Home church means different things to different people. To most people it means that the traditional style of church just gets imported from a church "building" into a house. And, many folks seem to feel more at ease and comfortable in that setting. But, really, that’s the same thing, just a little less formal. That is not what we are talking about here. We have discovered a whole new paradigm of experiencing the Lord together as the body, the Bride of Christ. This absolutely revolutionizes the Christian life regarding the practices of our faith and the building up of the saints.
One of the obvious observations of our gatherings is that we don’t have pastors. We’ve been asked, "How in the world do you get by without a pastor?!" We have to gently ask this question: "Why does it seem so incredible or unusual that God has a church where He alone is the leader?" God wanted to be the leader of the Jews, but they demanded a king. In the same way, we believe, God wants to be the leader of the church, but Christians and their institutions demand a pastor. Most people just don’t want to believe that God can lead a people by Himself. Maybe they think Christians can’t hear or don’t have the “approved” judgment to follow God themselves. We serve and worship the very same God served and worshipped by Christians throughout history. We embrace everything written in scripture and persevere in upholding it’s historical authenticity and authority.
What we mean by God being our leader is based on the fact that Jesus Christ lives inside each Christian by way of the Holy Spirit. He is an indwelling Lord. We do not believe the "lay" Christian needs pastors, priests, or other "specially" trained clergy to properly interpret the scriptures. The modern practice of those positions are not even scriptural. We believe every born again believer has the capacity to minister Jesus Christ. Each one of us has the freedom to share the portion of Jesus Christ that is in our personal, individual experience. We hold each one of those individual's experiences extremely valuable and essential to the building up of and providing direction for the church. Each believer has the birthright to influence and participate in all functions of the corporate body.
We believe God does lead His people in this way. We are Christians willing to listen and follow and lead such a life as a corporate body. The men meet together, pray, and move as one. The women do the same. When we all meet together, many will bring something of the Lord, either to minister, or just to share of their experiences with the Lord. We believe the building up of the saints occurs this way. Our lives together show that the Lord, when moving among the saints collectively, naturally expresses Himself in a clearer and stronger way than through just one person. We’re a living, moving organism that worships God, loves our Bridegroom, and enjoys being His Bride, the body of Christ. We call this experience Church Life.
Our gatherings can be described as free, open, unstructured and there’s no specified time for a meeting to end. We often hang out a while after the "end", anyway. Guests are always encouraged to take part if they choose.
The brothers and sisters, collectively, make all church decisions. Leadership occurs naturally among us according to each person's strengths and the need at hand. The only outside leadership we have is our non-local worker, modeled after the way the apostle Paul worked with the churches in the first century. (Plant the church, depart shortly thereafter or be run out of town by religious people, and leave them alone to grow as they are built up together in the Lord.) The worker's role is very clear in the book of Acts. He is available, as needed, for conferences, crises, or other practical needs of the church. This person operates in a way that today’s Christianity has ignored and forgotten.
We simply believe that God, throughout history, has always had and desired a portion of His people to exist and thrive in a simple, collective lifestyle outside the formal, legalistic, church institutions. (Sadly, most of them were martyred, their writings destroyed and little knowledge of their histories remain.)
We prefer to live close to each other in the same neighborhood, if possible, for practical purposes. There are currently five families in our church. Our non-church neighbors like us, it is our joy and privilege to live in God's grace and love among them. We meet in our homes to worship God. The children in the church have a large extended family that loves them and cares for them. We live communally, eat meals together often, help each other out in a pinch, and spend leisure time together, though not to the exclusion of our own extended families and friends.
Don't misunderstand, not everything is in common. Each family has their own home or apartment that they own or rent and we each manage our own lives and finances, privately. Each family contributes financially to the activities of the church, as they desire, or as a need arises. We take care of each other and pray together. To simply walk down the street to another believer's home for a church meeting or other activity is wonderful. This is living; this is church life.
As the Spirit moves, we like to reach out to the neighborhood to minister. For example: last summer, 2008, we hosted a VBS for the neighborhood children. (Three children received the Lord!) During Thanksgiving and Christmas we delivered 44 holiday meal boxes to neighbors who requested them.
As a footnote, we’d like to add that church life is not for everyone. If it were a perfect world, it might be. Many Christians love and feel safe and secure in an organized, structured church. God certainly exists there within His people. Some of our closest friends and family are in the denominations. We’re glad they love the Lord and worship Him regularly and live their lives for Him. We are all in this creation together, each a member of the body of Christ. We love and worship the same Lord. The foundations of our faith are the same. However, we have chosen to embrace this simple style of church life. We are all very common, normal, modern people who have chosen this different path of Christian living. Many of us have recognized a strong passion or calling away from the traditional experience with a burning curiosity and desire to find simplicity in following the Lord without all the common religious requirements.
If you fit that description, please know there are many like you. There is still a place for you in the Kingdom of God. If you are like many of us, you have searched for years looking for more spiritual depth and freedom, but didn’t know where to go or how to find it. Come and see and ask questions. We invite you to come and share of our Lord’s greatness and Life inside each other.
"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do
not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."
Galatians 5:1 NASE