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  #71  
Old 08-31-2009, 08:03 AM
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Digging4Truth Digging4Truth is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by shag View Post
Sounds like a good place to start.
This week we're planning to start having home bible study, 1 day a week, w/ just our imm. family. We've done so before, but this time we're gonna try to add more time w/'family prayer" before bible study. We have people(other denom.) that want to do hb studies in our home w/us, so in a few weeks, we'd like to start that(probably in replacement of our immed.)....as a multi-family thing. Small kids may be an issue. 1 goal is to tie in plenty of "corp." prayer w/ bible study. Singing together is unlikely to take place immediately atleast, maybe later on if things lead that way. So far at this time, this is not to replace attending where we do, but only in addition to attending our local assembly. We'll see how it goes.
It sounds like we have the exact same plan in mind.

We have decided that we will continue to attend where we attend until we reach such a place that we feel that the house church is everything that we need.

We also have several families nearby who have also expressed an interest in being involved in a Bible study with us.

Will you also please post your progresses & struggles so we can all benefit from one another's experiences?
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  #72  
Old 08-31-2009, 09:37 AM
shag shag is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by Digging4Truth View Post
It sounds like we have the exact same plan in mind.

We have decided that we will continue to attend where we attend until we reach such a place that we feel that the house church is everything that we need.

We also have several families nearby who have also expressed an interest in being involved in a Bible study with us.

Will you also please post your progresses & struggles so we can all benefit from one another's experiences?






My oldest son is almost 13. He's pretty sharp w/ the word. 4 years in bible quizzing....etc. I'm thinking of even letting him lead a couple of our family studies/discussions, if I can talk him into it. I think that would be good for him....confidence etc., if we handle it right. I feel that he's word knowledgeable enough that he can lead a thot/topic of biblical discussion...and after doing it a few times, in upcoming years he could also better(& more confidently) give biblestudies to other teenagers, if oppertunity arrises.
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If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart...
Abraham Lincoln


Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. - Eph. 4:29

Last edited by shag; 08-31-2009 at 09:41 AM.
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  #73  
Old 08-31-2009, 09:44 AM
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Digging4Truth Digging4Truth is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by shag View Post






My oldest son is almost 13. He's pretty sharp w/ the word. 4 years in bible quizzing....etc. I'm thinking of even letting him lead a couple of our family studies/discussions, if I can talk him into it. I think that would be good for him....confidence etc., if we handle it right. I feel that he's word knowledgeable enough that he can lead a thot/topic of biblical discussion...and after doing it a few times, in upcoming years he could also better(& more confidently) give biblestudies to other teenagers, if oppertunity arrises.
That sounds great. My oldest daughter is 17 and she and my son have had several years of bible quizzing as well. As well as years of living under my roof where we speak frankly and openly about the word.

My kids know enough about the Word of God to be critical thinkers... and know enough about the Spirit of God to not be critical people. I look forward to seeing them take part in studies.

But... I have also talked to them about when we expand to other families. They will need to make sure and keep a proper place among the adults there and speak when appropriate but save some stuff for family discussions later on.
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  #74  
Old 08-31-2009, 12:28 PM
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Digging4Truth Digging4Truth is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

Shag... Have you read "Houses That Change The World"?

If you have not and would be interested in doing so you can click here for a pdf copy.
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  #75  
Old 08-31-2009, 09:04 PM
shag shag is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by Digging4Truth View Post
That sounds great. My oldest daughter is 17 and she and my son have had several years of bible quizzing as well. As well as years of living under my roof where we speak frankly and openly about the word.

My kids know enough about the Word of God to be critical thinkers... and know enough about the Spirit of God to not be critical people. I look forward to seeing them take part in studies.
Good words.

But... I have also talked to them about when we expand to other families. They will need to make sure and keep a proper place among the adults there and speak when appropriate but save some stuff for family discussions later on.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Digging4Truth View Post
Shag... Have you read "Houses That Change The World"?

If you have not and would be interested in doing so you can click here for a pdf copy.
I havent, so I skimmed thru the pdf copy U posted. Looked good so I ordered it. (Wolfgang...hmmm).
__________________
If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart...
Abraham Lincoln


Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. - Eph. 4:29
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  #76  
Old 09-01-2009, 06:41 AM
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Digging4Truth Digging4Truth is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by shag View Post
I havent, so I skimmed thru the pdf copy U posted. Looked good so I ordered it. (Wolfgang...hmmm).
LOL... Yeah. Wolfgang Simson. Go figure huh?

