I would like to know more about home churches

[LaymanPreacher]

My name is James. I will be 20 as of November 5, this Friday. My dad has been a minister for a church over an hour away for ten years now. He is stepping down because we take care of some elderly family, and he wishes to find a church closeby because of his responibilities.

I am a college student, originally going in for English, but recently felt a strong calling towards Apologetics, which is why I am looking at Bible colleges.

I am highly interested in this concept of home churches. And I totally understand, respect, and appreciate the New Testament theology behind it. But I wish to know more than what the Introduction post gave me.

Could someone tell me of websites or something like that which could show me good information? Thank you, and God bless.

 

[wanelad]

Hi Layman not really sure what you are asking, I guess taking into consideration of what a "Church" is a gathering of 2 or more people
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Whether this occurs in a building which some refer to as church or in a home with believers gathering in the name of Jesus I do not think it really matters.

I do not say this for those looking for an excuse not to attend church as we are told clearly not to forsake the fellowship of one another

 

[LaymanPreacher]

Hi Layman not really sure what you are asking, I guess taking into consideration of what a "Church" is a gathering of 2 or more people
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Whether this occurs in a building which some refer to as church or in a home with believers gathering in the name of Jesus I do not think it really matters.

I do not say this for those looking for an excuse not to attend church as we are told clearly not to forsake the fellowship of one another

My question is of the ministry of the home church. I agree with the two or more gathered sentiment wholeheartedly. It's just that I have been brought up in the conventional church background, and wished to learn more about this new form of ministry that has come up in the last ten-to-twenty years, based on the types of churches from the New Testament.

 

[wanelad]

It is not new it has been around in various forms since the begining, in countries like Russia and China it has been very strong for the church to survive around persecution. Personally I believe as long as their is a strong leader within the group it can bear much fruit. The draw back is if there is no one leading it will probably turn into a social event

 

[jblake]

wished to learn more about this new form of ministry that has come up in the last ten-to-twenty years, based on the types of churches from the New Testament.

Home churches have been in existence ever since the Crucification.

House churches in the United States started to become known outside of their traditional communities, due to the influence of the Living Waters Movement, the Jesus Movement, and the Charismatic Movement of the mid-sixties.

Theologically, these churches span the entire spectrum. The most visible home churches tend to reflect the theology of Charasmatics, Watchman Nee, or Rick Warren. (One of the ironies of the growth in mega-churches, is that the emphasis on small group study results in a small, but noticeable number of small groups forming their own independent house churches.)

Frank Viola is one of the more prominent advocates of house churches. His seven volume _Rechurch Library_ is one of the more comprehensive sets of "House Church Apologetics" that is in print. It suffers from George Barna's biases, but it is about as objective as one can find. Witness Lee and Watchman Nee's material cover most of the remaining mainstream house church theology, beliefs, and practices.

One can debate the differences between:

• cell church;
• home church;
• simple church;
• small groups;
• church plants;

The net result is that these are functionally identical, differing only in terms of allegiance outside of the immediate group.

 

[Frank1]

I have a home church. We gather and have regular services just as organized non-denominational churches would. Opening prayer, song service, testimonies, sermon, prayer line and closing prayer.
The way many organized churches are getting I feel a home church or non-denominational gatherings are closer to the truth in not being limited by doctrines of man. Too many are swaying back towards a world that we are commanded to come out of.

 

[LaymanPreacher]

I have a home church. We gather and have regular services just as organized non-denominational churches would. Opening prayer, song service, testimonies, sermon, prayer line and closing prayer.
The way many organized churches are getting I feel a home church or non-denominational gatherings are closer to the truth in not being limited by doctrines of man. Too many are swaying back towards a world that we are commanded to come out of.

Yeah, see, my dad is a pastor of a Methodist church, though as of tomorrow (Nov. 7th) he will be stepping down for a sabbatical to rework his priorities with our two elderly relatives that live with us. What you may find wrong with certain denominations, especially ones so heavily connected like the one I am in, is not so much doctrinal issues as rather political issues.

