House churches vs Traditional

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Esther

I discussed it with a core group that was willing to commit to it. I didn't want any one person being in "control" per se. I wanted it to be a group effort.

We held it at a friends new home that had a large living area. I planned who would be doing the speaking. Bro. Strange helped us get started and then he had to drop out due to the distance he was having to drive. Then the other gentleman that has been teaching bible studies at work for several years took over as being our primary speaker.

Then we decided to break it up and the main speaker would teach/preach the first week, I took the second week, and I had the third week for a special speaker. The fourth week, we would show a prophecy video.

We were trying to find out what would draw the people. We had one couple come for a prophecy night that wouldn't come for anything else.

When I left in March we were having an average of about eight. However, for the most part of the year it was the four/five of the core group with only one of the groups parents and sometimes his sister that came.

We finally got them to come to the "big" church and his mom was going to buy her some skirts to where to church. Then he got offended with his son and quit coming.

He is the type that really needs TLC.

Hope that helps.

P.S. I did run it by my Pastor before I began.

I see. Our main goal is to have a way for people to get together and learn from each other. We're not really looking to have speakers, per se. Our idea is to enjoy some worship with each other, do some Bible studies, pray for each other's needs, and maybe check out some online preaching on occasion. We'd also like to find a good charity to support, either by volunteering some time or giving some financial support. We're not really looking to start a "church" exactly, but one never knows what God has in store for the future. We're just going to take things one week at a time and see where it leads us.

[Esther]

Originally Posted by Rico

I see. Our main goal is to have a way for people to get together and learn from each other. We're not really looking to have speakers, per se. Our idea is to enjoy some worship with each other, do some Bible studies, pray for each other's needs, and maybe check out some online preaching on occasion. We'd also like to find a good charity to support, either by volunteering some time or giving some financial support. We're not really looking to start a "church" exactly, but one never knows what God has in store for the future. We're just going to take things one week at a time and see where it leads us.

That is good. Are you going to meet in the same home or move about?

We also had refreshments every week. That can get expensive as well as add a lot of extra work. But it is good fellowhip.

[James Griffin]

Originally Posted by CC1

Churches are better because it is so cotton picken hard to fit the entire choir, band, sound system, sound guy, and all of the other folks all in the living room and still have room for the congregation.

On the other hand house churches are great for folks who have problems submitting to anybody and want to go off and be a big chiekf (in a little tribe).

Also great for people of limited speaking or musical ability who will now have a chance to "minister" now that the pickings are slim.

Oh, I know there are some people doing home churches out of either conviction or neccessity if there is no established church where they are at but my somewhat flip comments above do apply to some who go this route.

CC

That was just wrong !!!

But funny.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Esther

That is good. Are you going to meet in the same home or move about?

We also had refreshments every week. That can get expensive as well as add a lot of extra work. But it is good fellowhip.

To be honest with you, I would prefer that we take turns hosting. The last thing I want is for this to turn into a one-man show, if you catch my drift. For now there is just my family and one other family interested, so we will probably take turns. If the group grows, I'd like to see different families take their turn at hosting.

The format of house church that I enjoy is when there is an elder that leads the group in prayer and presents a passage of of Scripture. The elder shares what the Lord put on his heart regarding the passage and then everyone takes turns speaking, explaining what they think about the passage, how they believe it applies to the Christian life, and what they've heard about the passage. It's not a one man show by any means, every one ministers to one another. We've had small group meetings like this and they can go on for three hours. Sometimes you can feel God guiding the conversation. I've seen people start crying and the whole group surround them and pray with them. It's beautiful.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Grasshopper

The format of house church that I enjoy is when there is an elder that leads the group in prayer and presents a passage of of Scripture. The elder shares what the Lord put on his heart regarding the passage and then everyone takes turns speaking, explaining what they think about the passage, how they believe it applies to the Christian life, and what they've heard about the passage. It's not a one man show by any means, every one ministers to one another. We've had small group meetings like this and they can go on for three hours. Sometimes you can feel God guiding the conversation. I've seen people start crying and the whole group surround them and pray with them. It's beautiful.

What we are talking about doing is similar to that. Our idea is to find Bible studies that are designed for groups. Once we read a passage, it will be open for discussion, open for anyone to share their thoughts on it. I've seen this method work before. I used to belong to a group from a church I used to go to that met on Friday nights. The group had a moderator, but he was by no means the only one doing all the talking. Every session we had would take on a life of its own, and we all liked that. We never knew who it would be the Lord would use to minister to the rest of the group. Sometimes the passage we were discussing would speak directly into someone's situation, they'd open up about it, and then we'd pray for that person. It was really neat the way the Spirit was free to flow during those Bible studies. No agenda involved. No one trying to shine above the others in the group. Just brothers and sisters in the Lord trying to help each other grow.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by Rico

I just finished reading this book called The Glorious Church. It deals with this home church issue to a certain degree. I was very surprised to find out it wasn't about home church over traditional church as it was about the structure of the Church in general. The authors basically advocate a hybrid of home meetings and congregational meetings. They place Christ as Head of the church and then elders to act as overseers of an assembly comprised of several home groups.

I posted this on another thread and then remembered we had a discussion going on this topic.