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It’s no secret that in the last 25 years or so house churches have become more and more common and are popping up all over the United States and other parts of the world where, prior to then, they were virtually unheard of and only institutional churches could be found. Though their numbers are still relatively small compared to the overall Christian-religious landscape, an increasingly noticeable measure of God’s people are opting to band together and meet with other believers in the smaller, less formal contexts of their homes. The reasons for this phenomenon are varied, but for many it is because they have become disillusioned with the institutions they have attended and the deeply-entrenched systemic way of relating to the Lord Jesus and His body. The church they read of in the New Testament looks dramatically different from the religious organizations of today with all their age-segregated programs & activities, multi-media presentations, property holdings, building programs, business meetings, budgets, committees, bank accounts, and the politics and control issues that go with it. So they “take the plunge” and venture into the waters of trying to “do church” in a way that more reflects the biblical example of how this was originally done, hoping to see the biblical fruit of this choice as well.
Many who do this are genuinely responding to something they sense of the Spirit of God within them and are seeking to act with others in a way that corresponds to what they are bearing witness to. But here is where all sorts of assumptions and expectations come into play that, apart from experienced outside help, they probably do not even realize they have or are being influenced by. And out of these assumptions and expectations, choices are made and things are set into motion that often have hurtful and heartbreaking outcomes.
This series of articles is being written to offer some guidance to those of you who are in this situation in order to hopefully help minimize some of the inherent difficulties you will face, and spare you from needless “mileage,” hurt, and “trips around the mountain.” It’s not that we can achieve a pain-free existence—quite the contrary. Being a follower of the Lord Jesus and walking in the way of His kingdom, though exceedingly joyful, also comes with its share of hardship, suffering, and tribulation (Rev. 1:9, Acts 14:22, Phil. 3:7-4:1). This path is not for the faint-hearted, but rather for those who will be of wholehearted faith and good courage in Jesus.
What are some of these assumptions and expectations that those who seek to be, or already are, part of a home church can have? One assumption is that because it is a house church that it is inherently of a better spiritual quality before the Lord than an institutional church. Wouldn’t this be true since gathering in homes lines up with the example we have in the scriptures (Acts 2:46, 5:42, 8:3, 16:40, 17:4-6, 20:20; Rom. 16:3-5, 1 Cor. 16:19, Col. 4:15, Philemon 1-3, 2 John 1:10, et al.)? Well, it depends on where you’re coming from—and here is where another assumption usually comes into play… Some people wrongly assume that because they have left an institution and are now meeting in homes instead of a religious building, that they have “left the religious system.” Well, have they? Let’s unravel these two assumptions and see the truth.
What I am about to describe may, at first, sound a little complicated, but I encourage you to chew on it until you gain a real understanding. Why? Because what stems from what I am about to convey is one of the main determining factors between your home church being of the churches that Jesus is building that “the gates of hell will not prevail” against (Matt. 16:15-19) or just being more organizational outflow of the religious system which happens to be packaged in homes. Ready? Here goes…
“The religious system” is made up of two parts: one that is seen and one that is unseen. We’ll go with the unseen element first. You need to understand that the religious system is something that exists because of beliefs, loyalties, and issues that reside in the hearts & minds of people which leads them to practice joining together and finding their identity in a name other than the Name of Jesus (Matt. 18:20). From this emerges the seen, outward, physical part of the religious system—the religious buildings, property holdings, budgets, programs, employees, and the organization’s membership that “needs” a name and government-approved, tax-exempt, non-profit status. Put these seen and unseen parts together and, whether they realize it or not, and despite the sincerity of some/all involved, you have people who are joining together to create, perpetuate, and propagate a named religious organization which is an entity other than the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13, Eph. 4:4). Now you take this and make it a way of life, and continue doing it for centuries (which we have), and network all these entities together into various conglomerates, and you collectively have what is commonly referred to as “the religious system”—specifically, the Christianized religious system.
