House church
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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. House churches were crucial to the spread of early Christianity because established congregations provided support and the ‘Lord’s’ supper was celebrated and the gospel was preached. Women who offered their home to hold Christian assemblies for worship hosted the gathering, making them a key player in the house church due to having authority over the home.
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."
The house church was not only for religious assemblies, but also a place for education. Christian women were educators to their children. Advice, instruction, wisdom and traditions were passed down to the next generation in the house church. Women taught the next generation how to conduct themselves and dress appropriately. In regards to Christian context, elder women would teach the younger girls how to prepare for baptism and to be a good worshipping Christian.
- 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). No qualifications for leadership, such as sex was specified in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians. All he is concerned with is the quality of the social and ecclesial elements of the meal.
- Meeting format
Many house church gatherings are free, informal, and sometimes include a shared meal. Presiding meals during the assembly, gave women the opportunity to host the meal and be the leader of any toasts that took place and ‘of the special blessing and sharing of bread and cup with ritual words toward the end of the eating portion of the 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 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.
The house church movement 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] A Recognized House Church in Jerusalem
After being imprisoned by Herod, Peter, an apostle appointed by Jesus, in the middle of the night, went to the house church of Mary the Mother of John Mark to meet other disciples for prayer in her home. Mary allowed her home to be used for Christian worship and is the only name mentioned in having done this in Jerusalem. This indicates that Mary’s house church was a recognized establishment. In cities outside of Jerusalem, there was not much risk in offering your home for Christian worship, nevertheless, Mary posed grave danger upon herself because offering her home as a house church in Jerusalem was very dangerous. Christians were forced to give up gathering at the temple and synagogues because of persecution that they would and did endure. If it was not for women like Mary the Mother of John Mark, Christians in Jerusalem would have no place to worship. Mary and other hosts of house churches were courageous since they risked being persecuted.
[edit] Relationship to Established Churches, Missions Groups and society
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 may be considered "parachurch organizations", and include some of the following: 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 among others.
In a social sense, the phenomena towards house churches may be linked to other social movements as well, such as the "emerging church movement", missional living, the parachurch movement, and even larger social phenomena such as panocracy and intentional living movements.
[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 (2001 stat.)
- 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. 100,000 HC's started in 5 years (from 2001 - 2006)
- 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
- Graham Cooke, Gary Goodell, Permission Granted: To Do Church Differently in the 21st Century (Destiny Image Publishers)
- 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.
- Hope Ovwah, God's Pattern Church. (read online at [2])
- Wolfgang Simson, Houses that Change the World.
- R. Maurice Smith, A Kingdom A People & A River
- Frank Viola, God's Ultimate Passion.
- Frank Viola, Rethinking the Wineskin.
- Frank Viola, Pagan Christianity.
- Frank Viola, So You Want to Start a House Church?
- Frank Viola, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church
- Frank Viola, Who is Your Covering?
- Rad Zdero, The Global House Church Movement.
- Rad Zdero (ed.), NEXUS: The World House Church Movement Reader (Published in May 2007)
[edit] References
Osiek, C., and Margaret Y. MacDonald. A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.
MacHaffie, Barbara J. Her Story. 2nd Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.
[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 other areas.
- Christian Conventions - a non-denominational Christian church that worships in members' homes
[edit] External links
[edit] General Information
- House Church Involvement Is Growing in the Barna Update 16 June 2006
- Every Home a Church -- Photos, comments and stories
[edit] Resources
- All At His Feet
- Dove Christian Fellowship International
- The Early Church
- Free House Church Resources
- Healing Communities
- House Church and Biblical Truth
- House Church.ca—A network to encourage house church planting in Canada
- House Church Blog
- House Church Central
- House Church Chronicles
- House 2 House Ministries
- Kingdom Word
- The New Testament Restoration Foundation
- Present Testimony Ministry - Home Church Resources
- rUrevolutionary.com -- simple church resources, directory
- Sites Unseen House Church Website Directory
- Seedsowers House Church Publisher
- Unleashing the Church
- Australian Home Church Site
- Australian Home Church Blog
[edit] House Church Directories
- The Early Church
- All things House Church. Worldwide Registry which can alert users of new local entries. Web Forums.
- Home church information and HCDL homepage, also contains home church directory of churches worldwide
- Kingdom Word Directory
- Phoenix Area House Churches
- A Network of Home Churches in Cincinnati, Ohio
- The Strategic Church Network (SCN) is a network of house churches in Hampton Roads Virginia - house church missions info
