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Authentic Christian Home Church Community

Posted by on Feb 23, 2016 in slider | 0 comments

Authentic Christian Home Church Community

“The church we read about in the New Testament was “organic” born from and sustained by spiritual life instead of constructed by human institutions, controlled by human hierarchy, shaped by lifeless rituals, and held together by religious programs.”[i]

House to House

We believe the house churches (living life together in community) should be the lifeblood of the church. Biblically, the early church rarely held traditional services in buildings, except for special occasions, but favored small group gatherings in believer’s homes. There are many Scriptures that support meeting in homes: Acts 20:20 describes Paul teaching from house to house; Colossians 4:15 refers to the church that met in Nympha’s home; Philemon 1:3 describes a church meeting in the home of Archippus; Acts 12:12 mentions a group of Christians who met at Mary’s house; Romans 16:5 refers to a church that met at Aquilla and Prisca’s home; and Acts 16:40 where Paul and Silas came out of prison and met with a group of Christians at Lydia’s house.

Home Church Communities are different than small groups! They are long term; members only leave to plant new ACHCC. It is a gathering of family members and creates a life-long community of intimate relationships, not a gathering of acquaintances in a social or Bible-study context. Small groups tend to be one dimensional (a Bible study, hiking group, men’s group, etc.). Home church incorporates every person’s gifting, which unifies the Body of Christ and individual growth. They provide hope, love and support during persecution and economic hardship or collapse.

“The New Testament is a record of the church’s DNA at work. When we read the book of Acts and the Epistles, we are watching the genetics of the Church of Jesus Christ expressing itself in various cultures during the first century. Because the church is truly a spiritual organism, its DNA never changes. It is the same biological entity yesterday, today, and tomorrow. As such, the DNA of the church will always reflect the following four elements. It will always express the headship of Jesus Christ as the authority and the source in His church as opposed to the headship of a human being. It will always allow for and encourage the every-member functioning of the body. It will always map to the theology that’s contained in the New Testament, giving it visible expression on the earth. It will always be grounded in the fellowship of the triune God. The Trinity is the paradigm informing us on how the church should function. It shows us that the church is a loving, egalitarian, reciprocal, cooperative, nonhierarchical community.”[ii]

ACHCC is a living organism rather than a structure. It is led by Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd. It is empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit. It is driven by a community of 12-15 Saints and creates open, spontaneous worship and prayer. It is facilitated by a Shepherd, who is trained as a lay pastor and in Christian formation, Soul Care, and New Covenant theology. It is a place where members have opportunities to be transparent with their struggles, pains, and weaknesses. It encourages participation, discussion, interaction and intimacy with the Trinity. It provides communion with a shared meal that replicates the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Women have an equal voice and can use their gifting during the gatherings. Individual and personal ministry take place. If a member is absent, others will notice because individual participation is the lifeblood of the community. Using the gifts of the Spirit would be encouraged. We believe this is an authentic Biblical community patterned after the Trinity and Acts church.

The Apostles modeled how to do church after the example of Jesus. He modeled for them a 1:12 ratio of discipleship that utilized the gifting and calling of each disciple. He duplicated Himself through the Acts church led by the Apostles.  Based on Acts 2:42–47 & 4:32–35 and 1 Corinthians 14:26 they taught the following. They fellowshipped and gathered in homes. They worshiped and praised God together as each Saint brought songs, teachings, and revelations as the Spirit led. They were interacting with the Word of God through study and discussion. They were praying for one another’s needs and eating meals together, and partaking of communion. They gave testimony to the power of God in their life stories. They celebrated and blessed the use of their spiritual gifts for the common good of the community. They were continually meeting the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of each member—as they were presented to them. They brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their communities in an atmosphere of love, grace, and acceptance. There are three Biblical fruits as a result of home communities. One, the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2: 47). Two, abundant grace was upon them all (Acts 4: 33). Three, there was no needy person among them (Acts 4: 34).

