What is a House Church?

This present generation is starving for genuine spiritual experiences and do not trust the traditional church model or traditional religious expression.

It is a re-capturing of the values and truths held by the Church of Jesus Christ in its first one hundred years of existence, when every church met in a home environment. A House Church is a group of people who . . . love people through meeting their felt needs.

In a House Church nothing can be described as typical, but what you will generally find is passionate praise and worship, interactive dialogue exploring the truths of genuine Christian living, a fuller expression of the Holy Spirit, powerful prayer, a hearty meal, and warm fellowship.

-- Dale Foote, (Cool Springs Community Church, Kuna, Idaho)

Alarming Quotes

from Radical Restoration, F. LaGard Smith

"Before real progress can be made, we will have to undergo a pivotal paradigm shift in the way we perceive even the notion of 'church' itself. Our concept of the church typically tends to suggest organization, complete with hierarchy and dogma. By contrast, the early church (while by no means disorganized) was far closer to being an organism -- less dependent upon formal structure and more spontaneous in action" (37).

"Then there is our ritualized, sacramental-like 'communion,' which is a direct descendant of Catholicism's highly formal Eucharist" (61). "We have our Catholic and Protestant heritage to thank for the highly-structured worship format which we typically follow" (61). "Some, I'm sure, will have been greatly offended at the mere suggestion that the 'Churches of Christ' as we know them are denominational in name and practice, and thereby fundamentally flawed" (268).

"Why are young people so excited when they return home from a weekend retreat? I suggest it's because they have experienced something very similar to 'radical restoration’ . . . look what is happening dynamically at those retreats. There is spontaneity, informality, intimacy, and mutual participation of a type which our young people rarely witness in our more structured assemblies And, of course, there's all that table fellowship which breaks down so many barriers" (235-6).