House Churches and Richardson East
Since our goal is to build God’s Kingdom as effectively as possible then we must not overlook the dynamic power of house churches. Look at two growth curves. One curve is the “normal” growth of conventional churches. This curve shows growth that quickly reaches a plateau where it may remain for decades. The other curve shows the exponential growth of the early Church which, during its first three centuries, was forced by persecution to meet in house churches. And, it also shows the exponential growth of the church in China in the last 60 years. If we look around the world today, we see the fastest growth occurring where the Church is meeting in networks of house churches. China, India, Indonesia and many parts of Africa are experiencing a dramatic increase in the number churches and a large percentage are essentially house churches.
When we speak of growth, how do we define success? A house church does not see the growth of their group as success. Rather, success is defined not in terms of a single group or congregation but in the growth of the movement within the community, state or nation. A house church grows until it reaches a certain critical mass. This may the size at which it can not maintain secrecy, or when it outgrows the house or it may be when it can no longer have quality relationships within the group. When that size is reached, the group simply divides into two groups and each group continues to grow and divide. The groups are dividing but the movement is multiplying.
As an example, assume a house church that divides when it reaches a size of 12 people. Let’s further assume that each house church either reaches the size of 12 each year or dies out after five years. For our example, assume that 25% of the house churches disappear after five years. Based on this, the movement will have 144 people involved after five years. But, after ten years, the number of people involved will be almost 3500. And, incredibly, after twenty years almost 2 million people will be actively involved. The rate of growth is exponential and a community, an entire nation or even the whole world can be dramatically changed in 30 years or in a single generation. These numbers may seem unrealistic. But, they have been exceeded in some parts of today’s world. For instance, Mozambique has grown from almost no Christians to over 5000 house churches in about 10 years.
Based on this, why don’t we see house churches in almost every neighborhood? One reason is that we have a natural tendency to want to have big groups with their associated pocketbooks and political influence. The Christian Church was forced underground and into house churches for the first 300 years of its existence. During that time it spread over the entire known world and became a major political influence. As it emerged into the public eye, it began to build large buildings, gather in large groups and tended to lose the vitality of Christian community that existed in small, home and family based groups.
Ironically, attempts to wipe out or suppress the Christian Church actually seem to help it grow. On one hand, lukewarm Christians will be driven away by the persecution. But, on the other hand, the remaining Christians will be more zealous and genuine. At the same time, the persecuted Church will tend toward house church dynamics which will cause it to spread more effectively.
Recent surveys reveal that house churches are beginning to spread rapidly in the United States. A survey done by Barna showed that 9% of the adults in the U.S. attend a house church meeting during any single week. We personally know several families involved in house churches. Since our government is not persecuting the Church, why is there an interest in them?
One factor may be a continuing splintering of the denominations. But, a more significant factor seems to be a genuine desire to have a sincere and meaningful expression of faith. Many people seem to be frustrated with conventional churches. The leadership of these churches has sometimes caused division by adopting heretical ideas, becoming politically correct or by denying basic Christian beliefs. In addition, there are some people who are not satisfied with an environment where they often feel more like spectators than participants. Unfortunately, many people find church involvement to be basically irrelevant to their lives.
Many conventional churches are either losing members or are attracting them from other congregations. George Barna in his book, "Revolution", has stated that trends show, in general, that conventional churches will lose a large percentage (50%) of their audience in the next 15-20 years. One reason for this is that it much easier for a person to walk away from the conventional church than to enter into that church’s culture. It is difficult for an un-churched person to walk through the doors of a conventional church and feel comfortable with the culture of the congregation. Even people who attend church all the time can have a problem moving into the culture of a different congregation. For example, Ouida and I accepted a neighbor’s invitation to attend a revival meeting at a small church near where we live. We were greeted at the door by an official greeter but then, even though we were several minutes early, no one spoke to us again until the end of the service. Many of the people knew each other and exchanged jibes and inside jokes. Activities occurred that looked familiar but we weren’t totally sure what people were doing. For instance, many people responded to the invitation to come forward for prayer and they knelt at the front and others joined them. But, there was no comment, explanation or testimony about what people were thinking, feeling, or doing. Naturally, the environment left us feeling a little like isolated aliens.
To better understand the house church movement, Ouida and I attended a Texas House Church conference. This conference functioned similar to a large house church. In fact, it met in a private home. There were 40-50 people at the conference. What we found was enthusiasm for serving Christ, desire for personal involvement in worship, lots of opinion, and vision for growth of networks of house churches. There also seemed to be some who felt antagonism toward conventional churches. The worship times were primitive but rich. The talks were very interactive. Interestingly, we quickly felt much more “at home” at this conference than we ever felt at the revival meeting.
