Guest writer Tracy Close answers the question, “What’s So Important About Having a Home Church?” She shares the importance and benefits of belonging to a local body of believers and what should keep us together.

Many Christians have become disillusioned with the idea of organized religion. Through dissatisfaction, for one reason or another, their unrest leads them to the point of abandoning their home church. This can begin a process of church hopping or a belief develops that they can subsist on their own, avoiding involvement in any church body. However, this is not what Jesus intended for His disciples, His plan was always to establish and build a body of believers that would spread the good news and support one another. Had He wanted people to fly solo, He would have walked alone Himself instead of enlisting disciples.

So we understand that through Jesus’ plan the church was conceived, but that does not tell us why we need to be rooted in one church. Why not just attend whatever flavor service suits our needs or mood at the moment?

First, we need to understand that the church discovered quite early that organization was imperative to function and survival. In Acts we read that the believers came together sharing belongings, money and food. They supported one another and had fellowship and “did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” People witnessed the community that the believers had, something that they lacked in their own lives, but longed to experience. That longing opened their hearts to salvation.

In the Great Commission, Jesus challenges believers to go out and make disciples of all nations. It is a fact that we are capable of solo evangelism, but how effective can we truly be on our own? Moreover, how long can one fly solo? When we have the support and resource of a church body unified and committed to that purpose we have the power to not only minister on one street corner, but as many corners as the body contains individuals called to that task. Furthermore, a group will certainly have more endurance than one individual without support.

The church is a place of safe haven and through the body flows the power of prayer. In a healthy church the congregants are nurtured and tended. In times of strife they are supported with prayer “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5). Those of us that are rooted in a home church enjoy the comfort and security of the knowledge that we have a host of saints interceding on our behalf, all we need do is simply ask and we shall receive.

The church is organized with the purpose of providing for ministry, evangelism, teaching and worship. If you are not participating in that you are not only missing out on the blessings that God has intended for you, but you are truly turning your back on God saying “I can do it better myself.” This, we know is false. Scripture states clearly that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us, not on our own. Jesus did not walk alone, nor should we.

A home church should be sought through prayer. It should be a place that an individual feels called to, a place where one feels compelled to serve and to become rooted therein. In order to fully experience what God has for us we must be in fellowship, must be grafted into the vine through the church. If we remain alone, we are merely adrift in stormy seas destined only to sink.

A guest article by Tracy Close, introducing you to the gifts of the Holy Spirit spoken of in the Bible.

Charismata is the plural form of the Greek word charis, meaning grace. Charismata are the visible effects of grace in word or deed, known more commonly to us as spiritual gifts.

Image: Stan Myers. Used with permission.

Much has been written about the subject of charismata, enough that one could devote quite possibly a lifetime to the reading of all of it in the pursuit of total understanding and grasp of exactly what gifts of the Spirit are, how they are used, whether they exist or not(if that understanding is actually possible).

There are many belief systems or theories existing today regarding Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

One theory, called cessation, states that spiritual gifts died with the apostles of Paul’s time (sometime around the end of the first century AD). It is believed that charismata existed to empower the budding Christian church, to ensure that through miraculous happenings people would be brought to a belief in Jesus Christ as the Savior and therefore the church would increase in numbers. Once the church was on it’s feet, so the theory goes, the gifts were no longer needed and therefore ceased. There are other cessation theories, but this seems to be the most popular.

However, this author takes the stance that the gifts of the Spirit are now and have always been present. No where does the Bible state that the gifts of the Spirit were to cease for the Church, not until Jesus comes again. There are historical accounts of the manifestation of charismata in the church through the ages. Most importantly, because I believe I have personally witnessed spiritual gifts in practice, I believe that they are alive and well in many churches today.

Having said that, the purpose of this article is to provide what I hope is a minimal education as to what spiritual gifts are and what they are not. The statements contained herein are derived from studying The Bible, literary resources, online articles and teachings in local churches.

The prophet Joel predicted, before Jesus walked the earth, that spiritual gifts would be made available to many. “It shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions; And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28). No longer would the prophets and miracle workers be a small group of people.

So it happened at the first Pentecost after Jesus ascended to heaven that the prophecy was fulfilled. “They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4)