If you’re feeling prompted to start a house church but aren’t sure where to start, this page is here as a resource

General Flow

First of all, your house church can look however the group decides. The beauty is in the organic nature and not being bound to a formula. A thriving group will be marked by meetings filled with prayer and praise, meals spent around the table getting to know each other more deeply, sharing what God is doing and teaching, and times spent simply hanging out and having fun together.

We would suggest meeting on a Sunday morning as this has proven to be a time set aside for most people with the least amount of distractions and conflicts. Unhurried fellowship time is key. As much as possible, always start the meeting with a meal, and encourage everyone on the front end of this portion to sit down and really get to know the people they are eating with at the table. The meeting can eventually move to a time of discussing things of God (see the timeline below for ideas). Finally, we have found it always beneficial to be looking for ways to pray together and for one another. Many times this has come at the end of our meetings as the Lord makes clear a direction for prayer.

We have found the following to be a good starting point for cultivating the participatory church we believe God longs to see:

content for months 1-2

The primary focus of these first meetings should be getting to know each other on a deeper level. Like it or not, it’s extremely difficult for people to be normal and open in a “spiritual” setting, which then breeds a culture of not ever truly knowing one another.

We’ve found a good way to break down these barriers is by having a person or two tell their life story in full detail each week. Encourage them to be as real and transparent as possible, and encourage the group to ask questions (What are their passions? What is the hardest thing they have been through? What are their ambitions? How has God gifted them? etc.). Truly seek to get to know the person. When they are done, take time to pray for them as a group. Do this every week until everyone has shared.

Content for months 3-6

The next phase is the “Rethinking Church” phase. During this time we want to allow God to challenge our understanding of church and allow Him to reshape it. The goal is to get to the understanding that church consists of deep family-like relationships and everyone participating and using their giftings. We suggest taking these months to read and discuss the book Letters to the Church, following the study guide that corresponds with it, and applying what is learned. Or you can skip this and jump to the content below.

content for months 7-12

At this point, your church is probably starting to have some real depth of community. You should also have a good foundation of what God desires the church to look like. You are now ready to start growing deeper spiritually together. Prayerfully consider how this may look. We caution you to stay away from theological debates as they tend to be unfruitful and divisive. One suggestion we have is everyone following the Read Scripture app and using that as a baseline for everyone coming together over a meal and discussing what God is teaching them through the reading and beyond.

Again, these are simply some practical suggestions for where to begin. Every group should start by prayerfully considering the direction that God is leading. We want God’s plan not our plan.