 

[papaJP]

You state the the Methodist Church is not doctrinal issues but political. Both are man driven and the docrtines of man as well as the political driven problems are not productive and is the main problem with most churches. We only have about 20% of professed Christians that attend any type church. The rest use excuses of abuse and personal hurts for not being a part of a congregation. I can attest that I can find a few (very few) in any Christian church that are true believers. They all believe differently and cannot agree to follow the majority of faith matters over the petty differences that have driven the Christian Faith to become a fractured Faith in Jesus Chruch.
The majority who profess to be Christians are only nominal (in name only).

 

[wanelad]

CCCN - About CCCN

This one is interesting they follow the 5 fold ministries concept similar to that of the early church

 

[ezeric]

We do 'home church' or 'simple church' or what we like to sometimes call it is 'party fellowships' but whatever the name, its not the name that counts, its this...

Do you step away, and allow the SPIRIT to totally control the time.
Can you get away, from institutional type worship into spontaneous worship?
Or are you too structured to do that?

Our 'church fellowship time' goes on for usually 10 hours or so.

We have fun, eat, play games, fellowship, sing, pray (lay hands), use our gifts to encourage and keep sharing the 'good news'.
We have on average 30 or so at any given time.
We don't ask for money for anything and dont talk about money unless the LORD
puts it on someone's heart to ask questions.
We share with each other and try to help one another out of love.

The idea of real church is 100% different from typical institutional church.

You all make up the church, its an organism, its alive, it feels, it grows!

-eric
The Exchanged Life

 

[wanelad]

Since this thread started I have done more research myself and even attended a Home Church, House Church, Micro Church and not I see Party Church by Ezeric.

I found this write up with several links that are interesting
Christian Findings

 

[ezeric]

I called it "party fellowships". Not party church.

There was a group in the early 1900's that started in Oxford University England.
There was a British Newspaper Writer/Editor who was following this movement
from the beginning. His name was A.J. Russell, he compiled everything into a
book called "For Sinners Only" describing this movement.

The group was originally called the 'Oxford Club'.
They did home church, but later they were called 'life changers'.
A.J. Russell (who was following them, and later became one of them) called
the movement "House Party".

They ended up growing into something over 20 countries.
They believed JESUS could lead HIS church, and everyone who believes
can hear from GOD.

So what its called isn't so important, rather who is there and is JESUS
leading, and LOVE flowing that counts.

For some history on the Oxford Club and their "House Parties" you can read here:
For Sinners Only

Merry Christmas to all my brothers and sisters here!

-eric

The Exchanged Life

​

 

[greenboy]

I started a home church years ago I posted a sign at the library and then I start meeting under a bridge believe me , after a while I moved the group to a house and later when the group grew I left them. I heard they became a church I am planing to start one in the net. See ya...

 

[lovinggod1111]

I just recently purchased a book from Ebay about starting a home church. I found it very interesting and I am currently gathering more information. In the book it says that church should not be a place but a way of life. I think the early New Testament Christians had it right. I don't believe there are any house churches locally, but I'm starting to look into maybe starting one.

 

[kimmiemae]

We do 'home church' or 'simple church' or what we like to sometimes call it is 'party fellowships' but whatever the name, its not the name that counts, its this...

Do you step away, and allow the SPIRIT to totally control the time.
Can you get away, from institutional type worship into spontaneous worship?
Or are you too structured to do that?

Our 'church fellowship time' goes on for usually 10 hours or so.

We have fun, eat, play games, fellowship, sing, pray (lay hands), use our gifts to encourage and keep sharing the 'good news'.
We have on average 30 or so at any given time.
We don't ask for money for anything and dont talk about money unless the LORD
puts it on someone's heart to ask questions.
We share with each other and try to help one another out of love.

The idea of real church is 100% different from typical institutional church.

You all make up the church, its an organism, its alive, it feels, it grows!

-eric
The Exchanged Life

This is awesome. How long have you been doing this? How are children in the group taken care of?