The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Start your own local UR church, the easy way?

Trey,

It’s not a bad idea at all, but it needs a bit more developing, I think. You have to be more than “Honey I shrunk the church” if you’re going to get people interested in coming. They can watch Peter’s sermons at home. They COULD, but of course they probably won’t unless they’re already into that. There are a lot of considerations, and it’s really never easy. Best to have an idea what you’ll be facing before you take it on. (And it would be truly brilliant if you could say to people, “Yes. I’ve done this, and it works great!”) Things are never as simple as you think they’ll be; I’m sure you’ve experienced that law of nature. :laughing:

There are:

Children: House churches attract young families and these families (in our area) are NEVER small unless they’re just getting started. The children will be of various disciplinary development (that is, some of the parents WILL let them do as they please, and some parents can’t seem to stop them.)

Adults: Not all the couples will be unified in their admiration of Peter’s sermons. I love them. My husband says they’re too complicated and hard to follow. They will have expectations of what a “church” ought to look like, and they may have specific expectations for a house church.

Food: This is our method of getting close to one another. We eat together. Without this ritual on at least a semi-regular basis, it’s unlikely you’ll develop any intimacy, and intimacy is what house church is all about. Friends “doing life” together. Otherwise, there’s honestly no point. Like I said, they’ll listen (or not) at home.

Attention Span: It’s awkward to sit in a living room with other people watching a televised sermon and not talking. People will eventually break in and say things. When that happens, you really have to hit pause and have a discussion. This is a GOOD thing, but just so you’re aware, that will happen. It’s what you ought to be hoping for, imo, because if it doesn’t happen, people will start thinking, “I could watch this at home.”

“Worship:” I’m not sure singing a bunch of sings together IS worship necessarily, but it’s an experience in a huge church with wonderful musicians and sound system and a vast sea of voices. You can feel the excitement and adulation in every cell and your spirit cries HOLY! Maybe it’s a sort of meditation in which you experience a degree of transcendence. You can do this alone, too, or maybe with one or two others of like mind. It’s extremely difficult in a living room with several other families and children who are NOT under the spell of surround sound and wonderful music. It becomes “just singing songs,” and I wonder whether it’s worth including at all. But maybe you can find a way to make it happen. If you do, I’d pay to know how to do that. On the plus side, I’m absolutely certain that this wonderful transcendent experience is not all there is to worship.

Proximity: A long drive can and will kill a group over time. You need people who are close together – not just for convenience on meeting day/night, but so you can do things together, help one another, get together for coffee, etc. through the week. A long drive just gets to be too much for people and especially for families.

There are other things, but just some things to consider as you put together your program. I’d love to see this work for you. If I were getting together another group (which is difficult, in my remote location), I would definitely use some of Peter’s sermons from time to time. :slight_smile:

Yes that video is so clear it rounded out my understanding of so much in such a short space of time. I’d like to post it to my friends on Facebook I think.
But I have been into UR and considering it for some time. How will the video look to other Christians who come to it fresh. Any thoughts?

If you look at the comments, you might get some idea of that, Chris. But I suppose that people who are looking for something of the sort will likely respond well, and others who are terrified of the idea (or are of the more Pharisaical bent) might not view it favorably. I guess it just depends on the individual. I’ve been posting it up all over the place though. Personally, I think it’s brilliant.

Thanks Cindy :slight_smile: Now all I need to do is work out how?

I (for some reason unbeknownst even to me) sometimes spend time at Yahoo Answers – Religion & Spirituality section. In the last couple of days, all the snarky atheists and some of the (in this case) sincerely concerned Christians are asking whether Robin Williams is now in hell because he killed himself, and if so, why? How could God do such a thing? And if we think He did, then how could we approve of that? So I’ve been posting it there fairly frequently. I posted it to my blog, on my FB page, to Twitter and G+ and e-mailed the link to some friends/family. I also e-mailed the Sanctuary and asked whether they sell the videos in hard copy or downloadable, but haven’t heard back.

Hallelujah in Hell was produced by Novel Motion Pictures rather than by the church itself. It was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. kickstarter.com/projects/novelmotionpictures/hallelujah-in-hell?ref=nav_search

They did make hard copies, as a KIckstarter donor, I’ve got one. I have been out of town for 4 of the last 5 Sunday’s, but I will ask Ben Sullivan, Novel Motion Picture’s principal and long time Sanctuary Member, about how to get hard copies and/or downloads the next time I see him in church.

This is a link to contact Novel Motion Pictures novelmotionpictures.com/#!contact/

This video seems to be taking off as the view count seems to be accelerating now. I liken it to a TED talk on the subject. Most of the fundamentals of UR have been compressed into 15 compelling minutes.

Thanks, Trey. I appreciate your help. :slight_smile: It wouldn’t have to be a hard copy – I buy downloadable videos from artists/teachers from time to time and you just pay for the link. But whatever works is fine for me.

Trey Great to meet you. Peter Hiett has been a cool drink of water for me for a couple of years now. I’ve read every thing I can get my hands on and try to watch all the sermons. I live in Georgia and wish that there was a church like that around here. Until then I’ll tune in. I watch him through my ROKU’s vimeo channel.

Hello, Paidion, what is your denomination? I am interested in knowing any UR denominations or churches I may be able to visit in the future.

It is not a denomination; it is a circle of fellowship which attempts to express the one and only Assembly or “Church” which Christ founded . Most of the circle’s churches are in foreign countries. These churches are not clubs you can join. The Lord adds people to the church as in Acts 2:47.

The missionary organization of this circle of fellowship is called “Global Missions inc.” Here is a link to that organization where you can learn more about the group as a whole:

globalmissionsinc.org/

I checked them out. No different than the other 1,000,000 protestant splits. Their statement of faith reflects that. Seems a bit cultish to say “Not a club, only God adds people”. Whether you intended that to be smug or not, it really came across that way.

Some positions of the group are quite common with other groups.

But… do the other million Protestant splits:

  1. hold to the eventual reconciliation of all people to God?
  2. observe the eucharist or communion every Sunday?
  3. have a body ministry, that is, an open meeting every Sunday where any member of the body of Christ can give a teaching, a prophecy, an exhortation, a hymn, etc. as the Holy Spirit leads?
  4. allow full participation without having to be a member? Indeed not having a membership roll at all?
  5. having no statement of faith to which everyone is required to subscribe (Indeed, I differ substantially from a number of points in Global Missions’ statment of faith).
  6. fellowship with others, not on the basis of philosophical or theological agreement, but on the basis of discipleship and mutual love?

Was it cultish for the early church to say that God adds people? (Acts 2:47)
It was their norm, and it is our norm. Unlike a club we do not have a membership roll with only members having full privileges.

I think you will find that whenever a person is open and honest and factual, there’s always someone to interpret his words as smug or arrogant.
There were plenty who assessed our Lord Himself that way when He referred to God as his Father. If He had kept his mouth shut, and not expressed such facts, He could have avoided public criticism.
I

It is easy to misinterpret words on the internet without the benefit of facial expression and tone of voice. Let’s give each other grace. :sunglasses:

Sonia