House Church Movement: Symptom of a Broader Problem

I. Quick review

II. Innovations

A. I will discuss innovations that are part of what is often practiced in house churches; however, bear in mind that, as Adam pointed out, not all house churches practice all the things that Adam listed.

B. This is not a cohesive movement led by a particular group or individual and claiming allegiance to common practices.

C. Some of these practices are being introduced into what one might call the traditional church setting.

D. Though time is insufficient to deal with all the topics, I will deal with some that I think are important to consider.

III. Claiming worship in houses is the pattern

A. This movement or sentiment arose out of a rejection of organized religion and dissatisfaction with traditional churches in among Catholics, traditional denominations, Pentecostals, and our own brethren.

B. However, in their zeal to promote alternatives to the institutional or traditional church, some have bound meeting in houses as the exclusive pattern for the Christian assembly.

1. Beresford Job of the Chigwell Christian Fellowship in London England writes that after the dispersion from the city of Jerusalem “…we are left with the simple fact that whenever churches are located in scripture they are always, without exception, in people’s homes” (Part 4 - What the Bible Says).
2. La Gard Smith places great emphasis on what he sees as a pattern by saying, “Maybe that’s where it all went wrong in the first place. Maybe the church should never have left home”

C. The early church met in the temple (Acts 2:46), by a river (Acts 16:13), and in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9) and historically we know that they often met in synagogues and burial caves.

D. The issue is not churches meeting in houses

1. Throughout all times and places the church has met in houses.
2. In places like China, churches meeting in houses is the norm out of necessity and security
3. Some places in the US may have to meet at some or all of their time in homes
   • In large metropolitan areas: the church may be able to meet on the Lord’s Day but due to excessive traffic and commuting costs, local groups of members may need to gather in more convenient local meetings at other times.
   • We visited a location that rents a hotel conference room for Sunday but meets midweek in homes
   • Do not be quick to judge: there may be good expedient reasons the church must do this

E. If we recognize that the choice to meet a second time on Sunday and any time during the week is based on expediency—not specific command but something helpful that is consistent with God’s will—then we have to accept that how we use that time, as long as it is scriptural, is determined by expediency.

1. We don’t have the Lord’s Supper on Wednesday night because we know this is commanded for the first day of the week.
2. But from expediency, during the midweek service we may choose to have a singing, or a congregational class (all together, not divided), to go straight to class and have no gathering as a congregation afterwards, etc. Likewise, the subjects chosen to be studied are chosen according to what is expedient.
3. Because of expediency a church may not have a Sunday afternoon service or may have a longer service on Sunday morning to replace their traditional Sunday afternoon service.
4. Expediency may demand a modification of where we meet as described before: metropolitan churches having to meet in different homes spread among the area, etc.
5. Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater: don’t condemn something practiced by expediency because it appears to follow a trend among brethren. There may be a good reason for what is done.
6. As with all areas of sin, address what is the real problem and don’t condemn what is not.

IV. Changes to the Lord’s Supper

A. What is the Lord’s Supper?

1. At the end of the Passover meal Jesus instituted the memorial to be observed in recognition of His sacrifice.
   • Luke 22:14-20
   • Some will argue that Jesus introduced the Lord’s Supper during a common meal but as verse 14 states, it was following the Passover meal, a meal that was a memorial by nature

The elements of the Passover meal were specified and had significance.

Though the fruit of the vine was not part of the Passover meal, it appears that Jesus introduced it to replace the blood of the lamb which was a prominent part of the Passover ceremony, to represent His blood.

Jesus used the unleavened bread (for leaven was not allowed in the house) and the fruit of the vine to assign meaning to the offering of Himself as the Lamb of God whose shed blood would allow the destruction of God to pass over those who have been washed in that blood. He is our Passover.

