House Churches

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I'll be ready!

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Elect
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I see a movement in some areas of the country back to small home churches like the time of the early church in the New testament.
I can see that as gaining footing in areas where the population is small and lower income.
You would do away with the need for a large building and all the upkeep involved. Some of these started in urban areas but could well serve those who are in the country where the population is low. What do you think of that movement?
 
I'll be ready! said:
I see a movement in some areas of the country back to small home churches like the time of the early church in the New testament.
I can see that as gaining footing in areas where the population is small and lower income.
You would do away with the need for a large building and all the upkeep involved. Some of these started in urban areas but could well serve those who are in the country where the population is low. What do you think of that movement?
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No issues with me. I can definitely see a need for it. There are families that wouldn’t come to my church because it’s to big but would go to a house church.
 
The largest mega church in our area was started in the living room of the founding (and current) pastor. Five campuses today. Thousands in attendance with hundreds on staff.
 
Bruh said:
No issues with me. I can definitely see a need for it. There are families that wouldn’t come to my church because it’s to big but would go to a house church.
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subllibrm said:
The largest mega church in our area was started in the living room of the founding (and current) pastor. Five campuses today. Thousands in attendance with hundreds on staff.
Click to expand...
👍
 
I'll be ready! said:
I see a movement in some areas of the country back to small home churches like the time of the early church in the New testament.
I can see that as gaining footing in areas where the population is small and lower income.
You would do away with the need for a large building and all the upkeep involved. Some of these started in urban areas but could well serve those who are in the country where the population is low. What do you think of that movement?
Click to expand...
I haven't put a lot of thought into it, but the home churches I've seen are usually in reaction to something. The home churches in the first century were in places where the Gospel was largely unestablished or persecuted. I don't think it was supposed to be the norm.
 
Sometimes you have to start somewhere... or, as we have seen with rabid KJVOs like Will Kinney, they start a church in their livingroom and maintain their membership in the larger church with hopes of taking over in the future.
 
Dr. Bob, a poster on previous iterations on this forum, pastored a home church in Wyoming. I believe it was started as a plant from another, and they actively trained others to plant other house churches when the congregation became too large for a single house. I think they were doing the house church properly.
 
When we planted a church in 1982, it began meeting in a house, but that was simply a means to an end. We eventually met in a school auditorium, rented a small building before we bought land and built our own building.

I think the house church movement is by purpose and design always a ‘house church’. My personal experience is that the house movement is like KJVO, they are the only ones ‘doing it right’.
 
I think house churches can be done right--someone mentioned Dr. Bob's church, which maintained ties to their sending church.

But I've also seen plenty of house churches that seem to have been started only because of dissatisfaction with another established church. I know of one near my alma mater that started from the Baptist church I attended because of the new pastor's "heresy" (including preaching from the New King James Version instead of the KJV that was in the pews and his predecessor had used. He was not a heretic, and in the end he stuck with the pew Bibles anyway. The church was strongly KJV-preferred but never took issue when I occasionally led Bible studies using my NIV or NASB). People like that aren't church planters--they're schismatics, and historically schism has been treated as seriously as heresy.

Who is the pastor of a house church accountable to, if he belongs to no denomination? Does he have other elders? Is there a written standard like a confession or statement of faith? Or does he answer only to God? That's often a sly way of saying he is accountable to no one. How is that different from the dictator IFB manna gods?
 
FSSL said:
Sometimes you have to start somewhere... or, as we have seen with rabid KJVOs like Will Kinney, they start a church in their livingroom and maintain their membership in the larger church with hopes of taking over in the future.
Click to expand...
Who was Will Kinney?
 
I'm not necessarily against house churches, but I think there are more disadvantages than advantages as opposed to having a dedicated church building. Some cities might even have ordinances restricting the number of people that can gather in a place of residence for religious worship. I think it's more practical to meet in homes for smaller Bible study or discipleship groups.
 
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