Home church

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Leaving Church

Thousands of people are leaving what is called the Church daily. Looking at what is sometimes posing as Church today it is no wonder that so many people think they do not need “Church”. When Jesus said he would build His church he was not talking about a building nor does the original term we translate into Church mean an "assembly".

Many people have a problem with the modern version of an organized Church. One problem seems the way the Church is organized today. They can be so soured by their experience that they begin to oppose any organized religion. The Modern Church is seldom organized like nor function in the same way nor seemingly for the same purposes as the early Church.

Some Christian groups choose to meet in houses for a variety of reasons. They may find what is posing as the Church authoritarian, manipulative, greedy, and superfluous. Home Church groups may offer an intimacy and personalization the large church gathering cannot provide. It may certainly be cheaper than meeting in a dedicated building. Some believe small churches were a deliberate apostolic pattern in the first century, and they were intended by Christ from the beginning.


House Church revisited

What is a house church?

The phrase "Home church" is used to describe having a church type gathering at someone's house and is a part of the modern house church movement which some acclaim as a rediscovery of the New Testament or first century Christian Church.

A House church group may be a part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish or network, but also may be independent groups that see the house church as the primary practice of the early Christian community.




The early home Church

Is the home Church movement seeing clearly what the early church was doing?

While there can be no doubt that early Christians gathered in small groups often meeting in homes rather than in special building like we see being done today it is important to look deeper into the function, purpose, and motivation of the early Christian community.

Why were they meeting at all? What were they doing at these home gatherings and how did those gatherings relate to the activity of Paul and the other saints in the scriptures?




But the word we see translated "house" which is oikos[1] did not just mean a building or the house on the street where you live any more than the word for "Church" which is ekklesia in the Greek meant a building where you met on Sunday or Sabbath.

Both these words can be used in different ways to imply different sense to the word depending on their context. Context is not only the sentence they are used in but the whole context of scripture and the times in which they are written.

The word "oikos" could mean "all the persons forming one family" "the family of God, of the Christian Church" or even the "descendants" of a family. The word appears more than a hundred times in the Bible including references to the "lost sheep of the house of Israel"[2] and a reference to the temple as the "house of God"[3] or the temple where Christ calling it "My house" "the house of prayer" and then cast out the moneychangers.[4]

Several passages in the Bible seems to specifically mention churches meeting in houses.

  • 1 Corinthians 16:19 "The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house."
  • Romans 16:3-5 "Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. Likewise [greet] the church that is in their house. Salute my wellbeloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
  • Philemon 1:2 "And to [our] beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:"
  • Colossians 4:15 "Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house."

All these verses could be talking about people gathering in someone's house if "oikos" only meant someone's house and not "all the persons forming one family" or the "descendants" of a family and the word "ekklesia" simply meant a gathering or assembly of congregants.

The word Church could be used in a general sense to describe everyone following the way of Christ. Or it could e used to descrie a more specific group of people. People even use it to describe a building. But that is not how the term was used in the original text.

The word Ekklesia did not really mean an assembly as much as it meant a called out group for a particular purpose.

Words like agora and paneguris as well as heorte, koinon, thiasos can all mean an assembly. There are other words in the Greek that can mean a small assembly of people like sumposion [5] used in Mark 6:39 when Christ commanded the people be assembled in familiar patterns of tens. The Greek words sunagoge[6] and sunago[7] or even sunalizo a verb that means "to gather together, assemble" [8] all contain the root of the word synagogue but none of them mean the same as ekklesia.

The authors of the Bible used the term ekklesia for a good reason. The word ekklesia was often used as a political term in the Greek. This makes perfect sense if we accept the idea that Jesus was the King of the Kingdom of God at hand. In classical Greek "ekklesia" meant "an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly."Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

He was not going to take that government away from them by force or even establish that Kingdom of Heaven at hand by the use of force. They would denounce there position out of their own mouths[9] and Jesus would establish His Kingdom of God by His sacrifice and through the faith, hope and charity through love of believers who were willing to repent and live according to The Way which James calls the perfect law of liberty.


Disappointing Church

Millions of people are disappointed or dissatisfied with what some people call the institutional Church. Certainly, Churches and the 40,000 denominations of churches are operating in a drastically different way than the first century Church. Are people disappointed or dissatisfied with God and Jesus or are they dissatisfied and unfulfilled by the practices of the Modern Church? Many people are finding the home Church more responsive, more intimate, more fulfilling but are all home churches doing what Christ fully intended?

While there is little doubt Christians commonly met in houses what Christ intended and what the early Church was doing reached far beyond local fellowship meetings in the homes of believers. There is also little doubt that Christ wanted us to set ourselves down in small intimate groups or companies or what the Greeks called sumposion[10] since He actually commanded his disciples to make the people do so.[11] But He also commanded that those companies gather in ranks of Tens.


Jesus was the highest son of David which made him the rightful heir to the throne, the rightful king of a nation. Israel was not a government like other governments of the world of the Gentiles that exercise authority one over the other but He came to set men free. For hundreds of years, early Israel had operated with no taxation except the freewill offerings of tithes to individual Levites "according to their service".[12]

The scriptures tell us that the people had rejected God when they elected to have a ruler over them in 1 Samuel 8. Jesus told the Pharisees that if they actually knew Moses they would have also known Him. Evidently what the Pharisees thought they knew about Moses was wrong. Their Corban was not like that of the Corban spoken of by Moses and so somehow it was "making the word of God to none effect".

