The dangers of the most famous house church is very clear, it is a pastor, children and sons and daughters in laws plus grand kids.
It is a powerfull set up to prevent the questioning of false doctrine.
It like most house churches doesn't do baptisms and grows by reason of children being born.
Mormon churches grow roughly equal to birth rates. Most people don't know this. Mormons have a few children per family and if you count growth of people not born into a Mormon Home, the number coming roughly equals the number leaving
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The church at Westboro which he leads has 71 confirmed members, 60 of whom are related to Phelps through blood or marriage or both.[16]
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Originally Posted by jaamez
Honestly? In part:
- Renting/Owning/Mortgaging a building and auxiliary facilities requires vast amounts of money and does NOTHING to fulfil what Jesus Himself told us to do... preach the gospel, heal the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry... The building actually RESTRICTS our ability to do that because up to 60% - 80% of a typical congregation's financial resources (and that's a conservative estimate - many are much higher) are committed to just maintaining the machine.
- Most "church buildings" are designed according to tradition that perpetuates the notion that it is a sacred place. Instead of it just being a room where people meet to fellowship and worship, it has some mystical aura attached to it. We even require different behavior when entering these "holy" places. I cringe when I hear people refer to a building as "the house of God" or refer to the meeting room as "the sanctuary." NOTHING could be further from the truth!
- The layout of most "church buildings" actually is counter-productive and anti-biblical. With the platform where the "clergy" perform and the seating area where the "laity" very passively observe the performance, the layout absolutely prevents the "one another" ministry that we are to have with each other. The layout and the liturgy of most gatherings is such that the majority of the fellowship is reduced to passive observers instead of active ministers as we are all called to be.
Just a few thoughts in response to your question.
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Can you give us some real numbers?
The grocery bill for the singular gathering for home churches is something regular churches do not have,
I cringe when i hear people claim to cringe about a church being called the house of God.
It proves they had an
ungodly attitude when they enterd the sanctuary.