Why house churches?

A question I'm often asked by friends and family is why do I choose to attend a four person house church instead of joining a well established traditional church and starting my own program to carry out the ideas I have and therefore have a bigger impact? Well the short answer is that that type of thinking makes me cringe for some reason...but here is a more thought-out explanation of why I think the house church works:

• Financial Flexibility. As a church that meets in a house (or other alternative locations such as coffee shops) we don't have to pay for a building. We also don't have to pay a full-time pastor. The impact that our tithe/giving money can make under this structure is at least 10 times greater.


• Deeper Learning Experience. Often times when we meet, we will listen to a podcast from a well known national or local speaker. One of my favorite things about doing this is that we can pause and discuss in greater detail at any point. There are times when I'm listening to a certain speaker and I'm bored (to be honest), but then someone else will pause the podcast and make a profound point about what had just been said that I never would've thought of on my own and it totally changes my perspective. I think we miss out on moments like this in a traditional Sunday morning service where everyone quietly listens to one speaker.


• Higher Accountability. If you like to blend in at church and slip out when the service is over, you will be uncomfortable in a house church. When we meet, everyone is expected to contribute in some manner. It can be anything from praying, reading a psalm, sharing an experience from the past week, teaching an insight, or sharing an idea not directly related to church (I Corinthians 14:26). This higher accountability has caused me to study the scriptures with a passion that I've never done before because I can't wait to share my ideas the next time we meet.


• Shared Responsibility. In a traditional church, we normally pay or designate an individual or small group to be in charge of things like visiting those in the hospital, bringing meals to the sick, etc. It never made sense to me why that isn't the responsibility of everyone in the church. Why do we have to name specific people to do that? If we all aren't doing that, then what is the point of a church anyway? If you were in the hospital for a week would you rather get a visit from a pastor who was paid to be there or from several individuals that you've shared dreams with, prayed with, and sat down for meals with?

Well, there are more than just four advantages to the house church model but these four are the main elements that make the house church attractive to me. It is important to note these four elements can be present in the traditional church but the traditional church model makes it hard for these elements to be common among all members of the church body.

Strip away the non-essential

Sometimes, in order for certain things to be effective you need to strip away everything that is non-essential that surrounds the entity at hand. Take a top-notch athlete for example. In order to reach peak performance the athlete is going to cut out everything that is not relevant or does not allow the athlete to reach his/her physical potential.

In my case, I am talking about the traditional church as it stands today in American culture. There are many non-essential (but not necessarily "bad") elements surrounding the traditional church that are now starting to prevent it from being relevant in this ever changing society. Some of them include: a church building, a paid staff, a worship leader, kids programs, and outreach programs. I'm sure you can think of many others but these are a few that come to mind. When you strip away these non-essential elements, you are left with a church that very closely resembles the early church in the book of Acts.

So what are the essential elements that make up an effective church today? Well over the past year and a half I have come up with four essential elements that any church which desires to be relevant to today's culture need to pursue. The manner in how these elements are incorporated into a particular church are not important.

1. Relationships. A church should encourage strong and healthy relationships not just on Sunday mornings but it should enable and promote new friendships among the church body every day of the week. The church is not a building; it is us. We are the church. The church can only be as strong as the relationships that comprise it.
2. Encouragement. The Christian life is far from a guarantee of an easy life. In fact, it is the opposite most of the time. There will be times when we are depressed, burned out, and fatigued. The church should be a place that such a person can find unconditional encouragement in. This can be done through prayer, sympathy, or just having a good time together!
3. Affirmation. Sometimes we have crazy ideas or seemingly random events in our life that don't make sense to us (some more than others!). The church should be a place that offers insight and direction in these moments. For example, I may come to church on a particular day and tell everyone how I randomly ran in to a friend I haven't seen in years. Someone in the church body may speak up and say "well that's no coincidence dummy, remember that you've been praying you would have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone this week!" More generally speaking, affirmation could simply just be accountability between the members of the church body.
4. Service. "A church that serves together stays together". Ok that doesn't rhyme but it's still true. If you want to bring a whole new depth to your relationships with each other, find ways to serve in your community or even the world. The Apostle Paul tells us to "test our faith daily". I can't think of any better way to test our faith than to serve in ways we didn't think were possible.

"Wait a minute Dan!! Where is WORSHIP? How can you leave Worship off this list?!?!". Well, first of all, worshipping God is more than just singing songs to Him on Sunday. Secondly, I stand convinced that these four elements are, in their basic form, pure and true ways of worshipping God.

In your own life, evaluate what is essential for you to become the amazing spectacle of Christ-likeness that God intended for you and quit everything else. What other point is there in living?