6 thoughts on “Thoughts on Starting a Home Church”
I attend a small home church. There are 14 of us (including kids) in our little Sunday morning fellowship meeting. Our church holds similar meetings all over the world, meeting in homes on a Sunday morning and during the week. We have no church building, no ordained ministers, the men are in charge, the women are in submission, there is no Sunday school or separate group for children or round people we all just meet together. The meeting is usually held in the elders home and he leads the meeting. His wife is one of the loveliest women I know and they have just been blessed with their second gorgeous grandson. Their marriage is a beautiful picture of marriage done God’s way.
When I travel, I attend the fellowship meeting closest to where I am staying and it feels exactly the same as the meeting at home – the people are like my family, and God’s presence can be felt. Unless you’ve actually experienced something similar, it’s not something I can describe.
A simple home church is definitely the way to go. It’s tragic that fellow believers are unable to be found to join you.
Ace,
So is your home church part of some denomination or group of affiliated home churches?
“It’s tragic that fellow believers are unable to be found to join you.”
The Post I linked to, was by “Boxer” and he was referring to Gunner Q’s reply. I have never actually attempted to have “church services” for anybody besides my own wife and boys on some occasions. And I never really held a “service”, so much as I just gave a lesson from the Bible. I try to teach folks via the internet, right now. Some on my site, and sometimes by some of my comments elsewhere. But, not all of my comments are meant to teach. Sometimes I’m venting, or trying to make a joke, or Etc.
We also have what I guess is called communion – we call it the emblems – bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus’s body. The elder of the meeting passes it around.
I was raised in this church. I was a teenager when I realised that not all churches do it this way, and most churches held in flash purpose-built buildings are more concerned with traditions and pomp and ceremony than they are about worshiping God.
We sing hymns – no modern “praise music” for us. No band. No professional singers, just us, slightly off-key, some of us out of time, but all singing from the heart.
Over lockdown we had online meetings instead, but we’re back to normal here now.
Sharkly – I guess we’re part of an affiliated group, but we don’t have any official church registration or anything, if that makes sense. We don’t have a website or headquarters or buildings nor an official name and we’re not under any umbrella denomination. This was actually problematic during the world wars, as proving they were conscientious objectors was pretty difficult without the official name etc. so many men went to jail for refusing to serve. But we’re all over the world (mostly, I think) so if I was to visit pretty much anywhere, I could find one of our meetings to attend. It’s not a big group though, only around 100,000 worldwide, I think.
But it was started up exactly as was mentioned on Boxers blog – by a few men who couldn’t find what they were looking for anywhere else, and studied the Bible, and started having their own home fellowship meetings, inviting others to come along and join them.
Also mentioned on Boxer’s blog, maybe in the comment section, was dressing in the church – we all dress modestly, and in gender-appropriate attire (women in skirts/dresses, men in pants, no cleavage showing etc.) Women all have long hair, men all have short hair.
Again, I was in my teens before I realised that plenty of Christians didn’t dress the way we do – I grew up thinking that a woman with short hair and wearing pants and/or a revealing top could not be a Christian.
I was raised in this church and fully immersed in it and it was incredibly eye-opening to learn what passes for “Christianity”, and that it’s accepted by most people.
It was absolutely a blessing, JPF and a privilege. I am fortunate to be able to bring my own children to the same church and there is so much love for them there.
I attend a small home church. There are 14 of us (including kids) in our little Sunday morning fellowship meeting. Our church holds similar meetings all over the world, meeting in homes on a Sunday morning and during the week. We have no church building, no ordained ministers, the men are in charge, the women are in submission, there is no Sunday school or separate group for children or round people we all just meet together. The meeting is usually held in the elders home and he leads the meeting. His wife is one of the loveliest women I know and they have just been blessed with their second gorgeous grandson. Their marriage is a beautiful picture of marriage done God’s way.
When I travel, I attend the fellowship meeting closest to where I am staying and it feels exactly the same as the meeting at home – the people are like my family, and God’s presence can be felt. Unless you’ve actually experienced something similar, it’s not something I can describe.
A simple home church is definitely the way to go. It’s tragic that fellow believers are unable to be found to join you.
Ace,
So is your home church part of some denomination or group of affiliated home churches?
“It’s tragic that fellow believers are unable to be found to join you.”
The Post I linked to, was by “Boxer” and he was referring to Gunner Q’s reply. I have never actually attempted to have “church services” for anybody besides my own wife and boys on some occasions. And I never really held a “service”, so much as I just gave a lesson from the Bible. I try to teach folks via the internet, right now. Some on my site, and sometimes by some of my comments elsewhere. But, not all of my comments are meant to teach. Sometimes I’m venting, or trying to make a joke, or Etc.
We also have what I guess is called communion – we call it the emblems – bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus’s body. The elder of the meeting passes it around.
I was raised in this church. I was a teenager when I realised that not all churches do it this way, and most churches held in flash purpose-built buildings are more concerned with traditions and pomp and ceremony than they are about worshiping God.
We sing hymns – no modern “praise music” for us. No band. No professional singers, just us, slightly off-key, some of us out of time, but all singing from the heart.
Over lockdown we had online meetings instead, but we’re back to normal here now.
Sharkly – I guess we’re part of an affiliated group, but we don’t have any official church registration or anything, if that makes sense. We don’t have a website or headquarters or buildings nor an official name and we’re not under any umbrella denomination. This was actually problematic during the world wars, as proving they were conscientious objectors was pretty difficult without the official name etc. so many men went to jail for refusing to serve. But we’re all over the world (mostly, I think) so if I was to visit pretty much anywhere, I could find one of our meetings to attend. It’s not a big group though, only around 100,000 worldwide, I think.
But it was started up exactly as was mentioned on Boxers blog – by a few men who couldn’t find what they were looking for anywhere else, and studied the Bible, and started having their own home fellowship meetings, inviting others to come along and join them.
Also mentioned on Boxer’s blog, maybe in the comment section, was dressing in the church – we all dress modestly, and in gender-appropriate attire (women in skirts/dresses, men in pants, no cleavage showing etc.) Women all have long hair, men all have short hair.
Again, I was in my teens before I realised that plenty of Christians didn’t dress the way we do – I grew up thinking that a woman with short hair and wearing pants and/or a revealing top could not be a Christian.
I was raised in this church and fully immersed in it and it was incredibly eye-opening to learn what passes for “Christianity”, and that it’s accepted by most people.
Wow Ace, it sounds like being raised with regular participation in that Christian group was a real blessing for you. Wonderful.
It was absolutely a blessing, JPF and a privilege. I am fortunate to be able to bring my own children to the same church and there is so much love for them there.