back to articles HOUSE CHURCHES: HERE COMES ANOTHER PARADIGM SHIFT! Jerry Steingard, January, 2002 God appears to be on the move upon the earth in our day with greater urgency and acceleration. We should be like the “Men of Issachar, who understood the times & knew what Israel should do”(1 Chron12:32). We should also be like Barnabus who was sent to Antioch to check out a controversial “hot potato”, that of Gentiles converting to Christ. “He arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all” (Acts 11:22,3). To look beyond one’s prejudices, to see “outside the box”, and recognize the grace of God at work takes humility and teachability. Jack Taylor provides us with a wonderful, though dangerous prayer of such a person: “God, I want you to change my mind on every issue on which You and I do not see eye to eye”! Personal examples of paradigm shifts that God has taken me through in recent decades are in the areas of worship, healings, signs & wonders, and God’s manifest presence in revival. Just when I figured I have gone through all the paradigm shifts necessary this side of heaven, the Lord hits me with yet another one (and I am sure not the last!), the house church model. I am not saying that God will be leading everyone into this paradigm, but He is with me and I am coming across more and more people who are saying the same thing. Let me walk through some of the biblical, historical, and contemporary material that has got my attention of late. BIBLICAL DATA: The Greek word for “church” in the New Testament is “ecclesia”. According to Jim Watt, a leader from the Latter Rain movement, “ecclesia” is found about 114 times in the New Testament: -1 time it refers to Israel (Acts) -3 times to the Greek political assembly in Ephesus 14 times to the HOUSE church 15 times to the UNIVERSAL church 81 times to the CITY church! Some examples of city churches are “the Church of Ephesus, of Philippi, Rome, Corinth, Antioch”. Some examples of house church in the New Testament are: Jesus & 12 disciples that he formed as a nucleus for faith, mentoring, & ministry to masses Pentecost happened in a house: Acts 2:2: “Suddenly a sound...filled the whole house” (similarly, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that sparked the Pentecostal revival & movement began in a home on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles, California) Acts 2:46: “They broke bread in their homes & ate together with glad & sincere hearts, praising God & enjoying the favour of all the people”. Acts 8:3-4: “Saul, began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men & women & put them in prisons”. Acts 20:20: Saul, now called Paul, later “taught you publically & from house to house”. Acts 28:30-31: For two years Paul, in his own rented house, preached and taught the Kingdom of God and Jesus Christ. Rom16:5 “greet the church that meets at their (Priscilla & Aquila) house”(also 1 Cor16:9) Col. 4:15: “to Nympha & the church in her house” Philemon vs. 2: “To Philemon...& to the church that meets in your home” The New Testament anticipates a certain quality of life together (of which the house church model can help foster): The early church in the book of Acts: “prayed together” (Acts 2”42;20:7-20), ate together, “met together” (exercising the gifts, 1 Cor 14:26); fellowshiped together (2:42) and “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching together” (Act 2:42; 20:7). In Acts 20:7 Paul preached all night and a young man named Eutychus fell out the window & momentarily died. Some preachers may take comfort in his lengthy sermon, but in fact the Greek word used in vs. 7 is “dialegomai” meaning “conversation”, “dialogue” involving question and answer interaction , not monolog or lecture! At times they did preach but to unbelievers on the streets and at the temple court. About 60 times in the New Testament we are given “one another”commands. Some examples are: -Eph. 5:19-20: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns & spiritual songs. Sing & make music in your heart to the Lord...submit to one another” -Col 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly AS you teach & admonish one another with all wisdom, AND as you sing psalms, hymns & spiritual songs...” Heb 10:24: “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching” 1 Cor. 14:26 is one of the few Scriptures that gives us instruction as to what to do when we meet together: “when you come together, EVERYONE (not just the professionals) has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church...” vs. 31 “For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged”. However, it is simply not practical to have such extensive mutual body ministry in a large church service with a limited timeframe. “Livingroom Christianity”, either cell church or house church can help to facilitate this kind of body life. We must get beyond simply paying lip service to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9) and see it fleshed out in our church life together. We cannot overlook a very relevant text, that of Ephesians 4:26-40, which addresses the issue of the five-fold offices of: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher “FOR THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS” for their ministry. The five-fold ministry involves being a coach, a facilitator, a midwife to the body of Christ. But for centuries we have seen only the pastor & teacher leadership offices functioning. In the last 2-3 centuries, the evangelist office has returned (Whitfield, Wesley, Finney etc). Today, God appears to be re-introducing the offices of prophet and apostle to the leadership team. We can now potentially be “running on all cylinders” again as the first century for accelerated kingdom expansion. God is harvesting whole cities and nations as well as fashioning a gorgeous bride (with army boots on) for his Son who will be soon returning! A major focus of apostolic ministry today (which the house church structure lends itself) has to do with helping “ordinary