# House Church Directory > House Church Discussion List ## Posts - [About Us](https://home-church.org/2026/09/07/about-us/) - [Unoffendable](https://home-church.org/2026/02/26/unoffendable/): Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (updated with two new chapters) Paperback – January 10, 2023 by Brant Hansen (Author) House Church is about relationships. It isn’t about judging everyone who does church differently than we do. That is actually what we are trying to cleanse ourselves of, that pharisaical spirit that thinks we are right and everyone else is wrong – the very mistake that every Christian denomination has made over the centuries. This book hits to the core of your heart and how to have true meaningful relationships with people. Unoffendable, now revised and […] - [Rediscovering Church as Networks](https://home-church.org/2026/02/26/rediscovering-church-as-networks/): Rediscovering Church as Networks The Ongoing Story of Non-Denominational Charismatic Churches Dr Richard J Roberts (Finnian Press 2026) The Non-Denominational Charismatic Churches – also known as New Charismatic Churches (NCCs) – represent a global phenomenon comprising millions of believers who seek to prioritize “life first and system second”. Their primary structure is built on voluntary relational ties rather than formal institutional hierarchies. These churches consider themselves a distinct stream within the global Church, separate from both traditional Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Renewal movements within historic denominations. Historical Foundations The Charismatic Movement’s history is often categorised into three “waves” of the Holy […] - [Church Refugees](https://home-church.org/2026/02/22/church-refugees/): Church Refugees: Sociologists reveal why people are DONE with church but not their faith Paperback – June 1, 2015by Josh Packard Ph.D (Author), Ashleigh Hope (Author), Group Publishing (Author) Available on Amazon Read a Sample Review by Bill Wagner, Author of The House Church Life, a reflection of how Parkland House lived out their faith in homes and close-knit Christian communities. When Thom Schultz interviewed me in 2015 for research he was doing on why churches were closing their doors and why house churches like mine was gaining success and growing, he gifted me a copy of Church Refugees and introduced […] - [The House Church Life](https://home-church.org/2026/02/22/the-house-church-life/): The House Church Life: Life Together, Lived and Learned Paperback – February 14, 2026 by Bill Wagner (Author) What if church was less about where you go—and more about how you live? The House Church Life: Life Together, Lived and Learned offers a warm, honest look inside a house church that gathered without a building, a pulpit, or a formal program. What began as a simple act of care grew into a community shaped by Scripture, shared meals, prayer, and everyday discipleship. This book is not a guide, a model to copy, or a critique of traditional church. It is a […] - [How to Use Your Home to Impact Your Neighborhood](https://home-church.org/2026/02/14/how-to-use-your-home-to-impact-your-neighborhood/): This is a radical video on how hospitality can radically alter your neighborhood using your own home. - [THE INFLUENCE OF GREEK IDEAS AND USAGES UPON THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH](https://home-church.org/2026/02/13/the-influence-of-greek-ideas-and-usages-upon-the-christian-church/): THE INFLUENCE OF GREEK IDEAS AND USAGES UPON THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: THE HIBBERT LECTURES, 1888 Paperback – December 2, 2023by Dr. Edwin Hatch (Author) Have you ever contrasted the Sermon on the Mount with the Nicean Creed? Why are they such different documents? What happened in 400 years. The first deals with behavior and the heart. The second never mentions behavior. Personally I agree with the concepts expressed in the Creed, but I have serious issues with the reasons it was written. If you are interested in those 400 years and what they did to the church – this is the […] - [Relationships on the Run](https://home-church.org/2026/02/12/relationships-on-the-run/): Relationships on the Run: How to Grow Authentic Connections and Lasting Intimacy in a Hurried Culture Paperback – February 7, 2026by Stephanie Bennett (Author), Quentin Schultze (Preface), Wayne Jacobsen (Foreword) Stressful. Overwhelming. Too much. If these words describe the tone of your everyday life, it’s time for a change. Amidst a fast-paced world we need strong friends and family relationships more than ever. The digital devices used to connect us often inhibit even the best efforts to communicate effectively, pulling us into more remote exchanges that isolate us rather than bring us together. This book addresses these challenges head-on. With stories […] - [House Churches: Back to the Blueprint](https://home-church.org/2026/02/12/house-churches-back-to-the-blueprint/): House Churches: Back to the Blueprint Paperback – August 28, 2019by Linda Jones (Author) According to Matthew 6:10, the calling of the house church is to be an expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. This book provides guidance about getting together with others so that all of you can grow in your relationships with the Lord and with each other in a manner that centers around your faith in Christ. In House Churches Back to the Blueprint, you will: •Learn why a house church is important and how they are scriptural. •Explore first century ministry and its gifts as […] - [Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations](https://home-church.org/2026/02/11/associations-synagogues-and-congregations/): Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society Paperback– January 1, 2003 by Philip Harland (Author) This is a classic, well researched treatment of the connection between the early church and the associations and synagogues of the time. It is an especially timely read to address the controversy and those who push for us to use the word Ekklesia instead of Church. This gives some historical background and shows how the early church navigated the different groupings that were in society at the time The book is currently very expensive on Amazon and out of print. It is […] - [A Meal with Jesus](https://home-church.org/2026/02/04/a-meal-with-jesus/): A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table (Re: Lit Books) Paperback – April 7, 2011by Tim Chester (Author) Eating meals together is an incredibly spiritual activity. In the days that Jesus walked the earth, homes were set up in Israel quite differently than out modern suburbs. Large homes were actually community gathering areas. There wasn’t a locked door, and the neighbors and extended network of relationships, freely entered in and became part of the meal. Tim goes into this history and expands on it. The meals of Jesus represent something bigger. They represent a new world, […] - [The Gospel Comes with a House Key](https://home-church.org/2026/01/29/the-gospel-comes-with-a-house-key/): The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World by Rosaria Butterfield If you can get over an “us verses them mentality” and have the humility to realize God can teach you through any one of his vessels, you might discover that this Presbyterian minister’s wife has some incredible insights on how to use your home to reach your community and network of friends and acquaintances. Available on Amazon. Read a Sample “This book is going to shake us all up in the most wonderfully destabilizing way.” ―Ray Ortlund, Lead Pastor, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee […] - [Facebook Group Topics](https://home-church.org/2026/01/27/facebook-group-topics/): A list Links of Popular Topics in the Facebook Group Meals in House Church Singles - [Paul's Idea of Community](https://home-church.org/2026/01/26/pauls-idea-of-community/): Paul’s Idea of Community: Spirit and Culture in Early House Churches by Robert J. Banks January 21,2020 This highly readable investigation of the early church explores the revolutionary nature, dynamics, and effects of the earliest Christian communities. It introduces readers to the cultural setting of the house churches of biblical times, examines the apostle Paul’s vision of life in the Christian church, and explores how the New Testament model of community applies to Christian practice today. Updated and revised throughout, this 40th-anniversary edition incorporates recent research, updates the bibliography, and adds a new fictional narrative that depicts the life and times […] - [The Bridal Banquet: Holy Communion for House Churches and Small Groups](https://home-church.org/2026/01/21/the-bridal-banquet-holy-communion-for-house-churches-and-small-groups/): by Robert Schmidt Meals were an important part of Jesus’ ministry. He ate with prostitutes and sinners. He told the story of a dinner where the poor and homeless received a special invitation. When the prodigal son came home, his return was celebrated with feasting. Jesus even made sure there was enough wine for a wedding banquet. To a skeptical audience he said that he was the very bread of life. Then he celebrated the Passover with its rich story of liberation and deliverance. It was there that he invited all to receive the blessings of the meals of his ministry. […] - [Training](https://home-church.org/2026/01/18/training/): Home Church Resources is an online learning community for those interested in starting, growing and multiplying home churches. The community consists of people considering