How to Meet in Homes

"How to Meet in Homes" is mis-titled. It should read: "Why to Meet in Homes". Edwards spends very little time talking about the "how" but a great deal of time and passion talking about the "why". The modern Protestent church with its rituals and traditions is a legacy of, mostly, John Calvin. The strict protocols and meeting format he intituted for "the church" 500 years ago remain essentially unchanged today. And Edwards argues it has caused the church experience to be incredibly boring, irrelevant to real worship and service, and in general, a mortifying experience. The proper conduct of the "Church" can best be found, he says, in the new testatment and in the first century when believers and church planters met in homes and shared their faith, their lives, and a risen Christ. Not in lomg rows of pews facing the stage and central actor (professional clergy) watching the show. He traces the growth of the early church through Philippi, Corinth, and Ephesus drawing a pattern of success for today's believers. Interesting, since Edwards wrote this book, 20 million Christians (according to George Barna) have foresaken the boredom of church in America for home churches, outside ministry, and small groups outside of established denominations.

In Gene Edwards' usual style, he causes you to rethink what you may believe about Christianity. He brings Christ back into the Church in this revolutionary work on being the Church. I am only 1/3 of the way through it but I can't wait to finish it and begin applying what I've learned from him. A must read for any Christian who knows there must be more to being a Christian than just "going to church."

This book will shake your foundation if you believe that the way we practice Christinaity in America is the Biblical pattern. This book attacks nearly every Christian tradition from the modern pastoral system to the buildings built called "churches." Edwards uses practical sense, Scripture, and church history to show the fallicy of today's modern church.The book comes across as an attack on the modern church and it is. Edwards makes no claims that he is not attacking the system. One of his quotes is from a Turkish proverb that says, "If you tell the truth when everyone is believing and practicing the opposite, you better have a fast horse." Most "pastors" and clergy (and those who support them) will not like Edwards nor his book since it attacks their careers.In conclusion, this book is best read by those who are not afraid to question the modern church (1 Thess. 5:21). If you like Sunday mornings at your mainline church, don't read this book! You will get mad and will never be the same.

A previous commentator remarked that Gene Edward's book, How To Meet In Homes, is "cynical and bitter." I recently purchased this book and can testify that this is absolutely not the case, though I can understand why some people may presume such initially; it is because this book is entirely offensive to the modern concept of what it means to "attend church."I have to say that it is probably without dispute among most Protestant Christians that Martin Luther's 95 thesis, nailed to the Catholic Church's door, are not viewed as being merely the remarks of man who was bitter or cynical (and neither do most Christians regard Luther as being negative or wrongly critical), but most Christians would probably agree in saying that they were penned by a man who was graciously enlightened by God's truth, desperate for closer relationship with Christ, and this revelation motivated him to inspire others with this newfound liberty and not put up with the mistruths and deceptions any longer. Without meaning to elevate brother Gene on too high a pedestal, I would like to suggest that Gene's book be approached with a similar attitude; that Christians would honestly weigh his comments and see if they do not speak truth. I believe he has something powerful to say and I pray that the Church, the body of Christ, will have ears to hear.This book, in my opinion, has enormous potential to stir and motivate Christians to get bravely real about their approach to the pursuit of the Lord Jesus and their embracing of one another in the body of Christ. This book calls for difficult introspection, honest assessment of our actions (both corporately and individually), and a call to a radical choice, whereby we will either remain content with tradition and dead, dry religion or pursue the presence of Jesus with radical abandon. Myself being a current member of what may accurately be defined as an institutional/organized church (I'm almost ashamed to admit this given all the things God has been stirring in my heart up to this point of my life and as that parallels much of my studies in the Word of God and regarding Church history) I will say that, granted, Gene is very brash and blunt about the condition of the modern Church and how it sadly resembles nothing of the early Church founded by the Lord Jesus, but this book is not bitter at all. It is challenging, painful at times, convicting, piercing, and often offensive to the modern, traditional Christian way of thinking, but bitter it is not in the least!I have read several other titles by Gene and listened to audio tapes by this brother in Christ. I have talked with people who know him personally and I know that bitter he is not. Any Christian who takes the time to read his other books such as "Crucified by Christians," "Prisoner in the Third Cell," and "A Tale of Three Kings," or gets to hear an audio tape of him talking about the Lord Jesus and His body while weeping, will understand this to be true. Anyone who has the

This book by Gene Edwards is a thoroughly Biblical look at what the New Testament recognises as ekklesia, church meetings of born again believers. The book demolishes the present concept of the one-man Church ministry that so stultifies the growth of most Christians today. It destroys the chains of isolated and powerless involvement of present church goers. It is truly a liberation into the manifested presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is neither cynical nor bitter. The book just describes the parlous state that the present church has degenerated to. The only drawback to the book is its ending where the reader has to send for the follow up book which has not yet been printed.