House churches can appeal to the un-churched because they are more like “just getting together” with some neighbors. Many house churches share a meal together which gives an increased sense of hospitality. These churches allow and even expect everyone to participate. The Scripture verses that anticipate everyone coming with a psalm, doctrine, or revelation take on more meaning in a house church where everyone can share what God is doing in their life. Members quickly develop close relationships and use their funds to help one another and to help their neighbors. There is often more of a sense of the dynamic of Christian community than can be easily found in a conventional church. These house churches grow by converting unbelievers or by gaining members who are looking for something more than they find in conventional churches. One example is one of our neighbors. They were heavily involved in a small local church but, for various reasons, have now withdrawn from that church. They are very interested in the idea of a house church because they want closer relationships with more daily interaction. You probably have some neighbors who feel the same way.
What holds back the growth of house churches? One serious constraint can be lack of effective leadership. Leadership in conventional churches comes from formal training facilities such as Christian universities, seminaries and Bible schools. Leadership in house churches can come from seminaries. But, frequently, it develops by “osmosis”. That is, by participation, mentoring and by occasional formal training experiences. Leadership growth in conventional churches is limited by the capacity of the formal training facilities. But, leadership growth in house churches can potentially be exponential if it is given sufficient attention. Another constraint can be the misguided effort to make a house church into a miniature conventional church with a preacher, song leader and church officers. Vital, growing house churches are based on the guidance and power of the God's Spirit acting and speaking through the transformed lives of the participants.
Many churches have small groups or cell churches. But, often, these groups do not multiply like house churches. One reason can be that they are not fully functional as a church and have perception that “real” church is in the auditorium of the big building. Another reason can be because they must maintain a relationship and identify with a central church body. This may mean that the groups can not totally function as an independent church in that some elements of interaction are “off limits”. Communion, for example, might be reserved for the “official” gathering of the church. The group may have to have leadership appointed or approved by the central organization. This limit on leadership may result in the groups being starved for leadership and thus limiting their division into new groups. Group members may also be expected to contribute to the central organization. Potential members may not have a loyalty to the central church body and may not want to identify with or donate to the programs of that body.
An opportunity lies before us, a rich harvest. But, experience shows and trends indicate that the harvest is not going to happen at the conventional church building. If we want to effectively build God’s Kingdom, we will need to invite our neighbors into our homes for “church”. The church at Richardson East could and should be the seedbed or catalyst for the formation of house church networks that would eventually include hundreds and thousands of house churches. If we focus on how to nurture and grow neighborhood house churches of Jesus’ disciples, in 10-20 years we can see impact to our community and neighborhoods in ways that are unimaginable now.
Rather than dissolving the congregation into house churches, we should encourage the salt to get out of the salt shaker and into their neighborhoods and start a neighborhood church. The goal should be a small but dynamic church that would be worshiping together, daily interacting and serving the hurting and needy in their own neighborhood. We should encourage each member to be a missionary building God’s Kingdom in their own village, block or apartment complex.
We are trying to build God’s Kingdom in Africa by encouraging the planting of churches. In the same way, we can plant and grow churches in the harvest of our own neighborhoods. Our community could be dramatically changed in 20-30 years if house churches are encouraged and can get traction in each of our neighborhoods. In fact, through the power of God’s Spirit, millions of people could be brought into God’s Kingdom. The Church of Christ in Richardson East would no longer be a building or a loosely associated group of hundreds of members. It would be the Church of Christ manifest in thousands of churches working together, each in their own neighborhood, to reveal the love of Christ in the DFW area.
Summary
- What is our vision for growth? How many will we be impacting in ten years? Twenty years?
- How do we define growth and success? Is it growth of a particular group, a congregation, or is it the growth of a movement?
- Barna (“Revolution”) sees a significant trend toward alternative forms of church, especially house churches. He predicts an almost 50% decline in the “market share” of conventional churches over the next 15-20 years.
- How do we anticipate, prepare for, and respond to this?
- What factors are contributing to this shift?
- Splintering of denominations
- Rejection of the irrelevant
- Seeking more participation
- Desire for more meaningful relationships
- Cultural barriers
- Search for authentic spiritual experiences
- ??
- What factors hinder house church growth?
- Lack of genuine disciples of Christ with transformed lives
- Leadership
- Lack of experience
- Understanding the hazards
- How are house churches different than small groups?
o Spiritual zeal, energy – enthusiasm
o Spiritual power touching neighbors
o Frequency of interaction
o Growth – evangelism
o Outward focus versus inward focus
o Fully functioning church versus special interest group
o Leadership not defined or controlled by a central church body
o Funds are collected and controlled by the house church
- What can WE do (by God’s grace)?
o More than we can imagine
o See some ideas below
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Ideas?
- Develop a vision for spreading God’s Kingdom in our neighborhoods.
- Develop a vision for neighborhood churches.
- Contact our neighbors.
- Start some house churches, grow, divide, multiply.
- Learn what works and what doesn’t -- get experience.
- Seek out and send out neighborhood church leaders.
- Implement classes and provide resources to develop, mature and support neighborhood church leaders.
- Provide gathering place for house church networks
- Your ideas?
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