 

ACHCC are Places Where God’s People:

  • know others and are known,
  • are touched deeply and touch others deeply,
  • needs are met, and no need goes unmet,
  • are delighted in, which compels them to delight in others
  • are wept with as they weep with others,
  • are loved as they love others,
  • are rejoiced with, as they rejoice over others,
  • are affirmed, as they affirm and encourage others,
  • allow themselves to be exposed and disrupted, as they lovingly disrupt others, and
  • are shown grace, as they live out that grace before others, and feel love, mercy, and faith as they live love, mercy, and faith out before each other in the community and
  • they would not be alone during persecution.

Research Showing Need for ACHCC

There are many reasons for the institutional churches to adopt and create an ACHCC model. The following comes from the “George Barna Research” group.

  1. The modern church service is not conducive to the type of participation and learning that would lead to Spiritual Growth.
  1. 95% of church-goers are passive spectators and leaving only 5% actually to participate in the service.
  1. Your participation is not necessary for the service, your presence is entirely irrelevant in the large service, and you will not be missed if you do not attend.
  1. Lev Vygotsky, a noted psychologist, demonstrated that people learn in a social context—relationships. Pastor’s sermons or lectures are not usually conducive to participation, questions, and discussion.
  1. Only 5–20% of the pastor’s sermon is retained, rather than 50–90% from active involvement in a community group like ACHCC.
  2. The congregation is not allowed to ask questions or discuss the pastor’s teaching.
  1. Members do not have opportunities to be transparent with their struggles, pains and weaknesses.
  1. 66% of all & 54% of born again adults believe that moral truth is not an absolute and truth is affected by the circumstances.
  1. 73% of all & 60% of born again adults are convinced that Satan is not a real force. (2009)
  1. Only 9% of all American adults have a biblical worldview defined as: (2014)
    1. believing that absolute moral truth exists;
    2. the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches;
    3. Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic;
    4. a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works;
    5. Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and
    6. God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.
    7. This leaves 91% of American adults that do not have a biblical worldview.
  1. Bible skepticism is the same as Bible engagement at (19%) (2014)
  1. 78% of Millennials want church to be a community (2014)
  1. Born-Again Christians have become complacent since 1991 (2014)
    1. Attendance down 7%
    2. Bible reading decreased 9%
    3. Volunteering has dropped 21%
  1. The enemy of America today is the moral degradation and spiritual complacency of Americans. (2009)
  1. US Falling Away from Christian Faith (2014)
    1. Today, 45% of adults are unchurched with an increasing number of women
    2. Women are disengaging from church communities
      1. Competing interests: work 5%, personal 10%, family 68%, friendships 6%, & church related 11%
      2. Busyness (the first things to go when too busy is God and spouse)
    3. Top Time Commitment: work 31%, personal time and development 13%, family 44%, friendships 7%, & church related 5%
    4. Emphasis on family and parenting structures rather than single or women’s issues
    5. Skeptic, atheist, and agnostic beliefs have increased to 11% of all and 22% of millennial women
  1. Lack of emotional engagement and support, 43% said they do not feel any emotional support or connection at all from the church.
  1. Worship is planned and programmed by human efforts rather than open and spontaneous according to the movement of the Holy Spirit.[iii]

I believe the lack of community and personal connection to God, the Spirit and the people of God (just knowing rather than experiencing), the opposite of the Acts church model, is a compelling reason for the following dismal statistics about the body of Christ in the USA.

  1. 23 million Christian believers do not attend church (Mega Shift-2005)[iv]
  2. 52,000 people per week are leaving the back doors of America’s church. (1995)
  3. 84% of Christians ARE NOT involved in a discipleship process of regularly meeting with a group or individual for spiritual growth. (2000)
  1. 54% of all adults believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven. (2005)[v]

Do the Churches in the USA Need ACHCC?

“When the Greeks got the gospel, they turned it into a philosophy; when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government; when the Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture; and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business.”[vi]

We believe there are significant reasons that the American church no longer has the luxury to put its head in the sand and pretend that everything is all right and continue to do church as usual. We must take a good long look at what’s happening in our country. We need ACHCC to support and unify the denominationally diverse church based on the signs of the times in America, US’s policies, moral decay, coming persecution and end times prophesies. Based on persecution of Christians around the world, revival takes place in home communities, not church buildings.

