Gathering in and outside of a building: Local Church.

So what up, family? Uh, so I'm jumping on here just to kind of share some thoughts around the church, uh, the, the local church per se. And I have the opportunity on the side to work and consult with different ministries per se, or closely with leadership. And one of the questions that I have personally been asking is what does it look like to lead a transformation community? Now again, kind of as I said on the video I sent asking them to put it on, um, back home, my home local church, is, um, we can't transform anyone like biblically. Like, that is only reserved for Jesus Christ, you know, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Um, but I also think it's a tandem relationship, or I should say, and I think it's a tandem As we do what God calls us to do, he works through us. The Holy Spirit works. But however, it is the Holy Spirit. That's why I love like really studying the book of Acts. Like you just see the working of the Holy Spirit through so many different people. But anywho, that's not the conversation for today. The conversation that is, is that it's with this, this argument between buildings. Can I worship in my home? Can I worship in a small community? Can I get a— go to a coffee shop or library or outdoors or whatever? And like, that's a form of following the biblical mandate. And you have a lot of people that quote Acts 2:42, a lot of people that quote Hebrews 10, you know, you get into Galatians and all of that type stuff. And I've used these passages, uh, and— but until we take a deeper look at them— so this, this is where I stand. I'm not going to go through all these scriptures, trust me, you, you can pull them up and do your homework. I think that we had people— let me start here, okay? So there are always going to be manipulators. There's always going to be people that want to build their kingdom, advance their kingdom. It is nothing new. That's just what it is. It's probably never going to stop until this is all over. Stay far away from those people. They just, they just make everything look bad. Uh, uh, they do. I hate it with a passion. I do think a lot of them need to be called out. I personally just don't believe, like, I'm gonna waste a lot of time on them. I'm more of the philosophy of just keep teaching people what a straight stick look like instead of talking about the crooked stick so much. But you have to call out the crooked stick because some people still don't know what a straight stick look like. Uh, so again, neither here nor there on that. Outside of that, or in addition to that, I do think you have people that applied the text the best they knew. We've all been guilty of it as we have learned and come into the things of God and learn how to study, pray of course, and, and study the Bible in this context. So you had people that were faithful and they taught it the best they knew. Good intent but misapplied scripture. And this has led to just, just like worshiping the local church but never truly devoting a life of surrender to God. Then I believe we have taught a doctrine where people think just because someone laid hands on them and they spoke in tongues, uh, that they are still filled. And this is what leads into like, I need the Holy Spirit again. And I'm like, well, if you had him, when did he leave? There's a difference between indwelling and filling again. And, and so I just, I think like just sincere but just unbiblical teaching has really hurt us. And sometimes we're so stuck there that we see the scriptures through that lens. And it's hard for a lot, a lot of people. And we get argumentative because we tie more to our foundation and our experiences rather than scripture itself. But I also want to have some humility and grace because I do believe a lot of people, again, had good intent. They, they taught the best way they knew how. And although that led to some indoctrination, I think that we have to find that balance of how do we not necessarily tear them down, but how also do we kind of course correct a little bit and get back to the foundation of the text. Um, so where I'm at with it and kind of what I'm talking about, because when that video— and I asked these brothers, uh, could I kind of share this or whatever, and they were like, cool. But it was like, man, like, you got to be careful because you, you kind of made some comments about it could lead people away from coming to church, local church. And I'm like, Well, that's not what I was doing. I actually felt like I presented both sides, but thank you. And however, I'm like, but I still stand where I stand. It's not about coming to a building, but I also don't have a problem with the local building because it's just a building for us to come gather. And then some people do other things. I get people that use that building for schools, they run full-time ministry, and then some people just only have services on Sunday. Some people do Sunday and midweek service, whatever. And it's just a place. But then also those same people can gather anywhere else if they really wanted to. Where I'm at with it is I don't, I don't think the building is the issue. It's when we make the building God, or we make the building Jesus, or make people feel like because they don't come to a building that they're not really saved, they're not really maturing in the things of God. Like, that is dangerous. And, and, and when we take scriptures out of context and throw that on people, it's just, it's dangerous. So I believe— this is me, and this is just Tim Pratt Jr.