SimpleChurch Journal aka House Church Blog

House Church Basics-- Pt. 8: It's All About Jesus

The focal of point house church, simple church, organic church, emerging church or any other way to describe church is simply four words: It’s all about Jesus.

Everything we have discussed in our “House Church Basics” is not an attempt to build a better church box. Rather, it is an attempt to make everything, absolutely everything, about Jesus.

We have discussed the definition of church: a Spirit-led people-movement, not an organization or a box. Why is this essential? Because Jesus leads His movement; men lead organizations. Church-as-a-movement allows Jesus to be central.

We have discussed the church as participatory. This is what allows Jesus to most fully express Himself through His Body and thus be present in the midst of His people.

We have seen that the church is missional. Jesus is missional. He was sent to bring Kingdom life. He is still sending. The church missional is a church with Jesus expressing His core purpose.

The church must be relational because God Himself exists in relationship and His people are designed to express Jesus fully by one-anothering. Love, one to another, expresses Jesus like nothing else.

All of these concepts of “church” are significant only because they place Jesus at the center of His people. No other reason.

Jesus is seen through servant-leaders not CEO-leaders. Thus the importance of how leadership is walked out.

Jesus is seen when the least, the helpless, and the children are honored and loved. Thus the significance of living daily, Kingdom lives: “being” Jesus’ church everywhere we go.

The church is the church when it’s all about the Initiator, the Originator, the Instigator, the Sacrificial Lamb of the Church. There is no other focal point, no other reason, no other point, no other motivation, no other structure… just the Person of Jesus living His life through His people… and His people inviting Him to do so.

I see no better way to sum this up then quoting, in full, from Jim May as posted at WaterCarriers:

Back To Jesus Alone

When you can't figure out whether to sit at His feet, walk in a manner worthy of His call, stand in battle, or run the race with diligence, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you can't even remember: The twenty-two characteristics of a good wife or husband, the seven steps of appeal to authority, the eight things to do when you are worried, or the nine ways of love, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When the proof of authority is simply "they say: and, "they say" have faith, just trust, let go. And let God; and "they say" just love, have joy, receive peace, and pray, and you can't figure out who "they" are, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When your pastor says: hear the word, read the word, memorize the word, study the word, and meditate on the word, and you are lost in the middle of Leviticus or Revelation, and Jeremiah is just too much, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you hear: it is pre, mid, post, a, or pan, don't take the "mark," it is "time, time and half a time," and you can't get through the next hour, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you hear testimonies of others: raising the dead, praying all night, fasting forty days, leading thousands to the Lord, and memorizing the entire Bible, and you hear it through someone who hasn't done any of it, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you hear: have faith, work hard, repent, conquer, give, suffer, sacrifice, evangelize, make disciples, wait on Him, walk in Him, pick up your cross, claim your possessions, and pray, and you feel pulled then different directions on a rack, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When it's: home school, Christian school, public school, the school of hard knocks, or no school, and the discussion is heating up, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you are getting a multitude of requests and letters to give to TBN, CBN, CMA, CCC, BOM, LCM, CFNI, CORE, YWAM, IVF, YFC, 700 Club, PTL Club, and the health club, CBS..ABC...XYZ... It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you can't figure out whether to wash the dishes, do the laundry, have quiet time, change a diaper, mow the grass, or read, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When it is running the car to soccer, volleyball, softball, basketball, handball, football, or just plain ball, and you feel the rod is your home, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When your critics have watched religious TV all week and expect you to preach like Jimmy Swaggert, exercise faith like Kenneth Copeland, build glass monuments like Robert Schuller, heal like Oral Roberts, motivate like Norman Vincent Peale, and you can't stand to watch any of them, It is time to get back to Jesus alone. . .

When you are asked, "How's it going at you church?" and , to you it means, "Ask me how it's going at mine," and you know you are about to hear about: a huge explosion of numbers, miracles, tongues, radio broadcasts, and seminars, and you feel like a failure, It is time to get back to Jesus alone. . .

