House Churches to the rescue! Ralph Winter


Interesting reflections on small/home church from Ralph D. Winter in his editorial from Mission Frontiers. Here are some snippets:

"Actually, the trend to house churches is a phenomenon which runs counter to the long and slow drift of American churches away from extended families. The American church today is strikingly more and more a place for family fragments, and even seeks to replace natural families!
The New Testament “church” was a worshipping household like that of Cornelius, Lydia, or Crispus, and was called an eklesia, a word that does not mean what we understand “church” to mean.

What happened to us (slowly)?
Modern age-stratifi ed, highly specialized society has become Satan’s Weapon of Mass Destruction of the family—precisely where worship and accountability are supposed to be primary! The church has mindlessly followed the world’s pattern: a family driving up to a church door is instantly chopped into pieces.

Unfortunately, many congregations today have the idea that getting people into small groups is all that is necessary. However, extended families can be small groups, but small groups cannot readily become extended families.

But it is clearly better – as well as more important – to make every real family a small group than to try to make small groups into artificial families.

Yes, House Churches to the Rescue!
All over the world it is gradually becoming clear that you can build a big church out of small groups, but big churches without families remaining intact aren’t worth much.

The house church phenomenon could be revolutionary. It just may be that the most valuable gift missions can give back to the American church is a renewed sense of the family as God intended it to be.

To read full article and other interesting articles on home/house church go here.

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