Hotspots: Hebrews 10:25: Epilogue

I was going to post a new installment of my series “Hotspots” but felt led this morning to wrap up my last installment w/ an epilogue… 

As I've shown, Hebrews 10:25 has nothing to do w/ mandatory weekly Church attendance as is taught by many & everything to do w/ not abandoning our hope in Christ & being gathered unto Him.

Unfortunately, many pastors, teachers & leaders do not have this revelation or mindset; they just don't have a correct grasp of this verse...

Most pastors, teachers & leaders are all for equipping the saints for ministry, as long as that ministry either takes place on weekdays in the workplace or on Sunday morning in the Church building. Take a look around you; your community is your mission field, it's open 24 hours a day & it's desperate for Christ.

Take a prayerful drive, walk or leisurely bike ride on a Sunday morning around your community between say 9 am – noon. Check out about 3 different parks & see how many people are there having a picnic or a family outing or playing frisbee w/ their dogs… check out the beach & see the massive number of youth playing beach volleyball… check out the golf courses & see the impressive number of people there… that's your mission field folks.

Who's going to reach them if everyone who can reach them 

are in a Church service every single Sunday morning
due to a misinterpretation & abuse of Hebrews 10:25? 

Jesus went to the temple as was His custom but if you look at His life & ministry, 99% of both were spent outside of any building, He was active & present in the community. He was there when the people where there, day or night, Sabbath or not; a calendar & a clock meant nothing to the Lord of Creation.

I'm all for Believers getting together on a regular basis, whether they choose to do that in a designated building at a designated time... whether that's in homes… whether that's in the mission field AKA your community; I'm all for God's people getting together & learning from each other, encouraging one another & worshiping the Living God.

What I have trouble w/ is a legalistic mindset that tries to define 

what Church is, when & how (& how often) it has to be done & 
if you don't agree or comply, you're in "violation" of Scripture..

Case in point: I recently read a Google+ post from a fellowship that was posing/answering this question: "If my church decides to have a mid-week service & I can't make it, am I sinning?" Their answer? "Yes you are sinning, you are forsaking the assembling of yourselves together. If the leadership decides to have two mid-week services, then be there or you're violating the command to go to church as stated in Hebrews 10:25!" Now this is extreme legalism & blatant abuse of Scripture.

Missing a Sunday service or two is not “forsaking” (renouncing, abandoning) anything. Culture & Community needs Believers & yes, sometimes they need them on a Sunday morning.

Here are some suggestions for elders to prayerfully consider:

• Cancel one Sunday service a month & encourage your members to minister in the community on that morning, whether it's at the beach, park or golf course. Your job is to equip the saints for ministry, so send them out & let them minister!
• If you must have a weekly service, then have a Saturday evening service prior to the canceled Sunday morning service; pray for people to have a heart for their community & for those going out into it on that Sunday morning to connect & minister effectively
• Quit trying to find ways to get people into your building on a Sunday morning & start trying to find ways to get the people in your building out into the community. Quit trying to get people out of their comfort zones into yours & reverse that = go where the people are when they are there

There's a few more but I'll let you come up w/ the rest…

I'm tossing around the idea of a Sunday morning golf ministry myself, probably once a month but I'm still praying it out. Some people had a problem w/ that, “On a Sunday morning? Gasp!”; most others were very supportive as they know that Sunday morning & ministry have a pretty good history together; who's going to reach them on Sunday mornings if those who can reach them aren't there to reach them? 

One of my former pastors had a saying, 

“blessed are the flexible, for they won't get bent out of shape”