Christianity: Details about 'House Church'
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House church is an informal term for a group of Christians gathering regularly or spontaneously in a home or on grounds not normally used for worship services, instead of a building dedicated to the purpose. Another term with the same meaning is "home church". Some churches meet in houses because they lack a conventional church building; these are not normally regarded as house churches as the intent is to eventually move into an offsite facility. Others meet in homes because they prefer to meet informally, because they believe it is an effective way of creating community and engaging in outreach, or because they believe meeting in a home is the true pattern set in the first century and intended by Christ. Some, perhaps, meet in homes for several of these reasons.
Scriptural basisThose Christians who meet together in homes usually do so because of a desire to return to the simplicity of Church meetings as found in the Christian Bible and specifically the New Testament. Rather than formalized meetings and doctrine, the first Christian church showed a simplicity of belief and practice in the New Testament. Instead of seeing Christian belief and practice as series of Church meetings, the return to Biblical Church stresses a way of life that is lived towards others. This is expressed well by the over 50 counts of the phrase "One Another" found in the New Testament starting with the words of Jesus, "Love one another." (John 13:34). Some Bible passages that indicate the atmosphere of Early Church life include:
Structure and organizationHouse churches should not be confused with "cell churches". A house church is not normally part of a larger, overseeing organization, although the group may associate informally with other Christians and house churches in networks reflecting equality rather than hierarchy. Those who meet in house churches regard themselves as belonging to the worldwide Church, but are self-governing and independent, generally without formal relationships with established "institutional churches." Some house churches have a conventional leadership structure, others have none. A commonly held belief in the modern day house church "movement" is that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough to demonstrate a New Testament belief in the "priesthood of all believers" and that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of the Church which is the body of Christ. The absence of hierarchical leadership structures in many house churches, while often viewed by the Protestant church at large as a sign of anarchy or rebelliousness to authority, is viewed by many in the house church movement to be the most viable way to come under true spiritual authority of love, relationships, and the visible dominion of Jesus Christ as Head of his own bride (i.e. the church). Some within the house church "movement" therefore consider the term "house church" to be a misnomer, because the main issue for people who practice their faith in this manner is not the house but more the type of meeting that takes place; other titles which are sometimes used to describe this movement more functionally are "simple church", "relational church", "primitive church", "bodylife", "organic church" and similar terms. The house church movement today also owes much of its networking and exchange of information to the use of the Internet; HC is generally used as an abbreviation for "House Church" and IC is used to designate "Institutional Church" which is the generalized term for more traditional church structures, including a church building and/or sermon-centered church services led by a pastor or minister. As a rule, house church gatherings are free, informal, and sometimes include a shared meal. Participants hope that everyone present will feel free to contribute to the gathering as and when they sense the leading of the Holy Spirit to do so. Leadership structures range from no official leaders, to a plurality of appointed elders; however, there is a deliberate attempt within most house churches to minimize the leadership of any one person, and so having one pastor or leading elder is generally frowned upon, in favor of a more plural responsibility of leadership diffused over several people or the members as a whole. Origins and historyThe origins of the North American house church trend are varied. Some consider it a new variety of the Plymouth Brethren movement, others recognise a relationship to the Anabaptists, Quakers, Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Methodists, and the much earlier Waldenses. Another perspective sees the house church movement as a re-emergence of the move of the Holy Spirit during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s in the USA ( ) or the worldwide Charismatic Renewal of the late 1960s and 1970s. Others see it as a return to a New Testament church Restorationism paradigm ( ) and a restoration of God's eternal purpose and the natural expression of Christ on the earth ( ), urging Christians to return from hierarchy and rank to practices described and encouraged in Scripture ( ). It has been more recently encouraged by the church planting and publishing initiative of writers like , , and . The Internet itself has contributed to the phenomenon's exponential growth in the past decade, many previously unconnected individuals. The house church movement is a cousin and slight forerunner to the Emerging Church conversation. No single factor can sum up the emergence of this ancient-future ecclesiology, but a confluence of all the threads noted above have contributed to the growth of house churches in the West.Today, the spread of house churches is largely found in countries like China, Vietnam, India, Cuba, Brazil and African nations, but they are also seen in small, but growing, numbers in the Philippines, Europe, and North America. House churches in Saudi Arabia have experienced raids by the religious police, often resulting in the arrest of the leaders of the assembly. Relationship to Established Churches and Missions GroupsHistory clearly demonstrates that there have at times been tensions between house church movements (along with other restoration and revival movements) on the one hand and more traditional churches on the other. Therefore, many house churches do not have formal links to larger Christian organizations and prefer to operate in this fashion as a matter of principle. However, more recently, a number of established Christian denominations and missions organizations are beginning to officially support efforts at developing networks of house churches even in Western nations where religious freedom is protected. These include The Free Methodist Church in Canada, The Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada, The Navigators of Canada, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, The Canadian Evangelical Christian Churches, Partners in Harvest, The Southern Baptist Convention (USA), Dove Christian Fellowship International, DAWN Ministries (Discipling a Whole Nation), and YWAM (Youth With a Mission), among others. Christian Heritage Center (CHC) has proclaimed March as House Church MonthTo mark the importance of house churches—which have been a part of Christianity since the earliest days following Pentecost—the Christian Heritage Center (CHC) has proclaimed March as House Church Month. While many view the house church as a modern day phenomena, in reality it dates back to the days of Peter, Paul, and John. “The house church was one of the primary meeting places used by the church for the first few centuries,” says Greg Humphries, founder of the CHC. “They were there at the beginning and they’re here now. We believe it is important to honor their contribution to the advancement of the Gospel over the past two thousand years.” Humphries says the New Testament bears out the existence of early house churches. “There are four verses in particular that mention the church being in somebody’s home,” according to Humphries. “Solomon’s Porch, the synagogues, and the marketplace were all used for evangelism but the meeting place for the believers was in a home. In fact, the very first meeting of the church took place in a house, in the upper room as told in Acts 1.” The Bible shows that the apostle Paul urged believers to “greet the church that is in (Aquila and Priscilla’s) house” (Romans 16:3-5). One of the early church fathers, Clement of Alexandria, speaks in his writings of a house being used as a place of worship. Likewise, a private house in Dura-Europos (near Baghdad) was excavated in the 1930’s and was found to be used as a Christian meeting place in AD 232, with one small room serving as the baptistery. Historical references to house churches over the next sixteen-and-a-half centuries are scarce since the movements that met in homes were generally outlawed, but it is known that the Waldensians—a severely persecuted group of believers in the 12th and 13th centuries—met in homes throughout Europe. Also, some early Anabaptists met in the home of Felix Manz, who was martyred before the age of 30 by followers of Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss reformer. Today, it is estimated by the Barna Group that there are up to 30,000 house churches in the United States and possibly a million worldwide. One ministry alone in India has planted more than 3,000 house churches numbering some 50,000 believers. It is believed that about 50 million Christians are fellowshipping in homes in China. Source: Statistics on the House Church Movement(Statistical Sources: Rad Zdero (2004), The Global House Church Movement, and Dawn Friday Fax, www.jesus.org.uk/dawn)
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