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maybe just a Bible study?

Christ_empowered said:
Do you think maybe home based Bible studies are better, for a lot of people, than organized churches? I'm beginning to wonder...
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We do "church" over the internet at home. But, If we could find a good doctrinal Christian church in our area, we would go. In our area, there are only 2 schools of thought in our local churches....Arminian or Calvinism. The majority of them have 1 hr of music(not my cup of tea in the first place), a 15 minute break to not gossip about someone but.........Then a 20 minute sermon to make everybody feel guilty about not doing enough for Jesus and announce the 300 side ministries that they have going on.

They are either the "dog and pony show" or they are so religious and ritual orientated that they want to make you puke.

A church is supposed to train us in the Word and train future pastor teachers. Teach doctrine. Like Paul was to Timothy or Titus. That is what a Church is supposed to do. Not all this garbage we see today.

I do not have the gift of pastor teacher, so I wouldn't lead my home "Church." Our studies are under the right pastor teacher that God brought to us.
 
gr8grace3 said:
We do "church" over the internet at home. But, If we could find a good doctrinal Christian church in our area, we would go. In our area, there are only 2 schools of thought in our local churches....Arminian or Calvinism. The majority of them have 1 hr of music(not my cup of tea in the first place), a 15 minute break to not gossip about someone but.........Then a 20 minute sermon to make everybody feel guilty about not doing enough for Jesus and announce the 300 side ministries that they have going on.

They are either the "dog and pony show" or they are so religious and ritual orientated that they want to make you puke.

A church is supposed to train us in the Word and train future pastor teachers. Teach doctrine. Like Paul was to Timothy or Titus. That is what a Church is supposed to do. Not all this garbage we see today.

I do not have the gift of pastor teacher, so I wouldn't lead my home "Church." Our studies are under the right pastor teacher that God brought to us.
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Same here grace 3, don't forget the collection plate, lol.
Hear the preacher quote 1 verse, then a lot of man's word. Tom did this, thus this.
But they are good to help others in need.
But one can do that themselves.
Volunteer at the soup kitchen, give donation to help the homeless, donate to the food bank, and such...

One should be fed (spiritually) or your spirit will starve.
That is why I would rather "study" at home with others.
Get into the Word.
 
dianegcook said:
Same here grace 3, don't forget the collection plate, lol.
Hear the preacher quote 1 verse, then a lot of man's word. Tom did this, thus this.
But they are good to help others in need.
But one can do that themselves.
Volunteer at the soup kitchen, give donation to help the homeless, donate to the food bank, and such...

One should be fed (spiritually) or your spirit will starve.
That is why I would rather "study" at home with others.
Get into the Word.
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The collection plate! don't get me started.

But when I was "white knucklen" it in the last church, my wife had to rip the envelope out of my hand into the Kentucky fried chicken container( yes,they used those buckets from KFC. Just another distraction IMO.) Now I rather enjoy giving to someone I have never met personally.
 
And yes, If we can find a pastor that actually has the gift of pastor teacher he will teach you that tithing is not for the church. Tithing was for the nation of Israel, unbelievers and believers......their 10% TAXES.

Giving out of love and thankfulness with a cheerful heart is for the Church.
 
One benefit I could think of for a church is that you'd likely have more opportunity to be involved in or contribute funding towards ministries and missions.
Aside from that, the purpose of church is fellowship for a body of believers to learn and grow together, and that could be gotten from a home church or home Bible study just as well.
 
questdriven said:
One benefit I could think of for a church is that you'd likely have more opportunity to be involved in or contribute funding towards ministries and missions.
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We don't have to worry about that! The churches around here even have "ministries for the ministries that didn't quite work out." This is actually one of the major problems with church today. They have an overabundance of ministries and that is their priority. The ones they want help from are lacking the proper motive,proper tools and the proper WAY of doing it because they spend all their time setting up another ministry or mission and don't feed the flock the proper way to help.
 
True, still I want to and am glad to help ministries that, for example, provide food for those who can't afford it. In the past my family has benefited from these ministries, and I am happy to give back.
 
One thing I think a lot of people don't understand is that the word "church" doesn't simply refer to a thing that people go to on Sunday mornings. Some people think that's all "church" is. But that is called a "Worship Service". It's not a Bible study or a class. It's a time for Christians to gather together to worship God as we are commanded to do in scripture. A Bible study is a time to learn. Two very different things. Therefore a home Bible study is NOT a substitute for gathering together to worship God. Sadly I know there are some churches whose worship services have very little worship time anymore, and focus too much on other things. But not all of them. I've been to a number of worship services that still focus on actually worshiping God instead of on all the other human stuff. I just choose to go to those, and no longer go to the ones where actual worship is given a back seat.
 
