Must be 2x2
Meetings in Home
2x2 Doctrines
Homeless Ministry
Workers are apostles
Ways They have Changed
| 2x2s Believe in a Homeless Ministry
I know it's odd, but 2x2s believe in a homeless ministry.
Defining What 2x2s Mean by "Homeless"
So at the beginning here, let me define what "homeless" means to them. It means that their ministers must not own a home in their own name. They believe it's OK for their ministers to use their funds to build convention buildings on convention grounds though. And they believe that it's OK for their ministers to rent homes to live in.
Perhaps their belief should be stated more accurately as "We believe that our ministers should not own a home in their own name." And why not? Did God teach this? When we read of Noah, Abraham, Moses as righteous men, the Bible doesn't say that they didn't have homes.
If you search through the Bible, you will find Jesus telling us to have faith in God, but not once is the phrase "homeless ministry" used. Zero results on the phrase (searching in KJV, which is the Bible of choice for most 2x2s).
But maybe that is being too particular. Let's search on the word "homeless". Ah, zero results again.
Hmm, what's up with this. How in the world could you have a core belief as a 2x2 that the entire ministry must be homeless?
What Homeless Ministry Does Not Mean to 2x2s
2x2s do not believe in ministering to homeless people. They don't run organizations that reach out to people who don't have a home, unless it is the 2x2 workers. 2x2 workers don't want them giving money to others that they could have for themselves.
Is this Homeless Doctrine Arbitrary?
If you were to start your own religion and you wanted to distinguish it from others, then you could make up your own rules and call them doctrines. For example, I could say "All ministers must not wear socks." Then you could derive from this that all other ministers that are not part of your "no sock ministry" were false. You could even try to justify it by using scripture about foot washing and supposition that they didn't have socks in Jesus day. If anyone contended, then you could just say that they are proud and not fitting in. But if your ministers had homes to live in and no socks, that would not give you the control over them that this "homeless ministry" idea does.
The Real Reason 2x2 Ministers are "Homeless"
When you look at cults, they like to have rules that weaken the people and give you control over them. If you can control their home, their livelihood, their clothing, and sex, then you've got more power over them. After reading scriptures that 2x2s use to justify their rules, I've come to the conclusion based on their behavior that they have the "homeless ministry" rule because it gives their overseers more control over the 2x2 workers. If the workers don't fit in , then the workers lose their income, their housing and food sources all at once.
What Should be Learned
I believe there are several things that should be learned from this cult rule:
That overseers are abusive control freaks.
Being a part of an abusive social group is not healthy.
People who fall for this rule are ignorant of the scripture and brainwashed.
If you were a 2x2 worker, the best thing to do would be to save up your money, find some sympathetic people who could help you with housing and then get a job as soon as you could. |