House church

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For other uses, see House church (disambiguation).

House church is an informal term for a group of Christians gathering regularly or spontaneously in a home or on grounds not normally used for worship services, instead of a building dedicated to the purpose. Another term with the same meaning is "home church".

Some churches meet in houses because they lack a conventional church building; these are not normally regarded as house churches as the intent is to eventually move into an offsite facility.

Others meet in homes because they prefer to meet informally, because they believe it is an effective way of creating community and engaging in outreach, or because they believe small family-sized churches were a deliberate apostolic pattern in the first century and intended by Christ. Some, perhaps, meet in homes for several of these reasons.

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[edit] Scriptural basis

Those Christians who meet together in homes usually do so because of a desire to return to the simplicity of Church meetings as found in their interpretation of the Christian Bible and specifically the New Testament. In their view, rather than formalized meetings and doctrine, the first Christian church showed a simplicity of fellowship and practice in the New Testament. Instead of seeing Christian belief and practice as series of Church meetings, the return to Biblical Church stresses a way of life that is lived towards others. This is expressed well by the over 50 counts of the phrase "One Another" found in the New Testament starting with the words of Jesus, "Love one another." (John 13:34). Some Bible passages that indicate the atmosphere of Early Church life include:

  • Faith: "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NASB)
  • Lifestyle: "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42 NASB)
  • Participatory meetings: "What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." (1 Cor. 14:26 NASB; see also Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 10:24-25)
  • Meeting in homes: "Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house." (1 Cor. 16:19 NASB; see also Acts 20:20, Romans 16:5, Colossians 4:15, Philemon 1:2).

[edit] Structure and organization

Overview

House churches should not be confused with "cell churches". A house church is not normally part of a larger, overseeing organization, although the group may associate informally with other Christians and house churches in networks reflecting equality rather than hierarchy. Those who meet in house churches regard themselves as belonging to the worldwide Church, but are self-governing and independent, generally without formal oversight relationships with established "institutional churches."

Self-understanding

Some within the house church "movement" therefore consider the term "house church" to be a misnomer, because the main issue for people who practice their faith in this manner is not the house but more the type of meeting that takes place; other titles which are sometimes used to describe this movement more functionally are "simple church", "relational church", "primitive church", "bodylife", "organic church" and similar terms.

Leadership

Some house churches have a conventional leadership structure, others have none. A commonly held belief in the modern day house church "movement" is that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough to demonstrate a New Testament belief in the "priesthood of all believers" and that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of the Church, and the believers the body. The absence of hierarchical leadership structures in many house churches, while often viewed by the Protestant church at large as a sign of anarchy or rebelliousness to authority, is viewed by many in the house church movement to be the most viable way to come under true spiritual authority of love, relationships, and the visible dominion of Jesus Christ as Head of his own bride (i.e. the church).

Meeting format

Many house church gatherings are free, informal, and sometimes include a shared meal. Participants hope that everyone present will feel free to contribute to the gathering as and when they sense the leading of the Holy Spirit to do so. Leadership structures range from no official leaders, to a plurality of appointed elders; however, there is a deliberate attempt within most house churches to minimize the leadership of any one person, and so having one pastor or leading elder (clergy) is generally frowned upon, in favor of a more plural responsibility of leadership diffused over several people or the members as a whole.

Networking

The house church movement today also owes much of its networking and exchange of information to the use of the Internet; HC is generally used as an abbreviation for "House Church" and IC is used to designate "Institutional Church" which is the generalized term for more traditional church structures, including a church building and/or sermon-centered church services directed by a pastor or minister.

[edit] Origins and history

The first house church is recorded in Acts 1:13, where the disciples of Jesus met together in the upper room of a house. For the first three centuries of the church, Christians commonly met in homes. Clement of Alexandria, an early church father, wrote of worshipping in a house. A private house in Dura-Europos (near Baghdad) was excavated in the 1930’s and was found to be used as a Christian meeting place in AD 232, with one small room serving as the baptistery. [1] Throughout history, various Christian groups worshipped in homes, often due to persecution by the state church or the civil government.