I have a hard copy as well and I have enjoyed it very much.

Keep us in your prayers. There is a young lady we have been counseling through some hard times and her life just about blew apart last night.

The first thing that came to my mind was that she might end up living with us for a while. If so... this would really be a great time to begin the house church.

We don't know what will happen from here but I can see how things could fall together to begin now if things do go that way.
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  #77  
Old 09-01-2009, 07:00 AM
shag shag is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

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Originally Posted by Digging4Truth View Post
LOL... Yeah. Wolfgang Simson. Go figure huh?

I have a hard copy as well and I have enjoyed it very much.

Keep us in your prayers. There is a young lady we have been counseling through some hard times and her life just about blew apart last night.


The first thing that came to my mind was that she might end up living with us for a while. If so... this would really be a great time to begin the house church.

We don't know what will happen from here but I can see how things could fall together to begin now if things do go that way.

Sorry to hear that for her. Nothing like going thru difficult times, and then taking an extreme hit on top of everything else. I'll pray for her, and God's will leading you and your family.
__________________
If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart...
Abraham Lincoln


Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. - Eph. 4:29

Last edited by shag; 09-01-2009 at 08:11 AM.
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  #78  
Old 09-27-2009, 10:31 PM
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missourimary missourimary is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

A few questions, to which I assume there may be various answers depending on the home and group and city:

Where do you baptize people when you have converts?

Do most people who attend home churches start as oneness, or were they part of a denominal church, or were they unchurched?

Teens in many apostolic churches are afraid they will never meet anyone and get married. How is this prevented in the smaller house churches?

Is communion or breaking of bread with a communion orientation (sorry, terminology escapes me) open or closed?

Are women allowed to be active participants even if they aren't married? Can they host, for instance?

If those who are interested are asked to host a meeting in hopes they will start their own, how do house churches grow?

Last edited by missourimary; 09-27-2009 at 10:51 PM.
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  #79  
Old 09-28-2009, 07:03 AM
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Digging4Truth Digging4Truth is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

Wolfgang Simsons book "Houses That Change The World" can be found here.

I offer the following from his book on your question about communion.

The end of the Lord´s Supper
Another victim of this process was ”the Lord’s Supper”. Since it is quite difficult to feed a cathedral full of people with real food, it degenerated into a religious and symbolic ritual, offering microscopic sips of wine and a small wafer, often enough only to the ”clergy” while the masses looked on in pious amazement. This meant that the ”Lords Supper” was a supper no more, and lost it’s powerful meaning of a redeemed species doing the unheard of: people, irrespective of classes and caste, revolutionarily sharing real food with a prophetic meaning, having dinner with God, expecting his physical presence at any time just like after the resurrection. It thus became ”the Eucharist”, a pious and symbolic shell of the original meal of a tasty lamb that Jesus shared with his disciples. By AD 150 the eucharist and the love feast were two distinct parts of the Lord's Supper. Biblical commentator William Barclay says it like this: ”The celebration of the Lord’s Supper in a Christian home in the first century and in a cathedral in the twentieth century cannot be more different, they bear no relationship to each other whatsoever.”
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  #80  
Old 09-28-2009, 09:24 AM
Aquila Aquila is offline
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Re: House Church - How It's Done.

Missourimary,

You ask some very important questions. I’ll answer them as best I can; and your correct, there are various answers depending on the home and group that is gathering:

Quote:
Originally Posted by missourimary View Post
A few questions, to which I assume there may be various answers depending on the home and group and city:

Where do you baptize people when you have converts?
Many house churches baptize in natural water sources (rivers, lakes, and streams) near their homes. Others baptize in a pool or trough in their back yards. Still others have a working relationship with a local church that allows them to use that church’s baptismal. The house churches I’ve attended baptize using effusion (pouring). For example, when one is seeking to obey the gospel they are taken outside or they stand in a tub of water and have water poured over them. I used to not believe in “pouring” until doing some extensive study on the issue. For example, most say that a person has to be water baptized by immersion because it signifies being “buried with Christ”. Well, in saying this we assume that “burial” meant in Christ’s day what it means today. We imagine that people are put “under ground” so essentially a person should be put completely “under water”. However, baptism signifies being “buried with Christ”, not buried underground. Christ wasn’t buried in the sense of being put under dirt. When Christ died he was buried in “the manner of the Jews”. Which means they took his body and cleansed it with the “pouring” of water; then they anointed the body with oils and wrapped it in linen with fragrant spices. The pouring signifies the believer’s “burial” with Christ in that it represents Christ’s own burial process and the cleansing of uncleanness (remission of sins). It’s a really deep study and an issue of personal conviction so you’ll see a wide variety of ways house churches facilitate water baptism.

