House Churches

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I'll be ready!

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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?
 
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.
 
voicecrying said:
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.
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I haven't talked to Grif for a while, but I do know that he was experiencing some health, and mental health issues. He seems to be doing a bit better now, though. I ought to call him soon.
 
Getting back to the OP...
The Independent Baptist Association in Illinois had a young couple attempting to start a church on the west side of Chicago. The EXPENSIVE side. The Association said that they were going to give the couple $50,000 for living expenses and all church expenses. They were starting in their home.

At the same meeting, they budgeted $75,000 to reroof a large facility that was donated to the Association.

The vote came. It was a verbal vote. I stuck out like a sore thumb when I said "Nay!" My voice carried in the Schaumburg auditorium.

The leadership looked at me in disgust... Oh well! They showed their priorities!!! Starve out a family while pretending to start a church while spending funds on a building no one was using (or ever did use).
 
FSSL, I believe you may be talking about the hospital building in Paxton, Illinois. Grace Baptist Church met in a corner of that building and I attended services there on one occasion. It was supposed to be used as a conference center attracting folks from around the state, but that never happened. It turned out to be the proverbial "white elephant" - the building was disposed of somehow, and Grace Baptist moved to a smaller, more practical facility on the south side of town. As far as I am concerned, you were right to vote "Nay!"

The church plant you mentioned in Chicago, was that River North Baptist Church? They were meeting in a loft in a place with very difficult parking, and as far as I can determine, that plant fizzled out pretty fast.

I have nothing against house churches - I'm all for them and if they work, great. But I question the practicality of having a church meeting in a house or place that is difficult to find or access, there is no church sign, they may violate local codes, and nobody can find out, on the Internet or anywhere else, that the church even exists.

For years I attended a house church in Normal, Illinois - we met in the basement of a home, then for a while we met in a motel conference room with no sign and no publicity, then back in a house. Nobody had any way of knowing the church was there, and after limping along for many years, that church fizzled out. Seems to me that starting a church in a house is fine, but there needs to be a plan to quickly get into a building or storefront with visible sign and parking, and there needs to be a good web site. Otherwise, they are probably not going to get anywhere. Even if there is a thriving fellowship meeting in someone's home or apartment, I'm not sure what kind of impact they have if nobody knows they are there.

I donated large sums of money to a black Baptist house church in Chicago - when I visited their services, attendance was basically just the pastor and his family, there was no church sign (the pastor told me that his garbage collection by the city would be canceled if he put up a sign) and there was no publicity or any way to know that a church was meeting there. This church eventually fizzled out and amounted to nothing. I think that any proposal for a house church needs to be analyzed to see if it is practical, and if after a reasonable period of time they are not getting anywhere, then the plug should be pulled.
 
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