starting a home church and those who have already started home churches gathering online to encourage, pray and learn. The ministry provides a series of online courses, dozens of tools and weekly coaching calls to give people the support they need to stay the course. There is a free side and a paid side so that the basic information is available to all, while more in depth training and coaching has a small fee. You can find […] - [Rediscovering the New Testament Church](https://home-church.org/2025/12/31/rediscovering-the-new-testament-church/): by Anthony Jacomb-Hood The vast majority of Western Christians assume that church as we know it is somehow patterned after New Testament norms, with our services, our pastors and priests and our Sunday morning sermons. “Rediscovering The New Testament Church” gently challenges that assumption, meticulously uncovering the New Testament description of what God calls the church. Have we perfected what God set in motion or did we “fix” what was never broken in the first place? Available on Amazon The following book excerpts are available as FREE PDF downloads. Book Summary   This excerpt includes the first section of Chapter 7, which is a summary […] - [The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation](https://home-church.org/2025/12/27/the-other-half-of-church-christian-community-brain-science-and-overcoming-spiritual-stagnation/): Could brain science be the key to spiritual formation? Why does true Christian transformation seem fleeting? And why does church often feel lonely, Christian community shallow, and leaders untrustworthy? For many Christians, the delight of encountering Christ eventually dwindles—and disappointment sets in. Is lasting joy possible? These are some of the questions Michel Hendricks has considered both in his experience as a spiritual formation pastor and in his lifetime as a Christian. He began to find answers when he met Jim Wilder—a neurotheologian. Using brain science, Wilder identified that there are two halves of the church: the rational half and the […] - [In the house church movement, what do you do with "tithes and offerings"?](https://home-church.org/2025/12/25/in-the-house-church-movement-what-do-you-do-with-tithes-and-offerings/): https://www.facebook.com/groups/136853737786/permalink/10162870973042787 Summary of the above Facebook discussion, giving the different perspectives and giving pros and cons of each perspective. Main Differences in the Facebook Thread The thread discusses financial giving (tithes and offerings) in house churches, contrasting it with traditional institutional churches. The core debate revolves around whether tithing (typically 10% mandatory giving) is biblically required under the New Testament, how offerings should be handled, and where funds should go. Participants draw from scripture (e.g., Old Testament laws vs. New Testament principles like 2 Corinthians 9:7 on cheerful giving) and personal experiences with house fellowships. Two primary positions emerge: A few […] - [From Jewish Roots to a Gentile World: How the Early Church Transformed Its Identity](https://home-church.org/2025/12/22/from-jewish-roots-to-a-gentile-world-how-the-early-church-transformed-its-identity/): One of the most striking features of the earliest Christian communities is that all their members were Jewish. This was no accident: Christianity began within the context of first-century Judaism, and its earliest leaders understood it this way. Jesus drew deeply on Jewish metaphors to describe himself and the people of God—the vine in John 15, for example, would have brought Hosea’s image of Israel immediately to the minds of his listeners. Nothing in Jesus’ teaching was meant to distance his followers from their spiritual heritage; rather, he was unfolding it in surprising and radical ways. This Jewish context shaped the disciples’ […] - [The Christmas Story (or Stories?)](https://home-church.org/2025/12/16/the-christmas-story-or-stories/): The Christmas story that we celebrate every year borrows pieces from Matthew and Luke and puts them together In a manner that is somewhat haphazard. We can give our Bibles some leeway in this because the incarnation took place 30 years before there was a community of disciples to write everything down. In fact, the only witness mentioned would be Jesus’s mother, who “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19) and who almost certainly would have been interviewed by Luke. Both gospel accounts go out of their way to include prophecies and genealogies to prove that […] - [Reviews](https://home-church.org/2025/12/14/reviews/): People are finding each other: Please leave a comment about your experience with the directory and this website - [Directory Instructions](https://home-church.org/2025/12/13/directory-instructions/): The House Church Directory is a place to look for groups near you, to list your own group or to list yourself as looking for a group. Our House Church Directory is the oldest and largest on the internet. It is a group effort by the House Church Discussion List and House Church Central. Both of us had directories and we recently merged them. All listings have recently been run through an email verification program to make sure they are good emails. Listings that were connected to bad email addresses have been deleted. Listings are verified on an ongoing basis. Email […] - [Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://home-church.org/2025/12/09/life-together-by-dietrich-bonhoeffer/): Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 – 1945) is one of the best-known Christians of the last century. He was executed in a concentration camp shortly before the end of the Second World War. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who became the head of an illegal underground seminary to train leaders for the Confessing Church – a movement resisting Hitler’s control of the German church. He must have thought long and hard about why some believers simply acquiesced while others resisted the move towards a form of Christian Nationalism (a question that is relevant today). A related question is how to best train pastors. […] - [The Messianic Secret](https://home-church.org/2025/12/08/the-messianic-secret/): When studyiing in any of the synoptic gospels, Jesus follows many healing miraces with a demand for secrecy. This is especially true in Mark, where this feature occurs so frequently that some have identified it as a key theme in that book. Mark is often regarded as the earliest gospel and Matthew and Luke probably had access Mark, so one should not be surprised to find it in those gospels as well. There are several ways to explain Jesus’s requests for secrecy. One that makes good sense is simply that Jesus wanted to carefully manage his public image and he did […] - [Cell Vision: A Book Review](https://home-church.org/2025/10/31/cell-vision-a-book-review/): I was eager to read this book because it champions small, home churches. His use of the word “cell” is unfortunate, however, since that word has usually referred to small groups attached to a large, institutional church, which is certainly not what Belk had in mind. While there is good reason to be suspicious of the institutional church, Belk goes farther, calling it an”octopus” with men with a small group of men ruling over the flock. Cell Vision by Wyatt Belk. Paperback and Kindle. 89 Pages. His theology attempts to force the reader into some very narrow areas of belief such […] - [One Plants, Another Waters, and Then...?](https://home-church.org/2025/10/28/one-plants-another-waters-and-then/): by James Rohrer Dr. Rohrer is Editor in Chief, Sage JPC and HME, University Research Reviewer, Walden University. This essay is motivated by the observation that Christian small assemblies are formed, sometimes grow into networks, then seemingly evaporate in just a few years. Some plant, others water, and then what? Is God bringing an increase? Or is he not blessing our efforts? The internet is full of enthusiasm for house churches and small groups of various types. Some denominations have awakened to their imminent disintegration and decided that perhaps aggressive church planting of the nontraditional type is the answer. For now, they […] - [A House Church vs. Modern Church Parable](https://home-church.org/2025/10/28/a-house-church-vs-modern-church-parable/): by John Lepera The Parable of the Mower Turned Go Cart A man once purchased a lawn mower which he used for many successful years. Eventually he removed the engine and wheels and converted them into a go cart for his son, who used the go cart many more years before selling it. Over the years the go cart was resold many times and each time a copy of the owners manual for the lawn mower was made and was handed over to each successive new owner. By now the copies of the manual were old and worn. It had been […] - [About the Children](https://home-church.org/2025/10/28/about-the-children/): Introduction How many times have you had a friend or colleague tell you that they once were church goers but gave it up years ago? If you are like me, the number is beyond counting. I suggest these folks never really had an adult conversion where they experieniced the living Jesus in an powerful and personal way. What can we do as parents to give our kids a solid, bulletproof faith that will resist the pull of the secular culture all around us? The answer is, “nothing.” As they grow, children, just as adullts, have to accept the call of God […] - [Spiritual Gifts](https://home-church.org/2025/10/27/spiritual-gifts/): Spiritual