— I believe that, like, like, like, let me back up. Like, I hate titles. I do. I don't, I don't like identify myself as, hey, I'm, I'm associate minister or associate pastor. I don't too much get— I don't have any problem with associate Pastors and all that type of— as long as you actually have the— you're following the biblical thing. Like, I don't— I think it's a function that we carry out and we've been called to, but my identity is not wrapped in it. My identity is in Christ. Okay, so that being said, I think that we— man, I don't even know if I should say this, but I think we can just do a better job At listening versus being defensive so much and have better conversations around this and this dialogue. Because sometimes we can unintentionally take so much from people to upkeep a building when everybody in that building is struggling. Uh, but have we took the time to teach them things? And for example, How can I say this? Like I tell my wife this all the time, I'll just take my personal finance. We can go get a bigger house. We can go get new cars and all of that. Thank by the grace of God, my wife and I are debt-free with the exception of our home. And truthfully, like we can probably pay this off in five years if we really wanted to. Unless God say different and it's sooner. But just because I can go get a bigger house. And more cars. And by the grace of God, we've been fortunate with work, having, you know, pretty, uh, reasonable, like really good jobs. God has blessed us, certain investments and things like that. Just because we can go get it, I also know fundamentally that it might take me more. It's going to change my relationship with work. I'm probably going to want to get promoted more. My wife probably is going to want to go work more, like make more money. Um, and you know, the— it's probably going to take me away from the goal of slowing down and living a slow life. Like, I like when truthfully the money that God has been blessing, we can be— when we can give and be generous, when we can save and invest, and that money goes build up and it helps advance other things. I don't like it when it's all go to bills. So I think— I don't know if it's going to stick, but I think we have to think about that in the same light. When we're leading ministries, you know, do you really need a $1, $2, $3, $4, $5 million building? If you do and it's justified, you're doing good. Hey, that's, that's you. That's between you and your team and all of that. But I just think it's dangerous when we say God wants me to have that, and then we kind of unintentionally take advantage of people and suck the life out of them. Um, I, I, I think we have to look at those things and have honest conversations, you know. Could you have done it in a $100,000 building? Uh, could you done it in a $200,000 building? I, I don't know. Could you— maybe cheaper than that? I don't, I don't know. Um, again, but each is one, you know. You have to look at the generosity of people and all that type of stuff, like, because I'm not saying— I don't, I don't like blanket statements. Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good point. But I do think again we need to have the conversation, especially when you look at these times like now, like really watching our life and then the flock and knowing the flock under the— under that local congregation. And I think this is a little tangent, just free game as they say. I think too, like, we need to get back to like, man, shepherding, shepherding The local flock that God has entrusted you to. I think sometimes when we try to shepherd everybody— and anyway, I'm gonna digress. I'm gonna just come off that. So anyway, like, the thing is, man, it's just like we just— we need to have difficult conversations. And 2, it's okay. Like, it's okay to challenge and correct and get back to What does the Bible teach when it comes to what the church is versus the local church and buildings and all that type of stuff? But let's not act like, man, it's not possible to worship a building. Like, I see, I see so many people, man, I've seen it, um, where people like won't even pray, won't even worship through the week and don't feel like they can connect with the Lord until they get to the building. I've seen people that live a life of just— I've been one— and all of a sudden now I have this reverence. And you know, it's, it's just, man, we, you know— but again, in all, in all truthfulness, like, again, I just think we need to have the conversation. We can have the conversation without again demonizing or just tearing down people that were doing the best that they could. Again, I'm not speaking about manipulators and whatever, but also too, and this is the last thing, when we see the error of our ways according to the text, let's have a little bit more humility. When we see the errors of our ways, it's like, hey, we've been going about this the wrong way. It is okay to say, you know what, Lord, forgive me. I didn't see this. I, I'm wrong, and I want to do this the way that you have called me to do it, in context throughout the scripture. We, we again, we have to have these conversations and stop shying away from them or just throwing out verses just from a defensive Posture. We need to build more bridges. And so I think, I think I lost my train of thought. And so this will be the last thing for real. But if, if I was leading today, man, I think the biggest thing is just transparency. If I was leading any ministry today, it would be transparency. It would be doing things to scale and really just striving to Um, focus more on the people. And if God graces us and it makes financially sense and it's something that he's really calling us to, you know, what is the practical way to do it without losing ourselves? Um, if that makes sense. I'm trying to watch my words. I probably would say it more bluntly offline in a trusted circle because you have time to kind of flesh things out. But yeah, that's all, man. So just, just pray. Just keep praying and keep sharing the text. But most importantly, man, keep seeking God, like Jesus Christ, following him. If you go to a local church or a local building and you gather in that local building, learn what you can. Connect with people. Get to know people. It is nothing to just come in and leave, come in and leave. That is just like a movie. When I go to the movies, especially a new movie, and it draws so many of us, I don't know none of them people. I might say hey and bye, talk to them, whatever, this and that. I typically don't see those people no more for the rest of my life. And that's unfortunate that we quote Hebrews 10 when it comes to that and apply that when we're doing the same thing in our the local buildings. I don't know if I'm making sense. Maybe I'm just rambling too much. But anywho, I'm praying for us collectively, and we just step up, man. And again, and just have the conversations to build bridges. So I'm out. Love you all. Be blessed.