Sunday morning, in someone’s lounge on the Hibiscus Coast, with the kettle on. Here is what actually happens.
A “house church” is simply a gathering of Christians in someone’s home, where they meet to worship God, study the Word, partake in communion, pray, eat and encourage each other.
We also meet during the week in men’s and women’s groups to share deeper, pray and have mutual discipleship.
In the New Testament, Christians met in people’s houses as their regular way of gathering to fellowship. It was fairly simple. No large buildings to maintain, no big mortgages to pay, no weekly large events to organise.Rom 16:5; 1 Cor 16:19; Col 4:15; Heb 10:25
It also limited the size of the regular gathering to what can practically fit in a house. By providence, this size makes for more meaningful relationships and for better mutual discipleship and growth.
We do the same thing. There are people in our network who open their homes to host others, and that is where we gather.
While home churches are the pattern we follow for our gatherings, this isn’t really about home churches. It’s about the Body of Christ growing, maturing and fully reflecting the image, person and work of Christ in the world.
When we meet on Sunday mornings, from about 10am to 12:30pm, we often follow this general pattern.
Arrive, hot drinks, chat, kids play.
Gather around for worship while the kids eat morning tea, draw, do Lego, and so on.
Kids play while the adults and older kids, if interested, join the Bible study and prayer time.
Shared clean up and wrap up.
We mix it up from time to time. Some weeks might give more space to focus on the kids. Some weeks we might make communion the sole focus, allowing for more reflection and contemplation space.
The worship time often just uses Spotify or YouTube for songs that have lyrics, and we put it on the TV. If someone has a guitar and the lyrics are shared around, that can work too.
Just do what works and enables everyone to participate and worship God together. There is no band, no sound desk and no rehearsal.
This time should be free to sing, share, pray, prophesy and encourage each other.
What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
1 Corinthians 14:26 NIVOur Bible study approach uses a version of the Discovery Bible Study (DBS). This keeps the Bible study focused on mining the written Word, hearing from the Holy Spirit and discovering how we might live out what we read.
This Bible study approach maximises four things:
Reflection and deep engagement with the Word.
Participation and contribution from everyone.
Ability for the Holy Spirit to bring insights and revelation through everyone.
Real, practical insights as to how we can grow and mature in Christ.
The size of each house church will vary. We have found that beyond roughly ten adults, the ability for everyone to participate and contribute begins to diminish. Once it consistently reaches more than ten adults, the house church will begin to look at multiplying out into another house.
Smaller groups not only allow everyone to contribute more readily (1 Cor 14:26), but also allow for better relationships to form.
As we multiply out into more houses, we plan to meet as a larger Coast network every four weeks or so, to eat, fellowship, encourage each other and worship together as a larger group.
Small enough to be known week to week; together often enough to be connected to something bigger.
We meet in people’s houses and lounges, so showing up unannounced doesn’t work well. If you’re keen to connect with us, the best way is to reach out using our contact form.