I have a good friend named Scott who is a "simple church" pastor. They meet in his home at least twice a week, and they have a meal on Sunday evenings in which they partake in the Lord's Supper. He has roughly 15 people meeting in his home. They have one member who plays an acoustic guitar and they sing and worship together until they feel the Spirit move them on to the Bible study. The study is typically a reading from a chapter or sometimes an entire passage. Then Scott shares what he felt the Holy Spirit impress upon him about the passage, then the floor is opened up for group discussion and everyone shares how the passage spoke to them. Often people open up and weep and are prayed for. It's very informal, jeans and casuals are fine. They often have a snack and pastries on the coffee table throughout the study and the smell of fresh brewed coffee permeates the house. They don't take up a tithe, Scott doesn't believe in it. When asked about it he says, "I work for a living, just like everyone else." He works for a trucking company and puts in at least 40 hours a week and supports his family. When they take up an offering it's always for a specific purpose. For example there was a sister who's car broke down and she couldn't afford to have it fixed. He called the group to take up an offering to help her pay for the necessary repairs and she didn't have to worry about a rental or catching the bus to get to work. They take care of their own. Scott is blasted for being in the Relevancy movement.
On the other hand I know a wonderful traditional UPCI church of about 150-200. They have several wonderful programs launched occasionally throughout the year. The pastor doesn't like Scott. He say's Scott's group is just "Dunking doughnuts for Jesus."
Here's the deal, the traditional church has been running only 150-200 people for nearly 11 years. Scott's group is only 3 years old and they have multiplied into 8 different home based church meetings averaging at least 10 people each. In three years time Scott went from a 10-12 member house church to overseeing 9 different meetings in the network averaging at least 10 people each. That's nearly 90 people now. Scott states that there are about 5 new pastors being raised up and will be trained to start house church meetings in their homes within the next couple months. Typically they branch off with about 4 or so members and multiply rather quickly. Scott predicts that within then next 4 months the 90 people he's overseeing in network will be 140 easy when these new works get going. But here's the deal, by that time a hand full of new simple church meetings will be ready to be launched. He envisions a day when each house church will be ready to launch another, doubling their number overnight. The potential to have well over 1,000 people in network in roughly 5 to 10 years is very real.
Scott's group appears to be growing quickly and there is an excitement and enthusiasm that they have. It's very simple and isn't much like the institutional church. However, he used to attend a UPCI church and teaches
Acts 2:38. Which is truly advancing the kingdom? Our "Relevant" brother or the traditional church?