As Brooke and I plan out the details of turning The Opened Box into a physical location, discussions about how we will serve the community often arise.  As we were watching one of the latest episodes of The Real House Wives of Atlanta, the topic of blessing homes came up.

In this particular episode of of The Real House Wives of Atlanta, Phaedra Parks called in two ministers, a husband and wife,  to bless her house and remove the evil spirits from the house.  Phaedra wanted to have her house cleansed from the negative energy between she and her husband Apollo Nida, who is now currently serving an 8 year jail sentence.   As we watched the ministers bless the house, Brooke jokingly said, “Look, that could be us.”  After a slight giggle, we both agreed that it was something we would do.

Some church leaders scoff at the very notion of blessing a house in this day and age.  I recently heard one church leader explain how he met someone who explained she wouldn’t attend a large church because she wanted the pastor to be able to come out and bless their house.  As the church leader continued telling the story, they laughed, stating that this wasn’t the church for her because “we ain’t coming out to bless your house.”  I’m not sure how the idea of blessing a house is humorous but I can understand why the pastor of a mega church may not be able to conduct requests like these. Let’s turn to The Bible to see what Jesus did.

In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he leaves a synagogue and goes to Peter’s house to heal Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29-34; Matt 8:14-17 Lk 4:38-41). As a result of Jesus’ healing work, the whole city gathers at the door of the house in search of a healing.  Technically this isn’t a house blessing, but as a result of Jesus’ willingness to go from the temple to a home, those in the home and city were healed.

As the ministry of Jesus grew, Jesus trained 70 disciples to go to proclaim the nearness of God’s kingdom.  In each home they visited they were also required to declare a word of peace (Luke 10:1-42).  “Peace to this house (Lk .”10:5). For anyone who received this message in the home peace would rest on them.

I understand the dynamics of a large church.  Pastors who lead mega churches cannot be in multiple places at once. Even though this may be the case, Jesus shows us how trained leaders/disciples can help out with ministry activities outside of the four walls of the church.  We can never let the size of our ministries or churches prevent us from conducting the activities that Jesus conducted himself.  When we don’t do the very things Jesus did himself we may be preventing peace from resting on the individuals who are in need.

[bctt tweet=”Pastors should conduct house blessings because it brings peace to those in need.”]