Tag Archives: house church

The House Church as discipleship centres around the world

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This short excerpt of the longer book preview of the new book by Victor Choudhrie calls for us to consider the validity of house churches as a model for Church meetings today. What a radical thought if each house church acted as a discipleship centre that is focused on sending out missionaries and disciples into the surrounding society. Christianity only will grow and expand with force and a choice of sacrifice.

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THE TASK OF THE CHURCH IS TO WORSHIP GOD THROUGH DISCIPLING THE NATIONS:

The Hindu fundamentalists have 75,000 training centers where they make disciples by the thousands. The Muslims have 300,000 schools called Madrassas, where, among other things, they indoctrinate the young about “Jihad” or the holy war against infidels like the Christians. Making disciples is, in fact, the mandate and the mission of the church. It is her raison d’ etre or the reason for her existence. The enemy is already doing what the church is supposed to be doing. This is why the task of discipling the nations still remains and the Lord Jesus is not able to return. (Matt.28:18-20)

VISITOR FROM THE JERUSALEM CHURCH:

Over the centuries, the Temple, the priests and the Sabbath have all crept back. If a first century Christian were to visit today, he would have difficulty in recognizing it as a church. The ornate buildings, the once-a-week Sunday worship, the sermon, the loud music, the institutionalization of the church, regular tithing to sustain the above structures, fund raising drives for projects, would all be unrecognizable by a visitor from NT times. Unfortunately, all of these have become pillars of the New Age church.
LOVE FOR EACH OTHER IS THE BENCHMARK:

Many people believe that the NT churches did not have buildings because they were poor, but that is not the case. Cornelius the centurion, Lydia the seller of purple and the treasurer of Ethiopia were well-off and could have easily built buildings. Nor did persecution stop them from building because persecution was only periodic. The real reason was that the Lord Jesus had given them a new commandment to “love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all people know that you are My disciples because you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35). This could only be practiced in an intimate family environment. Hence the house churches.
EXAMPLES OF IMPORTANT EVENTS IN HOUSES IN THE NT:

1.” Jesus taught at Mary and Martha’s house. (Luke 10:38-42) 2.” Jesus healed a paralytic in a house. (Mark 2:1-12) 3.” A 12 year old dead girl was raised in Jairus’ house. (Matt. 9:23-26) 4.” Jesus attended a wedding in Cana in a house. (John 2:1-12) 5.” Jesus ate in the house of Zacchaeus the tax collector, resulting in his repentance. (Luke 19:1-10) 6.” Before His death, Jesus was anointed with perfume by Mary in the house of Lazarus. (John 12: 1-8) 7.” The church prayed all night in the house of Mary for the release of Peter from jail. (Acts 12:5, 12) 8.” Peter went to the house of Cornelius for his first ever meeting in the house of a Gentile. (Acts 10:24) 9. Saul created havoc in the church, entering every house and dragging men and women into prison. (Acts 9:3) 10.”Paul shared the whole counsel of God in public and from house to house. (Acts 20:20, 27) 11.”Paul greets the churches in the houses of Priscilla, Apphia, and Nymphas. (1 Cor. 16:19, Philemon :2; Col 4:15) 12. Paul dwelt for two years in a rented house in Rome and preached openly before he was executed. (Acts 28:30-31) 13.”The first European church was planted in Lydia’s house at Philippi. (Acts 16:15) 14. Jesus served the Lord’s Supper in a house. (Luke 22:11) 15.”The Holy Spirit descended like tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, in a house. (Acts 2:1-4)

 

Starting A House Church In Your Local Area

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Though when being called of God to start a house Church does not demand that you are accountability to another spiritual brother, there is great wisdom in seeking to be under an elder brother. It is helpful to be connected with other brothers in the local area in already established local church works that you can respect and unify with. Even if a brother is involved in a denominational church it can be wisdom to be spiritually submitted under that brother though the new house Church work is not under the denomination. This is one encouragement for Gospel Fellowships that we feel will be beneficial for saints to adhere to.

Yet in a time of apostasy especially there will be situations where you cannot submit to other pastors or church leaders in your area and you are free by the leading of the Lord to start a new work though it can come with ridicule and mis-understanding.

As the article below states we must begin in prayer. This is the foundation of every true work of God that builds the Lord’s kingdom. We will be God willing having local gatherings in many areas in the near future to help connect like-minded brothers and sisters which we feel will be helpful to the forming of bodies of Christ in many local areas.