Quote:
Do most people who attend home churches start as oneness, or were they part of a denominal church, or were they unchurched?
Again it varies. Most house churches have “charismatic” or “Pentecostal” roots. However, there is a growing number of people from various denominations choosing this form of church. Most house churches are not started by the “unchurched” unless they began attending in a house church.

Quote:
Teens in many apostolic churches are afraid they will never meet anyone and get married. How is this prevented in the smaller house churches?
House churches should maintain fellowship with one another and local traditional churches of like precious faith. Most house churches form loose networks and gather for conventions or larger worship services periodically (once weekly or once monthly, for example). Most seek to make contacts outside of their home churches in these larger meetings. Or they choose to get to know people who may be “Christian” but un-churched, forming relationship and bringing them into the movement. So as with the answers above, it varies.

Quote:
Is communion or breaking of bread with a communion orientation (sorry, terminology escapes me) open or closed?
Again, it varies. Most house churches I know offer open “communion”. Due to the sacramental aspect of traditional “communion” most house churches refer to it as, “the Lord’s Supper”. However, I’m sure there are those who have closed “communion” for lack of a better term.

Quote:
Are women allowed to be active participants even if they aren't married? Can they host, for instance?
Some house churches are VERY conservative and ask that women gather in a separate room for teaching when the men are teaching. Others allow women to attend the main gathering but admonish women not to teach or ask questions during the teaching. Yet those I’m familiar with allow open participation of women that “all may prophesy”. Many women in Scripture weren’t called to teach or preach, however, they were called of the Lord to host or blessed with a gift of hospitality. These women opened their homes for the Apostles and the brethren to meet. Nothing wrong with this at all.

Quote:
If those who are interested are asked to host a meeting in hopes they will start their own, how do house churches grow?
House churching has an entirely different concept of “growth”. Most traditional churches view growth in terms of “membership”. House churches typically don’t. House churches view themselves as teaching centers along the path for those in the faith. A house church doesn’t have “members” they have brothers and sisters who frequent for teaching. Many house churches see semi regular attendees from traditional churches who are looking for deeper fellowship while still attending their traditional church. In a house church one opens their home to equip the saints. The goal isn’t to “grow” in terms of “members” but to grow in terms of strengthening the universal “body of Christ”. The elders, or pastors, of a house church envision every member becoming equipped to at least host a meeting in their own homes. The vision is to grow by the multiplication of house churches and families ministering to believers… not membership where most are merely spectators. One motto among house churches is the vision of, “Every House a Church”. Every home in the community should be a place of prayer and worship and saints of like precious faith should be allowed to freely fellowship as they desire.

It might be noted that the term “house church” often restricts the concepts that people have. A “house” isn’t even necessary. Some prefer the term, “Simple Churches”. This is because “house churches” often meet not only in homes or apartments, but also in coffee houses, parks, restaurants, town squares, civic centers, …wherever the group wishes to meet next. One meeting took place in a Boston Stoker’s. Maybe 7 families met for coffee and snack, had a moment of prayer, and opened their Bibles for teaching and discussion right there in the cafe. Some of the patrons and employees naturally listened in - and so a few even began to participate since it was “open” discussion and teaching. Others just listened to the group and the tenderness of the teaching. One woman who was listening began crying and a couple sisters offered to pray with her right there in the café. It was powerful.

House churches are dynamic and powerful because they can take church to the lost instead of trying to drag the lost to a big building out in the suburbs for a formal organized service. So the mission isn’t to “grow a house church”. It’s to multiply house churches, while touching and ministering to the community as loosely networked families serving the Lord. It’s not an “organized” or “systematic” approach to church. Instead of “attending church” believers are challenged to “be the church”.

Think of it as advancing a very real and present "kingdom" one household at a time... not expanding the membership of an organization or building.

Hope this helps.

God bless and keep you.

Last edited by Aquila; 09-28-2009 at 09:30 AM.
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