Pilgrim Soldier

After almost 2 months I’m finally reaching the end of Michael Frost’s Exiles book. This isn’t really a sign that its a tough read, but more in relation to the things that have been going on in my life over the last 5 weeks.

Anyway, Frost’s last two chapters are about Worship and it’s place in the ‘Emerging’ church. Reading through these chapters there is nowhere near the amount that I disagree with or question in comparison to the rest of the book.

When looking at how worship has developed over the years, Frost has this to say:

… worship services ought to be corporate expressions of the overflow of the regular life of a community that churches together at some level every day.¹

By doing this our primary gathering place moves away from the church building itself and becomes the places that our most private interactions happen; our homes. This is fast becoming my understanding of how we should be involved in church.

The first 8 years of my adulthood were spent in a succession of rented bedsits across England. At the time I was crying out for a deeper fellowship within the corps I attended, but continually failed to find it. This led me into a lifestyle that became far more about finding that fellowship outside the church, whilst continuing to attend on a Sunday and go through the motions. Only occasionally did I glimpse the possibility of something deeper being available, and it was always in the homes of others.

I’ve realised that this is something that not only I have suffered from. I’ve been blessed for the last 10 years with real deep friendships amongst the fellowships I have made my home. At present I probably feel the greatest fellowship with other believers in my house group. It is where the real church stuff happens. Coming together on a Sunday with others is great for celebrating our wonderful Lord, but the house group is where “the rubber hits the road”.

Our homes are becoming fortresses in the western world. Places of safety to retreat to away from our hectic lives, but I think that this is where the real worship is done, especially when we throw open our homes and lives to share with our fellow Christians and non-Christians too!