brethren and sisters... do we really need them?

We DO need assemblings, absolutely. But do they have to be in a church building? Can we not assemble anywhere wish to? The earliests Christians generally assembled at their houses. The persecution they endured certainly prevented them from having those buildings, yet spiritually they were more mature than most of us. It is important to go back there.

Anyone. They are free to teach anything they choose and there's no one to correct them or out them.
That's why so many cults start as home churches. No one is paying attention to what they preach until they become big enough to be noticed, and by then it's too late.
I did, once, go to a home church a few times. It was ran by the brother of an old friend I had done street witnessing with in the past.
By the third visit I was so furious with what they were saying and doing I blew up and stormed out. Mind you I was about 16 and still knew things weren't right there.
I began telling people, Christian friends, what had happened there. A few months later my old friend, a grown man, another grown man and the one person I befriended there, who was a new Christian and didnt know anything, showed up at my door, at night, complaining I was talking bad about their home church. It was clear they were there to intimidate me to shut up.
The next time I called that new Christian I befriended, he told me the home church told him he was not allowed to have anything more to do with me. I could hear the struggle in his voice over this decision. He clearly didn't agree, but not knowing any better he did as he was told.
Now mind you when I spoke about the home church I didn't just go around saying they were bad, but I gave examples of my actual personal experiences and pretty much everyone drew their own conclusions. And every conclusion was negative against the home church.
They got away with this for years. No accountability. Until they convinced a 16 year old girl to run away from home and live with them. The reason? Her Christian parents didn't like what was going on at the church and wanted her to stop going. Not stop church, just that home church.
Obviously this lead to authorities stepping in and taking the girl back home. And the home church got put on a cult watch.
So in short this home church sent grown men to intimidate a 16 year old for sharing their experiences. Banned an adult man from talking to me, for the same reason. And got a 16 year old girl to run away from her Christian home because her parents didn't like the church. And that's just the stuff I knew about, which is little.
Also the old friend of mine had started going to my church. I hadn't been able to go as much, so he went a few weeks that I didn't know of.
After a few weeks he stood up during Sunday morning service, interrupting the whole thing, and claimed that a "prophetess", that remained nameless, told him that the pastor was stealing money from the church. I believe more was also said against him.
As a result the church literally split in half, and half of them quit.
Sadly most of the ones that quit were long time members. And not just long time members, but members who volunteered their time and talents to literally help build the church building. And I've no idea if he did this anywhere else, but I have to assume so.
No accountability for his actions or for the home church he was connected to.

I hope so!

That's quite an assertion.

I'm not sure what that means, but when you left that church, weren't you 'outing' them?

The JW's, Mormons, Branch Davidians, Jim Jones, etc. all have/had buildings. Jim Jones' large congregation had accountability. When a member dozed off during a service, they physically hit the guy. (This was before they moved to South America and REALLY had accountability).

A small, independent, assembly can be a very godly group that is in agreement (koinonia) with what they teach and lovingly correct those among them who are in error. They're accountable to one another.

Do you honestly believe this? The big churches are the MOST wicked, so apparently it does not have anything to do with "ACCOUNTABILITY". The catholic church is extremely authoritarian, or was rather and guess what, they are probably the WORST church. Full of idolatry.

I could go down the list of all major denominations, all are in absolute apostasy.

But they didn't all Start Off in large buildings, which was my point.
And you think it's good that the leaders have zero accountability for what they teach? Like the home church I spoke about, that you avoided responding to?
I did speak about them, but did it do any good? Did anyone step in after hearing this? Nope. It continued until they broke the law after brainwashing a 16 year old girl.
You consider striking church members for sleeping accountability?

And why are you treating it as if I said all home churches are bad? I clearly stated that they were not and that I, myself, had considered going to one (even after my first experience with one).
But alas this is the BDF. All to often people are eager to twist words, or ignore them, to create an argument. Never to listen and understand.

This has been a good reminder why I tend to avoid posting here, or responding to BDF regulars in other parts of the site they pop up.