Bible Discussion Thread

Church fellowship: Formal attendance or home church?

My last two posts discussed how we should be in fellowship especially in light of today's trends of reduced church attendance and that is part of the bigger issue of rapidly increasing percentages of the population becoming atheists. Having been involved in a home church in the past as well as being a regular attendee of a formally recognized church (now a member) I have seen factors that can be calculated in decisions as to what works best for someone considering these two options. For me it wasn't an "either or" proposition; I always had a regular Sunday church experience along with attending prayer meetings; and evangelical outreach with those in the home church along with Bible studies. There were times that conflicting events would necessitate a decision which place to attend on a given night but that was never a huge issue.

There were issues of inordinate disputes and hypercalvanism that caused some division and strife in the home church. The communion and choice of elders wasn't exactly according to church protocol in my opinion; and that along with a split caused me to move away from there. In general; I saw a distinct advantage in zeal for evangelism and prayer and the results in divine appointments from such efforts. Once this group split off; several individuals eventually attended a local church and some became members; one becoming an elder recently. This has in my opinion blessed the church with those who are committed to regular evangelism; but also brought out the contrast with others who are more lackadaisical in my opinion.

I have found recently that a strange paradox seems to be occurring. There is support for starting a new prayer group on my end. I haven't seen the desire for many in that regard based on the conversations beyond those who already are involved during the week for online prayer. Some churches are so regimented that the leadership wants to dictate.