Recently, in my ladies’ Bible study group, one of the ladies brought up the fact that she had read Wayne Jacobsen’s book, “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore” — the same book I just recently purchased, myself, but haven’t yet gotten around to reading… a book I’ve been very much looking forward to reading!

Well, this lady mentioned how she believed the book was very “dangerous”, and basically said it was full of “heresy” — that it was leading people away from what God intended.

Then another lady piped up and said that she had some friends who’d read the book, and they started their own “home church”. These friends took the idea a little too far, though, and secluded themselves, not having anything to do with anyone who didn’t belong to their home “church” (more like a cult, if you ask me). And, yet, this woman believed, now, that all home churches are bad, and that they are all cultish, and wrong.

Then, my pastor’s wife — who leads that particular morning study (I usually go to an evening study, led by a different woman from our church — same study, just different time, place & leader) — spoke up, and said that she and her husband (my pastor) had read Wayne Jacobsen’s book, and they, too, believe it is a book full of untruths, and that it’s leading people of God astray.

Through it all, I sat quietly by, and just listened, fully interested in this conversation. Having just read other books on the topic of home churches and the like, I was very excited, thinking I’d found an amazing freedom from the legalism and such that I’d grown up with. But now I’m curious… was I so ready to believe a lie?

Don’t get me wrong… I’m still thinking that the revelations I received about this whole “church” thing were true, and that they still might be worthwhile. But, I’m definitely going to have to read that Wayne Jacobsen book sooner –rather than later– so that I can form my own opinion. And, I’m definitely going to have to pray for a spirit of discernment before (and while) I read it. Afterward, I may just go to my pastor and ask him about his thoughts on the book — I trust his opinion, and I’m curious why they think this is all “dangerous thinking”.

I can see how, if you take it too far, it can be dangerous — like that group that started a home church and then secluded themselves. That isn’t the point. When you start a home church, it’s not so that you can pull yourselves away from the community of believers, or so that you can be the ONLY believers that are “right”… it’s so that you can go back to the way things were done in the beginning, and almost “purify” the concept of church, taking out the legalism and hypocrisy that’s become so rampant this day & age. You still should engage the world around you, including other believers, even if some (or most) of those other believers still believe in doing church by going to a building and listening to a pastor give a sermon on Sunday morning.

To me, the point of going back to a “home church” style, or pulling away from going to a building and listening to a sermon, is to focus more on God, and to get away from what church isn’t supposed to be.

Stay tuned… I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on this in the near future. ;)