When you are overweight and feel like running by the mirror and people are suggesting: spas, running, jogging, cycling, swimming, weight watchers, triathalons, biathalons, and trampalons, and you are out of breath just thinking, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you have gone to your fifth conference this year that claimed "this is it," and you tried "it," and "it" didn't work, and the guy left town with your $200, and you can't get a hold of him to ask why "it" didn't work, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When opinions have become like belly buttons- everyone has one, and you are sick of "inners" and "outers," square knots and granny knots, and you run into Proverbs 18:2: "A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion," and you've been fooled, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you just found out you were in the 51.4% majority and the society is insane, so you are agreeing with a crazy norm, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

When you heard another” thus saith the Lord," that contradicted the last "word from the Lord," that was contrary to the previous "the Lord told me," and you finally get the picture that the Lord is being dragged into things He never said, It is time to get back to Jesus alone . . .

It is time to separate His commands from Christian demands. It is time to hear Him speak the Word. It is time to simplify. It is time for one step at a time. It is time to consider some lilies and birds. It is time for the secret place with Him alone.

(House Church Blog is an interactive forum for house church, church planting, and related topics. Feel free to post comments!)

House Church Basics Pt. 7: What About Children?

This is usually the first question asked when it comes to house churches: “What about children?

The implication, of course, is that children are going to lose out if there is not an array of formal children’s programs to teach and take care of the children.

The assumption is that the “Sunday School” program provided by traditional churches is the best way to raise up spiritual kids. The fact is, the majority of children raised in these programs exit youth group after high school (if they have lasted that long) and do not become regular church-goers. This is not to say that something of value didn’t take place, but it does point out that we are not getting the “results” that we hoped for.

I believe there is potential in the House Church for far better results.

Why?

First of all, children will spend more time with their families in worship and seeing their family members involved in spiritual activities.

Dan Trotter writes:

Jesus never, ever said: "Suffer the little children to be packed away in the nursery." Can you imagine the children being led to Children's Church during the Sermon on the Mount?

The churches were in the home, families lived in homes, children lived in families, and therefore, children met with the church in the home. And despite the Scriptural silence on kids and church, I can guarantee one thing: there weren't any Sunday Schools and Children's Churches.

Children need to be in families who are modeling their own spiritual life. This is more important than 1,000 teaching sessions on faith in Christ.

A Third Day article says:

If they [children] see parents with faith, they have faith. If they see parents with adoration of all God has created, they get adoration of God’s creation. If they see parents who truly believe God will provide what they need, they believe God provides.

House church provides far more opportunity for this to happen as children are integrated into the life of “real” church. They will see their parents actively participating in worship, fellowship, communion, and the word—not as spectators but as participants.

Secondly, in house church, children will experience what it means to be brought up within the context of a family. The importance of this cannot be overstressed. Faith is caught through quality relationships not quality programs! This is essential to grasp!

Wayne Jacobsen says it very well:

But don't our children need church activities? I'd suggest that what they need most is to be integrated into God's life through relational fellowship with other believers. 92% of children who grow up in Sunday schools with all the puppets and high-powered entertainment, leave 'church' when they leave their parents' home. Instead of filling our children with ethics and rules we need to demonstrate how to live in God's life together.

Even sociologists tell us that the #1 factor in determining whether a child will thrive in society is if they have deep, personal friendships with non-relative adults. No Sunday school can fill that role. I know of one community in Australia who after 20 years of sharing God's life together as families could say that they had not lost one child to the faith as they grew into adulthood. I know I cut across the grain here, but it is far more important that our children experience real fellowship among believers rather than the bells and whistles of a slick children's program.

You will never survive in house church with children unless you really grasp and believe what Wayne wrote: “It is far more important that our children experience real fellowship among believers rather than the bells and whistles of a slick children's program.”

To this, I add the point already made: “It is far more important that children are around their parents actively engaged in spiritual activities than being shuffled off to “children’s” programs.

Now, if these points are grasped, it becomes much easier and less frightening to begin to talk about the practical issues of doing house church with children.

