Are there any independent house churchers here?
 

Just trying to keep an up to date tally of how many independent, apostolic house churchers are here? I mean, you are actually part of a fellowship (2 or 3 at least) baptised, Holy Ghost filled believers who meet regularly as a local 'house church' assembly or congregation or fellowship? (You all know what I mean! lol)

(If you are not currently meeting with anyone, speak up and say so - assuming you would like to meet with other brethren - and maybe some of you might discover some others are near by....?)

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

BTW, the eojc.net website appears to be defunct, and the folks associated with that site seem to have dropped out of public (internet anyway) view.

The Glorious Church website seems not to have been updated in quite awhile, at least as far as any discussions or networking going on.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

I am not currently meeting with anyone. Not sure I'd attend an apostolic house church. :)

The only thing close to a house church that I know of are the many church plants (reformed) that meet midweek at a houses in several neighborhoods, while having Sunday services at a building.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Why not?

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Semper Reformanda :coffee2

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Reforming to what?

Or are you going backwards into Presbyterianism?

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Naw.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

We met in my pastors house for 30 years. He died last year and I became the pastor. We still met in his (his wife's / my aunt's) house for a year. I just bought a 20x40 tent and we've met in it for a month now. In my area it's by far easier to get people to come to a tent then a house.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Are y'all trying to eventually get a building?

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I do want to get a building. I looked all summer for a building to rent. I didn't like anything that's currently available and the tent felt right. I'll look again in a few months.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Not meeting anywhere specifically. I'm not in the best of health to travel. I meet weekly on skype with fellow apostolics for bible study. I've been looking for spirit filled churches. Not interested in the rigid/legalistic approach. I'm on disability and the last church I attended accused me of not helping to pay the electric bill. Actually I was at or slightly ahead of a tithe in my giving. There were people leaving that church for some reason, I guess the pastor panicked.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Mind if I ask why you folks have decided to go in that direction? Just wondering is all.

We are part of a fellowship which meets in a house. Eventually we will probably move to a building, though I would rather stay in a home.

It's been a huge blessing especially for my wife and I have enjoyed it as well.

It's been a very different experience for me, since I've never been in a house church. On the plus side, I haven't wore a suit since the end of February. :lol

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May I ask why y'all would probably eventually move to a building?

The impression I get from most Oneness Pentecostals is that 'house church' is just a temporary stop over until a budget and membership can be obtained to justify a rented place or purchased building.

I do know at least one other Oneness Pentecostal house church that has always met in one another's homes going back to the 50s at least, and they have known many others across the southeastern US who meet similarly (no denomination, no names for individual churches, no hierarchies just elder-led meetings of Jesus name Pentecostals meeting from house to house). They meet house to house because 'well, that's how we've always done it' and they just don't believe in denominational type organizations and ways and means. Pentecostal underground, I guess? lol

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lol

I really think 'house church' needs to be more Biblical than it often is. What I mean is, a lot of people 'do house church' because it's either new-fangled, or it avoids certain issues at 'the old place' they went to, or it's more comfy-cozy coffee klatchy. But really, for an individual house church to last, and grow, the assembly needs to be doing house church intentionally. By intentionally I mean the assembly believes THIS is the 'Way' God has ordained for them to meet (regardless of how others meet).

My opinion only, of course.

I'm glad you and your wife are being blessed. :thumbsup

Your impression is correct. That's what will likely happen where we attend as well.

My wife doesn't want to go back into a church building. Personally, I don't either. I would like to meet in homes and if/when there's growth, just start a new house church.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Maybe you will be sent forth to do just that?

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Mostly because I'm not comfortable having house Church in my aunt's home and my home is too small (24x36 double-wide). When my pastor died, his son (along with his wife and two kids) moved in with my aunt. It doesn't feel as free as it was, and there isn't as much room and there are too many distractions. It was never really respected as Church and now that pastor Larry is gone it's even worse. If I had a large enough room in my home I would be fine with that. I'm not against that at all.

We have Church exactly the same way we did before but now we can get loud and not worry about it (we're out in the country) and we have more room to move around during worship. No one walks in front of me as I preach to get their kids breakfast. Also, we've been able to get people to visit that never came before.