gifts are among the least understood subjects among believers, yet are one of the most important parts of church life. Paul’s writings are the main source of instruction regarding the gifts, and areprobably the best place to start is in 1 Corinthians Chapters 12 through 14. That these chapters be considered as a whole is best understood by a brief outline: Chapter 12 Spiritual Gifts Chapter 13 The famous “Love” chapter Chapter 14 Spiritual Gifts Understanding the continuity of these three chapters gives a whole new meaning to Chapter 13, which most of us like to pull out of its […] - [Ordination](https://home-church.org/2025/10/27/ordination/): Does It Have Any Place in the Houses Church? The purpose of ordinations is to ensure that candidates for leadership positions in the church meet the expectations of the church calling them. Those include experience and theological training, and if the role includes preaching, the presentation of a sample sermon. Usually there is also an opportunity for the whole church to challenge the candidate with questions and to affirm the candidate with a vote of the membership. Not all house churches have “leaders,” but because their members already have relationships with one another, the selection of a leader is a far […] - [The Chiasm](https://home-church.org/2025/10/26/the-chiasm/): One of the hidden beauties withiin the Bible is the chiasm, which is a poetic structure that can be found in both the New and Old Testaments. The word comes from the shape of he Greeek letter chi, which resembles the western “X.” The left half of the chi, which resembles the mathematical symbol >, defines the position of each verse in a chiasstic structure. Modern writers often write such structures. Consideer, for example, a letter to an employee being laid off: A Dear John: B You’re fired. A’ Sincerely, The Boss The subtance in this letter is the “B” line, […] - [Authority in the Church](https://home-church.org/2025/10/26/authority-in-the-church/): When persecution against the House Churches eased early early in the 4th century under Constantine, Christians found ways to form larger assemblies, encouraged, no doubt, by Constantine’s aggressive church-building programs. It is not surprising that these larger assemblies formed hierarchies. This very human tendency is so common that one has to wonder why Moses needed his father-in-law’s advice in Exodus 18:19-26. The hierarchical structures that emerged prompted men of authority to begin creating offices like the “bishop,” who ruled that the his presence was essential to any meeting of the “church,” a notion probably originated with Ignatius of Antioch in the […] - [The Romans 8:28 Puzzle](https://home-church.org/2025/10/25/the-romans-828-puzzle/): Romans 8:28 has been translated many ways. This article invites you, the reader, to participate in putting the puzzle together. The puzzle pieces are those in the figure that have boxes above. (We need not look at the last half of the verse as it does not vary substantially from bible to bible.) So how do you put those puzzle pieces together? There are three alternatives (Actually four, because the default subject in this case would be is a singular third-person pronoun, but “He works ” would render the whole verse completely ambiguous.): Proposal A chooses “God” because there isn’t anybody […] - [Hijacking the Church](https://home-church.org/2025/10/24/an-institutional-church-take-over/): The first to hijack Christianity was the Emperor Constantine, who used Christianity to unite the Roman Empire under his control. Carrying the Chi Rho symbol, the first two letters of “Christ” in Greek, his soldiers prevailed against Maxentiius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge of 312 AD. Constantine invited the “bishops” of the day to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD and doted over the many abused leaders of the underground churches who had suffered injuries. While still a pagan, he led the church until his death in 337 AD when he finally accepted baptism. Constantine had commissioned the […] - [Separation of Church and State](https://home-church.org/2025/10/24/separation-of-church-and-state/): While house church theology and the American political left may disagree on a long list of issues, they are in lock step on the question of the separation of church and state–but for completely different reasons. One might look at separation in a number of ways. We Christians are told that we must separate from the world (Isa. 52:11, Rom. 12:2, 2 Cor. 6:14-18). Further, it is clear in such passages as Jn. 1:12 that becoming a disciple of Christ must be a matter of individual, informed choice. Therefore every individual–whether he be Christian or not–must be allowed to choose Christ […] - [Home Church Confessions](https://home-church.org/2025/10/24/home-church-confessionss/): One can’t understand the history of the home church without understanding the confessions that they wrote to guide their lives. A great many of these have survived, each containing a detailed statement of faith that almost always references the Bible to justify each statement. Confessions differ from creeds in purpose and format. Creeds are a product of the institution and are intended to exclude those whose faith does not conform to a standard by having the congregation regularly recite them in unison. Confessions however, are incluisive documents that bind the home church fellowship into a common understanding of faith which can […] - [The Living Room](https://home-church.org/2025/10/24/the-living-room/): So wrote Danish philosopher/theologian Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) even before he started his series of essays against the Institutionial Church of his day that came to be called his “Attack on Christindom.”. Excerpts from some of those essays appear below. Regarding Establishment Christianity The human race in the course of time has taken the liberty of softening and softening Christianity until at last we have contrived to make it exactly the opposite of what it is in the New Testament.. Regarding Clerical Vestments The portraitlike description of the priest is this: … he walks in long robes, which Christ, however, does not exactly […] - [To Bind, to Loose](https://home-church.org/2025/10/24/to-bind-to-loose/): If you’ve studied Matthew’s gospel long enough, you will have encountered the words “bind””and “loose.” You may have wondered what was meant. In fact, it was not until relatively recently that scholars have found its origin is from rabbinical writings to indicate whether a behavior will be prohibited (bound) or permitted (loosed). Since Matthew’s is the most Jewish gospel, it is logical that the words would appear there. In a Christian context, we find it immediately after Peter’s confession in Matthew 18: 16, where Jesus told them that he was giving them the keys to the kingdom of heaven;. Jesus Explains […] - [Thank you for all the info!!](https://home-church.org/2025/10/23/thank-you-for-all-the-info/): Hello! I recently added a listing (New Covenant Fellowship) and have found your site to be very helpful. I teach at a Christian School (Knight’s Christian Academy, kcafl.org) and have shared the site with some of my colleagues. Thank you for all the info!! SDG,Rob P - [Evangelism](https://home-church.org/2025/10/23/evangelism/): EVANGELISM AND OUTREACH  ======================== Subject: Why not the Yellow Pages? From: AB HCDLers: For years, we have been saying things like: “How can we get networked, how  can people find us, when we don’t have a building on the corner and we’re not in the Yellow Pages?” I had a “Jack-Sims-esque” thought the other  day while walking to the bus. I’m not sure what I think of it, but I’ll float it anyway: Why don’t we all start listing our house churches in the Yellow Pages under “House Churches”? Or “Intentional Christian Communities,” for that matter? Why not force the Ma […] - [Sermon on the Mount vs. Modern Culture](https://home-church.org/2025/10/23/sermon-on-the-mount-vs-modern-culture/): There are some red letter verses in the Bible that can’t be properly interpreted without knowing a little bit about the culture of the first century. As a result, these three verses have entered our language to mean almost the opposite of what Jesus was teaching. . Verse in Matthew Chapter 5 Modern Use What Jesus Meant 39 Turn the other cheek Forgive and forget. Make peace, not war The passage does not say “Turn the other cheek” as if to say that the disciple should invite another blow of the same kind. The first blow was to the right cheek, which was […] - [What to do with the children](https://home-church.org/2025/10/19/what-to-do-with-the-children/): I have seen over the last couple of weeks/days some questions pertaining to the children and “how to” incorporate them into the house church setting.Questions to ask yourselves.What is a house church?Who is the house church for?When a child joined the family, was it born into the life of the family, or was the family born into its life?Are the children disturbing the adults?Have we alienated our children from church because we have made it about a meeting?We have been meeting as a house church for over 2 years. We now have ages 4-19 in our midst. We do not send […] - [Age Integrated Fellowship](https://home-church.org/2025/10/18/age-integrated-fellowship/): When our kids were young, the group we met with had other families with young children as well. We also homeschooled, which may explain why we did what we did. We tried to have times when