Home Church
     
Home Page

What's New

Contact Us

 Links to Resources

About Us . . .

Weekly Sermon

Home Church

Guest Book Page

Bible Study / Search

 

Here is an explanation of a Home Church, (also called a Cell church.)

The home church model of ministry is one that some visionaries of church growth believe to be an important model of the church in the next century.

The home-based approach is a shift in the purpose and function of a congregation. The home church is based on members meeting in holistic small groups.

The small group or home group component enables the presence of Christ to be manifested in relationships of caring Christians. In this environment people are edified and equipped to minister. Unbelievers are saved and discipled. Leadership is raised up and mentored. The weekly worship becomes a time of praise and celebration centered on the glory of God.

The home groups nurture a sense of belonging that is difficult to experience in the large weekly worship assembly. In the home groups, love, community, relationships, discipling and reaching out to unbelievers spring up naturally and powerfully.

The spiritual gifts of members are confirmed and used, worship is expanded, prayer is prominent, and ministry is extended by home church strategy. It is in the home or cell group that caring for one another occurs.

It is this loving, bonded community of believers, which is the manifested body of Christ, that reaches out to unbelievers and brings Christ to the world (John 13:35). Members and new believers are taught to know, to grow in, to serve and to share Jesus. A home-based church actively seeks to develop each Christian into the likeness of Christ.

In the human body the basic unit of life is the cell. In a home church, the basic unit of the body of Christ is the cell group. This basic unit is the means by which Christian community is built and the work of the kingdom is performed.

Following are testimonies from members.

Pat: To me, the cell-church model has been an awakening into the workings of the body of Christ. In my cell group we have people of all ages. I am a woman in my mid-50s. I have become a grandmother figure for a teenage boy. What a joy this has been for me. We talk about everything. We pray about things in his life as well as mine.

Men and women in our group are close. We discuss problems openly and help each other see things we might not see otherwise. Together we are working toward God's kingdom using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Only in a home group could I have ever hoped to get to know and love these wonderful people I now call my family.

Jenni H: Facilitating a home church has been a wonderful experience. Every week I am amazed to see God working so strongly. I don't have much natural leadership ability, but I don't need it. Jesus leads us. I just take care of some administrative duties, ask questions and make sure we start and stop on time. The Spirit has been more evident to me as I have experienced the home-church model than ever before in my life. I don't have to make it happen. God is taking care of everything.

I have been able to grow more as a Christian since joining a home church than in the last 10 years. I can once again see God working directly in my life. He is in control, and I feel more joy and peace than ever. I think everyone should have a chance to be equipped for Christianity and evangelism. You don't know what you have been missing until you experience Jesus working through you.

  The reasons that people "home church" : The reasons that people "home church" are as diverse as the people who make up the gatherings. This is not an exhaustive explanation and will no doubt evolve as time goes on. Some of us simply came to the conclusion that home church is the pattern as revealed in the scripture for the church to meet and were metaphorically dragged from the traditional "church" kicking and screaming by our conscience and understanding of the scripture.
For instance there is no biblical support for the one pastor/minister denominations that we see all around us where believers gather once or twice a week generally on a Sunday, face forward as in a theatre, and watch what amounts to a performance which they might be privileged to have a small part in. This just does not exist in the New Testament, where believers gathered in homes in smallish groups and shared their life and faith with one another face to face.
Not all of those who are lumped in with the "home church" label gather in a home. Some groups are a bit large for the average living room and so gather in a hall or some such. They don't call the building a church, however. Generally though we have few if any paid "ministers" and no one person takes a central position in our meetings. All are free, and encouraged to take part in the proceedings. This leads to another reason some of us are in home churches.
Many of us over the years found that the established churches simply could not offer us real relationships and connectedness with other believers. (How can you fellowship with the back of someone's head while listening to someone up front conduct the service?) At best we found the relationships we were able to have (developed after the "service") to be superficial. We thirsted for more, but it was not to be found within the controlled structure of the service." (Just who was being "served" by whom anyway?)
If we had something to share we were told to be quiet, and if we were actually permitted to share and it did not fit with the agenda of the minister or leaders we were in some cases simply ignored and in others all but destroyed by the attacks we endured in the name of "truth and unity" or whatever. All this because we simply wanted the opportunity to share with our brothers and sisters something of what the Lord was showing us or doing in our lives. We sadly, painfully left and have now found the delight of meeting face to face in homes or halls and sharing something of our lives and more especially His Life together.
Imagine our delight when we found that this was not only real but scriptural too. (We had been taught that the Sunday morning service was "church" and, that if we neglected this "gathering together" we were in dire spiritual trouble.) We found that gathering together a pile of building materials in one place does not make a building, rather they need to be fitted together and joined one to another. Even neat structured piles cannot be lived in, at best they offer temporary protection.
This leads us to another reason some of us gather in this way in homes. There is ample reason to do so basing our rationale on the scripture alone, for many this is sufficient reason alone and so it should be. For myself and many others this is not the reason that we stay. It is not that we are not convinced that it is scriptural, of this we are in no doubt. It is the fellowship and life that keeps us. Nowhere else have we found the safety and simple freedom to share our lives in our Lord with others.
Instead of defending ourselves from one another we learn to welcome each other into our hearts and in doing so become something more than a pile of building materials.
We do not lose our individuality but rather our love binds us together as we recognize it and accept one another as His gift to each other. We are given the divine privilege of loving and caring for one another. The barriers of pain and hurt take time to come down, but as they do, we find healing and strength in Him as He gives us to each other and in the midst of it all, Himself.
Here are a few Bible references to help along the way:
--All of us minister, not just a particular person, and all are "priests": 1Cor. 14:26-33, 1Pe. 2.4-10, Rev. 1:6.
--God has given multiple gifts and ministries: 1Cor. 12:7-31, Eph. 4:7-13.
--We meet in homes, or wherever it's convenient: Col. 4:15, Rom. 16:3-5 and 1Co. 16:19 (same church), Philemon 2, Acts 2:46 (a convenient place that they could all get together until they were kicked out), Acts 4:31 (the place was just that, a place; the church was the people).


The Home church avoids the Theater-like atmosphere of traditional preaching. We learn God's word together.
  GETTING STARTED: What is HomeChurch? By definition, a church which meets in a home rather than a "church"building.
First and foremost you must have a vision from God to start a HomeChurch. You need to have a heart for meeting in your home. One qualification needed is to have the ministry of Hospitality, both you and your spouse. Most often HomeChurches start with just a few people. We suggest that you find a least one other family who is interested and committed to coming together at a set time. Some churches may opt to have meetings only when those who attend feel led to come together. This is all right, if that is what God laid on your heart when starting your fellowship

  Would you like to know more?
Contact: Rev.Jerry Click today.


God can be anywhere you are.
 
   
 

The Fundamental Top 500

Links - Bible Study - Bible Stories - Free Christian Email - Christian Web Hosting - Bible Puzzles - Bible Search - Christian Freebies - Clean PC  

Sponsored Link - Porn on your PC? Check now for FREE using our content watch & parental controls tool.  

Protect you family and remove porn off your PC with Content Cleaner.