If you truly understand what I just said, then you will also understand that just because you quit meeting together with Christians in a religious building and you now meet in your home instead, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have “left the religious system.” There is a lot more to “leaving the system” than changing physical locations. We, the people of God, must be purified and sanctified of those beliefs, loyalties, and issues that reside in our hearts & minds that have allowed us to uphold, participate in, perpetuate, and propagate the religious system. These things must be purged out of our lives! If not, they will remain unbroken and inevitably reappear and thoroughly leaven all that we are trying to build that is supposedly different and more biblical with other believers in our home gatherings.
So let’s bring this back to the assumptions some may have about house churches and our two questions of (1) are house churches of an inherently better spiritual quality before the Lord than institutional churches simply because they line up with the scriptural example, and (2) have we truly “left the religious system” if we have ceased meeting in religious facilities and now meet in our homes? I hope you can now see that if the beliefs, loyalties, and issues that allow for the religious system to exist remain intact in the hearts & minds of those now gathering in your living room, then, no, what you have is not at all of an inherently better spiritual quality than an institutional church, and, no, you haven’t truly left the religious system. Some house church movements and networks have become little more than new denominations.
Jesus said that “the Father has chosen gladly to give us the kingdom,” and this is true. In His kindness, He pours out on us and works in/through/among us to whatever degree or extent He can. But as in all of life with Him and especially with regard to church life, if our fleshly junk takes over, we ultimately leave Him little place to fill, let alone dwell or inhabit. We have to come to grips with the fact that the religious system baggage that is in us must be put to death before Jesus can use us as building material to build His church which the gates of Hell will not prevail against, and it takes a whole lot more than a mere change in our meeting place to accomplish that. We have to learn to build His way and quit doing the same old thing all over again—and doing it this time in our homes—before we can realistically expect a New Testament-quality lampstand to come forth. More on this later in this series.
Another assumption is that all house churches are basically “on the same page” in terms of purpose and what they believe. This assumption is usually rooted in the first two assumptions that I just covered. I am oftentimes amazed (and saddened) by some of the inquiries that I receive from people “looking for a home church”—“Do you know of a home church in Dallas?” or Saint Louis, or Boise, or this town or that. I sympathize with what I know most of these lambs are probably hungry for and trying to find, and if I know of some faithful saints in the area, I will gladly point them their way. But what makes me cringe is the assumption that these inquiries are usually based upon—namely, that surely all home churches must be basically the same. If you believe this, then I can assure you that disappointment is not far away. There are house churches of every theological stripe and focus imaginable. If I were to flip this around and write to you and ask if you knew of a steepled-building church in Dallas, or Saint Louis, or Boise, or this town or that, you would probably be perplexed and wrinkle your forehead and wonder if I really understood what I was asking or even knew what it was I was looking for. This also exposes some of the inherent weakness in making the focus home church.
And at this point some might ask, “Then why even gather in homes? What’s the big deal about houses?” That’s a legitimate question, and several lengthy articles could be written in response, but let me say this… There are many clear and undeniable biblical examples of the church assembling and gathering together in homes. But God wants more than His people observing that context and seeking to reproduce it simply because it is the example of the scriptures. He desires us to have vision for the content of all that He is after in His people. He desires that “the eyes of our heart be enlightened to know… what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” as well as “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” that is able to bring this all about in/through/among us (Eph. 1:18-23). He wants us to “be intent on the one purpose” of living in relation to Him and one another for “being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” and functioning in the world as His body, not another entity with another name (Eph. 2:19-22, Phil. 2:1-16).
If we truly see these things, then we will likewise see just how enormously the religious system gets in the way, obstructs, and even kills this reality of Ephesians 4:1-16 from ever being realized in/through/among the Lord’s people. Jesus is building His church wherever those who are born of the Spirit are cooperating with His headship and ways (Matt. 16:13-19; and remember, the church ≠ an organization or religious business with membership. The church = the born-again, called-out, set-apart, knitted-together people of God who function under the headship of the Lord Jesus in a locale). If we understand His heart and intention and design in this, we will also then see just how appropriate and fitting the context of our homes is for this coming about, as confirmed in the scriptures. So even though the term “house churches” or “home churches” may be legitimate in many ways, the call of God far transcends these terms, and many such churches do not have this seed of the kingdom of God at their core.
