Rad Zdero has a book out this year called "The Global House Church Movement." It's a relatively brief (140 pages) yet comprehensive look at what is happening today with house churches and house church networks.
Rad's personal experiences involve planting and coaching an emerging house church network in Canada. He offers a chapter on Biblical foundations, another chapter on historical perspectives of the house church movement, and an interesting chapter on practical considerations including how to get started, grow, multiply, and network with other churches.
Rad embraces most of the values that typify many house churches today: 24/7 shared community life, participatory gatherings, missional and reproducible churches. I like his network's slogan: "Every Church, Start a Church Every Year."
Rad is very intentional and, some might say, overly organized when it comes to leadership training and development. However, even if you feel this way, his approach is worth reading.
He makes a strong case for churches being networked within regions, cities, and nations: "So long as house churches choose isolation, independence, and inwardness, so long will they remain a mere novelty, a trend, a fad, without ever becoming a real movement that deeply impacts their city, region, or nation with the gospel of Christ."
Finally, Rad acknowledges that while the house church movement has made a significant impact in countries like China and India, it remains more of a "trend" than a "movement" in the rest of the world. Nevertheless he, like many of us, believe that the simple organic church is the key to reaching our world. It's Biblical, simple, able to saturate every neighborhood and apartment complex, easily reproduced, and led primarily by volunteers.
This is definitely a valuable read: much information and insight yet very readable.
