Are House Churches a Valid Form of Christianity?

There are 3 ways (at least) that we know that house churches are a valid form of Christianity. The first is through the teaching of the Bible, the second is through the examples in the Bible and the third is through the experience of Christians living today and down throughout the centuries.

The first and most important thing is for us to understand exactly what is the "church." In doing this we will examine the teaching of the Bible.

The word "church" is used a number of times in our English translations of the Bible, however in the original Greek language the word used was "Ecclesia." For example, Jesus said to Peter, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church (Ecclesia)." This scripture is easy to understand, Jesus was making Peter a leader of his flock and the work of God after He left and went to be with the Father. However the word "Ecclesia" is also use in another verse which sheds another light on it.

In Acts 19:23-41 while Paul, Gaius and Aristarchus were in Ephesus there was a serious riot. Paul and his companions were at the centre of the riot because their preaching of the gospel had caused hatred amongst the silversmiths whose livelihood depended on the manufacture of idols. These silversmiths had a vested interested in seeing pagan religion maintained. The silversmiths stirred up a riot and the whole city of Ephesus was plunged into chaos. During this chaos, in verses 32 & 41, the original greek version of the book of acts refers to this crowd of wild unruly people as .....Ecclesia .... you guessed it.

So according to the scriptures, Ecclesia or the church is basically just "a bunch of people."

Over the years because of our tradition, narrow mindedness or simply lack of understanding, people have come to think of "church" as being many things, but it has lost its simplicity of simply being "God's people."

If you were to ask an everyday ordinary bystander what they thought the word church meant, here are some of the answers you might get:

• A Building.........for example, "the church on the corner."
• A Religious Organisation......for example, "The Church of England."
• An Event........for example, "We have church at 11:00 on Sundays."

Its not very often however that you get the real answer..............the church is God's people. The word church has come to be very impersonal to people today, and has lost real meaning. However because church is you and I, the people of God, it is clear that there are no limitations placed on where we meet, when we meet or how we meet. When we do meet in His name however.......we are the church. So with this knowledge and an understanding of what the Bible says church is, we are free to meet in homes.

Secondly, we will examine the example of the Bible regarding house churches.

Does the Bible contain examples of believers who met in homes........yes it does. Below I list 5 examples

1. Acts 2:46 says that the early believers broke bread "in their homes."

2. Romans 16:3-5 says "Greet Priscilla and Aquilla, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house."

3. Colossians 4:15 says "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house."

4. Philemon 1:2 says "To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home."

5. Acts 28:30-31 "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."

Not only does the teaching of the scriptures give us liberty to meet in homes, the Bible is also full of examples of exactly this kind of thing happening. It is obvious that house churches are a valid form of Christianity as far as God is concerned. However we will now turn to our final argument.

Thirdly, let us examine some examples of the experiences of Christians who have met (or still meet) in house churches.

Throughout history we have many examples of believers meeting in homes. Naturally we have the examples of scripture but in the centuries that followed and today more than ever we have additional examples. To illustrate here are a variety of links to articles discussing various house churches that operate or have operated.

House Churches Raided in China June 2005
Watchman Nee and the House Church Movement in China
Saudi Arabian House Churches
House Churches Persecuted in Vietnam

Other examples of Christians meeting in "unorthodox" ways include:

• The early Christians who met in the Catacombs under the city of Rome.
• The Quakers who met in small groups in homes.
• Believers from the Maldives who meet in fishing boats to avoid scrutiny in their overpopulated islands.
• Christian Sailors who worship the Lord while at sea.
• Explorers such as David Livingstone who held a service every Sunday with his entourage wherever they happened to be at the time. The Australian explorer Leichardt did the same.
• Believers imprisoned for their faith who worship the Lord in jail.

The Bible teaches that meeting in homes and other informal ways are certainly valid forms of Christianity. The Bible also gives us numerous examples of this happening. Finally, there are hundreds of examples of informal Christianity throughout church history and especially in the world today. The Holy Spirit is at work in the midst and we can be thankful and appreciative of what God is doing today.

So yes..........house churches are most definitely a valid form of Christianity.