We’ve been hearing for years that house churches are the wave of the future. Now comes a
feature from the Associated Press that suggests house churches are really beginning to gain traction. Based on the AP report, it’s hard to distinguish between house churches and the small groups so many evangelicals attend weekly. Like small groups, houses churches appeal to Christians seeking close-knit relationships built around prayer, Bible study, and corporate singing. Simplicity is a key selling point.
“I think part of the appeal for some in the house church movement is the desire to return to a simpler expression of church,” Ed Stetzer told the AP. “For many, church has become too much (like a) business while they just want to live like the Bible.”
According to a 2009 Pew study, 9 percent of church-attending American Protestants forgo services outside the home altogether. Though not a big trend, we might imagine reasons for the growing appeal of house churches. Staffing grows more expensive every year, especially with the rapidly escalating costs of health insurance. City councils aren’t always eager to approve permits for churches looking to build new facilities. Some Christians get lost in the shuffle at megachurches. Others may feel burned by church leadership, who must frequently make difficult decisions, sometimes necessary and occasionally unwise.
But there is another reason Christians turn to house churches. Evangelicals don’t always have a comfortable relationship with human authority. Such chafing against institutional figures can be traced back to Martin Luther and other Protestant leaders during the Reformation. But today some Christians buck against any external human leader, however well-trained, godly, and submissive to God’s Word. Evangelicals in particular harbor a populist spirit.
“You don’t have to be dependent upon someone you hear at church to translate for you,” Neil Cole, founder and director of Church Multiplication Associates, told the AP. “God is capable of speaking your language and talking to you where you live and I think that’s attractive to people.”
What Cole says might merely refer to Luther’s pioneering contributions to Christianity. The renegade monk translated the Bible from its original languages into vernacular German, against the wishes of the Roman Catholic Church. By doing so he unleashed the power of God’s Word through the priesthood of all believers. Next year, Protestants will celebrate 400 years since the Authorized King James Version of the Bible was published in England. Through his Word, God speaks all our languages and talks to us wherever we live. We don’t need any church authority to filter it and tell us what it really means.
Sometimes, though, spiritual democracy can veer into anti-intellectualism. If God speaks directly to all of us, then maybe we don’t need any teachers at all. We don’t need to depend on anyone else, so we don’t need to study, either. Further education, such as seminary, supposedly becomes more of a hindrance than a help. Unfortunately, some house churches appeal to Christians who hold these views, too.
We’re all familiar with the dangers of education that privileges scholarly approval over the Word’s clear teaching. But we must also beware the sort of rebellion against authority that forsakes the teaching office altogether. This privilege and responsibility finds its warrant in the Scriptures themselves. The apostle Paul wrote about elders, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it,” (Tit. 1:9). Again in Titus 2:1 he writes, “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.” And in Titus 2:15: “Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
At their best, house churches recall the dynamic fellowship of the early church, exemplified in
Acts 2:42-27. Let us not forget, then, that Luke’s beautiful description begins with believers devoting themselves to the apostles’ authoritative teaching.
