My family and I have been attending house church for almost 14 years. The number of attendees can vary. However, it's typically at least 4 to 5 families and a few individual attendees.
We begin by joining hands at 6:30pm and praying together. We then move to the kitchen and take a seat at the table and have a full meal together. During the meal, we have "Jesus stories", which can be testimonies, reflections on what we're studying individually, questions, praise reports, prayer requests, etc. As the meal is drawn to a close, the elder (typically the host, but not always) will bless the loaf of bread and the cup of wine (typically grape juice). The bread is passed as we pray and search our hearts. The cup is then passed and we consume via intinction. This concludes the Lord's Supper. We all help clean up and move down to the finished basement for study. We all sit comfortably together and share songs, praise offerings, poems, and devotional practices. The elder then opens the Scriptures and shares a passage and thoughts that the Lord has laid upon his heart. Then, as a group, we discuss the passage, experiences, relevance, and issues surrounding the topic together. This discussion based teaching is led and guided by the elder. Depending on the message a time of reflection, confession, prayer, and repentance follows. We pray for one another and listen to confessions as people repent of sin, often deep and painful hidden sin. We also allow people to confess and become open about hidden pain and bitterness due to abuse, neglect, being wronged, defrauded, or mistreated. Often this was done at the hands of a parent, pastor, relative, teacher, work, boss, or church. We pray and often allow the person to cry it out, get it behind them, and minister to their pain. If it is confessed sin, we help them overcome the guilt, shame, and work to restore them. If they have wronged someone, we assist with helping them come up with a manner of apology or a manner through which to provide restitution. It is far more than a general altar call in any church I've ever attended where dozens, hundreds, or thousands come forward to pray about who knows what and then just go home.
The joy of house churching is the smaller size and extremely low cost. The size allows for a deeply personal experience and deep personal growth. The low cost facilitates greater ability to share possessions and resources to assist every member with the needs that arise in their lives. The lack of expensive and time consuming programs allow us to partner with members (Helping Hands Ministry) to schedule time to go out and volunteer at local charities, shelters, food pantries, etc. It also allows us to coordinate efforts to assist the elderly in our neighborhoods, community clean up of street areas and parks in our neighborhood, and assist people with projects as simple as moderately intensive yard work, painting, moving, etc.
Having attended institutional churches until I was 30, I can say the previous 14 years in the house church movement have been far more personal, rewarding, and spiritually enriching. I've visited institutional churches on occasion throughout these years, seeing that I have many friends and family who still attend institutional churches. I can't help but admit, it's a system. A program. An incorporated body providing little "personal" spiritual care. And the bigger the congregation, the more one is simply lost in the crowd. It feels very much like a "Sunday Show"...
