Rising Trend – Home Church: Skip the sermon, worship at home

AP Writer, Linda Stewart Ball recently reported on a rising phenomena – leaderless unstructured, do as you please home churches. The NCFIC has consistently spoken against these kinds of churches – click here to listen to this audio message, “What about Home Churching.” While scripture makes it clear that the location of the meeting may be in a home, it is the structure and practice that defines a true church.

She writes of this increasingly common situation,

“To get to church on a recent Sunday morning, the Yeldell family walked no farther than their own living room to greet fellow worshipers.

“The members of this "house church" are part of what experts say is a fundamental shift in the way U.S. Christians think about church. Skip the sermons, costly church buildings and large, faceless crowds, they say. House church is about relationships forged in small faith communities.

In general, house churches consist of 12 to 15 people who share what's going on in their lives, often turning to Scriptures for guidance. They rely on the Holy Spirit or spontaneity to lead the direction of their weekly gatherings.”

The author quotes church leader Ed Stetzer who speaks of why this might be happening. He says, "I think part of the appeal for some in the house church movement is the desire to return to a simpler expression of church," said Ed Stetzer, a seminary professor and president of Lifeway Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. "For many, church has become too much (like a) business while they just want to live like the Bible."

Perhaps this is true for some, but my view is that in many cases, the real reason is that they have one - or more - of several critical problems. First, it may be that they possess a very unbiblical understanding of the local church as Scripture defines it. In this case their real problem is ignorance. The biblical ignorance in the American church is legendary. It is filled with people who have never sought out important matters that are explicitly described in Scripture. Second, it may simply be rebellion - a rejection of the jurisdiction and authority of the local church which God has established. Or, perhaps they are really unbelievers who really care nothing for the pattern God has instituted in the Bible because they ultimately care nothing of God Himself, but instead seek what makes them feel  happy and at ease.

Whether it is ignorance or rebellion, our counsel is that people involved in these kinds of gatherings should flee to the institutional churches which maintain biblical practices, appoint biblically qualified leaders and who practice biblical discipline.