I am thinking of something really familiar that I've never seen. It's a fishgope. -Amos Copling 

House churches are dangerous

So Heather and I live with my brother Jeremy and his wife, Poss. We share a fairly large house in a neighborhood that is right on the "black/white" border in Kansas City. For about 3 years we were trying to be part of Jacob's Well, a "post-modern" "emerging" church. In November we started having church in our house. It includes the four of us and two other married couples, along with the occasional single person. We all have different levels of commitment, but for our household it is our primary "church" experience.

Occasionally when I tell someone (especially our parents) that we go to a church in our home their reaction is polite and uncertain all at once. Primarily out of concern for our spiritual well being, I am guessing. They say how nice it must be to have a small group, and then they might make some comment about how their church is a little bigger than they are comfortable with. But in the end we arrive at the same place: they warn that house churches can be dangerous. "Really? How so?", I might say. "Without any spiritual authority, you could really stray from good doctrine," they probably say. Something like that anyway. That's weird to me, because I have never felt safe in a "big building" church.

I think the main thing that house churches are a danger to are the power structure of the conventional church and its political ties. Just think, if a church broke down into smaller groups that no longer tithed to the main structure, where would the pastor work? The rest of the staff? A Masters of Divinity won't get you far without someone to pay you to preach. Whether they admit it or not, churches want to grow and typically do not ever plan for multiplication or splitting when they get to a certain size. Then they grow really big and break into "cell groups" or "home groups". What? You mean house churches? No! They still must adhere to one man's teachings and give the church office their money.

Through having church in our home, we free up our money to be given to people who truly need it, not to a company called "church". By sharing a meal we have far more opportunities to share our life with people, not just gossip. And when we pray for each other, we don't take prayer requests because we already know! How sad it is that there are large groups of people in these churches paying to see the show but don't ever connect with another person in a meaningful way. Our American churches are structured like business and have catered to the consumerist mentality of the masses. That seems dangerous to me. We need an alternative.