Hi all,
When we read Acts we see the focus on homes. Pentecost happened in a home. Peter went to the house of the Roman Centurion, Cornelius in Acts 10. Hosts and hostesses in homes are mentioned in Philippi, Thessalonica, Rome, Ephesus, Corinth, Colossae, Laodicia.
How did they start? How can we start?
Consistently we see evangelism happening within 4 spheres of influence: Family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
6 of the original 12 apostles were brought to the Lord within those. In John 1: 40-51 we see Andrew bringing his brother Peter, to meet Jesus. Family. The next verse said they had a neighbor named Philip, who met Jesus. Neighbor. He in turn invited a friend, Nathanael, to meet Jesus. Friend. In Luke 5:10 we are told Peter was a partner in a fishing business with James and John, who met Jesus when He borrowed their boat. Co-workers.
Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers are seen throughout the New Testament
In II Timothy 1:5 Paul mentions the faith of Timothy’s grandmother, Eunice, who he says was first in the faith in the family, and the faith of his mother, Lois. In Colossians 4:10 Paul writes of Barnabas being the uncle of John Mark, the author of the gospel of Mark. Acts 12: 12 says Mark’s mother Mary, was hosting a prayer meeting for Peter when the angel released him from prison.
Luke 24: 18 tells us one of the two walking to Emmaus was Cleopas. John’s gospel which was written after Luke’s, tells his readers in John 19:25 Cleopas was Jesus’ uncle. He tells us Jesus’ aunt, Mary’s sister, was with her at the foot of the cross. The faithfulness of His aunt at the cross explains why the just risen Lord made the point to visit the 2 as they walked to Emmaus – He wanted to tell His uncle so he could tell his aunt, He was risen.
In Acts 18: 1-3 Paul is joined in Corinth by fellow tent makers, Aquila and Priscilla, as that church was being started. Co-workers. They are mentioned 6x in the NT, including hosting house churches when they lived in Rome and Ephesus. And on and on it goes. Family, friends, neighbors, coworkers are seen throughout the New Testament.
So it is today. Many house churches are comprised of people within those 4 spheres of influence, especially in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. But not always. In this day of the Internet, people no one in the house church knows, may be interested in coming to your house church. They may be a ‘person of peace.’
An example of ‘people of peace’ joining you, in Philippi
A person of peace is first, someone who accepts you, but doesn’t know the Lord. In Luke 10: 3-9 the Lord says in such cases, build a relationship with the person, and only after that, share Jesus. A modern equivalent may be someone like that, or we may include a Christian no one in a current house church knows, but they want to come to your house church.
When Paul went to Philippi in Acts 16: 12-40 there was no synagogue meeting, meaning there weren’t 10 Jewish men age 13 or more to be able to form a weekly gathering. Paul learned some Jewish women went to the river to meet for prayer, so he went there looking for them.
“On the sabbath we went to the river where it was known prayer was made, and sat down and spoke to women gathered there.” So the first thing is that someone is seeking a gathering of like-minded people. ‘People of peace’ we might say.
We also observe what was written of Lydia in Acts 16:14: “There was a woman there, Lydia, a worshipper of God, who listened to the words Paul spoke.” Notice she was a worshipper of God, but was not yet born again. That changed when Paul told her of Jesus. She ended up inviting Paul and Silas to her home, and it appears the jailer as well. It is to them and others that Paul writes his warmest letter of all his epistles, the letter to the Philippians.
It may sound strange to say, but I’ve been to her house. The ruins have been preserved all these centuries, for after Christianity was legalized, her house was turned into a ‘church’, and you can visit it to this day.
There must be purpose to meeting: Acts 2:42, meeting ‘steadfastly’.
In our day very often someone has a revelation that house church is for them. They need to be at a point where like the first century believers, going to temple is no longer for them.
Unfortunately in our day we also have people who say; “Maybe I’ll check you out this week.” They expect to visit a house church without any previous introduction, just like they would an auditorium church, so they are ‘shopping’.
But house church is different. You’re going to someone’s home. Shoppers are rarely seen more than once or twice. People who have that revelation from heaven about relationship based faith, are all in from the start. They get it.
Let me be clear – God fills whatever structure man gives Him, so this is not against the auditorium style of the gathering of the saints called ‘church’. Sometimes a person will visit a house church and it is all too new, with people they don’t know, and decide they need the comfortable and familiar in the auditorium. That’s fine.
A house church is not a place for evangelism, though a person of peace may choose to believe on the Lord in that setting. We see this mentioned in I Corinthians 14: 22-25. A house church is safe and healthy, so it isn’t the place to bring someone a host or hostess isn’t comfortable with.
For such, the person who wants to bring them to house church needs to meet with them separately, 1 on 1, discipling them in the Lord for a time. Just because you are having church in a home doesn’t mean you have to allow anyone and everyone into your home. A home meeting is intimate, personal, and a place for those you can trust.
Vetting: House church must be safe
If you aren’t a family, friend, neighbor or coworker of someone in a house church, it takes a certain amount of determination and boldness to enter a stranger’s home to be the ‘new person’ in a small group meeting.
Often this is done by meeting someone for coffee or tea in a public place, or for breakfast or lunch at a restaurant. It isn’t an interrogation, but it is a time to find out why that person wants to attend, if they are goofy or potentially dangerous. to see if they are someone a host or hostess would be comfortable having in the home.
Jesus vetted people which may be a surprise to those who have never done house church. In Luke 9: 57-62 Jesus had 3 separate men who came to Him and wanted to join the disciples. In the conversations He learned one wasn’t aware that by following Jesus he would have no permanent home, another had the condition he first be allowed to bury a family member, and a third was wrapped up in family ties which would have made him double minded. In Luke 8: 38-39 the man delivered of Legion begged to follow Jesus but was refused. Jesus told him no, but to go back to his home and his friends and tell them what Jesus had done for them.
Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, people of peace. People that people in the Bible felt comfortable inviting into their homes. It is the same for us today.
We’ll stop here for today and wrap up this series next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
