“Do not stop meeting together”. Kevin Dustow

Hebrews 10v25 “Not forsaking of yourselves together as is the habit of some.”

Last week I mentioned that this verse was thrown up at me continuously when I was younger. I notice that many well-meaning Christians also do it today. It has been in my DNA from a child until recently. I use to feel guilty when I did not go to church because I felt I was letting God down. When God started deprogramming me some months back, I decided to look at this verse and see what it really meant. Did it mean that I must go to church even though I have been abused by the church and the leadership? Must I attend church when I have seen no love, no forgiveness and just judgemental attitudes? Do I have to attend church where the Holy Spirit is not given freedom and everyone is just going through the motions? I found out what the verse in Hebrews 10v25 means and it was far from what I had been taught.

1. This verse does not mean meeting in a church. Right thru until the first century there was no church building. There was the “ecclesia” which was the people but they all met in homes as per Acts 2v46.  They did go to the temple but they also still considered themselves Jews and used this as an evangelistic tool. The teaching of the Word, communion and fellowship was done in the home. Hebrews 10v25 was a gathering of believers not the gathering of the church as such.
2. Was is the real purpose of the gathering of Christians?  Hebrews 10v24 is the context. We gather together to stir up good works, to stir up love and good works and exhort one another. It is said that there are 59 “one another” in the New Testament. Check them out sometime. Almost all of these cannot be done in a “church” setting. The church service is structured. You walk in, maybe shake someone’s hand or get ignored, sit down, the songs are in format with maybe three or four, the children are sent out, the notices are read, the preaching takes place. They may or may not allow the Holy Spirit to move and if he does, time is limited. The service finishes right on time and then it is over. There maybe coffee available but hardly anyone talks to you and you just leave until next Sunday. The 59 “one another’s” in the Bible cannot be activated because the church is all structured.
3. In 1^st Corinthians chapter 14 it speaks about the spiritual giftings given to every believer. They are to be used in the gathering. It says “if someone has a song then bring it to edify”. If I went into a church with my guitar and in the middle of the service just walked up the front and started singing, would I be welcome? It says “bring a prophesy to encourage.” I know of many people who have tried this in the middle of a church service and been shut down. If I stood up in the middle of the sermon and asked the speaker some questions I would be removed, yet that is what the early church did. Hebrews is not speaking of going to church as we think church is. It is Christians meeting together whether it is a Monday or Sunday. The early church did not meet together just once, as we do on Sunday morning. It was at any opportunity they had.

Over the years I have been conned by well meaning people that I must attend church but as we have seen, this is unscriptural. Gather together with believers yes but formally on a certain day, I do not think so.

Several weeks ago, I received a phone call from a person in leadership from a church I had previously begun going to but had stopped. He asked me why I was not attending. I took my opportunity and told him some truths.

I said that there was no relationship with one another. The first two weeks when I arrived everyone was all over me and I was invited to the pastor’s home. After two weeks the welcoming had stopped and the pastor would walk past me without saying even a “hello”. As a new person who had been hurt by other churches this is not what I was looking for.

The worship songs were the same every week. They didn’t bring me into Gods presence which I was really wanting. The congregation were hardly singing.

The pastor’s sermons were written up on a screen behind him and basically read. Not inspirational at all.

The man I talked to was not surprised and said he had heard similar comments from others.

There was a survey taken of people who had left larger churches. The question asked was “what would you like to see in a church”. The answer was “more intimacy.” That is what the early church had and it worked well for them. People I have talked to are wanting that as well so because they cannot find it, they stop attending the organised gatherings. They have not lost their faith but are looking for another way.

What is the alternative? Look forward to the next blog.