Restoring the church to our covenant roots!

Dr Robert D Heidler

This book isn't directly connected to the issue of church structure - house church, simple church, organic church. But I was blown away by the 2012 Jubilee summer school at which the author spoke. For some time I've been aware that our view of church has been seriously distorted by our Western / Greek way of thinking. But I've seen attempts by different groups to "Judaise" the church - and it hasn't always rung true. Much against my expectations, Robert took us through some of the issues, opening my eyes to just what we were missing - while avoiding the legalism that all too easily creeps in.

In his section on what the church lost when it was cut off from its roots, the first two points were the attitudes toward God and toward scripture. I hadn't really appreciated just how much our attitudes to these things have fallen. But the third point was the Judaic emphasis on the home. It was this that made the Judaic culture such a survivor. It didn't depend on outside \"experts\" or programmes. Every Jew is trained to take part and lead in their own families.

There is a lot more than this - it really filled in many gaps in my understanding. One interesting point that I hadn't appreciated is that the early church started dying when Constantine started removing its Jewish roots. But the Celtic church lasted for longer. And although it's not included in any modern "histories", Patrick (as in the "Saint") was a Jew. Apparently, his family arrived in Britain escaping from persecution in Judah. It adds a fascinating (and sad) dimension to the story of the Celtic church - and how they met the Catholic church a bit later - in England.

So I encourage people to investigate this as an aspect of the journey we're on.