Are You Sure You Want to Go House Church?

I’ve been in the house church ministry space most my life. My folks became Christians through a Jesus movement era church of house churches in the early 1980s. Although my family transitioned between cities, states, and different church models in the years that followed, we eventually found ourselves back to hosting church in our home by the time I was in middle school. 

Then, we moved overseas. We were in Cambodia on a missionary team with people from many different church backgrounds and denominations. But the primary expression of church we experienced was again in people’s homes. After all, when the church is new and the people are mostly poor, what other choice is there?  

When I came back to the States for college, I joined up with a good friend who was involved in--you guessed it--a house church. It was there that I began to engage Jesus for the first time as an adult and figure out what it meant for me to not just observe authentic spiritual community but to be an active participant. Our family of house churches grew into a campus movement, and I eventually became a pastor – primarily coaching and developing lay leaders. Today, my wife and I are planting a new network of house churches in a different state – taking with us all we’ve learned through seventeen years of fostering home-based spiritual communities. 

Suffice it to say I feel qualified to speak about house churches, particularly their strengths and weaknesses in a North American setting. 

House churches in and of themselves are not the silver bullet to the American church’s problems. The truth is that house churches can have all the same problems any other prevailing model or institutional church might have. Bad leadership, weird theology, or an inward ethos can sink any church, regardless of size or whether they meet in a building. 

Models on their own don’t solve basic qualitative problems. In fact, house churches might even be more vulnerable to some of these deficiencies – especially when they are isolated or not part of a network. 

Healthy house churches, however, do have major built-in advantages. They are lightweight as a model and easily adaptable. This makes them excellent for church planting and accessing new places or people. They are embedded in existing communities and are in natural proximity to those who don’t know Christ. They don’t require big budgets. They provide an organic venue for building close community and actually living out the “one-another” passages we find in scripture. They can be moved, multiplied, or reorganized in response to problems or opportunities. When networked, they can still be accountable and are able to pull together for large important initiatives. 

In the New Testament, house churches appear normative. They are also common in contemporary mission fields where the Church is growing like wildfire. It should make a lot of sense to us that great spiritual movements would happen this way – moving freely from person to person, and from home to home. The Kingdom is first a matter of God’s Spirit poured out on people. 

House churches embody the fact that Jesus moves in and meets people where they are. I’ve heard it pointed out before that in Revelation 3:20 Jesus isn’t pictured as sending a postcard inviting people to a meal at a facility up the street. Instead, he asks to meet in their living room. It only makes sense that we would look to meet, teach, serve, disciple, and worship there as well. 

Today, powerful cultural forces are drawing many people towards house or other micro-expressions of the church. Cynicism and suspicion towards institutions in general, the well-known scandals of large established churches, and a general longing for connection are all at play. American house church communities should recognize this as a great season of opportunity. It could be that the cultural winds are shifting in ways that will make this primal church expression more relevant and effectual in the West than ever before, and for many years to come. 

But, despite these exciting dynamics, house churches aren’t going to work out for everyone. 

For one thing, there are situations in which house churches are admittedly infeasible or just make less sense. In some rural settings for instance, having a fixed, central, and larger location for people to come and gather from all around can be important. From a historical perspective, Dr. Michael Cooper theorizes that the early church in Asia Minor often used guild halls for their meetings, simply because these were accessible and familiar places for people to gather. 

It’s a mistake to elevate a particular church structure over content and purpose. How we organize ourselves should first come from faithful application of scripture and then the Spirit’s leading regarding the people we are trying to reach. Truth and mission (rather than tradition of any kind) should drive how believers choose to gather and worship. 

The cultural winds I referenced earlier might be strong enough to blow unchurched or dechurched people into house churches. But it would be hasty to think those same winds are strong enough to keep them there. 

Ultimately, lasting commitment to Jesus and community must come from cultivating deep convictions regarding what is important and how we ought to live. We simply don’t stick with things we choose out of pure reaction or circumstance. Below are a few reasons why many otherwise sincere people might try, but eventually quit house churches. 

1. House churches are messy

Of course, this is true of church in general. You just can’t gather a bunch of broken people, start engaging the most difficult but meaningful subjects in life, directly address sin, try to change your corner of the world, and expect it all to go smoothly. But there are ways in which house churches are especially messy. 

There is the literal mess caused by dozens of people coming in and out of a home that also gets used as a family living space every other day of the week – and the lack of janitorial staff. 

There is the human mess of real and close relationships. Conflict is inevitable in this kind of setting and less mitigated by institutional boundaries or escape hatches. Relational fall out can be greater in smaller settings, and if the church is outward oriented, there will always be new people coming in along with fresh insecurities, strong opinions, and their personal problems. 

There is also the organizational mess. Ministry in house churches typically won’t be mediated by slick programs or seminary trained professionals. It’s done by normal people figuring it all out the best they can together. This means logistics are rarely as efficient, and even Bible teaching or worship music can be inconsistent in quality or presentation. 

