In this episode Mike and Trey talk with Tim Andrews and Rich Baker about alternative ways to think about church – specifically, if church wasn’t a time or a place, what would that be like? Tim Andrews currently lives in Atlanta, GA, and has been in leadership in alternative church communities for over twenty years. Rich Baker has a long history in ministry to the homeless and other marginalized communities in the US and abroad. Many who listen to the podcast feel displaced from church and have expressed the desire to connect with likeminded people. This episode focuses on how the traditional modern church model can either be supplemented or replaced with Christian fellowship that builds a sense of family and is serious about biblical content.
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 98: Conversation about Alternatives to Modern Church (“House Churches”)
I love this topic. Great show.
I love this topic. Great show.
How do we get in contact with these people?
for now, you can email me.
brought this topic up in my Sunday school class just this last week and you would have thought I questioned the very foundations of salvation through faith in Christ. My point was to remind the class that when we think of church, we ought not only consider the typical western church, large auditorium with pews and a worship leader, but rather, the notion that the Church is all those who believe in Christ and when they meet together to encourage each other and fellowship, that is in fact fulfilling the requirements laid out in Hebrews. NOPE NOPE NOPE. You gotta be in the local church and tithe to the local church because that is how someone has always done it and that’s where the money and power are (my words). Yikes!
Haven’t listened to the pod cast yet but wanted to share that. Will listen today. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Will do, thx Mike. Vive la New Reformation! 😉
Where can I learn more about the “non-profit” mentioned at the end of this podcast?
Super-valuable, I’ll be returning to this episode & listening to it again. Thank you!!
Stay tuned on the site. When the website redo is done (hopefully mid-May) there will be an update. Right now the only way anyone can donate to the non-profit (Miqlat) is to donate to the podcast: http://www.nakedbiblepodcast.com/support/
How do we get in contact with these people?
for now, you can email me.
Will do, thx Mike. Vive la New Reformation! 😉
Where can I learn more about the “non-profit” mentioned at the end of this podcast?
brought this topic up in my Sunday school class just this last week and you would have thought I questioned the very foundations of salvation through faith in Christ. My point was to remind the class that when we think of church, we ought not only consider the typical western church, large auditorium with pews and a worship leader, but rather, the notion that the Church is all those who believe in Christ and when they meet together to encourage each other and fellowship, that is in fact fulfilling the requirements laid out in Hebrews. NOPE NOPE NOPE. You gotta be in the local church and tithe to the local church because that is how someone has always done it and that’s where the money and power are (my words). Yikes!
Haven’t listened to the pod cast yet but wanted to share that. Will listen today. I’m sure I’m not alone.
Super-valuable, I’ll be returning to this episode & listening to it again. Thank you!!
Pope Innocent IV while showing Thomas Equines the glory of the Vatican said [referring to the lame begger story in Acts], “no longer must the Church say silver and gold have I none.” Thomas Equines said, “yes but no longer is the Church able to say in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
Great episode!!! Thank you!
I brought this topic up in my Sunday
school class just this last week and you would have thought I
questioned the very foundations of salvation through faith in Christ. My
point was to remind the class that when we think of church, we ought
not only consider the typical western church, large auditorium with pews
and a worship leader, but rather, the notion that the Church is all
those who believe in Christ and when they meet together to encourage
each other and fellowship, that is in fact fulfilling the requirements
laid out in Hebrews. NOPE NOPE NOPE. You gotta be in the local church
and tithe to the local church because that is how someone has always
done it and that’s where the money and power are (my words). Yikes!
Haven’t listened to the pod cast yet but wanted to share that. Will listen today. I’m sure I’m not alone.
After reading your comment, I had a similar experience regarding I attend a men’s small group which is in some ways great. We take turns leading, and for one of my turns I decided to use some of the discussion from the Unseen Realm about the 2 powers in Heaven, just to generate interest in the topic with the goal that we would read the Unseen Realm as a group. Rather than turning everyone off by starting with too much, I decided to have us read through 4 or 5 of the passages you discussed in which the identity of Yahweh, The Angel, or the Word, etc. was made ambiguous, and ask everyone what they thought about it. While I didn’t expect immediate enthusiasm, I was surprised by the resistance to even discussing this I received. Like your group, you would have thought I asked them to drink poison! Everyone in this group is college educated and a professing Christian, although from varying denominational or non-denominational backgrounds. The reaction was really out of proportion. The strange thing is that it wasn’t really to the content (we didn’t even get that far) it was merely to the idea of discussing these passages with the idea that God exists as more than “one” is written in the text, in plain view. Anyway, if anyone has some successful experience introducing Dr. Heiser’s teaching to the skeptical Christian, please share.
May the God of all creative wisdom guide us !–God led me in this area with somewhat of an alternative way to this. We have these experiences in churches where we have this loving content to share,but people are not prepared for it. Or we are not Initmate enough ,in our fellowship with those we want to share with. I became aware of this in the Spirit, at a point in my Christ walk, and God moved me with the idea ” Why dont I just go through the phone book, call different churches, and ask them –When do your small groups meet ? Or –Do you have any home groups ? Prayer meetings ? Mens groups ? You know, just any kind of meeting where you can get into intimate fellowship with some of the” pillars “of the church maybe,as scripture talks about.Or maybe a group that is gathered to clean the church on a Saturday Just any serious group. If you can somehow get into a staff meeting, those are great. Just any group that is serious about intimate fellowship,verses just going to the main Sunday meeting, that got to the point of having so many distractions from true intimate fellowship . It can be hard to start a fellowship just from scratch sometimes,when God can provide a more graceful way, and when with this way, you not only get that intimate fellowship needed to share loving things like The Unseen Realm content, but have rescued our churches that maybe just needed a little loving care fromGod ! I started doing this a few years ago , and it has worked ! I am now part of about fourvarious kinds of groups like these ,in different churches, and am Gracefully getting the Unseen Realm content to them. I think the best kind of meeting is a prayer meeting. Because you can bring the Unseen Realm Theologies right into your prayers, and here and there , the brothers will hear something you say, and ask you about it. And then you can actually Pray with them about it !