the times of discussion were able to integrate the kids. This was not just a case of dumbing things down, but actually finding ways of have age-integrated interaction that young and old got something out of it. One of the instigators was a resource we used, age integrated curriculum One favorite thing we did was act out bible stories. The kids enjoyed it, and I […] - [House Church Pitfalls #2](https://home-church.org/2025/10/18/house-church-pitfalls-2/): The Ding / Dong Effect Dialogue vs Monologue The Pendulum of Church Practices: Balancing Dialogue and Monologue The classic “ding-dong” sound of a bell results from its swing between two extremes. This imagery reflects major movements in church history. When the Church recognizes errors in its practices, it often reacts by swinging to the opposite extreme to correct the mistake. This overcorrection, while intended to highlight the flaws in current practices, can introduce new errors. The devil’s primary strategy (Plan A) is to obscure the truth. If that fails, Plan B is to push believers too far into an extreme version […] - [House Church Pitfalls #1](https://home-church.org/2025/10/17/house-church-pitfalls-1/): Recovering from Institutional Church Hurts Many House Churches have members who have been hurt by their experiences in the Institutional Church. In some cases, the group is started by folks that are reacting to those unpleasant situations. They invested years in their Church, had many friends and relationships. But it ended badly. There was possibly mistreatment by a Pastor, a Pastor fell into sin, the church divided over different viewpoints on a Christian doctrine, A new pastor was hired and got rid of some of the leaders in the church…. The list is endless – fill in the blank. The bottom […] - [House Church and the Will of God](https://home-church.org/2025/09/23/hello-world/): What do you think has the highest priority in the Church? Learning and obeying the will of God? Or being entertained with music and preaching? Let’s say that a group of Christians, whether large or small, needs to make a decision. The House Church’s gathered people have direct access to the Lord, who, we are assured, is sitting among them (Mt. 18:20). In a institutional church, decisions would be made by the lead pastor, rector, priest, bishop, or other clergy in the authority. Which decision is the one honored in heaven? I put before you two images. Which of these it’s […] - [Words: Church, Ekklesia - Archives](https://home-church.org/2025/08/18/words-church-ekklesia-archives/): We have often debated this topic. Here are links to those discussions so you can review them. We prefer these type of debates to be in our House Church Topics Group 8/17/2025 9/12/2025 5/6/2025 - [Team](https://home-church.org/2025/07/13/team/): Andy Hogue B Arnold Stein Do you want to join the team? Contact Us We can use: Editors for: Discussion Topics Summation1 Cor 2:16 “We have the mind of Christ”Collectively, we together have precious insights and wisdom that is in the comments and posts in this discussion group. However these threads eventually get lost in the post feed and are hard to find.Team members would help distill down some of our valuable discussion threads into smaller digestible articles. This would involve editing the comments and formatting the final article so the salient points of the different perspectives can be easily understood […] - [Websites](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/websites/): Other Sites Related to Home Church I happen to detest web pages that are nothing but links to other web pages. They make it look like the site is freeloading off of other people’s hard work creating useful information. If everyone just pointed to other people’s sites, the World-Wide Web would be an empty web with no, um, flies for us spiders to eat. For home churches, however, a page of links might be useful. If you’ve ever tried to enter the search string “home church” in a Web search engine, you know that either you get no hits or you […] - [Recommended Blogs](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/recommended-blogs/): Bet-Midrash - [Preaching](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/preaching/): this thread begins by discussing preaching but moves on to address the gifts as a whole putting both preaching and the rest of the gifts into a balanced perspective. Subject: Preaching — by admin in Archives This thread begins by discussing preaching but moves on to address the gifts as a whole putting both preaching and the rest of the gifts into a balanced perspective. From Dan Mayhew <summit@worldaccessnet.com> In his introduction, Gordon Forrester wrote: We have been to a couple of meetings but are aware that it is just another form of an IC, only meeting in a home. In other […] - [Why Do People Home Church?](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/why-do-people-home-church/): by David M. Hebden 1997 The reasons that people “home church” are as diverse as the people who make up the gatherings. This is not an exhaustive explanation and will no doubt evolve as time goes on. These thoughts originated from responses to this question on HCDL. Some of us simply came to the conclusion that home church is the pattern as revealed in the scripture for the church to meet and were metaphorically dragged from the traditional “church” kicking and screaming by our conscience and understanding of the scripture. We found that we could no longer support being part of […] - [How to find a House Church](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/how-to-find-a-house-church/): How to Find a House Church People often ask where house churches are near by them. We have a very simple to use listing for you to list yourself if you are looking for a house church or if you have a house church. No log in or account set up is required. HCDL House Church Directory Our directory allows for a very simple listing, or if you want images, videos and a complete description of your group. It is one of the oldest and largest directories on the internet. All the listings have recently been run through an email check […] - [About Us - HCDL](https://home-church.org/2025/07/12/about-us-hcdl/): Link to our Facebook Group The House Church Discussion List (HCDL) was established in 1995 to network with and encourage folks whose vision is: * To nurture community in face-to-face bodies of love, friendship and shared life; * To practice the priesthood of all believers; * To practice participatory, non-authoritarian, non-heirarchical styles of leadership, worship, and decision-making; * To live our lives practicing and teaching Biblical stewardship, spending our resources primarily on actual ministry and missions — not programs, buildings and clergy salaries; * To cultivate Christian spirituality for daily living, growth, healing and touching the world around us; and * […] ## Pages - [ccbapt](https://home-church.org/ccbapt/): Baptism and Rebaptism–a Controversy Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller August 18, 1965 and November 10, 1965 These two letters to The Christian Century are part of a continuing dialog that was sparked by the decision of President Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Luci to join the Roman Catholic church. Luci had been baptized as in infant […] - [cc092063](https://home-church.org/cc092063/): Depravity or Sin? Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller September 20, 1963 SIR: I am weary to death, weary of the trend so conspicuous of late in the Century, in motive, in Christianity and Crisis, in all sophisticated religious journals–the trend to cast the mantle of the Christian pastor upon worldly literati such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, J. […] - [cc101762](https://home-church.org/cc101762/): Brothers in Ebullience? Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller October 17, 1962 This letter is subtitled “Answering Donald Cunningham’s Protest re Browning-Kierkegaard.” Those who love Browning, Pippa, and Kierkegaard will have no trouble placing it in context.Ed. “BROWNING: An English Kierkegaard,” by M. Whitcomb Hess (May 2, 1962), to me is a revelation; […] - [The Language of Canaan and the Grammar of Feminism](https://home-church.org/the-language-of-canaan-and-the-grammar-of-feminism/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Language of Canaan and the Grammar of Feminism by Vernard Eller Table of Contents To Kenneth Hamilton upon his retirement from the University of Winnipegwith deep personal appreciation.Although my book and his Words of the Word are in no way the same book, they are in the same ballpark.Soli Deo […] - [Christian Anarchy XI](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-xi/): by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection Justice, Freedoom, And Grace: The Fruits of Anarchy Justice, Freedom, Grace–these three–and, biblically, the greatest of these is Grace. Necessarily is this the case because, biblically, both Justice and Freedom are actually gifts (or creations) of God’s Grace. And thus, though our arky-faith theologies of liberation are so […] - [Christian Anarchy X](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-x/): by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection On Ways More Than One of Skinning Cats or Accomplishing Otrher Good Ends I think I understand why so many Christians find some sort of arky faith to be absolutely essential to their creed. The logic, heard on every side, runs thus: If the good people (we Christians, […] - [Christian