The Nuts And Bolts of Relational, Organic, Simple, House Church
Greetings,
“…..When you come together, EVERYONE 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.” 1 Corinthians 14: 26
Recently a brother asked me a couple of questions concerning how we fellowship in the housechurches I relate to, first he wanted to know what happens when we gather:
As far as “how to” it varies greatly.
The most important thing of course is to be led by The Holy Spirit.
None of the hc’s I relate to have a “PASTOR” or any paid ministers, however
a lot of pastoral ministry takes place anyway. We just take care of one another as needed.
We see our LEADER as Jesus and all the rest of us follow Him as best we can.
Although some leading takes place as we totally try to live out “follow me as I follow Christ.”
The leading in our gatherings is shared, and we hopefully follow moment by moment whoever (regardless of age, sex, race, ect.) has The Spirit’s anointing at any given time.. One time a 9 year old excellently taught us about Cain and Abel and acceptable sacrifices.
In short our gatherings are open and free and many, hopefully all, share.
We see our gatherings as an ongoing conversation and hopefully this is following Jesus’ example of dialogue instead of monologue or sermon.
Now what does this look like from week to week? SIMPLE
We gather for a meal and pray. The meal is our communion. We have many conversations going on during the meal, eventually we will gather in the livingroom for a more focused time of song and sharing. Whoever is musical leads in praise and we all join in and anyone can suggest a song. Eventually this usually leads to some more prayer and then someone will begin sharing about something that has been on their heart this week and from there IT’S ON and we share in turn, often using the bible as our resource, and reading whole passages.
The whole gathering usually takes several hours from meal to finish.
Let me stress this. I have been meeting this way for over 35 years, and in all that time I have NEVER witnessed a gathering get “out of control” or into deep heresy. Somehow it just flows and The Lord blesses it. However, in this flow very rarely the more mature among us need to redirect the sharing into a more positive direction.
I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s simple, it’s a flow, it’s relational, it’s family.
The other question that this brother asked was if we held to any creeds or other tests for fellowship:
In over 35 years of fellowshipping in homes, I have never been part of a house church with a test for fellowship other than a desire to meet with us. Because of this we have had many nonbeleivers become beleivers. And those who held to non- Jesus like beliefs weeded themselves out in a very short period of time.
I will meet with anybody willing to dialog concerning the faith. And in an open and free, Spirit led meeting it is impossible to hide any real personal heresies for very long. Most folks who have fellowshipped with us over the years usually grow out of their problem theologies in time. When all things are open and mutual things just have a really neat way of working themselves out for the benefit of all involved. That at least is my experience and hope.
If anyone else has any questions for me, feel free to ask anytime.
Love and ……
Kirk Out !
notesfromthebridge 
I think what happens in HC’s is what is beginning to happen in families and even starting in some IC’s, there is finally a wake up call to everyone that there needs to be what my pastor calls “one anothering” he will straight up tell you that though he “leads” the church along with a team, he is just a part of the group and part of the one another. There is no “cause I’m the pastor, thats why.” which is one reason I fell inlove with the church I attend.
Seems to me that once the huge massive lying pillar of “clergy/laity” is revealed and kicked out from under it…that then finally ppl can begin to hear Jesus voice for themselves. The falling in love needs to be with Jesus and loving how He Lives through human vessels by faith. The “way” and the “how-tos” so many worry about isnt an issue once we are able to hear what He is saying. Mostly its alot of waiting seems like.
So true. Well put.
This sounds very much like the meetings we’re experiencing in our homes here. Love it that things get worked out in time, just influencing each other by Jesus in us.
I agree with Erroll, Well put. this describes how it has worked for us over the years too. We have seen some chaotic, volatile moments but when a group of believers know how to hold steady while a ‘dung gate experience’ takes place, they can then ‘flush’ and all walk on together….with the ‘offending party’ walking with us. We had a Wiccan come once, trying to push all our buttons, with the youngest Christian among us fielding some of his questions in love and anointing. He left saying, “Well, I must admit, you all have changed by opinion about Christians….”. Hoping that seed grew up into life in the days to follow. Thanks, Chris, “BK”
I agree this is well put. We have not had this happen on a steady basis and i am longing for this again. Please pray that the doors will open and we follow when HE is leading.