No, it’s not simple, and yes, it’s sometimes messy. From our own experiences, it requires ongoing discussion within the church… and this is good. Working with our children in our own homes requires an ongoing discussion between the parents. The same is true at church. If we are going to provide for their spiritual needs while also balancing the needs of adults, it requires ongoing, frequent discussion.

We are discovering that there are as many different ways of working with children as there are house churches. For those that want a little guidance, I first refer you back to Dan Trotter’s article where he provides seven practical suggestions for working with children.

At home-church.org there is a slew of responses from house churches who were asked to share their experiences with children. If you want to really “get into” the practical side of this, be sure to read the responses.

Above all, don’t underestimate our children. They are part of the church; they are filled with the same Spirit as the adults. They are able to adapt and they are able to participate as members of the Body of Christ.

As a Third Day article says:

When children are viewed as part of the group, part of the family, they will make the necessary adjustments to be a part. Children will adapt. The adults are the one’s who need to check their view on including children in their church life. Parents should be helping their children make the adjustments but the whole group participates in their attitude toward children. Be prepared to see and hear some wonderful things from the kids.

The final chapter on working with children has not been written. This is an area for prayer, creativity, experimentation, and risk-taking. But let’s not be afraid to do all of this. House churches, just be their nature, have more to offer children than, perhaps, any other setting.

What’s your ideas on this?

Go to Part 8: It's All About Jesus

(House Church Blog is an interactive forum for house church, church planting, and related topics. Feel free to post comments!)

House Church Basics Pt. 6: HC Networks-- A Wave Is Coming

Simple churches, connected together as a "network," are already becoming a "new wave" type phenomenon.

The concept of a network of house churches invites individual house churches to thrive within a larger community.

In the New Testament, we see churches that met in houses and gathered anywhere. But we also see the larger context of city-wide churches: the church of Ephesus, the church of Philippi, etc.

The networking together of house churches is biblical and provides many benefits:
• The fellowship together of a greater variety of Christians with a greater diversity of gifts
• The joint support of ministries, missions, or charitable needs
• Community-wide activities
• Opportunity for larger celebration events

Networks can function in different ways. They may be highly informal, connected only by an occasional joint gathering or special times to share ideas with one another. Or, they may be more formally networked together as “sister” churches that function with many common goals and projects. We use the term “cluster” for a group of house churches that are closely related.

Either way, it’s important that networks do not become a way to exercise centralized control. They are simply a larger context for autonomous churches to be part of.

It is important to understand that house church networks are not at all the same as churches that are small-group based. Many churches, today, refer to their small groups as “house churches,” however they are still small-group based churches as opposed to house church networks.

If you are unclear about the difference between a house church network and a church of small groups, be sure to read this article.

House church networks are one form that God is using to bring us into a transformation of church. Many people are envisioning that this kind of church (and others like it) will affect every community in the USA.

Mike Steele, DAWN Ministries, says this:

I believe we will see a day when some cities will be “filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea!”… Communities will be filled with lighthouses, gatherings of believers who “are” the church and reach out to bless their neighbors and restore neighborhoods. There will be a rapid multiplication of New Testament communities across this continent”

Larry Kreider, in his book on House Church Networks predicts that:

Within the next ten to fifteen years, I believe these new house church networks will dot the landscape of North America just as they already do in other nations of the world.

And Neil Cole, who has been planting organic churches for several years, suggests that a wave is coming, and the swell is already evident:

Yes, it is true that house churches have not proliferated across the western world like in China, South America or Africa. It is also true that they have been shortsighted and inwardly focused in the past and not only incapable of reproducing...but not necessarily something you would want to reproduce. They often were seen as stock piling weapons and full of fanatical teachings.

But the Lord is now starting a new work...and I dare say you don't want to miss the wave! It began two years ago and is gaining momentum every month. There is not a single event or person at the core beginning of this...only Jesus. But it suddenly started happening.

In the last two years the Lord has simultaneously and even spontaneously risen up a variety of expanding house church networks all across the country. I will mention a few examples, site some websites, and tell you our story and hope that helps.