Christians” discover who they are in Christ (including their spiritual gift mix) and what they have been called to do. Then for these leaders to become their biggest fans, cheering them on & releasing them into their full calling and destiny. Words to describe church life as God intends would be: every member ministry, body life, interactive, free and spontaneous, creative, informal, relational, organic, flexible, easily multipliable, joyful, grace-based, passionate for God & compassionate towards others, mission- minded, grateful, & honouring of the voice and tangible presence of God! HISTORICAL DATA: For the first 3 centuries the church met in homes and city wide gatherings to minister to the Lord (worship), for mutual ministry to one another (body life in the power of the Holy Spirit), then scattered out to minister in their neighbourhoods in the compassion & authority of Christ. This revolutionary new sect called “the way” expanded throughout the empire, “turning the world upside down”! This apostolic expansion of the Christian church was a result of the combination of signs and wonders and the manifest presence of God (new wine) with the flexible wineskins of mutual ministry in house churches and the city wide church. Add a little dose of persecution for good measure (separates the men from the boys!). But just after 300 AD, the church made the biggest blunder in its history, its wheels fell off! Until then, it had looked like the gospel would reach the uttermost parts of the earth, at least before McDonald’s did (The Open Church, Jim Rutz, page 8)! The church became less of a revolutionary band and more like a respectible establishment which defends the status quo. What really derailed the church was when the Roman emperor, Constantine (who was converted in 312) issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which ended the persecutions and allowed Christianity to be tolerated and accepted (no longer illegal). Christian leaders were embraced and given privileges and even positions of power in government. Soon the church ceased being an interactive family and turned into a large and passive audience. Constantine began building elaborate church buildings which ended forever the warm, intimate, interactive meetings in someone’s living room. The professional clergy performed the pomp and ceremony and the masses turned into “pew potatoes” where they stared at the back of the person’s head in front of them, while listening to the clergy upfront perform their rituals and monologues. By AD 380, the Roman emperor, Theodosius, ordered that Christianity not just be accepted as one religion among the many pagan religions, but that it would be the one and only state recognized religion. Each Roman citizen was forced to be a member of the Christian church. By this time, churches meeting in homes were forbidden. You met in the state run church buildings with all the pagans who had not been truly converted. By 476, the city of Rome fell and the church led the way into the Dark Ages. A thousand years later, Martin Luther, John Calvin and the boys began to pick up the pieces in the 1500’s. “They did the best fixit job since Nehemiah. But they couldn’t do everything. Rome wasn’t unbuilt in a day”(James Rutz, The Open Church, p 13). The German church growth consultant, Christian Swartz sees 3 reformations in church history: Luther brought the First Reformation (Protestant Reformation) which was a reformation of Theology: salvation by faith alone, by Christ alone; final authority in scripture alone, and the priesthood of all believers. They didn’t have the time or energy to flesh this last one out in practice. A Second Reformation, a Reformation of Spirituality came in the 1700’s through the Pietists, Moravians and Wesleys: a new intimacy with Christ that fueled evangelism & missions. John Wesley “organized to beat the devil” and formed small discipleship groups called “classes” and “bands” for his converts. His use of this method resulted in his followers being called “the Methodists”. A Third Reformation, a Reformation of structures, of wineskins seems to be emerging in which the cell based church and house church models are a vital part (Wolfgang Simson, Houses that Change the World, pages 6,7). CONTEMPORARY DATA: Ironically, at a time when Christianity is growing globally at an unprecedented speed (around 200,000 converts per day, 2-3,000 churches starting each week), many believers, particularly in the western world are experiencing a growing frustration, restlessness, and boredom, tired of “doing church”. And many pastors are very tired, discouraged, and burned out. Most sense something is wrong but it is hard to put a finger on it. Throughout the 20th century, the Lord has poured out waves of revival and renewal upon his church. We have seen the Pentecostal movement, the Charismatic movement, and the Third Wave movement break upon the landscape in this century. God has been restoring, empowering his church and equipping her afresh causing her to re-discover some of the tools to get the kingdom job done. The gifts of the Spirit such as: prophecy, tongues, healings, & miracles have been unleashed once again in greater measure. The church is picking up the weapons of prayer & intercession, fasting, spiritual warfare, unity, praise & worship, our authority in Christ to pray for the sick (mentally, emotionally, & physically) & cast out demons. Biblical scholarship, creativity & the arts, & innovative means of evangelism & ministry of compassion to the poor have been increasing. The prophetic movement & now the apostolic movement are both growing & maturing in our day. We have also seen in the recent wave of renewal the renewed emphasis on passion for Jesus, the healing of the heart & the Father heart of God. Furthermore, in the last 2 decades, cell groups have been a priority of the Lord to see implemented in much of the body of Christ. Dr. David Yongi Cho, of Seoul, Korea , stands as the shining example of cell groups (50,000 plus) in his 800,000 