What a good reminder from the Gospel Coalition. Thank you for sharing it. However, it brought a deep sorrow in my heart dear brother. You were a lot more negative than the actual article you posted by the GC. It seemed to me (and others that I’ve spoken with who have read your article) that you needed a reason to vent some frustrations concerning people leaving your fellowship to start or join a house fellowship and you used this article from the GC as your launching pad to do so. Please forgive me if such is not the case, it appears that way though. Brother, be very careful in assuming that people have “wrong intentions” and think “they know better” than others. God alone can see the secret things of a man’s heart. Unless you or some of the other leaders in your church have taken the time to sit down and talk in a God-honoring way with those who have left in order to understand and perhaps counsel them, it could be sin on your part to slander them and claim that they have “wrong intentions” or think “they know better” than others. If people are coming and leaving your fellowship because they can’t submit to the leadership, have you or your fellow leaders contacted or sat down with those who have left to seek to understand why they can’t submit to the leaders? Just because a Christian will not submit to the leadership of a certain assembly, does not mean that the Christian is in sin. If the leaders of a congregation don’t have their families in order (and yet are still earnestly pursuing the ministry, while their families are suffering), or if they do not spend much time, both individually and corporately, seeking after God, or if the doctrine that proceeds from the pulpit is off and misleading, there is no verse in the Bible that commands the Christian to submit to such leadership. You mentioned that the leaders of your assembly have been “placed and called by the Lord to lead the church.” Maybe those who have left feel as though this is not the case and are seeking leaders that God has indeed called to lead His church. We never know until we speak with them. We must remember that just because we see a church with a sign out front doesn’t necessarily mean that God has called the men leading it to lead it. As a leader in your fellowship, I would encourage you to seek peace with and talk to those who have left to find out “why” they left. Or if some are in the process of leaving, sit down with them to pray and find out why they want to leave. If they’re leaving because they don’t like the music or because they had a quarrel with someone in the assembly and they didn’t want to work it out in a godly way, you can encourage them to do so, if they still choose not to, you can rest assured before God that you did your part in seeing to it that matters were handled in a godly way. If they choose to not work things out because of pride, it’s something that they’ll have to face with the Lord. (**message continued below**)
(***message continued here***) If they left because there was no passion in the preacher, perhaps you could lovingly and gently challenge him to examine himself before God in prayer to see what might be lacking in his life. If he gets defensive and reacts in a proud manner, you know to pray for concerning him. However, if it causes him to humble himself and examine his heart before God, it could turn out for his good and the good of the assembly. If they left because the doctrine was off, perhaps it might drive the leaders to examine the Scriptures more closely. If they left because the gospel of Jesus was not central, perhaps it might challenge them to seek to examine if such is the case. All these things can work out for the good of your fellowship brother. Even if they don’t return, it could serve as a blessing and a means of growth for the leadership. We need to be very careful that we don’t look down on others just because they aren’t a part of the same church as we are, or because they meet in a home and not in a “building.” Yes, let us challenge those who attend home fellowships to seek godly leadership and authoritative teaching, but let us not look down upon them. I know most Calvary Chapel’s began meeting with a small group in a home, did yours? If so, perhaps people in your city were saying the same things about your church and your leader, that the leader isn’t called by God, but rather he is one who claims “to have the right authority because no one else knows the truth” but him. Let us not bring such harsh and hurtful accusations on people before prayerfully seeking God concerning such things. Be careful that you’re not so quick to assume that such is “the case with many of these groups” that meet in houses. Unless we spend time in fellowship and prayer with our brothers and sisters who attend these house meetings, it’s wrong and we have no right to say that “many of these groups” are overseen by “people who claim to have the right authority because no one else knows the truth but them”. Even then, if you suspect that some of the house churches in your city are run by such proud and arrogant leaders, are you (as the concerned Christian that you appear to be in this blog entry) spending in earnest prayer for them? Have you approached these brethren to gently and humbly challenge them as to whether or not they’re truly called to lead God’s Church? If they react in pride and get defensive, it only proves their immaturity. But you never know, if you approach them and they break, and humble themselves before God to seek His guidance concerning whether or not they should be leading the Church, they’ll step down and make the way for someone who is indeed called. Or if they pray and the Lord confirms their calling, you just helped in bettering the Church of God. If you have not taken steps to pray for or talk with these leaders, you probably shouldn’t use such harsh words toward them. I’m not saying these things to hurt you, but to encourage you to “make every effort to live in peace with all men” (Hebrews 12.14) and to seek to know the truth of a matter before speaking so severely of people that leave your church to join a home assembly. We must remember that there is no difference in an assembly of believers that meets in a home and an assembly that meets in an actual building. The Church is the Church, and Jesus Christ is her one foundation. I hope that you’ll prayerfully consider these things brother. Again, thank you for the article by the GC.
I apreciate the insight and critisicm.
I didn't realize that I was letting personal feeling get in the way.
One common problem I have found with people leaving the church is immaturity and un-willingness to change. People get hurt by what the Word says or don't want to change when God is calling them to, so they follow a pattern and leave. It is a very common theme in this city I live in.
Not everyone that has left was for those reasons, some people were seeking for more that maybe they weren't getting at our church and that is a valid point, if God calls them to go somewhere else and they are walking accordingly to Him, then it is something I back up.