Anarchy IX](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-ix/): by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection The Modus Operandi of History:Arky and Anarchy Corresponding to our basic concepts of “arky faith” and “Christian Anarchy” are two completely different understandings of how human history is directed and the economy by which it transpires. In particular, we will now address the matter of society’s moral progress […] - [Christian Anarchy VIII](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-viii/): by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection Christian Anarchy and Civil Disobedience Although the authorities in this book were chosen for what they could tell us about Christian Anarchy, they have gone regularly to the Scriptures that address the issue of tax payment. We have collected a number of expert opinions but will now turn […] - [Christian Anarchy VII](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-vii/): Anarchic Theology and Arky Politics The Vernard Eller Collection In his book on Karl Barth, George Hunsinger set out Barth’s basic premise thus: ‘Only if the two [theology and politics] are not confused–with each retaining its own integrity–can either have anything to say. Theology must not be politicized, nor politics theologicized.” Certainly we found Barth […] - [Christian Anarchy VI](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-vi/): by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection Dietrich Bonhoffer In our first chapter I named both Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as more-or-less followers of the Blumhardts who, consequently, were themselves more-or-less anarchist. With Karl Barth, of course, I was dead wrong–there was no “more or less” about his anarchism. However, with Bonhoeffer, I was […] - [The Simple Life](https://home-church.org/the-simple-life/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Simple Life by Vernard Eller Table of Contents In memory of one whose labyrinthine life,by the grace of God, did come to besimply put:SØREN KIERKEGAARD       If It’s the Simple Life, Why Does it Have to Be so Complicated? I. ACCORDING TO JESUS AND COMPANY  The First and the Rest As […] - [The Outward Bound](https://home-church.org/the-outward-bound/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Outward Bound by Vernard Eller Table of Contents Introit: The Attack and the Attacker So now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus […] - [Proclaim Good Tidings](https://home-church.org/proclaim-good-tidings/): The Vernard Eller Collection Proclaim Good Tidings Evangelism for the Faith Community by Vernard Eller Table of Contents Foreword Number me among the admirers of Vernard Eller. I suspect their number is only a little less than legion. Like myself they read with relish whatever he writes–stylistically idiosyncratic, often slightly acerbic, but always biblically informed. […] - [Christian Anarchy Part VI](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-part-vi/): The Vernard Eller Collection Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Almost Persuaded In our first chapter I named both Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as more-or-less followers of the Blumhardts who, consequently, were themselves more-or-less anarchist. With Karl Barth, of course, I was dead wrong–there was no “more or less” about his anarchism. However, with Bonhoeffer, I was right. Nevertheless, […] - [The Sex Manual for Puritans](https://home-church.org/the-sex-manual-for-puritans-i/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Sex Manual for Puritans by Vernard Eller Chapter One(or Four, depending upon how you count Forewords) Everything You Always Assumed You Knew About Sex* *And So Didn’t Bother to Ask t is true that this chapter heading bears a certain superficial resemblance to the title of the popular book by […] - [The Sex Manual for Puritans](https://home-church.org/the-sex-manual-for-puritans/): The Sex Manual for Puritans by Vernard Eller The Vernard Eller Collection Table of Contents (1) FOREWORD by Dr. Richard ArmourAuthor of A Short History of Sex and many other funny books Dr. Vernard Eller is no sex maniac. He is not even very sexy, although this is something you can never be sure about. He is […] - [The Beloved Disciple IIB](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-iib/): On Giving the Beloved Disciple His Say The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY TWO: The Beloved Disciple: His Thought A. The Fourth Gospel Prologue (John 1:1-18) Whether or not the Prologue is built over an earlier Hymn to the Logos—this strikes me as an entirely incidental question. However, I do think I see what the writer is […] - [The Beloved Disciple IB](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-ib/): The Vernard Eller Collection STUDY TWO: The Beloved Disciple: His Thought As we turn now to spot and then explore what may be the central insight of the Fourth Gospel, nothing demands that we identify the Beloved Disciple as Lazarus. Feel very free to either accept or reject this idea. However, it will be helpful to continue thinking […] - [The Beloved Disciple VA](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-va/): The Name of the Beloved Disciple The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple’s Name and Story The preceding discussion was meant to establish the great unlikelihood that the Beloved Disciple could be John-Z. Yet perhaps even more significant is the fact that the Fourth Gospel itself contains not the slightest hint that John-Z is […] - [The Beloved Disciple IVA](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-iva/): The Creation of the Fourth Gospel The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple’s Name and Story A. The Source and the Writer Does our analysis enable us to say anything about who the Beloved Disciple was or how his book came to be written? I think it is safe to say that, although the […] - [The Beloved Disciple IIIA](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-discipe-iiia/):  The Galilean Twelve of the Synoptics and the Beloved Disciple of the Fourth Gospel The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple’s Name and Story Our detailed analysis of the four Gospels has rather clearly exposed a difference—a tension if not an actual “conflict”—between the Markan-based tradition of a Peter-centered Galilean Twelve on the one hand, […] - [The Beloved Disciple IIA](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-iia/): Jesus’s Disciples A Competitive Anlysis The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple’s Name and Story A. The Gospel according to Mark We now begin our study proper by analyzing Mark’s Gospel to discover just how he treats the Galilean Twelve and the individual disciples who make up that group. The Pauline letters and Acts […] - [The Beloved Disciple 1A](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple-1a/): The Vernard Eller CollectionSTUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple’s Name and Story Opening the Case A. The Problem Before we can even begin to treat the Fourth Gospel (let alone the identity of the Beloved Disciple), we need to get a good bit of practice in handling simply the raw data that could come from any […] - [The Beloved Disciple](https://home-church.org/the-beloved-disciple/): The Vernard Eller Collecrtion The Beloved Disciple by Vernard Eller Table of Contents STUDY ONE: The Beloved Disciple: His Name and His Story Preface STUDY TWO: The Beloved Disciple: His Thought Preface There is no way the matter could have been kept secret, yet very few people know that the Gospel we call “of John” neither […] - [Christian Anarchy Part V](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-part-v/): Karl Barth: A Theology of Christian Anarchy The Vernard Eller Collection In an earlier chapter, you may recall, in which I listed those thinkers who, to my mind, constitute the modern tradition of Christian Anarchy, I centered upon Blumhardt and named Barth and Bonhoeffer as more-or-less followers who consequently were themselves more or less anarchical. […] - [Christian Anarchy Part IV](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-part-iv/): On Selective Sin and Righteousness The Vernard Eller Collection Regarding this chapter, I owe the Holy Spirit (or whoever inspired it) an apology. I got it in the wrong book. This chapter (in somewhat different form) appeared in my previous book, Towering Babble, from Brethren Press (from which kind permissions have been obtained). Granted, it almost didn’t […] - [Christian Anarchy Part III](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-part-iii/): The Vernard Eller Collection Churchly Arkydom: It’s Unreal! Would it be correct to say that, given his status as Creator and Lord, God’s definition of reality (of what is real and what is unreal) is truer than ours? Could we say, even, that it is not for us to decide whether God is for real but […] - [Christian Anarchy Part II](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy-part2/): The Vernard Eller Collection II. In This Corner: Arky Faith In Chapter One we established the concept of Christian Anarchy. In this chapter we win turn to its opposite, what I call “Arky Faith.” Arky faith is that enthusiastic human self-confidence which is convinced that Christian piety can generate the holy causes, programs, and ideologies that […] - [Christian Anarchy: Part I](https://home-church.org/cheristian-anarchy1/): The Vernard Eller Collection I. Christian