HOUSE CHURCHES and “CELL” MINISTRY

Answering Your Questions

WHY HAS THERE BEEN A GROWING INTEREST IN “CELL” MINISTRY AND IN HOUSE CHURCHES?

Times are changing. An observant eye cannot miss the following clear signs of our times:

  1. Christ’s Second Coming is drawing near.
  2. The heart of people, particularly in the West, is growing colder toward God.
  3. There has been a growing disconnect between our faith and our families, resulting in massive breakdown of the family and marriage, which are the most central and smallest elements of the Church.
  4. There is a growing and deep-seated frustration among Christians that “something is missing” in the way we do church.
  5. There is a growing cry for authenticity and simplicity in the way we live out and communicate our faith.
  6. There is a great need for the fulness of the character of God through Christ to be revealed through our families to an increasingly skeptical, cynical and disbelieving world to prepare the way for history’s final hour and Christ’s Second Coming.
  7. God, in His great love, mercy and compassion, knowing full well the urgency of the hour and the condition of our times, is inspiring many by His Spirit to return to the ancient paths, restoring the church to the home and the home to the church to display His truth, love and glory through restoration of biblical hospitality, restoring 1st Century Christianity for the 21st Century.

 

HOW DO HOUSE CHURCHES AND “CELL” MINISTRY DIFFER?

A. In the most basic sense, the “cell” is the concept, while the house is the connection where the concept of ministry is applied in its most natural setting. After all, “home is where the heart is,” isn’t it?

B. The concept of “cell” ministry has been applied and appropriated to a variety of settings and circumstances, including application to traditional congregations, gatherings in the workplace or any other place where small groups may gather.

 

WHY IS THE HOUSE CHURCH BECOMING THE INCREASING CONNECTION FOR MANY?

A. Since “home is where the heart is,” the home is the most natural center and epicenter for ministry.

B. The home satisfies the growing cry for simplicity and authenticity.

C. The home is the healthiest haven for restoring faith in families, the heart of fathers to their children, and the building and maintaining of kingdom relationships exemplary of the true Body of Christ.

 

HOW DO HOUSE CHURCHES and CELL CHURCHES DIFFER?

A. Some house churches are merely tiny traditional churches in the home, not embracing the concept of “cell” ministry at heart, These become ingrown.

B. For the most part, churches identified now as “cell” churches have been largely co-opted by the Church-growth movement, using cells as a means and mechanism to grow huge congregations, using the phrase, “Large enough to make a difference, small enough to care.” Unfortunately, the purity of the “cell” concept has been perverted to varying degrees by the pursuit of pragmatism (whatever works), thus shifting focus to “affinity groups,” catering more to fleshly feelings and pursuits than to genuine spiritual faith to bind into community.

C. Since simplicity and authenticity are increasingly valued, the house church is growing surprisingly, a bit shocking to church leaders.

D. House churches are now growing dramatically into networks, being planted “apostolically” just as in the first, second and third centuries.

E. Even as “All politics are ultimately local,” so All ministry is, at bottom, local. The home is the ultimate expression of “local,” and therefore potentially achieves the ultimate expression of authenticity as a means of displaying and dispensing life in Christ in a post-modern world. The home allows our faith to be rooted in reality, revealed in simplicity and restored in authenticity.

F. The home is the venue of Christian expression most impervious to social resistence and governmental restriction, and most likely to preserve principle over pragmatism.

G. Homes, individually, are small enough to care and connect but, collectively, powerful enough to influence a resurging “Roman” world on the near edge of Christ’s Second Coming.

 

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Presented By…
SAVE AMERICA Ministries
P.O. Box 70879 . Richmond, VA 23255
(804) 754-1822 . (804) 754-1823 FAX . www.saveus.org