Starting and Leading a Housechurch
STARTING AND LEADING A HOUSECHURCH
by Jason Thompson
A housechurch is a small, intentional community of Jesus followers initiated and created by God committed to growing as disciples and making disciples of Jesus. Just as Jesus describes the Church as his body, a housechurch is a microcosm expression of his body. It has helped me to think of a housechurch following the same stages as something organic. Life involves conception, birth, infancy, maturation, adulthood, multiplication and death. A house-church mirrors this progression. Through this article I hope to provide people who are longing to plant a house-church or have already done so some practical tools and suggestions along the way. This is based on the years of experience my wife and I have had starting housechurches. There is no one “model”, it is simply the way that God has led us to participate in His work as housechurch leaders. .
CONCEPTION: VISION AND CORE TEAM FORMATION
As we start a housechurch we begin with a raw vision. Simply sharing in personal conversations with other disciples what living in community and pursuing the lost could look like. Next, we want to gather together those people who have interest in pursuing the vision. This is a time for us to share the vision, pray and give a call to participate in moving forward. We have found that people will have different responses to the vision of a community reaching the lost. Some will be interested in the community life others will be drawn to reaching the lost. Both are important, but we have found it essential to emphasize to people that they are making a commitment to both community life and being engaged in mission. After that corporate gathering where the vision is shared, we give space to let people pray about whether or not they should be involved. With our most recent house church plant, I shared the broader vision of what a housechurch could look like and then we asked those that attended to take a week or two to pray about being involved. We need commitment to the vision first. Details can be worked out together later. With that said, we have learned that commitment must be revisited from time to time. Checking in with each other about commitment and how people are doing in their roles must be ongoing to insure the viability of the housechurch. After we have given people time to pray and discern if Jesus is calling them into this community, we have a follow up meetng to pray and begin formulating the vision further. We call this group of people who have committed to the starting of the housechurch, the Core Team. It is Important to include the Core Team in the clarifying of the vision together. This builds ownership from all involved and that is only possible when people are invited to have a voice in what the housechurch could look like. One practical way of doing this is to encourage people to share the values and culture they want to see in the housechurch. A great and simple exercise here could be forming a list of values together.
GESTATION: STRENGTHENING THE CORE TEAM
Initailly, the Core Team should be meeting together regularly for prayer, sharing and team building. This is not the time for inviting in new people. That will come. I would suggest that the Core Team gathers regularly (once a week is good). For the first few meetings my wife or I moderate these meetings but afterwards others should moderate these meetings. It is important that everyone in the core team is sharing the work of moderating the core team gatherings. Each time the core team meets someone new from the group can moderate the gathering. To moderate is to facilitate the gathering. This allows for the responsibility of leadership to be shared and it gives those who have little experience to grow in facilitating the gathering in a safe space. Moderating is not having all the answers or setting the course of the community, it is simply facilitating and keeping the flow of the meeting.
Here are some suggestions for how to use the Core Team Gatherings:
Prayer: Be praying regularly praying for the birth of the housechurch. This can be done by setting aside an entire Core Team gathering to pray for the housechurch or by having time to pray for people by name who could be a part of the housechurch, praying for one another, taking a day to pray and fast for the planting of the housechurch and having time and space to seek the Lord in silence together to allow Him to speak to us as a community.
Bible Discussion: Take time for everyone to read and share insights from passages that speak to the hope and vision of the group (ex. Acts 2:42-47). Be sure to root the housechurch in Scripture, both in thought and practice.
Deep Questions: We want to build depth of relationships. Not only asking how everyone is doing but also questions like: “Where have you seen Jesus working in your life this past week?” “What has been one challenge and one victory for you in last week?” “Where have you been experiencing joy?” “What is a situation in the last week that you wish you had handled differently?” These are but a few questions we ask people to respond to. We encourage people who are moderating to think deeply about the questions they ask of the community. It helps us to have new questions to keep people engaged and growing in depth of relationship as we meet.
Sharing Your Story: As the core team meets we take time for each person to share their life story. This is an incredibly powerful exercise for people personally and the community. This can be a very healing and encouraging exercise. After each person shares we have the group respond with questions and encouragements to the person who shared. We then take time to pray for that person. Sharing life stories helps to deepen community so that everyone can know one another better. This can also be very helpful to do among people that have already known each other for a while.
Discerning Spiritual Gifts: We want to have everyone discovering, growing in and exercising their spiritual gifts. This will help the housechurch to remain balanced and healthy. Bible studies on passages related to spiritual gifts, occasions where people in the core team can help one another identify their spiritual gifts and other resources can be very helpful in the discerning of spiritual gifts. We believe the prioritizing and strengthening of the Core Team is critical to the health and future of the housechurch. This will take time. Anywhere from 2 to 3 months of regularly gathering to share, but it will lay a foundation for the housechurch that is very important.
BIRTH: LAUNCHING THE HOUSECHURCH
Now that values have been established and depth of relationship in the core team is growing we can begin to plan practically the nuts and bolt of the housechurch. Now is the time when we talk practicals. When to meet, how often, where will we meet? How are we going to pass on the values we have established to new people? What is our discipleship plan for new people that get involved? Every housechurch we have planted has been unique. So, though we have some guidelines we choose to be contextual, free and creative with each new community. Once we have practicals established, it is now time to START INVITING NEW PEOPLE into the life of the community!! In our experience it is best to have more followers of Jesus in the housechurch than those who have not yet made a commitment to follow Jesus. This helps to keep the community on track with the values and direction Jesus has given it.
