Home Churches

[Califman831]

This article is currently listed on the LA Times website. Is this an offshoot of the JWs? It seems on some level they are more concerned with being cozy than finding God.

 

[dawgfan]

Is this an offshoot of the JWs?

Why would you make that comparision?

 

[Califman831]

Because they are the ones always showing up at my door wanting to have in-home bible discussions. The ladies are nice but am not interested in converting.

 

[dawgfan]

Totally different theology.

This article is about non-denoms (not JWs)

Actually I think that there have been quite a bit of the non-denoms that start out like this as a small get together in someone’s house and grow from that.

 

[dawgfan]

Proponents counter that it’s how the church began.

In Christianity’s early years, Bible historians say, most worship services took place in homes. That was due to the church’s small size, its lack of structure and, perhaps most significantly, that it evolved when religious gatherings had to be conducted away from the watchful eyes of repressive authorities.

What really makes me confounded about it is that they stress the similarity of the size of the early believers but not what those early believers were actually DOING. (i.e. sharing the body and blood of Christ).

 

[Sabda]

The ones that I know that are doing home churches are Oneness Pentecostals. They are most certainly not Non-denominational. Notice how the article kept repeating how these people are wanting to get back to the early Church? Having studied some of those writings, it really makes you wonder how much these people have read about the early Church. In the first several centuries the Church was being ferociously persecuted. They had no choice but to worship in secret. They were not allowed to build churches to worship in. After Christianity was given legal status by Constantine the building of churches took off, this is most especially noticeable during the Medieval era. If these people want to get back to the early Church then they need to do a really good study of early Christianity.

I think Mr. Wells made some really good points on the second page.

This is another thing that stood out to me.

Occasionally, Bay said, they even hold communion.

Communion was VERY important in the early Church. Worship was centered around it. It was not something that was done “occasionally”. It was done all the time.

**Anything is all right **“as long as it points us to God,” he said.

Notice what they say here? Anything goes, this will eventually create a massive problem.

Like I said they need to do a good study of early Christianity. The early Christians were not all that interested in being “cosy.” They were interested in truth and the truth is not always “cosy”.

 

[KarenNC]

The ones that I know that are doing home churches are Oneness Pentecostals.

I know some folks who are thinking of doing this and they are most definitely not Pentecostal. The family that I know is probably best described as those who consider relationships to be paramount. I would describe them as pretty liberal in terms of their Christian beliefs. They have not found a church locally where they feel they fit as a family. I have no idea how often they plan to hold Communion, but among Protestants, lay communion is not a concern, so there would be no barrier to having it every time they met if they so desired.

They don’t fit the average as described in the article:
“Those most likely to attend house churches, according to phone interviews with more than 5,000 adults nationwide, are men, families that home-school their children, residents of the West and nonwhites,”

They are white, live in the South, and I believe it is the wife who is spearheading the idea. They do homeschool their children.

I do agree with the part of the article that says:
““These are very inward-looking groups,” Wells said, “because you get people who like each other meeting together in church. Because of those personal bonds, it would be very difficult to preach something jarring or disagreeable to anyone in the group. The church would break up.””

The personal bonds issue, however, is an issue in any small group. Ask anyone who has ever been part of a small church (or any such voluntary group)–a disagreement between two families can literally split a church in half as they try to pull others to their respective sides. This is one of the reasons that I see small Neopagan groups splitting and reforming so frequently–the relationships are paramount and things that challenge those relationships can spell doom to a group, even if the challenge needs to happen.

 

[Syele]

Home churches are not an offshoot of JWs or anyone else. Home churches are a “movement” that is spreading through many different denominations. It’s like the opposite of a “megachurch.” A Home Church AND a Megachurch can be of any denomination it’s a word describing where they meet (and how big they are) and not anything about doctrine.

 

[Cat]

We know several families doing this. They left evangelical churches (not fundamentalist, not non-denom, not Pentecostal).

The idea is that Dad is the “pastor” and his family is his “congregation.” Sometimes the “home church” might include more than one family, but often, it’s just one family.

The people we knew were not “fringe” or “nutcases.” They were leaders in the evangelical church that we attended, teachers of Sunday school and involved in other church ministries.

I think that it is a reaction to all the junk that’s been happening in evangelical churches over the last ten years or so. Back in the early 1990s, my husband and I realized that our evangelical churches had made an abrupt turn away from tradition and orthodoxy. One example is communion; some evangelical churches just stopped having it but a few times a year. Another example is baptism–in the seven years that we attended an Evangelical Free Church, we saw ONE baptismal service.

Also, there are the music wars, the culture wars, the liquor wars (a lot of evangelicals are starting to drink alcohol now, while there are still holdouts, including me and my husband, who say that drinking alcohol is against evangelical principles)–after awhile, you just get sick of all the war!

And then there is the “needs-based” evangelical church, where sermons and other ministries don’t deal with boring doctrine, but with “issues” that attract a crowd, such as marriage, money, etc.