1. House2House magazine started and in about a year has gone from 0-30,000 in circulation. Tony, Felicity and Jonathan Dale publish it out of Austin Texas. They also have a growing network of house churches.

2. John White is in Denver and he also leads a growing network of house churches. He is also is a house church coach and sends a regular email out to many people all over the country.

3. Jonathan Campbell is in the Seattle area and has been at this for some years now. He has a house church network that is in several different states. He received his Ph.D. from Fuller on some of these subjects.

4. Vineyard Central in Cincinnati has transitioned from a traditional Vineyard church into an expanding network of house churches. In the last year they went from 10 to 20 churches. Kevin Raines and Dave Nixon (among others) are the key leaders in this movement.

5. Apex is a network of house churches in Las Vegas (and three other states as well). They have about 25 churches. Joe Boyd and Greg Hubbard are leading this network.

6. Summit is a network of about 12 house churches in the Portland area under the leadership of Dan and Jodi Mayhew.

7. The Friends Church in the Northwest has been doing this for a couple years now and have 20-25 organic churches all over the pacific Northwest. Harold Behr is the one facilitating that movement.

8. Robert Fitts is called by God to go around casting vision for an expanding house church movement and has many who are following his simple four step strategy. He is from Hawaii (but most of the time he is in someone's living room humbly sharing his story and vision with a new friend somewhere else in the US).

9. Mike Steele with DAWN Ministries is networking the networks and could tell you of even more people including some in Canada.

10. A new emerging network of So Baptist churches in the Dallas and Houston area. Joe Cartwright is starting one. Jim Mellon, Dave Underwood, and others are behind these new churches.

This is all new and NOW. This is one of the only segments of Christianity that is seeing a rapid increase in the Western world...and its a dramatic increase.

Here's our last couple of years...

1999 we started 10 house churches.
2000 we started 18
2001 we started 52 (average of a church a week)
2002 we have already passed 100 and are on course for 140-160 (this year alone)

If you chart that growth you'll see what I mean by a new wave that is coming!

Wow!

Go To Part 7: What About Children?

House Church Basics -- Part 2: Participatory Church

Participatory gatherings: wonderful, biblical, necessary. Do we really know how to do them?

One of my greatest joys in house church is the participatory nature of the gatherings.

For historical and biblical background on participatory gatherings I refer you to an excellent article by Brian Anderson.

My own transition to participatory church came after many years as a pulpit pastor. I echo the words of Scott William who said:

It seems easy on Saturday night to prepare three points on how to fix your marriage or how to quit sinning. On Sunday I have delivered the message, felt good about it, been complimented for it… but did it really change anything? Really?...

Oh, how I know the frustration he is talking about: trying hard to come up with something that will “feed” others and impact their lives. At the same time teaching them, by my actions, that they don’t need to wrestle with God’s word for themselves… just let me pre-package and deliver it.

How I love participatory church. I am continually moved and amazed to see others, new Christians, mature Christians, children, sharing from Scripture, leading out in worship, and being moved by the Holy Spirit to do so. It’s usually not “flashy” or dynamic in presentation, but Oh the Spirit of God is in it! We teach ourselves to listen very carefully to the Holy Spirit through the quietest person.

Yet, having said all that… Let’s be honest: participatory gatherings can be quite challenging.

The blogger at Radical Congruency talks about trying so hard to be participatory that all structure was thrown out. They were afraid of institutionalizing their spirituality with “five acts of worship” or something like it. The result was that they “institutionalized (made regular and predictable and essential) by default some peripheral things we find ourselves doing every week – reading the comics, eating, making plans, etc.”

In other words, by having no structure around spiritual things, they found themselves, by default, structuring non-spiritual things. (Thanks for sharing this, by the way).

On the other hand, in reaction to a lack of structure, it is so easy (even in a house church) for one person to take control and begin to “lead” the gatherings which, in itself, will tend to move things right on back toward traditional lines.

So… how do we structure so that there is spiritual participation, all utilize their gifts, the Holy Spirit is in control, and no one takes over?

It’s time to brainstorm!

I will share briefly what we are doing, what a couple of others are doing… But I’m hoping we can hear from some others… how, how, how are you doing it?

