Agh! Another home church!

Well, I feel like a terrible hypocrite.  Why, Heather, you may ask. 

When I took out the trash earlier I found an invitation, in Spanish, hanging on my door, inviting me to "know God" (learn about Him) at an address in our subdivision, tonight, at 6 PM. 

My first reaction, I'm ashamed to admit, was distaste.  I don't like home churches.  Why?  Well, my sister is part of a home church movement and they have truly bizarre services, screaming "Oh, Lord Jesus!" at the tops of their lungs, during the service.  It's very offputting for me, I was raised in a conservative church that doesn't do that.  We didn't even put our hands up while singing, something I commonly see at a lot of churches now. 

Anyway, we had her church.  Strange people, stranger services, I generally had a powerful feeling of embarrassment during the entire service.  But I've cut off contact so she can't drag me to any services now. 

Then #6 had home church for a while, in his yard, years ago.  They would have services late at night on weeknights, singing loudly, and badly, right outside my bedroom wall.  Then they'd have some guy raving about El Diablo (the devil) for an hour after that, shouting at the top of his lungs.  Did I mention the houses are set rather close together?  It got really bad, they were having 2 services a week, late at night, shouting and singing and carrying on until 11 PM on a weeknight. 

Until one of the other neighbors got out his gun during a service, when the "preacher" was raving, and fired it several times.  The service broke up very quickly after that, and they never did it again.  If they're doing it now (and sometimes I suspect they are), they are meeting in the large playroom he built as an addition to his house, indoors, so no one can hear now. 

No, I didn't call the police when the guy fired his gun.  I wanted to go hug him.  He was just expressing what we all felt "SHUT UP!"  And that's not how I feel a Christian should serve worship: annoying all the neighbors so everyone wants them to shut up.   Certainly not late at night on a weekday, either. 

One night he had an all night party on Christmas eve (that is common for Mexicans), and then he had an all night worship service on Christmas day.  So I was kept up all night two nights in a row.  I had a lot of nasty thoughts about his "home church" let me tell you. 

So, all my experiences with "home church" have been horrible.  I am sure there are some good ones out there that respect their neighbors and worship God, teach the Bible, and fellowship, but I have yet to meet one. 

#6 has a sticker, or had one, on the Mom's car, for a popular home church movement.  My aunt says they (the movement) are great, but I can't see that when they are keeping neighbors up.  I accept I work an nonstandard shift, but on a weeknight, I expect to be able to sleep. 

I try very hard not to make noise when I'm getting picked up at 6 AM on a Saturday Morning, why can't they show me the same respect at 10-11 PM on a Wednesday? 

Anyway, I'm sure there are good movements out there, but, with rent so cheap in Houston, I don't see why a church couldn't rent a small space instead.   But that's just me. 

If you're going to have a home church, have it during "normal" hours, don't make a ruckus, and respect your neighbors.  One problem I consistently have with #6, his "visitors" are always parking in front of my driveway.  If I say something to him, he basically tells me to f*&k off.  Not very Christian. 

So that's it for this post.  I will do another one about my day.