Anarchy–The Very Idea! Why don’t we really get radical for once? Yes, I know it wasn’t easy to get the word radical understood as an adjective appropriate to discipleship. And yes, it was even harder to get revolution and revolutionary so understood. But do you think it a bit […] - [Christian Anarchy](https://home-church.org/christian-anarchy/): The Vernard Eller Collection Christian Anarchy Jesus’ Primacy over the Powers by Vernard Eller Table of Contents appreciation ofJACQUES ELLULwho has led me not only into Christian Anarchybut into much more of God’s truth as well.Merci, mon ami! Preface I hope you find this book “important.” But whether you do or not, it is very […] - [The Vernard Eller Collection](https://home-church.org/the-vernard-eller-collection/): We are very pleased to offer several of the writings of the late Vernard Eller (1927-2007) on the Home Church web site. Dr. Eller was a member of the Church of the Brethren, one of the many traditions descended from the Protestant Radical Reformation that is the seat of house church theology. Dr. Eller published over […] - [allwrong1](https://home-church.org/allwrong1/): The Vernard Eller Collection Could the Church Have It all Wrong? by Vernard Eller Table of Contents To those professors emeriti (by virtue of merit) MARKUS BARTH and ARTHUR COCHRANE who were on this trail long before I was but who invited me along as a peer I. Historical Recital or Sacramental Mystery A. Formative Beginnings B. Fixing the Traditions C. The […] - [Doctrine of the Simple Life](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-the-simple-life/): The call of God to the human is a call of love that demands a response–and there can be no doubt that the most important response is an answering love. The prologue to the Ten Commandments speak of God’s love and our answering love (Ex. 20: 6). Early Christians were expected to say Deut. 6:4-5 […] - [Doctrine of Election](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-election/): The New Testament has fourteen references to “election” or “God’s elect.” Obviously, those passages refer to those who have salvation in Christ, so no doctrine of election is really needed. But thinkers like John Calvin were not at all content with such a simple explanation. Committed to the strong church-state system that had been in place […] - [Doctrine of God](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-god/): The doctrine of God is one that barely survived its passage into the Western world because of the great difference in worldview between the Hebrew-thinking witnesses who wrote the New Testament and the Greek-thinking readers in such cities as Alexandria that received the gospel. The Hebrew-thinking writers who walked with Jesus, for example, the following […] - [Doctrines of Creation-Eschaton](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrines-of-creation-eschaton/): The doctrines of Creation, Providence, Miracles, Prayer, and Eschatology, all share a common element and are therefore best considered together. That is, they are all concerned with the manner in which God deals with the Creation in created time. The figure below illustrates the relationship between the doctrines. Note that God is eternal–above history–both with respect to the past and […] - [Doctrine of Revelation](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-revelation/): While treated here as the third, among Protestants this doctrine has traditionally been the first. Both John Calvin and Karl Barth began their theologies with the question of how one comes into knowledge of God. The (Presbyterian) Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Second [Baptist] London Confession of 1677 began with Scripture. It is […] - [Doctrine of Baptism](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-baptism/): Why Baptize? Most Christians will answer this question in one of two ways: Both of these are correct statements, but neither is the right answer to the question. Baptism is the rite of initiation into the church. In the New Testament, baptism and conversion were so closely associated that one infers the other. When Jesus said […] - [House Church Theology](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/): The Home Church? It hasn’t changed. But what happened to the Institutional Church? see Home vs. Institution NEW Home Church Theology Classroom on YouTube Why Theology? Can’t we just read our bibles? Paul told the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That can only mean that we each have a responsibility […] - [Doctrine of Church](https://home-church.org/house-church-theology/doctrine-of-church/): Can one be a Christian and never go to church? Of course, we need to define “going to church.” The Scriptures are clear that attendance for the wrong reasons does not please God (Ps. 50, Amos 5:21-24, etc.). Many say they avoid church because they worship God alone, “in their own way.” Well, we certainly […] - [Sign In](https://home-church.org/sign-in/) - [Dashboard](https://home-church.org/dashboard/) - [Author Profile](https://home-church.org/author-profile/) - [Single Tag](https://home-church.org/single-tag/) - [Single Location](https://home-church.org/single-location/) - [Single Category](https://home-church.org/single-category/) - [House Church Directory - All Listings](https://home-church.org/all-listings/): Free Directory of House Churches. FIND a house church. LIST your house church. List yourself as looking for a House Church. Simple to use. No Log-In Required. New Listings Add Listing Directory Instructions - [Add Listing](https://home-church.org/add-listing/): Please read our About Us Page to determine if your group belongs in our directory. - [Search Results](https://home-church.org/search-result/) - [Search Directory](https://home-church.org/search-home/) - [Subscribe](https://home-church.org/subscribe/): Keep up to date on new content on our website. - [Contact Us](https://home-church.org/contactus/) - [Privacy Policy](https://home-church.org/privacy-policy/): Effective Date: [Insert Date, e.g., September 6, 2026] Website: https://home-church.org (“Site”) Organization: Home Church (“we,” “us,” or “our”) 1. Introduction Welcome to Home Church. We value your trust and are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect when you visit home-church.org, how we […] - [Sample Page](https://home-church.org/sample-page/): This is an example page. It’s different from a blog post because it will stay in one place and will show up in your site navigation (in most themes). Most people start with an About page that introduces them to potential site visitors. It might say something like this: Hi there! I’m a bike messenger […] - [Join Team - Help Needed!](https://home-church.org/join-team/): Sep 25, 2026 — by admin Our house church directory has been going for years and it’s the largest one out there, free to list and free to use. It’s been managed by too few people, and so we’re looking for a few new team members to take more and better ownership of it. Most of the mechanical work is being automated, what’s left is the parts that need a person: Approving and improving new listings – we get a few each week and we want them to look good. Deciding what to do about groups – many haven’t renewed, but […] - [Directory v2 PB](https://home-church.org/phd/): House Church Directory 100% Free Directory of House Churches globally. Simple to use – No Log-In Required.FIND a house church, LIST your house church. JOIN looking for a house church. City State Country – After Typing wait for list of places to appear below your typing then pick yours. Radius_search Miles 387 Listings Found Filter Sort By A to Z (title) Z to A (title) Latest listings Oldest listings Popular listings Random listings Filters Category CategoryEventForming a House ChurchHouse ChurchLooking for House ChurchOnline GroupParticipant in HCDL Facebook Group House Church Network CERTN Channel Network Fellowships of Franklin Gathering of Neighbors Collective […] - [GDPR User Data Request](https://home-church.org/gdpr-data-request/) - [Maintenance](https://home-church.org/maintenance/): Sorry, website is undergoing server maintenance. We are doing some maintenance on our website to improve your experience.It should not be long, please check out our Facebook page until we’re back up. - [Terms of Use](https://home-church.org/terms-of-use/): Effective Date: [Insert Date, e.g., September 6, 2026] Website: https://home-church.org (“Site”, “Directory”, or “Platform”) Project: Home Church Directory (“we,” “us,” or “our”) 1. Introduction & Acceptance of Terms Welcome to home-church.org. This website is an unofficial, volunteer-run, non-profit community directory designed to help Christian believers connect, find, and share local home churches, house meetings, and micro-gatherings. By accessing, browsing, searching, or submitting a listing to home-church.org, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service (“Terms”) and our Community Code of Conduct. If you do not agree with any part of these Terms, please do not use this website. 