For ourselves, we have taken a chapter from 12-step meetings and use instructions that are read to guide the group into each section of the service. The gathering is still fluid and open to not following a set pattern, but there is a basic structure. For example, someone reads a “Welcome” statement which is simple enough. Someone else reads an “Announcements” statement that then opens things up for all kinds of discussions, business, birthdays, etc. Then, there is a “Worship” statement read that explains how participatory worship works. This opens our time for worship which is highly participatory, fluid, and open. Finally, there is a “Teaching” statement read that explains how participatory teaching works.

This sounds more rigid then it is… It’s just a framework. But the statements that are read provide some guidelines which invite full participation while providing some encouragement for “talkative” people to make room for the quieter ones.

It is working to some extent. If anyone would like to have more specific information on our actual readings, I can make them available.

Here is a description of the way someone else does it (Allelon):

In our community, we've been starting each meeting spending some time in silence together, waiting on the Lord for direction or just getting centered, getting in touch with the Spirit. Then there is a time in which anyone can bring their "offerings" for the common good-a thought the Lord has been working into their lives over the last week, a poem, painting, scripture, short teaching or testimony that has sprung from their walk with the Lord, or a song they feel will edify. This time together has proven time and again to be "orchestrated" by the Spirit to challenge, teach, stretch, comfort and encourage each of us.

These meetings are governed by three basic guidelines we have derived from I Corinthians 12-14:
A. Everything must be done from the motivation of love
B. It must be easily understandable or it must be explained
C. It must be edifying

Still another group sometimes does what they call a “Contemplative Gathering.” To read more on this click here.

There is certainly no “right” way to do any of this. But any attempts to release the whole Body of Christ to engage in releasing ministry through the Spirit… is awesome!

Two quotes sum up the beauty of participatory gatherings. One, by Aaron who commented on this blog earlier in the week:

I have never experienced God more than I have in the past few months since I began fellowshipping in a small House Church. I realize that it has been because I have taken responsibility for my relationship with God... I no longer sit back and wait for the pastor to preach me a sermon or the music leader to sing me a song, or the elders to pray, or ……… I have become an active participant in a wonderful relationship with MY GOD.

And then, I love this Frank Viola quote:

"The Lord Jesus cannot fully disclose Himself through only one member. He is far too rich. In fact, His riches are inexhaustible (Eph. 3:8)! When every member of the Body functions in the meeting, Christ is seen. He is assembled in our midst.”

Jesus assembled in our midst! Yes, yes, yes, that's what we are after!

Please share your ideas and experiences with participatory gatherings!!!!!

Go to Part 3: Missional Church

(House Church Blog is an interactive forum for house church, church planting, and related topics. Feel free to post comments!)

House Church Basics -- Part 1-B: What Is Church?

(To start at Part 1-A click here.)

1. Church is a movement not an organization.
2. Expressions of church are far more diverse than we can imagine.

We have been working at eliminating preconceptions around old definitions of “church.” Our cultural idea of “what church is” can keep us from seeing what church really is!!!

We have already suggested this definition of church:

A loose-knit network of Jesus followers who gather together to encourage each other in their spiritual life and who go out, moved by the Holy Spirit, sharing and demonstrating the Gospel.

Taking this further, if we really get into a New Testament perspective, we see that the church was a “movement.” The church was not a box for this movement to fit in, nor a structure to contain it. The church, the collective group of people following the Spirit of God, was simply that group of people who were being moved by the Spirit. However and wherever the Spirit took His people, gathered His people, or sent His people, church was happening!

Church was fluid, going everywhere, gathering everywhere, ministering everywhere, being the Body of Christ everywhere. All of this was and is “church.”

Once we grasp this, we can go on to the issues of: “How is church expressed? What does it look like when the church gathers?”

Robert Fitts suggests that we begin with the simplest possible expression of church: two or three gathered in Christ’s name (Matthew 18:20):

What Is A Church? If we take away all the non-essentials, we would have Jesus and at least two people who have come together in His name. Two people, who have been born again, meeting together anywhere, at anytime, with Jesus in the midst, is church at its most basic, most informal level. (The Church in the House).