It's also easier to get others to participate. We now have room for drums (my son just started playing electric drums) and keyboard (my wife is learning).

We had a Church from AL join us last night. I asked their pastor to preach (his Church is a daughter work of ours, but he has a large building). He brought 7 members with him. We had 16 total. I enjoy having Church in the tent and I hope to keep it going for as long as possible.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Modern American homes are generally not suited for house church meetings, unlike apostolic era houses, that much is true.

I am thankful the Lord has blessed us. For a long time we were limited to a very small living room. Now, our living room is actually closer to a 1st century 'living room' - it has a large open area and we have plenty of room to worship. This by the way is one thing that bugs me about a lot of house church videos I've seen on the uto0b - their meeting space is crammed with furniture and there is no room to do ANYTHING but sit like sardines in a can. Turns the meeting into a simple glorified bible study.

Of course, I have seen Chinese and other Asian house church meeting videos where the people are packed in like sardines but they get rid of all the furniture and they stand, bow, prostrate, dance whatever anyway. :)

I think a lot of modern American house church meetings are probably no closer to apostolical house church meetings than a lot of traditional institutional meetings are. Somebody who desires to host the church needs to consider their available architecture, and make necessary changes designed to accomodate a group of people not merely sitting facing each other but standing, kneeling, worshipping, etc.

You mentioned it is easier to invite people and get them to come to a tent meeting than to a private residence. Is your tent on a public roadway where people can see it and might be inclined to stop in? How are you getting the word out about your meetings?

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Home school

Home church

Home birth

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

It's currently away from view. I'm still getting everything together. I ordered wood today to build a platform. I'm still looking at lighting options and we need more chairs. Once I get everything ready I'll place a sign at the road and an ad in the paper. I might even look into getting a radio show or at least advertising on the radio.

I know what you mean about tight spaces. My living room is 12x11. My biggest room is the kitchen/dinning room at 12x13. My aunt's living room is 12x16. It's not bad at all for size. We've had around 12 people in it.

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We did home school from k-12. Both have graduated.

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:clap :yahoo :hanky :thumbsup

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We've not only homeschooled from k-12 (continue to do so), and have home churched for years, we also had our last two children born at home. (My wife decided after the first home birth she would never deliver in a hospital again, Lord willing. MUCH easier.)

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+1!!!

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We are a part of a church that is independent of any denominational or organizational ties that meets in homes. Southeastern, WI.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Home Church

Home school

Work from home

:heeheehee

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We still meet and have home church every Sunday afternoon/evening.

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Would love to be. It's just me and Rob here.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

We tried that with a group of people a few years ago. One of them thought our first attempt at doing something was underneath him and, instead, wanted to go on and on about a book he had written. Needless to say it did not work out. Sadly, we are no longer in fellowship with that guy at all. He no longer believes that Jesus is God. If you ask me, that's not apostolic.

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Our son was homeschooled from 6th on up... One of the best decisions we ever made as parents.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

This group is a mixture apostolics & trinity holy ghost believers. The focus is about divine healing at this time. Curry Blake's DHT training--see utube.

The pastor is apostolic. We are a sick bunch--lol--but we are learning and sharing. It last about an hour on Tuesday at 7 eastern. You are welcome to join in, participation is not mandatory.

There are so many without a home.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Rudy, are you close to Originalist? He's in Florida.

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Indiana here. Came very close to moving there. My health dumped on me.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Ah, I was thinking you were in Florida.

Re: Are there any independent house churchers here
 

Perhaps you could start some sort of online skype meeting Esaias? Like the one Rudy or Apostolic Kitty mentioned. Unfortunately, we are so far in the sticks, that our internet is little better than dial up, and I would not be able to participate, but perhaps others who frequent AFF could.

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Thanks for the invite, Rudy. I'll pass this by Rob and see what he thinks.

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I feel your pain. Our internet was that bad when we lived in rural Indiana.

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I know one thing. He won't be keen on the idea of Divine Healing Training. We tend to believe that the gift of healing is something given from the Lord -- not something you can train for. He said the same thing when we saw there were prophecy schools.

Maybe once you are done with that?