Both Moses and Jesus told the people to love their neighbor as themselves.[13] Certainly they have expressed that love in many home Churches. They have helped one another in far more intimate, financial, and practical ways. This love is part of the keys to their success. But all home churches are not successful. But what is a successful church?

A successful church is one that does what Christ intended and propagates his doctrines and ordinances. But if we are to do what Christ intended was must look at the whole gospel.

Both Jesus and Moses called out a group of men to serve the people and placed certain restrictions on that body of public servants. They both appointed 70 men who were blessed with the Holy Spirit. In both the Old and New Testament there were also at least one group of 7 men appointed to help with a daily ministration.


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Footnotes

  1. ↑ 3624 ~οἶκος~ oikos \@oy’-kos\@ of uncertain affinity; n m AV-house 104, household 3, home + 1519 2, at home + 1722 2, misc 3; 114
    1) a house
    1a) an inhabited house, home
    1b) any building whatever
    1b1) of a palace
    1b2) the house of God, the tabernacle
    1c) any dwelling place
    1c1) of the human body as the abode of demons that possess it
    1c2) of tents, and huts, and later, of the nests, stalls, lairs, of animals
    1c3) the place where one has fixed his residence, one’s settled abode, domicile
    2) the inmates of a house, all the persons forming one family, a household
    2a) the family of God, of the Christian Church, of the church of the Old and New Testaments
    3) stock, family, descendants of one
  2. ↑ Matthew 10:6 "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
    Matthew 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
  3. ↑ Matthew 12:4 "How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?"
  4. ↑ Matthew 21:13 "And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."
  5. ↑ 4849 ~συμπόσιον~ sumposion \@soom-pos’-ee-on\@ from a derivative of the alternate of 4844; ; n n AV-company 1, not tr. 1; Repeated twice in Mark 6:39
    1) a drinking party, entertainment
    1a) of the party itself, the guests
    1b) rows of guests
    "The symposium (or symposion) was an important part of ancient Greek culture from the 7th century BCE and was a party held in a private home where Greek males gathered to drink, eat and sing together. Various topics were also discussed such as philosophy, politics, poetry and the issues of the day."
    " The equivalent of a Greek symposium in Roman society is the Latin convivium."
    A Roman convivium according to Marcus Tullius Cicero for the republican period and Seneca suggest that ten to twelve was the maximum number.
    Plato in his "Laws" endorses the benefits of the symposium as a means to test and promote virtue in citizens.
  6. ↑ 4864 ~συναγωγή~ sunagoge \@soon-ag-o-gay’\@ from (the reduplicated form of) 4863; TDNT-7:798,1107; {See TDNT 764} n f AV-synagogue 55, congregation 1, assembly 1; 57
    1) a bringing together, gathering (as of fruits), a contracting
    2) in the NT, an assembling together of men, an assembly of men
    3) a synagogue
    3a) an assembly of Jews formally gathered together to offer prayers and listen to the reading and expositions of the scriptures; assemblies of that sort were held every sabbath and feast day, afterwards also on the second and fifth days of every week; name transferred to an assembly of Christians formally gathered together for religious purposes
    3b) the buildings where those solemn Jewish assemblies are held. Synagogues seem to date their origin from the Babylonian exile. In the times of Jesus and the apostles every town, not only in Palestine, but also among the Gentiles if it contained a considerable number of Jewish inhabitants, had at least one synagogue, the larger towns several or even many. These were also used for trials and inflicting punishment.
    • For Synonyms see entry 5897
  7. ↑ 4863 ~συνάγω~ sunago \@soon-ag’-o\@ from 4862 (with) and 71 (bring); ; v AV-gather 15, be gathered together 12, gather together 9, come together 6, be gathered 4, be assembled 3, take in 3, misc 10; 62
    1) to gather together, to gather
    1a) to draw together, collect
    1a1) of fishes
    1a2) of a net in which they are caught
    2) to bring together, assemble, collect
    2a) to join together, join in one (those previously separated)
    2b) to gather together by convoking
    2c) to be gathered i.e. come together, gather, meet
    3) to lead with one’s self
    3a) into one’s home, i.e. to receive hospitably, to entertain
  8. ↑ 4871 ~συναλίζω~ sunalizo \@soon-al-id’-zo\@ from 4862 and halizo (to throng); ; v AV-assemble together 1; 1
    1) to gather together, assemble
    2) to be assembled, meet with
  9. ↑ John 19:15 "But they cried out, Away with [him], away with [him], crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar."
  10. ↑ 4849 ~συμπόσιον~ sumposion \@soom-pos’-ee-on\@ from a derivative of the alternate of 4844; ; n n AV-company 1, not tr. 1; Repeated twice in Mark 6:39
    1) a drinking party, entertainment
    1a) of the party itself, the guests
    1b) rows of guests
    "The symposium (or symposion) was an important part of ancient Greek culture from the 7th century BCE and was a party held in a private home where Greek males gathered to drink, eat and sing together. Various topics were also discussed such as philosophy, politics, poetry and the issues of the day."
    " The equivalent of a Greek symposium in Roman society is the Latin convivium."
    A Roman convivium according to Marcus Tullius Cicero for the republican period and Seneca suggest that ten to twelve was the maximum number.
    Plato in his "Laws" endorses the benefits of the symposium as a means to test and promote virtue in citizens.
  11. ↑ Mark 6:39 "And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass."
  12. ↑ Numbers 7:5 "Take [it] of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service."
  13. ↑ Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.
    Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine : enemy.
    Matthew 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
    Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
    Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
    Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
    Luke 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
    Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
    Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
    Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
    James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
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