So if you want to find your flavor of home church out there and settle in, you are certainly free to do just that. But if what you are looking for is a viable work of the Lord where Jesus is consistently in the midst, exercising His headship and orchestrating His members as He wills, and “making known the manifold wisdom of God through them to the principalities and powers” to the praise of His glory, then you are looking for something that is rare indeed—attainable, yes, but very rare in our day (Eph. 3:8-21). And this brings us to the heart of this article.
I’m not just writing to those of you who are looking for “a viable work of God” which has the potential to become “a New Testament-quality lampstand” like what we read of in the scriptures. I am particularly writing to those of you who are in the early stages of gathering together with other saints in your homes and are, together, seeking to be “a viable work of God” and live as His church and be His dwelling place there in your area. You may not realize it, but, right now, you are laying a foundation and are starting to build something upon that foundation. Every thing that you do together—what you do, how you do it, and why you do it—with each passing day creates the basis upon which everything that follows in your history together will rest and spring forth from. The depth of your revelation of Jesus, the things you all hold to, the things you turn away from, the things you realize, the things you are in ignorance about, the things you make allowance for, the way you relate to one another, how “out there” you are in loving and serving the Lord Jesus and one another, how bold or timid you are in “speaking truth to one another in love” (Eph. 4:15), the degree to which you allow the Spirit of God to move in your midst, etc., etc., etc.—all these things come together to form the foundation of what you are building.
When you first start out and others join with you, it can seem so wonderful and like you are all “of one heart and mind.” But time and the difficulties and trials that will certainly come will tell what is really in the heart of everyone involved. Eventually, it will get proven out if you were building upon the rock of revelation of Jesus and are one in seeking His desire and the kingdom of God together (Matt. 16:15-19), or if your lives merely intersected for 3-5 years based upon some apparent common convictions as you were all in the process of going different ways.
Because of how the religious landscape has evolved over time into what Christianity has become today, house churches can be magnets for all sorts of people—those who render themselves to be good building material for “the household of God which is the pillar and support of the truth” and those who render themselves to be otherwise (1 Tim. 3:15, Heb. 3:6, 1 Pet. 2:4-5). That said, you need to really be discerning about what foundation you are laying and building upon. Well-meaning, sincere, and yet ill-equipped men can easily find themselves yoked together with others who have an agenda other than truly seeking God’s kingdom and way. And as I said before, home churches can have a particular draw for such people. Before you know it, you can be building something that will not prevail against the gates of Hell and will not be “a viable work of God” because it is being built upon some sort of sand. I would like to now talk about two particular sandy foundations that will never support the living household of God.
The sandy foundation of Reaction
It is the nature of the flesh to react, and that very nature must be denied and put to death if we are going to be “built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:19-22). The Holy Spirit—the One who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present, who is never caught off-guard or blind-sided by anything—is not One who reacts. He strongly yet quietly speaks to us, leads us, bears witness to the Truth, gives discernment about situations/decisions/people, and brings things to our remembrance, to name a few of the many things that He does for individual Christians as well as the churches. And, from the place of eternity, He does these things in response to people and situations we encounter and decisions we face here, in the confinement of time, as we walk out the purposes of God in our generation (Acts 13:36). This is how the Holy Spirit “takes of Jesus and discloses to us” and expresses The Great Shepherd’s shepherding of our lives (John 16:13-15). The Spirit of God is not reactive in nature, and so, in like manner, if we are going to live filled with Him and have our steps ordered by Him, we cannot be reactionary either. This is not only true for us as individual children of God, but is every bit as true for the churches of God.