The origins of the North American house church trend are varied. Some consider it a new variety of the Plymouth Brethren movement, others recognise a relationship to the Anabaptists, Quakers, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Moravians, Methodists, and the much earlier Waldenses and Priscillianists. Another perspective sees the house church movement as a re-emergence of the move of the Holy Spirit during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s in the USA ( http://www.one-way.org ) or the worldwide Charismatic Renewal of the late 1960s and 1970s. Others see it as a return to a New Testament church Restorationism paradigm and a restoration of God's eternal purpose and the natural expression of Christ on the earth, urging Christians to return from hierarchy and rank to practices described and encouraged in Scripture. It has been more recently encouraged by the church planting and publishing initiative of writers like Robert Fitts, Frank Viola, Tony & Felicity Dale,Wolfgang Simson and Gene Edwards. The Internet itself has contributed to the phenomenon's exponential growth in the past decade, networking many previously unconnected individuals. The house church movement is a cousin and slight forerunner to the Emerging Church movement. No single factor can sum up the emergence of this ancient-future ecclesiology, but a confluence of all the threads noted above have contributed to the growth of house churches in the West. Today, the spread of house churches is largely found in countries like China, Vietnam, India, Cuba, Brazil and African nations, but they are also seen in small, but growing, numbers in the Philippines, Europe, and North America. House churches in Saudi Arabia have experienced raids by the religious police, often resulting in the arrest of the leaders of the assembly.

[edit] Relationship to Established Churches and Missions Groups

History clearly demonstrates that there have at times been tensions between house church movements (along with other restoration and revival movements) on the one hand and more traditional churches on the other. Therefore, many house churches do not have formal links to larger Christian organizations and prefer to operate in this fashion as a matter of principle. However, more recently, a number of established Christian denominations and missions organizations are beginning to officially support efforts at developing networks of house churches even in Western nations where religious freedom is protected. These include The Free Methodist Church in Canada, The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada, The Navigators of Canada, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, The Canadian Evangelical Christian Churches, Partners in Harvest, The Southern Baptist Convention (USA), Dove Christian Fellowship International, DAWN Ministries (Discipling a Whole Nation), and Youth With A Mission (YWAM), Eternal Grace, and the recently launched Underground Churches (by BareNakedChurch.com) among others.

[edit] Statistics on the House Church Movement

(Statistical Sources: Rad Zdero (2004), The Global House Church Movement, and Dawn Friday Fax, www.jesus.org.uk/dawn)

  • Cambodia: 1,000 new HC's in 10 years (1990 to 2000)
  • Canada: 200 HC's (as of 2001)
  • China: 80-100 million believers in HC's
  • Cuba: 6,000-10,000 HC's since 1992
  • Ethiopia: growth from 5,000 to 50,000 believers in HC's during the 1980's
  • India: approx. 40,000 to 60,000 HC's (as of 2004)
  • Sri Lanka: Kithu Sevena church movement started 131 new HC's in 7 months (in 2004)
  • Vietnam: one church planting team start 550 new HC's in 2 years (1997 to 1999)
  • U.S.A.: 1,600 HC's on internet alone (as of 2003) with possibly as many as 30,000 HC's (according to the American pollster George Barna)

[edit] Recommended Books

  • Steve Atkerson (ed.), Ekklesia: To the Roots of Biblical Church Life.
  • Robert & Julia Banks, The Church Comes Home, Hendrickson Pub.
  • Robert Banks, Going to Church in the First Century. Seedsowers Publishing
  • George Barna, Revolution.
  • Gilbert Bilezikian, Community 101, Zondervan Pub.
  • E.H. Broadbent, The Pilgrim Church.
  • Neil Cole, Organic Church
  • Albert James Dager, The House Assembly. Sword Publishers
  • Felicity Dale, An Army of Ordinary People
  • Tony & Felicity Dale, Simply Church
  • Dale, Getting Started: A Practical Guide to Planting Simple Churches (Karis Publishing)
  • Gene Edwards, Beyond Radical. Seedsowers Publishing
  • Gene Edwards, When the Church was Led by Laymen. Seedsowers Publishing
  • Robert Fitts, The Church in the House.
  • David Garrison, Church Planting Movements.
  • Roger Gehring, House Church and Mission (by far, the most comprehensive scholarly work on house churches in the first century)
  • Wayne Jacobsen, The Naked Church.
  • Wayne Jacobsen, Authentic Relationships.
  • Clifford James, The Blueprint (read online at [1])
  • Larry Kreider, House Church Networks.
  • Charles Newbold, The Crucified Ones.
  • Wolfgang Simson, Houses that Change the World.
  • R. Maurice Smith, A Kingdom A People & A River
  • Frank Viola, Rethinking the Wineskin.
  • Frank Viola, Pagan Christianity.
  • Frank Viola, So You Want to Start a House Church?
  • Frank Viola, Who is Your Covering?
  • Rad Zdero, The Global House Church Movement.
  • Hope Ovwah, God's Pattern Church. (read online at [2])

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/s06020076.htm


[edit] See also

  • Simple church
  • Cell church
  • Church planting
  • Church in a pub
  • Chinese house church - be aware that Chinese house churches typically have a leadership structure (including a pastor) that resembles "underground traditionally structured churches" (or "cell churches") in contrast to what is generally considered to be a "house church" in countries with religious freedom and tolerance.

[edit] External links

[edit] General Information

[edit] Resources

[edit] House Church Directories

[edit] Discussion forums

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