 

This is an short helpful, practical excerpt from this larger article on Smallgroups.com:

The first step to starting a house church is to pray. House-church ministry must be birthed in prayer. Though it is a simple step, without prayer and God’s leading, we invite trouble. Starting a house church cannot be just a good idea; it must be a God idea. If you feel that you are called to start a house church, gather a few like-minded people together and begin to pray so that you can receive a strategy from God. Many house churches have false starts that are directly linked to a lack of prayer.

Taking time to pray gives God the opportunity to work in our hearts and purify our motives. When house churches start up because of a reaction to something we don’t like about the established church, the house church’s identity is built from rebellion and discord. Healthy house churches, on the contrary, must begin with God’s leading and a desire to reach those who don’t know Jesus. What a person sows, the Bible teaches us, he also reaps. Therefore, if you begin a house church because of an offense toward an existing church or leader, you will sow the seeds of fault-finding and pride in the church you are creating.

Along with prayer, it is also important to look to the local Christian community’s leaders for spiritual guidance and advice as you launch a new church. From day one of the Lancaster Micro-Church Network, we have cultivated relationships with established believers in our local community and beyond to answer questions and explain to them the concept of micro-church. A wise Bible teacher once said, “Lone rangers get shot out of the saddle.” We agree. Healthy house-church movements are not exclusive groups who refuse to be accountable. Vibrant micro-church networks are spiritually connected to leadership in the Body of Christ.

 

Being Part of a growing movement of House Churches

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It is all true believers heart to simply be involved in God’s work, where He is powerfully working to extend His Church and spread the Good News of the Gospel. The early Church began as a network of godly home churches preaching the Good News of Christ and living godly life’s in light of the soon coming of Jesus Christ coming back again.

Gospel Fellowships burden is the same that we would be an apostolic book of Acts movement of house churches and small gatherings in any place that desire to model the Church that we find in the New Testament. Are you desiring to be involved in such a work? Consider staying tuned to regional gatherings where we will simply allow for the networking of believers. And stay tuned for the soon coming of the Principles book outlining some Principles from the book of Acts for starting a house church or small gathering in a building.

Here is an excerpt from the soon coming Principles For The Gathering of Believers book:

“The early church was a growing movement of multiplying house churches.131 God was adding to the number daily such as would be saved132 and there was a sense of many being saved through the preaching of the Gospel. Radical evangelism was not an option in the early Church but the only logical response to the great offer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not just a few but all the disciples133 were gripped with the burden to reach the whole known world with this message of Eternal Life. Though all efforts were made the early disciples real reliance was on the Spirit of God in their evangelism. There was a sovereign working of God’s Spirit drawing men to Himself.134 Such a working always happens when men allow God to build His Church and allow great grace to be upon them: “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”135

Once God is given His rightful place in the Church and is fully reckoned and trusted, a move of His working Spirit is something that should be expected. The early Church did not try to work God down from heaven but simply waited before Him for active instructions.136

As we look to the book of Acts as our model we see great growth in just a few days of the Church. Through the first 10 chapters of the book of Acts we see continual references to the growth of the Church, adding of disciples, and the spreading of the word of God. God seemed 100% focused on making new disciples. He had just sacrificed His Son Jesus for all mankind.”

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Footnotes:

131 Acts 12:24

132 Acts 2:47

133 Acts 8:4

134 Acts 16:14

135 Acts 4:33

136 Acts 13:2-3

 

The exodus from denominational churches in North America

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There has been a large exodus of true believers and saints who have left many church denominations in North America. This has been increasingly happening over the last 20 years and in many local areas believers are found to be so discouraged with the state of mainline denominations that they have decided not to attend a local church building. There has been small house church networks and movements but many of them being reactionary and not seeking to be a healthy expression of the New Testament Church.

There is a great need for believers to gather together allowing Jesus Christ to be the head of the Church. There sadly has been also an emphasis on changing theology in the church into focusing on social needs, and trying to fix this world, yet God is going to destroy it with fire (2 Peter 3:10) and calls us to fix our minds on things above (Colossians 3:1-3) and focus our time and talents on the eternal (Matthew 6:19). We need New Covenant house churches where obedience, godliness and a focus on the person of Jesus Christ our Lord is prominent.