This is a good starting point for looking at how church is expressed. It’s simple. It can be two or three. When a husband and wife gather at home (two or more), it is church.

Going beyond that, we find in Scripture many diverse expressions of church. When people gathered for prayer, they were the church. When Christians gathered around the supper table, it was church. When a group gathered to share songs and interact with the Word, it was church. Period. Not second rate church. Just church. The Presence-of-Jesus-in-the-midst church. Every gathering of Christians=church. Every instance of Christians “going” into the world—church.

Expressions of church, since it is the expression of people gathering and going under the movement of the Spirit, can be as varied and diverse as people themselves.

Two missionaries sharing the Good News in an igloo in Greenland—church. Christian friends enjoying fellowship around a barbie—church. Real church. Full-on church. No more and no less “real church” than any organized church meeting.

Here’s what Dan at Signposts has to say about one particular “church” gathering:

Last night at Haven we had a kingdom feast… A celebration of our community and the presence of Jesus. We fired up the barbie and I cooked up a storm of meat, someone brought a salad and someone else some wine. Gee it was good. The conversation was rich - covering all sorts of issues from the redfern riots, the Iraq war and why the child was running around the table continually. Fair dinkum, this is Church! Just as singing songs and hearing a sermon can be Church this can be too. It was a joy and it was a deep meaningful experience. We must do more of them!

Does this shake up our view of church? Is this a real expression of church? Have we even begun to grasp how diverse church can really be?

Does any of this really matter?

Perhaps. Many seem to feel that the box we now call “church” isn’t working! It has robbed the Holy Spirit movement of its life and power.

Check out these statements:

Alan Creech says that we need to understand and do church differently because there is a “deep lack of real transformation going on in the Body of Christ.”

Reggie McNeal says: "A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith."

My own quote: “Today, we usually see structure define what the church is. In this context, there is no room for the full and rich diversity of the movement of the Spirit through God's people… Could this be the reason that we are not seeing the glory of the Lord cover our neighborhoods and nations?

And: “Church-as-we-know-it has become a box to live within, not a movement to participate in.”

Thoughts?

Go to Part 2: Participatory Church

House Church Basics -- Part 1-A: What Is Church?

Our first challenge in grasping what God intends church to be, is to stop looking at it through the lens of our background and through the lens of 2,000 years of “church” as a formal institution.

Dee Hock says:

"The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it."

So our first challenge is to de-program old definitions and wrestle with some accurate new ones.

Let’s start with a basic New Testament definition of church. The Greek word for “church” is “ekklesia” which simply refers to those who were "called out" for an assembly or meeting. It was a non-religious word. It just referred to a group of people. In this case, the group of people who were followers of Jesus.

It really is and must be that simple!

Church is not an organization, building, or meeting of any kind. It’s simply a group of people who follow Christ.

Robert Fitts provides some additional information at DAWN ministries:

Jesus used a common word when he said, "I will build my church." It was not a religious word. It simply meant a called out group, or crowd, or fellowship, or assembly. So we can use the word church when it communicates what we are saying, but we can also use the word fellowship, or gathering, or brethren, or saints, or disciples. It simply means a group of people.

It’s very helpful to define “church” clearly. The temptation is to go around this issue and ask secondary questions: “How is church expressed?” “What will the gathering of believers look like when they come together?” But these are secondary questions!! We must be clear first of all what church is, then and only then can we understand how church is to be expressed.

Church, in essence, is simply a collective group of followers.

Consider this definition of church:

A loose-knit network of Jesus followers who gather together to encourage each other in their spiritual life and who go out, moved by the Holy Spirit, sharing and demonstrating the Gospel.

Loose-knit. Not formal membership, just a love-commitment to God and each other.

Jesus followers. The basic requirement for membership in the church.

Who gather together. Gathering to build one another up and to worship.

Who go out. The purpose of believers… to GO with the message.

Moved by the Holy Spirit. The one and only LEADER of the church.

Sharing and demonstrating the gospel. The reason that the church GOES.