Obadiah said:
Therefore a home Bible study is NOT a substitute for gathering together to worship God.
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Interesting. I have never heard this before.
What scriptures point to the distinction of bible class.
And the distinction of worship(church)

So no study of the bible or sermon in the worship(church)?
 
Gary said:
Didn't Jesus say, "Where two or three are gathered..."

Worship can take place anytime anywhere.
.
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Studying of His Word is the ultimate type of worship. And we can do it anytime we want.

A church potluck and being nice to the guy next to you while he complains about his work week is not fellowship. It seems you and I have witnessed this garbage waaaaay to much!
 
I dunno....plenty of people don't "fit in" churches. I'm a recovering "mental patient." Long story...my active madness has ended, but I'm just now (re)connecting to good ole Reality. Its awkward. I think "mental patients" have it rough wherever we go, lol. Right now, I'm supported by my (thankfully, "comfortable") parents. I also get disability. This raises issues with more conservative Christians, because I'm clearly unemployed, but my "people take good care of me," as people 'round here say.

I was thinking a Bible study, somewhere outside of a church, might be better...I do better in smaller groups, anyway, and it would spare me the awkward "so, what you do?" question, lol.
 
Gary said:
Didn't Jesus say, "Where two or three are gathered..."

Worship can take place anytime anywhere.
.
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Sure, it can. But academic study of scripture is not worship. A "Bible study" is supposed to be academic study of scripture. The verse you only partially quoted out of context says "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matt 18:20 NIV) No one said Jesus wouldn't be present at a Bible study.
 
gr8grace3 said:
Interesting. I have never heard this before.
What scriptures point to the distinction of bible class.
And the distinction of worship(church)

So no study of the bible or sermon in the worship(church)?
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When you read stuff into what a person said that's not there you misrepresent what they said. See my post #15 above.
 
Obadiah said:
When you read stuff into what a person said that's not there you misrepresent what they said. See my post #15 above.
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Neither of us are following each other then.

You seem to be making a distinction from bible study and worship(church)

Where does it separate the 2 in scripture?

I didn't mean to misrepresent you. My first post was honestly what I got out of what you said.

I truly have never heard this line of reasoning before.
 
Obadiah said:
But academic study of scripture is not worship.
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Honestly, I don't see how you can say I misrepresented you? This sums up exactly what I was asking.

We are to live our WHOLE lives in worship. Col 1:10; Eph 4:1;1 Thess 2:12

But it stops when we study? John 4:24
Worship is anywhere and anytime. Worship is listening with faith to the Lord speak through His word then faith application of the learned doctrine in assembly and throughout life.
 
If there is a lack of scripture specifically separating two things, that doesn't mean that they are both necessarily the same thing. That's just common sense. There is no scripture separating horses from palm trees either. Read Psalm 150 for a nutshell example of what worship looks like. Does this sound like people are sitting down with written scripture in their hands and discussing the finer points of what it means, as is (or should be) done in a Bible study?

As for the comment that a "worship service" then shouldn't have a sermon... While I don't totally agree with that, I do agree that at least the sermon shouldn't be the primary focus, as it is in too many so called "worship services". It's not a necessary part of worship. And yes, I agree that "study" of scripture is not a necessary part of worship. Again, read Psalm 150. There is no mention of either studying or sermonizing anything.

Again, my point isn't that good sermons or Bible study aren't an important part of being a Christian. My point is that the "church" is a lot bigger than many Christians give it credit for and the Sunday morning "Worship Service" is just a part of it and it is a part that is different from other parts, such as education (Bible study, Sunday school, etc), outreach (missions, witnessing, etc), caring for each other in physical ways, etc, etc, etc. There are many parts of the church, and Bible study does not substitute for worship any more than prayer is a substitute for a church run clothing bank for the homeless. Sure, they are all part of the church and can be related, but they are not all the same thing. Not even if there is no specific scripture saying they are not the same thing.

A person who insists on shunning the church for only attending a "home Bible study", only watching "church" on TV, or any of the other excuses I've heard is missing out on a lot of chances to serve and worship God by avoiding the rest of the body of Christ who are active in local churches.
 
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