A friend of mine who is interested in the house church movement recently recommended a book, Pagan Christianity, by Frank Viola. It appears basically to be an indictment of current church practice, particularly as regards weekly gathering in a church building. I have not read the book. But I wrote to my friend that I do not think that meeting together weekly for worship in a building set aside for that purpose is pagan or unbiblical, and I mentioned that many early Christians frequently rented halls for large groups. I also said that sermons are derived from Jewish practice. He responded as follows:<br><br><blockquote>Yes, early Christians did occasionally rent halls for large meetings which were special occasions. Those were the exception. Their normal practice was to be a community, meeting in homes or the like. And the sermon as we know it does not have its roots in the synagogues. This is a case of Christians reading our modern practices into the Bible. "Sermons" in synagogues were dialogues. Any member of the synagogue could speak. The sermon as we know it comes straight from pagan philosophers' practice of "rhetoric."</blockquote><br><br>Can anyone verify or falsify these claims? [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/help.gif" alt="help" title="help[/img]<br><br>I don't know, but my impression of the house church movement has been that it more frequently involves an anti-authority mindset than a genuine return to a New Testament pattern. [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/shrug.gif" alt="shrug" title="shrug[/img]

Kyle

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.