2. […] - [House Church Directory Listings (PNew)](https://home-church.org/listnew/): New Listings Add Listing Directory Instructions - [Sign in - Sign Up](https://home-church.org/sign-in-sign-up/) - [Impact Your Neighborhood](https://home-church.org/impact-your-neighborhood/) - [cc073168](https://home-church.org/cc073168/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Ethic of Promise Ethical Thinking in the Eschatological Modeby Vernard Eller If the Theology of Promise (or what some people may still insist on calling “the Theology of Hope” is ever to make anything of itself, sooner or later will need to develop a department of ethics. What follows are some preliminary thoughts in that direction. I. Contextualist An ethic of promise will be contextualist–but it will be accompanied by a radically changed understanding of what constitutes a decision’s context. In current ethical thought (whether or not this is the deepest intention of the theorists) contextualism has […] - [Resources](https://home-church.org/resources/): Archives Church History Websites Books Giving Children Pitfalls - [Worship](https://home-church.org/worship/) - [New Listings](https://home-church.org/new-listings/) - [Giving](https://home-church.org/giving/) - [Church History](https://home-church.org/church-history/) - [Book Reviews](https://home-church.org/book-reviews-2/) - [atonement](https://home-church.org/atonement/): The Cross, the Empty Tomb  Paul wrote in  the book of Romans, that “… if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) The cross and resurrection are the central events of our faith. Most of us are content to agree with Paul and let the matter rest. But have you wondered how, exactly, these moving parts had a vital part in achieving your own salvation? Many have, even dating back to the First Century. Their explanations, called “atonement theories,” have reflected […] - [House Church](https://home-church.org/house-church/): When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” In Luke 18:8b, Jesus asks the above question. The question sounds rhetorical, but there is no clear implied answer. It is sandwiched between two parables concerning prayer but does not seem to be about prayer. And to complicate the short half-verse even more, it begins with a strong adversative which is usually translated “Nevertheless.” There seems to be little agreement about what the verse is doing there, and commentaries tend to skip over it. It seems to be asking whether the vibrant faith of First Century believers may have […] - [Bible Study](https://home-church.org/bible-study/): Some Helps for group bible studies: The Importance of Group Study We like to think of the Bible as having stability and accuracy. We can point to the thousands of ancient witnesses to its integrity and depend on it “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). This wonderful book began its life as a collection of ancient oral and written text that came together during the Second Temple period (c. 500 BC – 70 AD) when the temple built by […] - [House Church Central Classic](https://home-church.org/house-church-central-classic/): Welcome to the new home of House Church Central. HCCentral Classic HCCentral.com has joined forces with home-church.org: Introduction God has blessed you with a special kind of Christian fellowship that many have not even tasted. Mt. 18:20 promises that the Lord Jesus himself sits among you as you gather together in his name. You have the power to  bind and loose–a first-century expression meaning that you are entitled to make decisions that are truly honored in heaven. In fact, you even have the very “keys to heaven,” according to Mt. 16:19 where the same phrase also appears. It is astonishing how many […] - [Theology](https://home-church.org/theology/) - [blumhardt2](https://home-church.org/blumheardt/blumhardt2/): The Vernard Eller Collection Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader (Continued) Vernard Eller, Editor T. Danger of Degeneracy Areas in which Blumhardt’s thought might become distorted among his followers. — V.E. 1 Being Quiet or Quietrism? The hope derived from the light of the Holy Spirit also has its reverse side, namely, that we come alive and recognize that the hope itself is alive with possibilities for us—possibilities, we should say, that lie in God, certainly, but in the creation as well. There are people who think nothing more is possible than what they can see with their half-dead eyes. Thus, when […] - [Darby](https://home-church.org/darby/): Seven Age Dispensationalism To say that the appearance of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1909 caused a dramatic change in evangelical Christianity would be an understatement. Many have studied its footnotes with great care, almost giving them an authority equal to the biblical text itself. Anyone who dares raise any question about its teachings is immediately called a “liberal,” or worse, and the walls go up as if one were making an attack on a believer’s faith. Yet the “Seven Age Dispensationalism” of the Scofield Bible just may be a case of the emperor wearing no clothes. This writer was a firm believer in Scofield’s […] - [blumhardt1](https://home-church.org/blumheardt/blumhardt1/): The Vernard Eller Collection Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader (Continued) Vernard Eller, Editor N. The Fall of Christendom 1. From the Spirit to the Letter What can we do that the life of God might be in us? What stands in the way? A current mode of biblical scholarship. These scholars have murdered the Savior with the Old Testament and are now assaulting him with the New. We must follow that which the Spirit of God speaks to our hearts—even if it is some thing not completely expressed in the Bible. We should be free people, free from forms and […] - [blumheardt](https://home-church.org/blumheardt/): The Vernard Eller Collection Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader Vernard Eller, Editor Table of Contents Preface The subject of my doctoral study was Søren Kierkegaard, the nineteenth-century Danish thinker. In the course of that research I came across Emil Brunner’s testimony to the effect that the best predecessors of Neo-Orthodoxy were “two great figures of Pietism—Christoph Blumhardt, in Boll, and Kierkegaard.” The strange pairing stuck in my mind: the name I had never heard along with the one heard all over the place. Were these two to be considered equals? It was, then, in 1966 I discovered some of Blumhardt’s work, […] - [hc Theo history](https://home-church.org/hc-theo-history/): History of House Church Theology House Church Theology has a long historical thread. That is, certain writers over the centuries have built upon the contributions of those who lived in prior generations. This page presents a shortened list of contributors–but in listing these persons it is not the intent of this short essay to necessarily “claim” them for the house church movement. It has been said elsewhere that house church theology is not a narrow path, but that it has its own “right” and “left.” Even more importantly, these writers were fighting different enemies and lived in different cultures. Nevertheless, they […] - [film28](https://home-church.org/films/film28/): The Village Return toMovie Menu Touchstone Pictures. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. William Hurt, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, and Brendan Gleeson. Music by James Newton Howard. As we view the film, we are led to believe that we are witnessing an early-American village that has “circled the wagons” to keep out strange creatures that occasionally invade the community. One member of the village, Noah Percy (Adrien Brody), has become psychotic and attacks and injures Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix), a village citizen who is agitating for contact with the outside world. The second act of the film […] - [film27](https://home-church.org/films/film27/): Unplanned Return toMovie Menu Screenplay: Gary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman. Produced by Chris Jones, Joe Knopp, Daryl Lefever, Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman. Directed by Cary Solommon and Chuck Konzelman. Released by Pure Flix. The movie “Unplanned” closely follows the book of the same title from which it is derived, and presents the true story of the book’s author, Abby Johnson, as she enters a career in Planned Parenthood, starting as a volunteer, eventually becoming the clinic director, and then suddenly repudiating that career after witnessing an actual abortion procedure. There are pro-choice church members who will hate this movie, but I suspect […] - [film26](https://home-church.org/films/film26/): Signs Return toMovie Menu Touchstone Pictures, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Features Mel Gibson, Cherry Jones, and Joaquin Phoenix. Music by James Newton Howard. Set in rural Pennsylvania, a farmer discovers a “crop circle” in his field — only the first of a number of strange “signs” that point to a coming extra-terrestrial invasion. Many reviewers rate the film purely as a science fiction work, as the invader’s presence is gradually revealed, lives are lost, and the threat to humanity is finally overcome. Newton’s music keeps the viewer suspended in a world of strange and scary expectation, but just how the […] - [film25](https://home-church.org/films/film25/): Shadowlands Return toMovie Menu Price Entertainment, Spelling Films International. Screenplay by William Nicholson based on his stageplay. Produced by William Attenborough and Brian Eastman. Directed by Richard Attenborough. This account of the meeting and subsequent marriage between C. S. Lewis (Anthony Hopkins) and Joy Gresham (Debra Winger) is, at one level, a love story. As such, its power comes from the crumbling of Lewis’ confirmed bachelorhood and his increasing vulnerability as his devotion to Joy advances. But this love story is carefully subordinated to serve a more important purpose, which is a completely