member church (as well as prayer). Wolfgang Simson, church growth consultant from Germany, is of the conviction that this focus on cell based churches in recent years is God-initiated. He also believes, however, that God may very well be nudging us, in manageable increments, baby steps, towards the “house church” model once again as a significant wineskin for the coming harvest. He talks of 5 levels of church life: l-Universal church 2-Denominational church 3-city-wide church 4-local congregation 5-cell group or house church The New Testament church focused on: l, 3, 5 Today’s traditional church of 500 years of Protestant tradition: 1, 2, 4 Today’s cell-based church: 1, 4, 5 Today’s house church network: 1, 3, 5 Contemporary examples of house churches: There are over 100 million Christians in China in over 2 million underground house churches. One of them said: “we meet in homes illegally, and worshipping the Lord is the only thing we have in life worth getting caught doing”. First thing they do is close the windows, fall on their knees and pray together. Each of their pastors have served an average of 17 years & 3 months in prison for their faith, much of it in solitary confinement. “Don’t come into this meeting (of a house church ) to talk about and do anything that you are not willing to die for”! Another Chinese Christian states, “we are survivers. We were once bitten by the tiger, but it failed to grind us small enough to swallow. It’s claws left scars on our faces, so we are not handsome” (The Church in China, by Carl Lawrence, Bethany, 1985, p 113). The Chinese love the progression “good, better, best”, so a widespread conviction among the Chinese Christians involves the following three mottos: “It is good for a Christian to lead someone to Christ. It is better to plant a church. It is best to plant a church-planting movement” (Mike Steele, CEO of Dawn Ministries). According to an American pastor, Larry Kreider, the Chinese Church has another motto: “From the uttermost parts of the earth back to Jerusalem” They are praying and preparing (with a vision to train 100,000) for the day when the Bamboo curtain comes down and they can evangelize the mostly Muslim nations between China and Israel on their way to evangelize the Jews! What about the Western world? Wolfgang says he is hearing of new house churches starting practically every day now. He believes there are 100’s of house churches in USA alone in recent years. By nature they are low key and not noticed (below the radar screen). Some of the Benefits of the house church model are: -frees up finances for ministry and missions (not dependent on buildings) -maximizes organism & minimumizes organization (highly relational, simple, flexible) -frees leaders to do what they were called to do - equip, empower saints for their ministry -gives a safer place & more opportunity for believers to step out in ministry (research by Christian Swartz shows that tradition churches over 100 have only 17% involved in ministry corresponding to their spiritual gifts, fewer than 100 have 31% involved in ministry. House church, with its participatory lifestyle involves almost everyone! page 205, Wolfgang Simson) -more streamlined, flexible and adaptable to real needs and situations -more in touch with daily life & therefore, more authentic & practical -provides greater support and accountability to one another -living room Christianity is less threatening to many prodigals, pagans, and generation X -prepares us for the future (persecution proof!) - complements the City -wide church emphasis that God has been encouraging in the last few years (City Transformation videos of George Otis Jr.) -a wineskin that fits very well with the 5 fold offices of apostolic/prophetic leadership. -can give greater priority to discipleship and missions -promotes multiplication, not just addition growth and reproduction (unlimited harvest) example: reproduction patterns of the elephant vs. rabbit Elephants -only fertile 4 times a year -only one baby per pregnancy -22 month gestation period -sexual maturity: 18 years -maximum growth potential in 3 years: from 2 to 3 Rabbits -almost continuously fertile -average of 7 babies per pregnancy -1 month gestation period -sexual maturity: 4 months -maximum growth potential in 3 years: from 2 to 476 million! House churches are not multiplying like rabbits, but this example shows the theoretical potential of rapid multiplication. A typical house church may have between 6 & 20 people, and could potentially double itself once every 6-9 months (Wolfgang Simson, pages106-7). Contemporary prophetic voices in recent years (Graham Cooke, Rick Joyner, Marc Dupont, Steve Witt and others) have been speaking of new wineskins yet to come to the church that will be portable, simple, flexible, and mobile. I have been wondering for some time what that may look like! -Mike Bickle had the Lord speak to him in his hotel room in Cairo, Egypt in Sept. 82 saying basically: “I am going to change the form and the expression of Christianity in the earth in one generation”. In the fall of 2001, Rick Joyner stated at a conference in Scotland that house churches are one of the new wineskins that the Lord is bringing to the church in these days (and he prophesied the same in his book, The Harvest, pages 92-4, published in 1989. Graham Cooke, in his book, “Divine Confrontation:Birthpangs of the New Church”, describes the nature and dynamic of change and paradigm shifts because he knows that God is going to take us through more changes in the coming years. I don’t recall him mentioning house churches directly but he sure hints at it; talking about wineskins that will be organic, relational, flexible, & creative. He uses the term “prototype” vs “stereotype” to convey that the Spirit will creatively grow churches that will be fresh, different, and original (instead of all carbon copies of each other) which will be fruitful for Kingdom life and advancement (pgs 206,285). “He is now dismantling stereotypes & creating new