That said, if you look around the Christian world with even a basic measure of honesty, you can see that multitudes of “churches” are built upon the sandy foundation of reaction, and this is no less true of home churches. Why is this so commonplace? Because, again, it is the very nature of the flesh to react. Fleshly people everywhere have joined together and been hard at work building highly-flammable structures of “wood, hay and stubble” that are rooted in knee-jerk reactions to all sorts of things. People get burned by strong leaders so they run after very gentle & quiet leaders. Or, the get burned by quiet & gentle leaders and so they seek out very strong leaders. They see excesses with spiritual gifts so they swing over and join with those who virtually deny them. Or they see a lack of embracing the reality of spiritual gifts here so they run over and hook up with streams of charis-mania that run off the map. You get the idea and see the reality of it, I’m sure. Rather than pouring out their heart to the Lord and truly waiting upon Him in any given situation to see how He would lead, and then following these leadings as He gives them, they act impulsively, being driven by fear, disappointment, hurt feelings, pain, pride (lack of humility), ambition & opportunism, and things such as these.
There are many house churches out there that are built around what the people who compose them are against. They are against dead religion, hyper-structure, planned & canned meetings, legalism, feminism, family-segregation, immodesty, liberal politics, homosexuality, particular theological viewpoints, etc., etc., etc. There is certainly nothing wrong with being against things that are sinful, evil, and unbiblical, but there is a problem, from a building the house of God standpoint, when this is what defines you. Sure, they have meetings and the Lord is mentioned and scriptures are referred to, but if you really “get the pulse” of these types of home churches, it’s clear that their real vision is for what they are not going to be/do. Some of these also package their reactions to everything they are against by always touting how “radical” they are—which makes them the focus, not the Lord Jesus.
This is not building God’s way. You can be right about what is wrong and yet be completely in the flesh and void of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. It is relatively easy to define what is not of God, but it is a whole different action to stand and live for what is of God, and do so by the Holy Spirit with the fragrance of Christ. Those who so live truly are radical in the [religious] world’s eyes, and they don’t seek glory for themselves. But those who build on the sand of reaction are blinded by their heart’s posture of being against, and ultimately this seed produces after its kind—they typically turn on each other over differing issues until everyone is scattered (Gal. 5:13-16).
The sandy foundation of Rebellion
House churches, unfortunately, have a vulnerability toward being a magnet for rebels. The reason for this is because, among many home churches, there is usually a distinct movement away from the lording, hierarchical authority structures found in most all institutional churches. Some are moving this direction because they are sincerely seeking to walk in the Lord’s order and way for His church without bringing the old trappings of the religious system into the mix. For others, this movement is rooted in fleshly reaction and the unbroken rebellion to authority that resides in their hearts. At the beginning of a work of God in an area, it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between the two because they are both seemingly zealous for the same thing, but time will prove out what is really there. The Lord willing, one of the articles I plan to write later in this series will be specifically devoted to authority and order. But suffice it to say for now that if you are building Jesus’ way, rebellious people who come among you will soon either find repentance or run from the truth and light and accountability among the saints that will be brought to their lives.
There is certainly nothing wrong with joining with the Lord Jesus in “hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans” (clergy/laity class distinctions and hierarchical lording by leading and even gifted men over His church; Rev. 2:6, 14-17), but if people use this hatred of what’s wrong to justify camping out in rebellion against authority, they are in the flesh and operating outside of the kingdom of God. Home churches that are building upon this foundation typically refuse to recognize maturity, reject any “official looking” leadership of any kind, shun most any kind of structure, and seek to create some type of democratic roundtable in order to altogether avoid and head-off the leadership of any one man or group of men. This rejection of authority, typically veiled in “submission to God alone,” is also a cloak for independence, unaccountability, evading godly standards, and maintaining an environment of every man doing what is right in his own eyes.