1. Observing the Lord’s Supper
   • 1 Corinthians 11:17-32 – Instructions about how to observe it and why (no meal commanded)
   • Acts 20:7 demonstrates the time when the church observed it (every Lord’s day) and history bears it out

B. Making it a common meal

1. Continuing the common theme of “lack of formality,” innovators emphasize the importance of the Lord’s Supper being part of a common meal.
   • Some describe it as being part of a potluck type meal where the bread and fruit of the vine are on the table and you take it onto your plate or as you go through the line to pick up the chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, and biscuits.
   • Others have a meal then designate a time where they say some words about Jesus and take the bread and the fruit of the vine.
2. I am always amazed how strong people want to fight for bringing food into the assemblies or the church building when Paul clearly states, in 1 Corinthians 11:22 and 33-34, that this is not the time and place for feasting.
3. Some will use the “love feasts” of the Bible to justify common meals
   • In many of the house meetings, a so-called forgotten part of the worship is the AGAPE feast.

AGAPE is the Greek word for love, so it is sometimes call the love feast.

Supposed scriptural support

Jude 12 – False teachers are spots in your love feasts

2 Peter 2:13 – Feast is assumed to be a love feast, similar wording to Jude 12

What is the love feast?

Commentators do not agree on the meaning of the love feast which precludes us from assuming that it was part of the worship.

Some have suggested that it was a feast prepared for the poor and needy brethren

Some suggest it was a simple meal prepared for the brethren.

Some believe it is a term for the Lord’s Supper; the feast of Jesus’ love.

There is nothing in the texts that would suggest or demand a feast during worship.

Few Biblical terms are more misunderstood historically than this term.: It can refer to the Lord’s Supper or something outside of the assembly. It is not clear enough upon which to introduce a practice that, in 1 Corinthians, is clearly restricted.

1. I can think of few things that would distract me from the cross more than blending it with a common meal.
2. Acts 2:6 emphasizes the sharing of meals between Christians in their homes outside of the assembly

C. Why the change?

1. I think much of the discontent among our brethren is how we sometimes observe the Lord’s Supper.
2. When we become routine in our observance and do not give the memorial proper attention and solemnity when we observe it, it can become a dry ritual.
3. We do not have to go beyond what is commanded to make the observance a meaningful and special part of our service but it can become routine and lose its significance.

V. Spontaneous informal worship

A. Views from proponents (compiled by Jim Deason)

1. Beresford Job writes, “When believers came together in each others houses as churches their corporate worship and sharing together was completely spontaneous with no one leading from the front” (Part 3 - Church is Family), adding that “all present are free to take part without the controlling presence of anyone ‘leading’ the proceedings” (Part 4 - What the Bible Says!).
2. To facilitate this informality and spontaneity, particular seating arrangements are recommended by Robert Banks: “The best arrangement for a congregation’s meeting is not a rectangle containing rows of seats, all looking forward to what is happening in a space at the front. The best arrangement is a circle, in which each participant can look at the other, address the other, and hear from the other, preferably a circle around a table…” (37).
3. La Gard Smith says, “The gathered assemblies of the primitive church appear to have been far more participatory than what we experience; and, almost of necessity, therefore, more spontaneous and informal” (152).

B. Considerations

1. 1 Corinthians 14:40 – let all things be done decently and in order. What is the context of this instruction?
2. 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 – Paul addressed the chaos of an unordered assembly
   • Some, like those speaking in a tongue without an interpreter and the women, were told to be quiet.
   • The ones who were inspired by the Spirit to speak were to do so in an orderly manner.
3. Our worship is participatory: we sing, pray, and take the Lord’s Supper together. We ought to be engaged in the study of God’s word during the sermon.
4. Many of these arguments are based on assumptions of what the early church did. Reading one’s desires into the practices of the past or selecting data that supports their position and ignoring the rest.

C. Dangers

1. The Bible emphasizes preaching so to deemphasize it is to minimize something that the Bible commands.
2. Small groups meeting outside of the oversight of elders with people of varying levels of Biblical knowledge can become breeding grounds for error and digression from the truth.
   • I was invited to a meeting of brethren in a house to discuss issues that they would later use to split off from the local assembly to form their own group (which eventually disbanded).
   • House church advocates see weakness in numbers, yet when you can gather a large number of brethren with solid Biblical knowledge you are more likely to resist error than introduce it.