2. House churches require work.

House churches only happen through everyone pulling an oar. Since leaders are rarely full-time, there is a need for many people to step up and play a variety of significant ministry roles. In truth, this is an exciting and spiritually ideal way to live. After all, we all have been filled with spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit for the sake of the common good. In a house church setting we can (and must) be more than greeters or volunteers at events. Regular members can (and should) organize, cook, help with kids, disciple, evangelize, teach, preach, serve, learn to lead, innovate, and much more. Otherwise, the church will not flourish and grow.

Here we have a Biblical communal ideal that many churches pay lip service to but aren’t structured to attain. Most American Christians are used to church being a catered experience. They are used to leaders who are content with their attendance and occasional contributions. Switching over to a model that requires high level ongoing engagement to succeed can be thrilling. But it is also challenging. People won’t stick with house churches apart from developing new and deep convictions. They also will need to learn to access God’s power and grace if they are going to step up and serve in a variety of new ways. 

3. House churches are a way of life.

Taken on their own, house church meetings are stripped down and simple. I recently had a pastor friend come check out one of our groups and ask afterwards “so, is this really it?” I could see where he was coming from. In prevailing model churches, Sunday morning is the big event. The service is packed tight, stimulating, and efficient.  Quite a lot has to happen between 9 and 11am, when that’s the one shot you get with most of your people. 

In a healthy house church setting however, the main house church meeting is only the tip of the iceberg. Since house churches represent real interdependent communities, rather than people who are circumstantially gathered, we hang out throughout the week. Families share meals. Folks meet up to disciple each other. Men’s and women’s groups connect for Bible study. We have prayer meetings. We organize service projects in our neighborhoods. We go out and tell others about Jesus. We work together to further God’s Kingdom. My current house church does once a month “communion parties” to remember and celebrate Jesus’ greatest gift to us. We also gather monthly for a “hub meeting” with the other house churches in our network. 

It’s an absolute blast.

But it’s crucial to see the house church as much more than just an event or organization. It’s a way of life expressing the interconnected and growing nature of Christ’s Body. To join a house church, and really benefit from being part of it, means a lot more than showing up to a small Sunday gathering each week. It’s going to involve changing how you think and live.

This kind of involvement might sound initially attractive. Poll people on the streets, and I bet most would agree that the loss of real community is a big part of what’s gone wrong in our society. Americans will say they want this. 

But when it comes down to it, do we really? 

For most of us to pull real community off, a lot would have to change. Our lives are hyper optimized for fast paced careers and upgraded possessions or experiences. We drive our kids to multiple sports and activities a season. Our evenings are full. Weekends are frenetic. To keep up we build controlled lives with very little margin. 

Growing relationships, however, need margin. Life happens in the spaces between our fixed appointments. Expanding ministry requires more raw time to just be with people and God. 

So, living this way is possible. It’s fulfilling even. But doing so also would mean a choice to swim upstream from what is normal and materially advantageous for people in our culture. 

Flourishing life in a house church then is going to require a deliberate and principled choice to go against the flow. For many people, the current will prove too strong. 

All this to say, I would love to see more American Christians throw in on house churches. I get excited just thinking about a future where all the neighborhoods around me have vital communities of believers hosting meals, teaching the Bible, sharing Jesus, and actively blessing those who live around them. I would love to see it happen this happen at scale, and in every American city. God willing, we will get to disciple many people to start house churches effectively and the Spirit will multiply them beyond what we can imagine. 

But folks need to know what they are getting into. I want to encourage anyone exploring house churches to take the time to build a sustainable spiritual and theological foundation for living and doing ministry in this way. Don’t just float in. If you do, you will probably float right back out when things get hard. 

Practically speaking, do some reading. I recommend Members of One Another by Dennis McCallum and A Church of House Churches by Jason Shepperd. Both books lay out an applied ecclesiology for house church ministry, drawing strong parallels with what we see in New Testament Christianity. Microchurches by Brian Sanders is also a great read, and concisely articulates a similar church ethos. 

If you are coming from a prevailing model Sunday-centric church background, there might need to be some unlearning. Find sources of coaching and encouragement. Ideally you can find discipleship from a local network where you are getting plugged in. But there are also organizations that can provide training remotely. Check out www.bravefuture.org where we’ve collated resources from many different church expressions and can also help you find like-minded friends and partners close to where you are. 

Finally, take the time to pray over this decision alongside your family or whoever you might be journeying alongside. Develop a sense of calling to foster community, make disciples, and build the Kingdom in this way. 

God is doing something new and exciting in the background of the American church. It’s more than just a fad. It’s a counter-cultural return to the mode in which Christianity penetrated the entire Roman empire. It’s a growing number of people who are seeing the bottom fall out on our individualistic consumer-driven society and choosing to live different. It’s compelled by the realization that fulfilling God’s mission in our own day requires lifestyle reformation.  

Once again, there is nothing magic about houses. On this side of the cross we know that all space is sacred space. If there is special power in house churches, then it’s the power that comes from the Spirit moving believers to gather, praise, serve, and learn in fresh ways that better express God’s truth and love.

That kind of power and motivation is up to us to seek.