The Home Church:A New Phenomenon

By David Ingram

    A recent report from the Barna Group has stirred great interest among Christian leaders. Published by Agape Press on June 13, 2006, the report indicated a growing trend among evangelicals that includes an exodus from the traditional mainline church into a Home Church environment. 

   According to the report, about 50 million American adults meet in home churches at least once a month so the factors responsible for this growing trend are most important:

• Christians want to go from being spectators to being participants in the church.
• Christians are seeking deeper relationships with other Christians
• Christians want more spirituality and growth; they take their faith seriously.

   Such a trend is quite encouraging in an era when most churches run on pre-packaged programming with the popular 7/11 Praise and Worship time (Seven words of a song sung about 11 times), and an entertainment format that offers more froth than substance. Modern Christians have discovered they want to “Be” the church, not just attend church. Barna says, “Home churches often do not have traditional settings and can vary, depending on what the members contribute from week to week or what they feel led to discuss and pray about at any given time.”

    To be certain, such grassroots efforts are fraught with pitfalls and challenges. Barna cites the dangers of bad teaching and errant theology, but we already have that happening in our churches today. The challenges are not new, but the issue of who and how to resolve them becomes strategically important

    Will this movement continue to grow? Will it prompt Christians to take their faith more seriously? Only time will tell.

    The Bible offers significant precedent for this form of gathering. At least four passages offer distinct reference to the home church concept.

       Rom 16:5  Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well beloved Epaenetus, who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ.

    Other verses include 1 Cor. 16:19; Philemon 1:2 and Colossians 4:15. Some claim these are merely meetings among families rather than public meetings.   Although this may be true in certain instances, it makes little difference in the overall picture. The concept works and most scholars opt for the idea that groups of people often met in substantial numbers in the homes of some of the more affluent church members in New Testament times.

 Meetings today involve from five to perhaps twenty or twenty-five people with the upward limit determined more than any other factor by the size of the house. When the numbers grow too large, the groups split and meet either on an additional night or day, or they divide into groups and so multiply the church. We’d like to offer suggestions for making such multiplication happen.

• Meet once a week in Home Church units.
• As your Home church group multiplies, have a meeting among all your groups once a month.
• Eat, worship, pray and study.
• Hold each other accountable for spiritual growth and understanding.
• Find some authoritative institution or person to help resolve issues
• Keep it Simple but plan to accomplish things at each meeting.

     Keep in mind that most if not all your members will have suffered in some way from the traditional church. There is much dissatisfaction among Christians today and the home church must seek to avoid those elements that have produced the problems. People have become disillusioned with the modern church whose commitment seems to be with numbers, size, and outward success. Others have been disenfranchised by the inaccuracies of church doctrine, dogma, and devotion to the Scriptures. People want a church that is Spirit-led, not purpose-driven.  Madison Avenue and Wall Street tactics are out and the book of Acts is in.

     The early church seemed to have a SALT-like effect on the culture. Notice what SALT is known to do:

• Penetrate the Culture. Salt makes water wetter so it penetrates better.
• Preserve the Culture. Salt is a preservative. It prevents corruption and rot.
• Make Palatable the Culture. Salt adds flavor and makes life easier to swallow.
• Protects the Culture. Heals diseases, infections, and cleanses contaminants.
• Purifies the culture. Defeats enemies and promotes health.

     Go, now and make disciples. Teach them the things of Christ, baptize them, and be assured that the Lord of the Churches will accompany your efforts. Beware of inviting the lost into your groups. Only the enemy plants tares among the wheat. Get them saved and THEN bring them to your local meetings and to the larger group meetings. Of late we have “Southernized” the gospel. Instead of saying “go ye,” we often say, “Y’all come.” This is not a biblical model and it has caused much havoc in the modern church.