VI. No contribution

A. La Gard Smith and others argue against a local contribution to a treasury but only to gather funds as needs arise.

B. The pattern in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 is a gathering of funds on a weekly basis, when the saints gathered for worship, for the contribution to the needy saints in Jerusalem and to prevent disorder in trying to gather funds when Paul arrived.

1. We see a great pattern here: weekly gathering of funds to be ready to meet financial needs.
2. There are regular needs related to edification and benevolence that require funds: buying and replacing song books, class books, and other materials, providing for the financial needs of brethren, providing financial support for widows indeed (1 Timothy), supporting preachers and elders to devote their time to the word.
3. I Corinthians 16:1-2 shows a pattern for how to collect these funds to meet the needs.

C. Jon Lands, a Baptist preacher in West Virginia: “The second attitude feeding the home church movement results from a desire for a lack of commitment. [George] Barna [a prominent religious poll taker and member of a home church] admits the attraction to home churching is the ability to “fit church” into the attendees busy schedule. And there is no need to tithe to the home church and there are no weekly offering plates passed.”

VII. Lack of evangelistic fervor among some groups

A. A major criticism of house churches is a satisfaction with the smaller numbers hindering evangelism because evangelism should produce growth, which increases numbers, and expands the size of the group.

1. Jon Lands wrote: “Finally , the home church is not following the early church model by its failure to evangelize. The early church was open and aggressive in its evangelistic fervor. There is no mention of evangelism in the context of the home church. In fact, there is a sense the purpose of the home church is the “my four and no more” attitude towards church growth. The conception of a home church promises to be a stillborn church lacking evangelistic life from the beginning.”
2. Some denominational house church proponents chide their fellow house churches for focusing too much on personal fellowship and mutual support instead of reaching the lost.

VIII. There are other innovations we could discuss but these demonstrate that there is not a problem with what we are doing, but are often under attack for how we do it.

IX. Innovations are often symptoms of deeper problems

A. Desire for something different

1. People often think that change will reinvigorate them or make things better.
   • They seek new cars, houses, jobs, and possessions to fix their boredom and discontent
   • They feel their marriage is dead so they seek illicit affairs or divorce to find a new spouse
   • Yet change eventually settles into a new reality and the old boredom and discontent returns because they treated the symptoms and not the root problem.
   • People do not seek to change things that are satisfactory and are working.
2. It is no surprise that some people feel that the worship is dead, the church is dead, and that we are going through the motions, boring each other to death, with some self-satisfaction that we have done God’s will
   • When someone hears a denominational friend or reads a popular religious book extolling the value of a new way of operating the church, worshipping, doing God’s work, or introducing practices that were considered long forgotten, it is no surprise when they feel that they have found the magic cure.
   • If some would look into their own heart they might see if that they are lacking in love, commitment, or total dedication to God in their lives and are looking for a “worship experience” or something in the church—the externals—to fill what should be filled from within.

Some are very shallow in their faith, it is a part of their life and not life itself, so they are very sensitive to worship or the church not satisfying their needs and become restless.

Some are looking for an experience instead of building a complete life in God.

1. Do not be quick to judge the dissatisfied and look down on their instability because it may be that you have settled for less than offering the best to God in worship and in the work of the church (repeat)
   • Some people are quite content to the point of stagnation:

Why do we need to learn new songs? Aren’t the old ones good enough?

Why did that brother spend so much time talking before the Lord’s Supper? Doesn’t he know we just need to pray and pass the plates?

Why did the song leader sing more than five songs? Doesn’t he know we have lunch waiting?

Why are the elders and preachers urging us to practice hospitality, doing things with one another, and serving those in need?

• Some are satisfied with continual dry worship and inactivity as a church—it fits their life.