Neither the church gatherings, nor the church’s “goings” had to have anything other than believers + the Holy Spirit. Nothing else was necessary for church to be church. Sometimes apostles were present, many times not. Sometimes elders were present, many times not. The church really is the followers of Jesus who engaged in gathering and going.

As we think this through, I would like to suggest the reading of a “Description of a House Church.” This is an expression of church that is based upon, I believe, an accurate definition of “church.” This is not, by any means, the only expression of church. It’s just one of many. Early church gatherings and expressions were very diverse. But as you read this, ask yourself if it is built solidly on the definition of what church really is. Why? Why not? Click the link and read it!

I would love to hear some reactions to both the definition of church presented here (loose-knit network of Jesus followers, etc… ) and this house church description.

Go to Part 1-B: What Is Church?

(House Church Blog is an interactive forum for house church, church planting, and related topics. Feel free to post comments!)

House Church Networks vs. The Cell / Small-Group Church

It is vital to understand that house church networks are not the same thing, in any way, as churches with small groups (even if those small groups are called “house churches.”

The cell church (I will adopt the term “cell” church to refer to all types of small-group-based churches) has been a strong movement in North America over the past 30 years while the house church network is only just beginning to emerge.

Nevertheless, in order to evaluate what God is doing in both of these streams it is very useful to recognize the differences:

1. Within the house church network, each house church is fully, and completely real church. The attitude of the member comes out of an awareness that “I am the church.”

The cell church is an extension of a larger church. It is a smaller piece, a ministry of, the larger, real church. The cell member tends to regard himself as one who “belongs to” the small group and is a “member of” the larger church.

2. House churches do not ever need to build buildings. They can reproduce and multiply without ever requiring a building project.

Cell churches are dependent on building structures to house the corporate church that meets weekly for celebration services.

3. In the house church the small, weekly, home service is the priority. The extended family and the relationships that develop within the small home service are the most important part of church life. The larger celebration service with the entire house church network takes place less often and is, therefore, a lower priority.

In the cell church the larger, weekly celebration service is the priority. If the church has to choose between the bigger all-church service or its cell groups, the big service wins.

4. House church models a way of life and a set of values that is unique to its structure. Larry Kreider says that because church takes place entirely “outside of the mentality of religious meetings” it causes people to become “involved in a lifestyle of everyday community” in which people live their lives “in an extended spiritual family as they focus on reaching the lost.”

The cell church tends to be an event (a good event) or a program that people attend. It certainly, vitally adds to the person’s life but would not normally lead to a “lifestyle of everyday community.”

5. House churches and house church networks can multiply rapidly.

Cells within the cell church tend to grow as a result of the corporate church itself growing (if it does).

6. House churches are guided by spiritual “fathers” but are free to follow the agenda of Jesus in their midst.

Cell churches are also often free to allow Jesus to shape the meeting and direction of the group, but they are also, just as often, set up with the agendas of the leaders of the corporate church.

7. House church networks have a “flat” leadership structure. This means that as leaders are developed and churches planted, the leadership goes sideways and remains flat. In essence, churches and church leaders are continually sent out.

Cell churches are designed with a hierarchical structure and administration so that leaders of cells are overseen by leaders of zones, who are overseen by pastoral staff, etc.

8. House churches consume less resources on facilities and administration which frees up more resources for missions and Christian charities.

Cell churches tend to consume most of the resources that come into the church on facilities and administrative needs.

9. House churches develop elders, shepherds, ministers, and church planters. It quickly raises up and encourages these kinds of ministries. Every gift is equally valued as every person sees his or her gift used and valued within the context of real church.

Cell churches develop home group leaders and encourage members to develop their gifts mostly for use within the small group. Often, these highly gifted people do not see themselves as ministering on the same level as the staff ministers in their church.

10. The house church can meet anywhere and is encouraging the church to change from being a Come-structure to a Go-structure. It stops trying to bring people “into the church” and brings the church to people.

The cell church is usually (not always) part of the larger church’s Come-structure, seeking to bring people into church and into small groups.