The following are signs of the times in the USA that cause Christians concern: a socialistic Government, a bankrupt economy, a supreme court trampling the constitution, a nation where God has been removed everywhere (schools, public buildings, holidays, government), a runaway inflation, a ramped immorality and lawlessness, hostility between races and law enforcement, non-support for Spiritual Israel, good is proclaimed evil and evil is good, Common Core education and political correctness opposing the truth.

The US Terrorist Act can define a terrorist as anyone who does not agree with US policies. So what does this have to do with Christians? Christians obey God FIRST which could be a problem in regards to homosexuality as defined in Bible (Rom. 1), right to life as of conception, abortion as killing human life, political correctness used as silencing free speech, and absolute Truth as defined by God in His Word not secularism or political dictate.

On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states. So what do Christians believe about same-sex marriages: 94% of Evangelicals disagree with this decision; 86% believe it will have a negative impact on society; 86% believe same-sex marriage to be immoral; 72% believe decision was unconstitutional; 89% state it is not an accurate comparison with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s; 100% agree that religious groups must be free to teach traditional marriage between 1 man and 1 women; and 93% are concerned that religious freedom will become more restricted in next 5 years.[vii] So, could this disagreement make Christian Evangelicals a considered terrorist group according to the US Terrorist Act?

Another cause for the need of ACHCC would be the signs ushering in the 2nd return of Jesus. End Time prophecies are being fulfilled at an alarming rate! The USA will not be a world leader/power in the last days therefore, will probably have an economic collapse. God is getting our attention through signs in the heavens, blood moon tetrads on Jewish Holy days, 7 Shemitahs and the 50th year of Jubilee from September 2015 to September 2016, the Earth is having birth pains like never before seen, a “One World” Government is inevitable, every Nation wants to destroy Israel, there are numerous natural catastrophes across the world, and there are Harbinger signs that the USA is losing God’s blessings.

Dr. David Regan, in a speech called ‘A Nation Begging for Destruction’ states, “In the past the USA was a nation that honored and recognized the Christian principles of our forefathers and the founders of our nation and very aware of the fact that our blessings came from God. We have become a nation in full-blown, all-out, open rebellion against God. We worship the almighty dollar. Greed has become our national motivator. Sex is our obsession. Gambling is our national past time. We are the world’s greatest user of illicit drugs. We have banned God from our schools and all public areas. We are teaching our children the fantasy of evolution. We have destroyed the sanctity of life and are slaughtering babies (55 million+) in the name of freedom of choice for women. We have glamorized homosexuality. We have destroyed God’s sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman by legalizing same-sex marriage. In many states marijuana has been legalized. We have become the moral polluter of planet earth with our violent, immoral and blasphemous television programs and movies. We are a rebellious nation. We are a nation that has rejected our Christian heritage, and we have replaced that precious heritage with a crude and paganized culture. We are a rebellious nation that is thumbing its nose at our Creator God who showered America with unparalleled blessings for over 300 years.”[viii]

Jesus’ Example

I believe that the “ACHCC” of house churches should be implemented into every 21st Century Church, denomination, and city for the following reasons. Jesus modeled for us an example of a 1:12 ratio of discipleship that utilized the gifting’s and calling’s of each disciple (a small and intimate group doing life together). He duplicated Himself, and He asks us to duplicate Himself, and the Acts church seems to be a proven model to develop “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27b). The essential components of the “Acts Church Model” that would be implemented are fellowship and gathering in homes (house to house). Worshipping and praising God together as each Saint brings songs, teachings, and revelations as the Spirit leads (worshiping as believer priests). Interacting with the Word of God through study, questions, discussion, and Lectio Divina (God’s Word). Praying for one another’s needs (prayer). Eating meals together and partaking of communion (table fellowship). Giving testimony to the power of God in their life stories (miracles of changed lives, healing, salvation). Exercising their Spiritual gifts for edification and service. Meeting the needs of each member—as they present themselves (generosity and grace) and allowing the Holy Spirit to empower the church both individually and collectively to share and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Evangelism, Missional).

