It is becoming a growing trend in Europe to leave the church. Hundreds of thousands of people are officially cutting ties with organized religion. The recent Huffington Post article titled, Europeans “De-Baptize” In Growing Numbers, Church Officials Worried, states that, “In Germany, a record 181,000 Catholics formally split from the Catholic Church in 2011.”
This is also the case in other parts of Europe: “The numbers of people reportedly leaving the Dutch church reportedly shot up 25 percent” and “In Britain, a de-baptism certificate offered as a joke by the National Secular Society has since turned serious after tens of thousands of people downloaded it.”
So, how should God feel about all of this? Is this hurting His bottom line, affecting His consumer base? Should God be panicking just a little?
I tend to believe that most of these churchgoers who seek to get de-baptized fall into one of two categories.
The first category being people who have no connection with God at all. Not to say that they are all atheists, though many might be. They might believe that there is a God, they just don’t have a relationship with Him in any real sense.
I would suspect that a second group consists of many people who have discovered that the “institution” of church has little to do with God at all. They are beginning to realize what most of you reading this already know.
Christian Weisner, German spokesman for the international lay reform movement stated, “I don’t think they want to get rid of their belief, their connection to Jesus, and the baptism, but they don’t want to be connected with the church hierarchy.” Sound familiar?
We have seen something of a mass-exodus happening here in the States as well. Not to the extent of what has happened in Europe, yet. But many experts believe that the trend will continue to see many more people experimenting with church in non-traditional settings.
That is why House2House exists. House2House is committed to help resource those who are on the journey of seeking a more organic form of church.
Recently the House2House board met in Austin, Texas for a three-day retreat. We all agreed that we do not want to be ruled by a machine that is called House2House. We don’t want to be part of an organization that exists just because it has existed in the past. Even the term “organization” left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths.
We decided that House2House is due for a “makeover.” It’s time for an update to our website, to make a bit of a course correction as regards to our mission and develop a new set of tools to help all of us. We might look a tad bit more organized in the future but please don’t call us an organization. That’s not what House2House is about.
House2House is a story. It’s your story and my story. It’s what happens when believers come together as the body of Christ. It is unpredictable and a bit chaotic. It is the fear of coming together not knowing exactly what will happen today but trusting that God does, and resting in that. It’s little kids running around during a church gathering at times. It’s eating a meal together that everyone contributed to. It’s laughing, singing, and crying. It’s finding that jewel of a Bible passage that you have never noticed before and the excitement of sharing it with your church.
If this sounds familiar or it sounds like something you would like to be a part of, then we are here to help. If you are what we might call a “stakeholder,” someone who has been around House2House through thick and thin, someone who might even have an old H2H printed magazine lying around, then we would like to share some opportunities with you:
Partner with us by telling your story. We have found that one of the best ways for us to encourage others is to share stories. We know that there are a ton of God stories out there and we want to publish them on our website every week.
Partner with us by giving. When we give to God, He takes our resources and multiplies them in amazing ways. You can give any amount here.
Partner with us by testing new tools. When big companies produce new products and tools, they spend a lot of money to do test marketing. We are not, nor do we want to be one of those big companies. However, we would still love your opinions. We are going to be working on a new web site, new videos, and other tools. If you would like to be one of our stakeholders who get a first look at what we are doing just send an email to [email protected] and we would love to get your opinions.
I am really excited about what God is doing with His church. I am also very excited about getting to talk with many of you who have been part of House2House in the past and those of you who are new to House2House. It is an honor to be part of the House2House team and to serve you however we can.
Ken Eastburn
Executive Director
House2House
Keith Giles, aka subversive1, has just released an e-book called The Power of Weakness.
The House2House book store is is a part of Amazon – giving you the best prices and shipping possible.
Viral Jesus: Recovering the contagious power of the Gospelby Ross Rhode
By returning to what we once had…
We can recover what we once enjoyed.
In the early centuries Christianity was an explosive, viral movement that spread by word of mouth. Persecution could not stop it. In fact, it often helped to spread it.
But today, the gospel is no longer spreading like wildfire throughout the Western world. Slowly, Christianity has morphed into something much different…a stable institutionalized religion that no longer grips us with the excitement and spirituality of the early years.
Ross Rohde believes that this excitement and passion can be recaptured. In Viral Jesus he uses examples from the Bible and today to explore how we can return to our roots and once again enjoy the excitement, simple spirituality, and explosive growth of early Christianity.
The Pastor Has No Clothes!
by Jon Zens
Protestantism carries on with the practice of making the “pastor” the focal point in church. In The Pastor Has No Clothes, Jon Zens demonstrates that putting all the ecclesiastical eggs in the pastor’s basket has no precedent in the New Testament. Using 1 Corinthians 12:14, Zens shows the usual way of doing church contradicts Paul’s self-evident remark that “the body indeed is not one part” and then goes on to unfold from that Epistle how the living church functions “with many parts.” Jon dismembers the traditional pastor doctrine from various angles by combining two new essays and a response to Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor: A Memoir, with three past articles and excerpts from his response to Dr. Ben Witherington’s review of Pagan Christianity.
Journeys to Significance: Charting a Leadership Course from the Life of Paulby Neil Cole
A powerful, biblically based model of leadership development based on the life of the Apostle Paul
All churches, denominations, and parachurch organizations are eager for new models of leadership development. Cole uses the life and leadership lessons of the Apostle Paul to show how to develop leaders who are skilled, dedicated, and always open to learning from experience.
- Cole, a trusted, innovative authority, uses the four journeys of Paul to shows how leaders can grow to be more influential.
- A publication from the acclaimed Leadership Network
- Paul, the original “church planter,” was very instrumental in the growth of Christianity—and a perfect model for today’s leaders.
Shows how Paul’s leadership developed over the course of his life to get better and better with time and maturity—and how they can do the same.
House2House
PO Box 229
Clayton, WA 99110-0229
House2House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
