Why Church Leaders Fear Independent House Groups

by Van Robison

There can hardly be any doubt that many institutional church leaders fear the independence of private house groups, that are not controlled by pastors. Pastors may love "cell" house groups, only because they are controlled by the churches, but private gatherings of "unchurched" believers cannot be controlled by professional clergy. Here are some of the excuses and reasons why institutional church pastors fear the independent private fellowships:

• You need professional oversite.
• Jealousy over power and status.
• You are not qualified to understand the Bible by yourself.
• You may go astray from truth.
• You need the covering of an ordained pastor.
• You may lead others into cult beliefs.
• Independent groups cause confusion.
• Local churches will be impacted.
• Pastors income may suffer a crisis.
• Loss of church members to house groups may cause the closure of many churches.
• House churches have no trained, ordained pastors.
• House groups are not authorized.
• Independent groups should not exist without pastor's authority.
• The Gospel cannot be taken to the world without institutional churches.
• Other excuses.

The plain truth is that institutional churches, their pastors and church denominations fear the loss of control, power and free money, when Christians exit churches to follow Christ without professional clergy. Pastors and institutional churches would have people believe that following Jesus Christ is something done within the confines of institutional churches. There will no doubt be criticism from the religious leaders of many churches, which is the same scenario that happened to Jesus Christ and His disciples in their day. Any time controllers of people feel threatened with loss of status, power, prestige, control and free money, there will inevitably be persecution against the belief that voids that control. There is a parallel in the world, when the government controlled schools resist home schoolers. The primary reason seems to be the loss of revenues (money) that would otherwise accrue to the public schools; but there is very likely another major reason as well and that is because government loves to control society. Much like human governments, church religion seems to love to play the role of being God in the lives of the masses.

Those who place their faith in Jesus Christ outside of the walls of churchdom are often looked upon as "heretics", or perhaps as lukewarm Christians, or maybe even in the category of having fallen away from Christ. That is a very narrow, shallow and empty perspective. Jesus Christ is Lord, Master, Savior, High Priest, Messiah and the only Way, Truth and Life, and He is none of those things because of the institutional church system of this world, but because He is God.

The "clergy/laity" system of churchianity is being turned upside down and rejected by countless ex-church goers in many countries around the world. Following Jesus Christ apart from churchianity is very widespread in our world today and the stampede seems to have only just begun. In truth, folks who meet in private homes, parks, coffee shops or wherever are not "independent", because no one who is a follower of Jesus Christ is without Headship, which belongs exclusively to Jesus Christ. Jesus is clearly the Vine and we are the branches, and of ourselves we can do nothing (John 15). Jesus stated that where only two or three are gathered in His name, He is present. Interestingly, Jesus never once qualified fellowship as a "Sunday go to church" routine and He never said that "meetings" are a "pattern" of "being the church." The only real "Pattern" is Jesus Christ who is our real role model for life, thought, living and worship of our Creator God Almighty.

The "Christian" church world is in transition away from the long established customs and traditions of the professional clergy and into alternative fellowship where Jesus Christ is the true Head of the Body. Very likely, many pastors will have to find employment outside of the free money of churchianity in the years to come, as the eyes of more and more Christians are opened to the "clergy/laity" invention of men. The Roman Catholic Church system was rocked to the core of its being once upon a time, and it would appear that the Protestant church world is in the throes of being shaken to its core. Using the name of "Jesus Christ" but demanding man-made customs and traditions be adhered to, is the "clergy/laity" deception of the church world.

In some church circles, pastors are being schooled in how to deal with "resisters" and also taught that they should have their church members sign contracts, pledging financial and spiritual loyalty to the pastors. All scriptures that institutional church leaders quote to validate the world of churchianity should be viewed under the microscope of careful evaluation, because Jesus is not the author of authoritarianism, hierarchy or the "professional clergy" class of people who rule others in the New Testament era. In fact, in Matthew 23 Jesus Christ severely reprimanded the religious leaders for their customs and traditions which were in opposition to God and the character of God. The parallel between the religious leaders of the time of Jesus Christ and many religious church leaders today is very striking.

God chooses the foolish things of this world and life to confound those who are wise in their own eyes, and out of the mouths of babes and sucklings comes wisdom. You have to love the fact that Jesus Christ chose "uneducated" fishermen to be His personal disciples, rather than choosing the highly educated professional religionists of His day. Is there a lesson here to be learned by the deeply entrenched religious leaders today?