“What we want is to be accepted just as we are and to become all we are meant to be. We want to belong to a community that welcomes us in all our painful brokenness and helps us to be healed and transformed into more than we ever imagined. We all want to be loved and transformed by love.”[ix]

Therefore, the “Acts Model Church” is a complete, proven and efficient model to develop a 21st Century Church that emphasizes: intimacy, relationships, evangelism, grace, breaking down all barriers to fellowship and love, and meeting the needs (emotionally, physically, spiritually) of the body of Christ. It also adds no monetary burden to the existing church structure, since the homes and spirit-filled leaders (facilitators of the Holy Spirit) are not financially compensated full-time. The financial emphasis would be on people and their needs. Finally, with the “Acts Church Model” there is no limit to church growth and Christian formation. There is no monetary limit to growth; there is no limit to geographic expansion. There is no limit to numerical growth. There is no Culturally or increase in ethnic diversity barriers. There is Church growth and bringing the life of Christ to a dark and dying world, and maybe even to the ends of the world as we were commanded (Matt 28).

“The Reformation recovered the truth of the priesthood of all believers. But it failed to restore the organic practices that embody this teaching. The Reformation view of the priesthood of all believers was individualistic, not corporate. It was restricted to soteriology (salvation) and didn’t involve ecclesiology (the church). The Reformers claimed the ground of a believing priesthood, but they failed to occupy that ground. In the typical Protestant church, the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is no more than a sterile truth. It would better be described as the “priesthood of some believers.”[x]

As a Spiritual Director in “Christian Formation and Soul Care,” I believe the “Acts Church Model” has significant implications, not only for my individual spiritual growth but for advancing the Kingdom of God as an intimate and relational body of believer’s.  I believe this is a kingdom that people in the world would want to participate. Grace, people getting saved, and all the poor people in the church (especially widows and orphans) getting their needs met—these are three elements that, in my opinion, are drastically missing from the Western 21st Century Churches. I believe it is a matter of Holy Spirit driven structure rather than knowledge. It seems that we know all about Jesus, but our church structure makes it difficult actually to experience a personal and intimate God. It seems Martin Luther did not go far enough; he certainly changed the Theology (grace), but he did nothing to change the structure. We still have divisions: a clergy and a laity, those dispensing knowledge and those receiving it, those participating and those being spectators, those elevated and those below, Priests replaced by Pastors, the sacraments replaced by preaching and so on. The structure of the “Acts Model Church” in Jerusalem is what was missing in the reformation. It is what is missing now.

“An encounter with God leads to an encounter with our neighbors because the imago Dei is present in them. In our encounters, the telling of and listening to stories leads us to deeper relationships. Listening as attending is the initial stage of theological reflection. At this point, one shifts from a hierarchical role to one of servant leadership, where one listens for the Lord’s presence and assists others in their own attentive response to God’s movement in their lives.”[xi]

In my experience with house church (30 years) it can be places where Christians could encounter a living, intimate God in the community of believers living life together. On special occasions, we could gather as a larger assembly to celebrate. House churches are conducive to warmth and family, equality, table fellowship, knowing and meeting individual needs, evangelism, worship, duplicating of Jesus, Spirit-led revival, prayer, and fellowship. In these areas, I have found the “Acts Church Model” helps me experience God, love one another, trust the movement of the Holy Spirit, exercise my spiritual gifts and become transformed into the image of Christ—from faith to faith and glory to glory. It is my opinion that all institutional churches should adopt the Acts house church model as a Missional tool and for individual growth and Christian formation. It certainly has changed my life and my intimacy with the Trinity.

[i]    Viola, Frank. Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity. David C.
Cook. Kindle Edition, 284-286.

[ii]    Viola, Reimagining Church, 413-424.

[iii]   Barna. http://www.barna.org (accessed March 2012).

[iv]    Jim Rutz. Mega-Shift (Colorado Springs: Empowerment Press, 2005), 87.

[v]     Barna. http://www.barna.org (accessed March 2012).

[vi]    Viola, Reimagining Church, 485-487, 491-494.

[vii]    Barna. http://www.barna.org (accessed November 2015).

[viii]   Dr. David Regan, “A Nation Begging for Destruction,”

[ix]     Bolsinger, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian, 21-22.

[x]      Viola, Reimagining Church, 665-669.

[xi]     Conde-Frazier, Elizabeth; Kang, S Steve (2004-03-01). Many Colored Kingdom, A:
Multicultural Dynamics for Spiritual Formation. Baker Publishing Group. Kindle
Edition. 174, 184.