Are Home Churches Good or Bad?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call, here is this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom, Are home churches a good or bad thing?

Tom:

Dave, as you know, probably the mail that we get, the greater percentage of it says, Hey, where can I find a church?Certainly with the whole church growth movement, with the seeker-friendly, purpose-driven kinds of things, as well as the EmergingChurch, as well as the kind of marketing oriented ideas that have come into the church, it can be very difficult.So, are home churches, a good or bad thing?Well, first of all, a definition of a home church.It’s just people meeting in their home, more than a Bible study, but rather than attending a building somewhere that has a congregation of 3-400.They may in their home invite maybe a dozen people or so and do church right in the home.So, is it a good thing or bad thing?

Dave:

Well, let’s define it a little more clearly, just a group of people meeting to discuss the Bible.You have some people over for dinner, as we had last Sunday, and we had quite a nice Bible discussion, and I think there were about a dozen of us.Well, that’s not a church, it’s a casual discussion.Well, supposing we met regularly for Bible study, that’s not a church yet.If you meet there to worship the Lord like you would in a church, and you—

Tom:

Take up a collection?

Dave:

Well, a lot of churches don’t take up a collection, ours does not.

Tom:

The one I attend doesn’t, they have a box at the back of the church.

Dave:

Yeah, the one that I attend has a box.But you go there to worship the Lord together, and then to be taught and be edified, not just for Bible study.So that would be a home church.Okay.Now is it a good or a bad thing?Well, that’s the only place the church met at the beginning, and Paul talks about the church that is in your house.There’s nothing wrong with a home church.

Tom:

Although we’ve seen some examples of them really getting to heresy, turning legalistic, but that can happen in a larger meeting place or congregation.

Dave:

Right.The fact that you meet in a home is: A) Not forbidden; B) Seems to be commended, there were quite a number of them met in homes in Paul’s day, and he commends them.So, is it good or bad?Well, it could be either.So then, what do we do about it?Well, it depends upon the circumstances in part.If you can’t find a church that offers the truth or the word of the pastor, or the teacher, or whatever, is amenable to some correction or some discussion that you could ask questions:Well, why did you say that?Does the Bible say that?Let’s look at it together.If you can’t find a place that is clear or free of heresy and you’re getting false teaching, and there is no other, this represents all of them, or you’re in a very isolated place and that’s all that is available, then I think you need to have a home church.And I often say to people who write to us or who ask this question—you know, Tom, we get this question from people after we’ve spoken—Well, I just can’t find a place, a good church to go to, what am I going to do?Well, I say, why don’t you start one, start one in your home, and gather people who are like-minded, the Lord will draw them.I know many churches, I know some very, in fact the largest Calvary Chapel in the world with 25 or 30 thousand members, it started in a Bible study.Every Calvary Chapel that I know of started in a Bible study, and that’s the way most churches started.My father started a couple of Brethren Assemblies, they were called, and they began in his home.When we were living in the town of Merced, a small town, there was no church that we could go to that was worthwhile.We had church in our home.We broke bread, as the disciples met together to break bread, to Communion, as people would call it.We had Bible study and teaching in the home.So I would say it depends upon the circumstances, but be very careful because a small group can get isolated, and you begin to think you are the only ones, and now there’s no one around but me.Well, I reserve 7000, God says.You could start a cult that way, too.

Tom:

Right.And Dave, also there are some people that just go from church to church to church, and no church makes them happy.Well, home church for somebody like that could present a problem, because they may not even like their own home church.But the important thing here, too, is you cannot, as you said, there are no lone rangers out there or, I’m not to be lone rangers, you need to have fellowship, you need to forsake not the gathering together with the brethren, and so on.

Dave:

Well, if they have 30 or 40 in the home church they could say, well, we’re doing that.Now are you really in touch with others?Are you willing to be corrected, or this is the way it’s going to be now because we are the only ones who are right and this is the purpose of the home church to show that we are right.Not because you can’t find fellowship elsewhere that’s worth while, but no, no, we’ve got these peculiar ideas and now we’re going to begin something and that’s the wrong attitude.So, it depends.