SimpleChurch Journal

We May Be Part of Something Bigger Than We Realize

Some notes from a John White email and the Friday Fax-- Excellent Reading!!!!

USA: 5,000 house churches planted so far

"The number of house churches in the USA has probably doubled in the past 18 months, from 2,500 to 5,000," according to participants at a symposium organized by Church Multiplication Associates' Neil Cole in Los Angeles from 25-28 April 2005. "The main growth comes from missionary groups aiming to reach the unchurched with the Gospel and involve them in multipliable discipleship structures," says Cole.

National House Church Conference

"We're expecting up to 1,000 participants at the next national House Church conference in the USA in Denver from 2-5 September 2005," say Tony and Felicity Dale, part of the team organizing the conference. John Eldredge was the main speaker at last year's conference; this year, speakers include Rolland Baker, who saw some 5,000 new churches planted in Mozambique and neighbouring nations over the past 5 years, Wolfgang Simson and Neil Cole.

John White adds:  In addition to the speakers and workshops, the Conference is a great place to connect with other HC people and to gain a sense of the big picture of what God is doing.  For more information, go to http://www.house2house.tv/   On that website, you can also sign up for the House2House magazine which has a new edition coming out soon.

20,000 'Neo-Apostolics'

While researching his soon to be published book 'Apostolic Genius', Alan Hirsch, author of 'The Shaping of Things to Come' "stumbled upon some extremely notable, even astonishing, discoveries by important observers of the global Christian scene."  Barrett highlights particularly the development of the so-called 'Neo-Apostolic' networks and movements, of which there are already over 20,000 around the world, numbering around 394 million Christians.

John White adds:  If you are reading this email, you are probably one of those 394 million.  Here in the US we can feel like a tiny minority within the "church world".  However, the reality is that we are a part of something huge that God is initiating.

According to Barrett, these Christians reject historical denominationalism and all restrictive central authority, and attempt to lead a life of following Jesus, seeking a more effective missionary lifestyle. They are the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. Barrett estimates that by the year 2025, these movements will have around 581 million members, 120 million more than all Protestant movements together.

Martin Luther on House Church

Many say that Martin Luther reformed our theology without significantly reforming the Constantinian church structure.  Here is an interesting quote from Luther related by Roger Gehring in "House Church and Mission":

As early as 1526 Martin Luthere stressed the importance of the house church in his paper Deutsche Messe and Ordnung des Gottesdiensts on the "third kind" of worship service for those "who seriously want to be Christians and to proclaim the gospel with their actions and their words."  These "would need to enter their name (in a list) and gather together (in a home) in a small group for prayer, to read (the Scripture), for baptism, to receive the sacraments, and to do other Christian services."  But he regretted very much that he "did not yet have individuals who were doing this and did not see many who felt compelled to do so in the future."

Blogging About the Conference

Fredrik joined us for the conference all the way from Sweden.  He shares his thoughts on Freddyblog... It's worth the read.

Otherwise, comments continue to grow on the previous post: House Church Conference Revisited.

House Church Conference Revisited

I want to use this post to invite those who attended the conference to share some of the insight that was gleaned at our House Church Conference.

Please DO comment and let's collect, and share with others, whatever encouraged, blessed, motivated, and helped you...

If possible, include your first name and city at the bottom of your post.