Are you considering leaving your church? Have you already left discouraged? Are you not attending a fellowship on sundays?  You are not alone and exactly the opposite you might be in the plan of God for North America to see Godly house church networks and movements begin. Some reasons for leaving a church can be bad such as practicing sin, lack of accountability, not submitting to any authority in life (which is just a sign of not submitting to God’s authority) and many other reasons. But overall many believers are just so grieved over the way denominational churches are money driven, business driven and focused on buildings, staff, entertainment instead of prayer, simple godly obedience and the Holy presence of God.

God might be calling you to start a house church fellowship or simply just start praying for God to connect you with like-minded brothers and sisters where you can receive godly encouragement in your walk with Jesus Christ. In the future Gospel Fellowships will be having regional gatherings where there will be a few brothers sharing and a time of corporate body life and sharing allowing saints to connect together.

Pray for God’s working in house churches in North America. Pray for a movement of revival to see many believers connected with like-minded believers, sharing the Gospel and walking in godly character and attitudes (1 John 2:6).

Starting a house Church in my local area?

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This is a valid and important question when it is hard to find local fellowship or Biblical churches to be a part of. Starting a house church does not need to be something that is even on sunday nor does it have to replace even you going to a Biblical larger fellowship on sunday mornings. A house church in its simplicity is just 2-3 or more believers meeting together to pray, share the word of God and worship the Lord. To simply meet to pray is one of the best ways to begin and allows the Lord to build the vision in all the believers hearts. To acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ present and head of the meeting is vital also.

When a gathering of believers become more committed and as the Lord leads there can be a simple time of communion (breaking the bread) where the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is honoured and His second coming acknowledged. This also a good time to ensure confessed sin and accountability in the body of believers.

The burden to start a house church needs to be also not to teach some favourite doctrines that you would hold to from your past church experiences nor the emphasis that the church is only wrong, etc. We must teach through all the Scriptures and emphasis simple obedience to what we hear (James 1:22). To be fruitful in our walks withe Lord is very important (John 15:1-5) and to desire to walk as our Lord walked is one of the reasons why we are left on this earth (1 John 2:6) as well as to share the Good News with others to see more disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).

One way to network with believers will be through Gospel Fellowships website, facebook page and soon coming local gathering meetings where the opportunity to connect with other like-minded believers will be there.

Here is an excerpt from the soon to be released Principles for the gathering of believers ebook and book:

“We can take heed to the admonition given by the Psalmist: “Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.”40 If we attempt to start something as a Church gathering without the calling of the Lord, the entire endeavour can be in vain. And if the church model is not solely built upon the word of God then we can end up building our own church and not the Church of God where Jesus Christ is head. To have a desire to escape religious meetings and to have a less formal relaxed meeting where people are free to just be themselves, is not the Church! We are deceived if we think we can re-define the Church to be a place where there is no leadership, no holy presence of God, no conviction of the Spirit, no crying out to God in prayer. Simply put, we must look to the early Church as our example and not modern cultures where our comfort, happiness and financial prosperity are the goals.

One of the more helpful things for us to do, is to look outside ourselves to countries where there are true organic models of New Testament Christianity being formed by the Holy Spirit. We think of the house Church movement in China, the underground Church in North Korea, and many others who are forced to solely rely on the Holy Spirit to guide their meetings. Such people are not looking to find a model of Church that fits them or feels right for them, rather God is leading them to be His Church. Many of us reading this volume live in Western countries where we have many choices. We choose from dozens of selections daily whether it’s the type of foods, clothing, music we listen to, homes we live in and cars we drive. Yet when it comes to choosing the right Church we must not have the same mentality, we cannot choose what we want but rather we must submit to what God wants. We have to come to the Scriptures and ask God what does Your Church look like? Not our will but God’s will be done41 must be our cry, when we are looking to establish a more Biblical meeting of the Church.”

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Footnotes:

40  Psalm 127:1-2

41  Luke 22:42

 

 

House Church Meeting Audio Recording

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As an example of a house church meeting we thought to share these 2 audio recordings:

This house church meeting took place the day after the SermonIndex Conference on Coming Persecution in Atlanta, GA. Brothers: Mark Case, Steve Gallagher, Brian Long and 25 others met together for a 3 hour meeting where also others were given time to share and exhort the body there. It was a blessed time and gathering of so many precious saints from different parts of North America.

House Church Sunday Meeting – Part 1

House Church Sunday Meeting – Part 2