Category: House Church Basics
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House Church Basics– Pt. 8: It’s All About Jesus
The focal of point house church, simple church, organic church, emerging church or any other way to describe church is simply four words: It’s all about Jesus. Everything we have discussed in our “House Church Basics” is not an attempt to build a better church box. Rather, it is an attempt to make everything, absolutely…
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House Church Basics Pt. 7: What About Children?
This is usually the first question asked when it comes to house churches: “What about children? The implication, of course, is that children are going to lose out if there is not an array of formal children’s programs to teach and take care of the children. The assumption is that the “Sunday School” program provided…
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House Church Basics Pt. 6: HC Networks– A Wave Is Coming
Simple churches, connected together as a “network,” are already becoming a “new wave” type phenomenon. The concept of a network of house churches invites individual house churches to thrive within a larger community. In the New Testament, we see churches that met in houses and gathered anywhere. But we also see the larger context of…
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House Church Basics — Part 2: Participatory Church
Participatory gatherings: wonderful, biblical, necessary. Do we really know how to do them? One of my greatest joys in house church is the participatory nature of the gatherings. For historical and biblical background on participatory gatherings I refer you to an excellent article by Brian Anderson. My own transition to participatory church came after many…
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House Church Basics — Part 1-B: What Is Church?
(To start at Part 1-A click here.) 1. Church is a movement not an organization. 2. Expressions of church are far more diverse than we can imagine. We have been working at eliminating preconceptions around old definitions of “church.” Our cultural idea of “what church is” can keep us from seeing what church really is!!!…
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House Church Basics — Part 1-A: What Is Church?
Our first challenge in grasping what God intends church to be, is to stop looking at it through the lens of our background and through the lens of 2,000 years of “church” as a formal institution. Dee Hock says: "The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to…
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House Church Networks vs. The Cell / Small-Group Church
It is vital to understand that house church networks are not the same thing, in any way, as churches with small groups (even if those small groups are called “house churches.” The cell church (I will adopt the term “cell” church to refer to all types of small-group-based churches) has been a strong movement in…