Comments on: What about house churches?

By: Perry Hansen

Perry Hansen — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 03:44:15 +0000

churchless,

Great article! I am also transitioning from IC and also am concerned about house church being a small IC. I did not leave the IC to go to another IClike church. I do want a sense of community … family. That is what I and my wife longs for.

During this journey I have been on I have read numerous articles and viewed videos. As a result I have created a website which has a number of those places and articles available.

It is a work in progress, but you can view it at http://HodosNetwork.com

Perry Hansen

By: churchless

churchless — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:25:59 +0000

Hi, Amy! You’ve really written some good stuff and you’re right, we DO have a lot in common. BTW, you should see if blogspot provides a “search” widget for your blog: that would be a great help to your readers. I look forward to learning more from you.

By: churchless

churchless — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:08:21 +0000

Leighton,

Most of the burnout, I think, occurs where the leaders try to duplicate the IC in a home setting. I attended one that actually had greeters posted at the front door, handed out bulletins with an order of service, and used a wooden pulpit with chairs arranged in rows. It was a micro version of First Baptist Church!

By: churchless

churchless — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:02:08 +0000

Thanks for the link to your experience in house church. We’ve been involved for the past few years with an institutional church that’s not sure if it wants to be a cell church or a more traditional structure. It seems a little schizophrenic to me and I always dread the Sunday service: one of the reasons I’m trying to extricate myself completely. To me, “cells” are like vitamin supplements: churches take them because they think “cells” might cure what ails them. For us, it’s been an admission that real community didn’t exist in our normal Sunday-based, meeting-driven organization.

By: Amy

Amy — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:59:54 +0000

I can really relate to your thoughts about House Church versus the natural spontaneous gathering of simply two or more believers when the Holy Spirit places or puts us together.

Feel free to “see” how my heart resonates with yours. I wrote two blogs awhile ago on this subject:

“The House Church Movement” 9.17.08-9.19.08
“Sadly, The Institutional System” – 10.8.08
“Revisiting House Churches” – 11.10.08

I also wrote some posts on the Gifts. Feel free to comment if you’re curious as to the dates of those posts.

Blessings,
~Amy

By: Leighton Tebay

Leighton Tebay — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 17:04:58 +0000

I’ve lead/helped lead house churches for about 5 years now and I can’t say I’ve encountered much burnout. It isn’t a lot of work and I’ve seen some pretty wonderful things happen when an entire group ministers to people in need.

By: DM

DM — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:34:15 +0000

Just saw your post on the house church “tag” on wordpress. I’ve only read a little of your blog but think we have lots in common. My wife and I (from 1999-2004) attempted to plant a cell church in our area—w/o burning any bridges with local pastors/churches either….@ this point, I would describe our fellowship as a house church/cell church going through a time of regrouping…posted something about it last year: http://is.gd/lkmX

Appreciate your decision @ this point to remain vague in terms of who you are…would love to banter w/you more if you’re interested…DM