Like the person who seeks innovations in worship and the work of the church, if some who settle for less than the best would look into their own heart they might see if that they are lacking in love, commitment, or total dedication to God in their lives and, instead of looking for a “worship experience,” they want to fulfill their duty or commitment and get on with their lives.

Like the innovator, some are very shallow in their faith, it is a part of their life and not life itself, so they are content to come to services, mumble their songs, respectfully bow in prayer, look attentive to most of the sermon (with a couple of naps), and feel that they have been faithful in their duty and return to a life that mostly revolves around their needs, not God’s work.

This was a problem in the Old Testament

Time of Amos

Amos 4:4-5: The people were coming to offer worship but multiplied transgressions for their own satisfaction, not to God’s glory.

Amos 5:21-24: God hated (twice emphasized) their feasts and would not accept them just because they were offered. He wanted it replaced with worship of holy people.

Malachi 1:6-10: the people did not offer the best and God wished that they would lock the doors and not waste their time and His.

Can we not live in ease in Zion?

Amos 6:3-7 – Luxurious ease among God’s people when work needed to be done

Stretching out on our couches and easy chairs, eating the bounty of our pantry and refrigerator, watching television, playing on the Internet, investing countless hours in our hobbies and earthly activities until the calendar and the clock tell us, it is the appointed time to serve God.

We search the house and car for the Bible and class book, go to the building and find our regular seat, go through the motions of worship, and returned to our regularly scheduled program.

I’m not saying that is true of you, but you had better make sure that it is not true of you and I have to make sure it is not true of me because to paraphrase the words of God to Amos and Malachi said He would rather the doors of the church be locked so that we would not waste our time or His on vain worship that He hates and noisy songs that do not honor Him.

X. We do not need innovations, we need to do what God commands

A. Our worship must be done decently and in order, 1 Corinthians 14:40

1. Our worship must be offered with zeal and enthusiasm
2. We must live holy and dedicated lives devoted to serving God and not our own needs and comforts.

B. We must live and worship in the spirit of the New Testament Christians

1. Acts 2:42-47 - Devoted to God’s word, devoted to supporting one another spiritually and materially, Sacrificed possessions to take care of each other, Daily worship, Thankful to God
2. Acts 4:32-34 - United in heart and soul, Forsook a claim on material possessions preferring to meet the needs of their brethren
3. They enthusiastically preached the gospel even amidst persecution
   • Acts 5:42, 6:7 – They enthusiastically taught the gospel
   • Acts 8:4 – those scattered from the persecution preached
   • Acts 11:19-25 – Passion for the gospel led to growth
   • Acts 13:2-3 – Sent preachers into foreign places
   • Acts 17:6 – their teaching turned the world upside down
4. They helped brethren in need in faraway places as churches and individuals
   • Acts 11:27-30 – Judean famine
   • 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 – Giving of themselves then of their wealth
5. Summary
   • They rejected the immorality of the world, repented of their wickedness, and tried to live pure and holy lives, Titus 2:11-14
   • They encouraged one another to live holy lives.
   • They were united.
   • They enthusiastically preached the gospel to others and sent messengers throughout the world.
   • They willingly sacrificed what they had to relieve the need and suffering of their brethren
   • They did all of this without formal programs or man-made organizations: They fervently loved God and one another and it was expressed in their teaching and practice
6. The brethren continued these practices as recorded by early writings. Let us reflect on their example coupled with what we have already read from the scriptures
   • Aristides - delivered the Apology around the year 125, when Hadrian visited Athens1
   • Apology SectionXV. Wherefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others; and of the food which is consecrated to idols they do not eat, for they are pure. And their oppressors they appease (lit: comfort) and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies; and their women, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in the other world. Further, if one or other of them have bondmen and bondwomen or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They do not worship strange gods, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.; and they escort his body as if he were setting out from one place to another near. And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and if moreover it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins. And further if they see that any one of them dies in his ungodliness or in his sins, for him they grieve bitterly, and sorrow as for one who goes to meet his doom.

C. If we are living and worshipping as we ought, we will not become bored and discontent and become susceptible to any innovation or cure that is offered.