prototypes of church” (p. 296). How does the house church look practically? Good question! Big question! We don’t have all the answers yet. We are on a faith journey with God and each other, an adventure that involves one step at a time! But for starters let me state a few preliminary thoughts. First, house church leaders are not cell leaders responsible to elders of a centralized church but are elders themselves, spiritual fathers & mothers. Secondly, a network of house churches are given oversight by the 5-fold ministry team (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, & teachers) who mentor & encourage the house church elders. These 5 fold servants will circulate around to the house churches to bless and empower as well as facilitate the monthly celebrations, promote city wide church life with other church pastors, and promote missions to the nations. House churches should also have much freedom to develop their own personality and emphasis based upon who God has put into that home church. Yet there is a spirit of interdependence upon the other house churches in the network as well as the city wide church whereby training & other resources can be shared and maximized for kingdom life & growth. House churches decide when and where they meet together, free to experiment according to the group’s needs. They meet at least once a week, keeping in mind that church is not just a meeting; it is a way of life. We are learning to “be the church” not just “do church”. And don’t forget that variety is the “spice of life”, have fun together! Eat meals together, laugh, cry, pray, worship the Lord, prophesy, get God’s heart for each other & your neighbour. Since house churches are spiritual families, children are a natural & important part. They are not an intrusion. Include them in Bible story telling, meals, worship, etc. At times having them separate to another room is OK but find creative ways to integrate them into your “body life” as much as possible. Home churches will also be community outreach and missions minded (kingdom values) & so will seek to reproduce other house churches as they grow numerically (by the time you reach 20 or low 20’s the church should be taking steps to give birth to another house church). A network of house churches (or micro churches) who possess the DNA of truth, relationship, and mission will probably have a vision for: weekly house church meetings, monthly house church network celebrations, occasional training workshops, seminars, and conferences, occasional city-wide church celebrations, and the potential for everyone in the network of house churches of having the opportunity to be involved in overseas missions (short term ministry trips etc). Tithes & offerings taken up in each house church (and celebrations) will go through the network’s books and the intention is to see as much as possible return to each house church for creative, Spirit-led ministries of community outreach, ministry to the poor, and missions. Personal testimony: As God has been taking me through this paradigm shift regarding house churches since the summer of 2001, it has dawned on me that there are 3 times in my pastoral ministry that I have experienced “living room Christianity” up close with amazing fruit. 1) In the 1970’s, during the Jesus movement, I led an interdenominational youth home Bible study group in Barrie for almost 7 years which saw dozens and dozens of young people impacted for Christ. God’s favour was all over it! We had such fun. We grew in the Lord by leaps and bounds. And we saw many youth come to the Lord through the Tuesday night meetings as well as through the evangelistic coffee houses we ran. 2) In 1985, when church planting in Vancouver with the Vineyard, the first phase of planting involved home group life for the first 6 months before we started “real church” on Sundays at a community hall for the public. Those first 6 months in the living room was incredible. We had such fun, saw the miraculous, bonded so close, tasted of God’s heavenly presence, and saw new people join us weekly. Once we went to the Sunday sevice format, our friendships suffered because we were so busy setting up and tearing down chairs, sound equipment, and “doing church”, our numerical growth immediately leveled off, and the fun and joy was soon gone. 3) While pastoring in Stratford in the 1990’s, I felt the Lord ask me to cancel Sunday service for 2 Sundays and have everyone meet in home groups. We were to consider it a “firedrill” in case of future persecution! Offerings didn’t suffer and the attendance those 2 Sundays set records (hit 300, once back to the building it went back to the average 250)! Let me close with words from Wolfgang Simson: “And what is the most difficult-and therefore most meaningful-place for someone to be spiritual? At home, in the presence of their spouse and children, where everything they do and say is automatically put through a spiritual litmus test against reality, where hypocrisy can be effectively weeded out and authenticity can grow. Much of Christianity has fled the family, often as a place of its own spiritual defeat, and then has organized artificial performances in sacred buildings far from the atmosphere of real life. As God is in the business of recapturing the homes, the church turns back to its roots-back to where it came from. It literally comes home, completing the circle of Church history at the end of world history. As Christians of all walks of life, from all denominations and backgrounds, feel a clear echo in their spirit to what God’s Spirit is saying to the Church, and start to hear globally in order to act locally, they begin to function again as one body. They stop asking God to bless what they are doing- and start doing what God is blessing. They organize themselves into neighborhood house-churches and meet in regional or city celebrations. You are invited to become part of this movement and make your own contribution. Maybe your home, too, will become a house that changes the world”.