And then there is the “seeker-service” phenomenon, in which the entire worship service is designed to appeal to the non-churched, non-Christian individual who is supposedly “seeking” spirituality.

Anyway, you can see why some evangelical Christians decide to chuck organized church and do it at home.

In the case of my husband and me, we tried to stick with “church,” but actually got kicked out. We prayed and asked God to help us find a “real” church with people who were serious about Jesus and their faith. Guess which Church He led us to?!!!

 

[Sabda]

The idea is that Dad is the “pastor” and his family is his “congregation.” Sometimes the “home church” might include more than one family, but often, it’s just one family.

This is exactly what those people I know who home church are doing. It’s more of a family thing. The thing that’s different is their kids were not home-schooled.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

There is a wide range of groups doing “house churches” including some cults like the Way International, The Local Church, Harold Camping’s group, UPC, etc., There are also, many mainline protestant churches that are having house churches too. Often a local church started in someone’s living room until it got big enough to seek a larger building, now days, renting school buildings, then builing a church building. There are even Medical House churches for those who can not be in a congregational setting for health reasons. There are house church movements that submit themselves to a denomination like southern baptists for example. There are also, “non-denominational” that consist of people who are anti-organizational churches, and they tend to be independent of everyone, and often mutate into a cult. In fact, the Jehovah’s Witnesses started out as International Bible Students who meet in homes before they split off from the IBS and started their own church. Pastor Russell’s first church was his living room. In fact, there are Catholic House Churches in China today.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_house_churches

 

[Linnyo]

Where do you think Jesus met with His disciples? Homes have been used as places of worship throughout time. In fact, at times throughout history, even the RC church have used homes to worship for one reason or another. Surely it is better to worship somewhere than nowhere!
I used to attend a home church before I became a Catholic. I could have gone to the church in the next street but I didn’t think it was right so I walked a couple of miles to the house church which didn’t have a big enough congregation for a building yet. So it has less to do with being ‘too lazy’ and more to do with going to a place where you believe God wants you to worship. These were the early days in my journey towards knowing God. I am now a Catholic and mainly worship in my local parish when I can go.

 

[KarenNC]

I could have gone to the church in the next street but I didn’t think it was right so I walked a couple of miles to the house church which didn’t have a big enough congregation for a building yet.

Some of the material I have seen points out that there is a difference between a start-up church (one which may meet in homes or other small places because they don’t have enough of a congregation yet to be able to afford to rent or build a space) and an intentional home church which doesn’t have the goal of getting large enough to do that or to ever leave the setting it already has. It’s about intention, I think.

 

[Sabda]

In fact, there are Catholic House Churches in China today.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_house_churches

Since Chinese Christians are under persecution in China I don’t doubt that Chinese Catholics are celebrating the Mass in homes. Once the government ok’s Christianity, God willing, than they will be able to move out of the homes and into buildings.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Totally different theology.

This article is about non-denoms (not JWs)

Actually I think that there have been quite a bit of the non-denoms that start out like this as a small get together in someone’s house and grow from that.

My non-denom started in a home with an ordained minister and a few follwers and now we have just added on to our church and have about 400 members. We had a grand opening awhile back and I believe the original minister came and it was his vision of what we now have.

 

[Sabda]

Where do you think Jesus met with His disciples? Homes have been used as places of worship throughout time. In fact, at times throughout history, even the RC church have used homes to worship for one reason or another. Surely it is better to worship somewhere than nowhere!

Jesus and His disciples worshipped in the temple. They did not worship in homes. For first century Jews worship involved animalistic sacrifices, which only took place in the temple.
From the history that I have learned the reason that Mass was celebrated in homes is either because Christians were being persecuted or because there was no formal building to celebrate Mass in. Once Christianity was made legal and buildings were built the people moved the Mass into the buildings.

I do agree that it is better to worship some where than no where.

 

[Linnyo]

Actually Sabda, Jesus had the last supper (first communion?) in an upper room. Was this a temple? Also, he taught, prayed and praised His Father in various places including on top of a hill. Yes, He worshipped in a temple with the rest of the Jews but He also worshipped, in the wider sense, in various other places too. Again various other Bible characters did so as well as made clear in the Bible.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Jesus and His disciples worshipped in the temple. They did not worship in homes. For first century Jews worship involved animalistic sacrifices, which only took place in the temple.
From the history that I have learned the reason that Mass was celebrated in homes is either because Christians were being persecuted or because there was no formal building to celebrate Mass in. Once Christianity was made legal and buildings were built the people moved the Mass into the buildings.

I do agree that it is better to worship some where than no where.

Yes, Jewish Christians meet in Temple as Jews, then the next day they would worship in homes as Chrisitans too.

Read Second John, they meet in homes. Also, read through the book of Acts too.

2 John 1

1The elder,
To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth - 2because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

3Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

4It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 5And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

7Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, **do not take him into your house or welcome him. **11Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

12I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

13The children of your chosen sister send their greetings.