1 – You can meet where the people are at. You might not be able to take you 500 person church to a park or out by the lake but you can with your house church. This allows the church to have a visible presence. If you do this, make sure you do more than be there for you…do outreach, love on people, prayer walk, pray with people, help them with their needs…be an asset to the community rather than just a place to meet for you.
2 – You already pay your bills, there is little overhead with house church. With the traditional church model we all pay for our own homes AND we pay to run the church building. By doing church at home you are able to save that money and use it for other things, increasing your kingdom impact.
3 – It is intimate and transformative. Because there are fewer people, you can get into each other’s lives on a deeper level. This can lead to deeper formation.
4 – Everyone is involved. If you are part of the church family in a house church, you are going to be involved. There is no “back row” or “special pew” for you to sit and live out your days undisturbed.
5 – The children are truly a part. Our kids lead worship, comment, pray, help with communion. They do it all. We have Sundays where our worship leaders are 7-70! It is beautiful. I cannot say I have ever seen that in the traditional church model. The traditional church model tends to isolate and segregate the kids until they are 18 and then the kids (now adults) never come back when they have to integrate. With house church, they are integrated from day 1.
What would you add to the list?
If you are interested in starting a house church, please let me know! – matthewdabbs@hotmail.com
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6. There is no priest hierarchy in place as people generally help as they can in whatever way they can.
7. Money goes from the givers to the needy, not to a building/building maintenance, etc.
Priesthood of all believers (present)?
8. Just as it was done in the N.T. Church, potential leaders can be identified, trained and released to form new house churches; multiplication being the desired outcome.
9. Because leadership is not dependent upon a salary, more funds can go towards missional outreach.