Folks in these kinds of house churches initially love the “freedom,” but, in time, what they have built breaks down because there is no place for true shepherding to occur that helps bring every person to maturity and healthy functioning in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13, Col. 1:28-29), no protection afforded the Lord’s people by brothers qualified to have oversight, and no appropriate living structure to deal with difficulties and conflicts and crises that arise in the course of daily life. Despite whatever good people and sincere desires for the Lord are in the mix, any life of the Spirit, any experience of God among them, will ultimately be quenched and lost because of the underlying rebellion
The rock-solid foundation of Jesus
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19)
The Lord Jesus clearly and unambiguously said here that He would build His church, and that the gates of Hell will not overpower it (literally, her, in the Greek; cf. Eph. 5:22-33). But read carefully and take notice of what the foundation is that He builds His church upon. It’s the “rock” of revelation of Jesus Himself in the heart of those whom He uses to compose her. He didn’t commend Simon Barjona for simply getting the right answer to His question. Jesus commended him for how he arrived at knowing that He was the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, which was by a revelation of Christ from the Father. He then changed Simon’s name to Peter, which means “a stone,” and declared that upon “this rock”—revelation of Jesus from the Father—He would use people of revelation like him to build His church that the gates of Hell would not prevail against. It’s no wonder then that Peter later wrote:
And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture…” (1 Peter 2:4-6)
And the scriptures speak in other places also, particularly First Corinthians 3:10-15 and Ephesians 2:19-22, about Jesus Himself being the foundation and corner stone upon which the church is built. And this truly is foundational. People make the church about so many things—good music, Bible study, relationships, good teaching, feeling inspired, feeling connected, outreach, evangelism, children’s ministry, youth ministry, fun activities, care for older folks, counseling, missions, and on and on. The church Jesus builds is about Him because she is a bride for Him. It’s not about us, it’s about Him, and Him getting what He desires in/through/among us. He is [to be] first and foremost among “living stones,” and all the other things that go with church life are secondary, even the good things of God, because the Person of God, the Lord Jesus, has first place (Col. 1:16-19, Rev. 2:2-7; John 5:39-40, 14:23). The church He builds is consumed with Him, and out of love for Him and the desire for Him to have His bride without spot or wrinkle, they function and serve in all the various capacities that make up the body of Christ in His fullness in order to reflect and correspond to Him.
How does this play out in local house churches? The basis of everything is Jesus Himself—every gathering, every time spent together, every relationship, every conversation, every aspect of ministry, every teaching, every matter of daily life… everything is to Him, by Him, and for Him! Fellowship is always a place for Him. Every teaching is to enhance revelation of Him and aid the preparation of His bride for Him. Outreach is to express Him to a lost and dying world, and to bring in, by the new birth, more and more of those “living stones” who compose His bride. Worship is a pouring out of our heart of love in a real and intimate way to Him, as is our work and ministry and everything else we do. It’s truly all about the Lord Jesus Himself and we are ever aware that this is so, and developing greater maturity and depth in this is the life of the church. That is having Jesus as the foundation.
Perhaps your house church is just starting out. Maybe you’re a little ways down the road. Whatever the case, you want to build on the right foundation. Do not despise the day of small beginnings (Zech. 4:6-10). Big institutional church buildings with big crowds and outward appearances of excitement and growth are everywhere, but the Lord is looking at the quality, not the quantity. Look at the example of the churches He was building in the New Testament Scriptures. Do you really see today’s “mega-churches”? Or do you see humble and mostly poor people, gathering in homes, fervently loving the Lord Jesus and one another, serving Him and one another, growing in grace and sanctification, being lights in this dark world, preparing for the wedding feast, and waiting for their Bridegroom? You see the latter, and they were saturated with His life, which, Lord willing, is what the next article in this series will be about.
Knowing what His church is built upon, we can better understand and appreciate why Paul prayed for the churches “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory” would give them “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph. 1:17). How else can the church be a container for His very life and express His life with any longevity unless we have seen, and are seeing, Jesus by revelation, and truly having Him in our midst (1 Cor. 14:23-26)? |
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