| Next | Previous | Index | Tellout Home |
46. Model Faith Household
Christian Friends
If the extended Christian household was the primary model of the church in the early centuries, how should she operate as the household of faith? What is God's plan for her in this generation? The household of faith may be God's choice for us at the beginning of the Third Millennium. Households are the small units of Christian friends who work and worship together. A model faith household, when rediscovered, will restore what we now call "the church" to a clear and focused plan for the future. One of the fundamental keys to fruitful household ministry is that Christians love one another. They like being together and find fulfillment in one another's company. Their relationship defines their membership. If you are loved and accepted by the other members, you are part of God's household. In caring and upholding one another, members of a household often grow closer than blood brothers and sisters.✞
Worship Together
A household is a conglomerate, with unique personalities within it like any other body! Each household is a bunch of friends, and therefore each local worshipping community is unique. When I look in the mirror, I see a middle-aged, balding male. While my appearance is important to me, it is only one part of who I am. Scratch the surface and the multifaceted individual with all his likes, dislikes, and quirks appear. Like the human body, the household of faith may have the characteristics of a jolly, middle-aged gentleman or even a starchy spinster with her head in a book. Household distinctiveness lies in the mix of individuals who are the real body of Christ there.✞
Different Body Part
Each different body part performs various functions in the faith household as organs do in the human body. In the Household of Faith, different body parts perform multiple functions to make the whole operate efficiently. A foot as the structural support to a leg differs from a hand or an ear. A hand may be able to manipulate a small delicate object like a pair of tweezers, but it cannot hold up the whole body's weight for an extended time. An athlete may work the pommel horse, swinging her body in ever-widening sweeps, all supported on her hands. Those wrists and fingers are glad to exit the performance and return to their regular duties without all that weight and stress! Together, the different parts, even though they are radically different, become one.✞
Faith Household
The role of each part of the Household of Faith may not be apparent at first. Ears are not particularly impressive, but their job is vital to the other parts. They are not as strong as feet or as active as arms or fingers! They may not move at all, but they inform the brain what's going on around. They also give a torso its sense of balance. If the ears fail, a person can lose balance, stagger, and maybe fall. So ears are important members as a different body part in the Household of Faith.✞
Cooperating Household Part
A cooperating household part operates in unison with others to bring about specific objectives. Cooperating household parts move as one. Like an ear in the Body of Christ, Jane is a very thoughtful person who always makes a positive contribution. Her skillful listening and attentive hearing help settle disputes between others. John, as a hand, is quite different. He is a doer rather than a talker in the Household Body. He responds generously and quickly to another's needs, mending a washing machine, or carrying a food bag to a needy family. God uses the cooperating household parts and the differences between Jane and John to complete his work.✞
Different Organs
Cooperating household parts can represent a different organ or a limb in the Mystical Body. Adrian Plass (1948-present), a British Anglican author in "Sacred Diary" humorously considers the various household parts and roles. "Anne started by saying that she thought she was probably a bit of dried skin on the elbow, but Edwin, bless him, said that he thought she was much nearer the heart than that. Thynn said he was a left shoulder blade for some obscure reason, and Norma Twill said she thought she might be a dimple. Couldn't think what I was, and dismissed Thynn's assessment of me as a small, unimportant vein in the right foot."✞
Actual Household Connection
An actual household connection for the different parts of the household body is essential to share experiences and to help others make decisions. An actual household connection is logically and biblically the only sure sign of membership in the Household of Faith. All individual Christians need some attachment to a group of other Christians in a meaningful way. Separation from Jesus, the supportive head, is always a dangerous possibility for the proud and disobedient limb in any household of faith. Saint Paul warns of the dangers of separation from the household in Colossians 2.18-19, "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." Here Saint Paul is warning against pride in the group by one or two individuals, which can be corrosive. How important is having an actual connection to your other Household of Faith members to you?✞
Household Bible Copyright
Household and Bible Copyright with rights reserved worldwide cover the Household of Faith and the New International Version of the Bible. The The Rev. Cpt. Ron Meacock P. Eng. and The Evangelism Fellowship hold the Household of Faith copyright, except for other prior copyright holders on individual sections, as stated in the text. The Household of Faith program was initially jointly sponsored by The Anglican Diocese of Toronto and The Church Army in Canada✞
New International Version
All Biblical quotations come from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. "New International Version" and "NIV" are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc.®.✞
"Model Faith Household"
by Ron Meacock © 2021
| ^Top Page | Next | Previous |