INFANCY/MATURING: GATHERING
So, now we have people, a location, a time….what do we do? I would say in principle we choose to emulate the “essentials” of the early church. We know they gathered in homes, met in public life, devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, enjoyed a meal, prayed together and shared their whole lives with one another. For the early church, being a community was a lifestyle, not just a once a week meeting. We try to be creative here to keep things dynamic, how can these elements be a part of our housechurch’s life together? It wil look different for different communities and that is a good thing. We try to be intentional as we weave the essentials that defined the early church into the life of the housechurch.
MATURING: ONGOING CORE TEAM BUILDING AND TRAINING
It is important to have occasions of retreat, investing and training both for the Core Team and the Housechurch as a whole.
Here are some suggestions:
Core Team gathering from time to time to talk about the housechurch and practicals
The Core Team should meet from time to time to reflect on how things are going. As well as thinking about discipling relationships with people in the housechurch. This meetng can simply be done over a meal together
Creating One Day Retreats for the Core Team
This can be done locally. We prepare a guide for everyone to follow during their retreat. Usually we have an initial meeting together (breakfast) send people out and then gather later in the day to share, pray and process the time.
Weekend Retreats
As a core team or even as a housechurch have a weekend to get away together. This can be a powerful time for community building, sharing and worship. It is best to have a schedule for this weekend where you can incorporate having fun, worship, personal time of prayer and sharing meals.
Discipling Meetings
What is our core team’s discipleship plan for each willing person in the housechurch? Yes, much of discipleship happens as we live life together. However, it is also important that the core team members set aside intentional time to meet regularly with people in the housechurch for one-one discipleship or in groups of 2 to 3 people. This is an important time for people to go deep, address areas in their life they need to grow in following Jesus
Full Day or Half Day Training
We want everyone in the housechurch to grow in the values of the housechurch. We organize Training Days throughout the year on different discipleship topics. As is fitting to gifts in the core team, we want their to be multiple moderators and teachers on these Training Days not just one person doing all the teaching, We usually draw our training topics based on our values and areas in which we discern the community needs to grow
TAKING BREAKS
Everyone needs a break. We have learned that it is important that the housechurch takes a break from gathering. This can refleet a calendar year as many people take time off for vacation or time with family in April, August, and December. Taking a break from gathering can help in parcular with rest, reflection and regrouping. As well, breaks help us to see once again the treasure that the housechurch community is. These breaks can be anywhere from a week to a few weeks off of gathering.
CELEBRATING and OUTREACH
We like to party! Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, Picnics, Game Nights...we want to celebrate both big and small things. As well, we use celebrations as a natural way of inviting people into the community and for sharing our faith. To often people see evangelism as a personal effort, but as a housechurch we can together serve, love and share our faith with our lost friends and family members.
REPRODUCING I: RAISING UP DISCIPLE MAKERS AND FUTURE HOUSECHURCH PLANTERS
Jesus instructed us to be disciples who make disciples. We want to see others raised up as disciples who invest in the lives of others. So the question is...who are these people? We look for people who are Faithful. Available. Teachable. These are the people we want to invest in to grow as disciples who make disciples. Once we have identified these people and are investing over time in them we want to begin entrusting them with responsibility both in the housechurch but also encouraging them to lead and invest outside of the housechurch among the lost. This takes time as we want these people to grow and be prepared for investing in others and planting housechurches. We should be sharing with people as soon as we see potential in them that what we have modeled to them, they can also do with others.
REPRODUCING II: BIRTHING A HOUSECHURCH FROM THE CURRENT HOUSECHURCH
Once we have raised up leaders in the housechurch we want to be praying and thinking about sending those leaders out to plant a new housechurch. This is a value that needs to be emphasized and repeated throughout the life of the housechurch. We want to be telling those leaders who are ready, that they too can by God’s grace plant a housechurch. This process can take some time. The current housechurch should take me to pray and plan about next steps for the new housechurch plant. There may be others in the housechurch that want to be sent as well to help start-up the new housechurch. The current housechurch should do everything possible to set the new housechurch up for success. My wife and I have even had occasions where we have sent out new leaders to plant a new housechurch with most of our current housechurch participants! This is a good thing. Remember this is not your church, it is Jesus’ so be humble and open handed with what he has entrusted to you. As the new housechurch is sent, we want to celebrate. We lay hands on them and pray for them. As well, we keep connected as communies. This should happen naturally through the already formed friendships, but it is important to be intentional in staying connected
END OF LIFE: CLOSING
Housechurches are not institutions. They are organic communities. As all things organic have a birth, maturation and ending. It is important to recognize where the housechurch is at in its “life”. In particular, if it is coming to an end. Endings are ok. People move away, get married, circumstances change. The question can come at some point, Should the housechurch be coming to an end having served the purpose God had for it ? We then take time together as a community to pray, reflect and celebrate what God has done
I hope this is helpful as you follow Jesus with others. My wife and I have seen God do incredible things through housechurch communities. We hope that the example that we have provided will be of help to you as you follow Jesus and participate with him in seeing new “life” formed in your context.
© Jason Thompson 2021