theological one. The film is really a study […] - [film24](https://home-church.org/films/film24/): Seven (1995) Return toMovie Menu New Line Cinema. Produced by Arnold Kopelson and Phyllis Carlyle. Writtecn by Andrew Kevin Walker. Directed by David Fincher. This is a dark, clever, and suspenseful film showing two extremes on how the abundant sin manifest in society might be dealt with. One extreme is to flee from it, and the other is to take it seriously. Even though the film has images and situations that are difficult for many viewers to take, it would be a shame to miss this masterpice of David Fincher filmmaking that demonstrates that both extremes are bankrupt. Two homicide detectives, […] - [film23](https://home-church.org/films/film23/): Run Lola Run Return toMovie Menu Sony Pictures Classics, Bavaria Film International, X-Filme Creative Pool. Produced by Stefan Arndt. Written and directed by Tom Tykwer. (In German with English sub-titles). Chaos Theory, a fairly recent observation of the scientific community is the fact that minute differences in “initial conditions” can completely change the outcome of an experiment if the experiment is allowed to run long enough. Run Lola Run, demonstrates this by having its characters run through a fairly simple scenario three times, each modified ever so slightly by an incident on a stairway that slightly delays Lola (Franka Potente) for different amounts […] - [film22](https://home-church.org/films/film22/): River Runs Through It Return toMovie Menu Columbia Pictures. Produced by Patrick Markey and Robert Redford. Directed by Robert Redford. Screenplay by Richard Friedenberg after a Norman Maclean’s autobiographical novella. “Eventually, all things merge into one, and the river runs through it.” So says the concluding, title narrative that stresses the importance of the river in this story. Pastor Rev. Maclean (Tom Skerritt) and his two sons constantly return to that river to practice the art of fly fishing, and find healing and reconciliation there. The older son, Norman (Craig Sheffer), is the story teller. The younger, Paul (Brad Pitt) is […] - [film21](https://home-church.org/films/film21/): Phone Booth Return toMovie Menu Twentieth Century Fox, a Joel Schumacher film.Rated R. 2002. Warning — this Rated R film has all the profanity and situations that one might expect in some of the worst New York City neighborhoods. It pits a young man named Stu (Colin Farrell) against an enemy that he only knows as a voice over a telephone. The drama starts in a phone booth but expands to a crowd of witnesses and a television audience. Stu’s sins are probably typical of any man or woman. He is self-centered and tries to get people to think more highly […] - [film20](https://home-church.org/films/film20/): Pay It Forward Return toMovie Menu Warner Brothers in association with bel-Air Entertainment and Tapestry Films. Produced by Steven Reuther, Peter Abrams, and Robert L. Levy. Directed by Mimi Leder. Screenplay by Leslie Dixon after a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Have you ever wanted a DVD for your library that you can pull out to lift your spirits? One that you can view again and again? Beautifully acted by some of the best talent of its age, the film presents the simple redemptive concept that helping others without any motive of compensation can lead to a chain reaction of wonderful […] - [film19](https://home-church.org/films/film19/): Passengers (2008) Return toMovie Menu TriStar Pictures film directed by Rodrigo Garcia, screenplay by Ronnie Christensen This concerns the 2008 “Passengers” movie — not the 2016 movie that is set on an elegant space ship and has 5000 hibernating passengers on their way on a century-long journey to a new planet. The passengers in this 2008 “romantic mystery thriller” are on a Boeing 737 that catches fire in mid-air and crashes at the very start of the film. It is impossible to talk about this movie without a spoiler alert, so if you want to see this film, please do so […] - [film18](https://home-church.org/films/film18/): The Matrix Return toMovie Menu Warner Brothers, Village Roadshow Pictures, Groucho II Film Partnership, Silver Pictures. Produced by Joel Silver. Written and directed by The Wachowski Brothers. It is 1999 and people are coming and going exactly as we expect them to do in a modern city like Sidney, where this movie was filmed. They go to work, they go to church (mentioned once in the otherwise godless and sterile world of this film), they party, and they go home. But all this is but an illusion maintained by a giant computer that holds all of humanity captive. That computer is […] - [film17](https://home-church.org/films/film17/): Magnolia Return toMovie Menu New Line Cinema, Joanne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company. Produced by Joanne Sellar. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Warning. The film begins wiith a pretty vulgar “seminar” that might prompt some viewers to walk out. If you can survive these few minutes, you will probably be glad you stayed. This is one of those movies that dares to break the mold and experiment with new ideas in filmmaking. And it does it successfully. One of the new ideas is actually a reformulation of an ancient one idea called “opera seria.” The action of the film freezes and […] - [film16](https://home-church.org/films/film16/): Life Before her Eyes Return toMovie Menu Magnolia Pictures and 2929 Productions, produced by Chase Bailey, Mike Upton, Couper Samuelson, and Ian McGloin. Directed by Vadim Perelman, music by James Horner. Rated R. Sadly, few will consider viewing this movie once they understand that it is centered around a school shooting incident. But it is a beautifully constructed film with a twist and a theme that invites thought and discussion. And don’t miss the twist, as many reviewers have — it forces you to re-interpret everything you’ve seen up to that point. And it survives the critical test of any movie […] - [film15](https://home-church.org/films/film15/): Liberty Heights Return toMovie Menu Warner Brothers, Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures. Produced by Barry Levinson and Paula Weinstein. Written and directed by Barry Levinson. This is the fourth of Levinson’s “Baltimore” films, documenting the advent of integration laws in 1954 Baltimore, Maryland. In short, the kids have a far easier time adjusting to integration than do the parents–but this film has just as much to say about the integration of Jews and Gentiles (frequently called “the other kind” in this movie). At the center is a Jewish family with a high level of ceremonial participation (there are many scenes of the family […] - [film14](https://home-church.org/films/film14/): Les Miserables Return toMovie Menu Universal films and Working Title directed by Tom Hooper. Les Miserables is truly a Christian movie, but this version suffers from the usual Hollywood treatment of musical theatre by substituting good voices with movie stars who can barely sing. Those who enjoy the music would be better served by the concert version with the “dream cast,” which is also available on DVD, but which strips away all plot and context. The main theme driving the film is the conversion of the main character, petty thief and parolee Valjean, early in the film by a priest who […] - [film13](https://home-church.org/films/film13/): Ice Storm Return toMovie Menu Fox Searchlight Pictures, Good Machine Productions. Produced by Ted Hope, James Schamaus, and Ang Lee. Written by James Schamaus. Directed by Ang Lee. The destruction caused by an ice storm is a gradual process, as water coats the limbs of trees and freezes, gradually adding weight until they fracture and fall. There is such a storm in this film, both literally and metaphorically as two families gradually yield to the storm of the sexual revolution.The Hoods (Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Christina Ricci, et al) and the Carvers (James Sheridan and Sigourney Weaver, et al)–who are neighbors […] - [film12](https://home-church.org/films/film12/): Henry Poole Is Here Return toMovie Menu Overture Films and Lakeshore Entertainment a Mark Pellington Film A delightfully entertaining PG film about miracles. Is a flawed stucco job on the side of Henry’s house a dispenser of miracles or not? One neighbor (a hilarious role played by Adriana Barraza) is sure the answer is yes, but the whole scene is nothing but an annoying distraction to Henry (Luke Wilson) who wants nothing more than to be left alone with his depression and liquor. Catholic priest Father Salazar (George Lopez) tries to referee the dispute with no success. But a neighbor and […] - [film11](https://home-church.org/films/film11/): Hacksaw Ridge Return toMovie Menu A film directed by Mel Gibson and released in the USA by Lionsgate. Directed by Mel Gibson, starring Andrew Garvield et a A biographical depiction of the life of Desmond Doss, a Seventh Day Adventist conscientious objector who overcame tremendous resistance from the military establishment in his effort to become a battlefield medic due to his refusal to touch a gun. Probably the first challenge that conscientious objectors must deal with is the accusation that their real motive is cowardice; this movie eliminates that motive in Desmond’s case by having his heroism exceed that of his […] - [film10](https://home-church.org/films/film10/): Groundhog Day Return toMovie Menu Columbia Pictures, Trevor Albert Production, Harold Ramis Film Some movies deserve annual viewing, and this Bill Murray comedy belongs in that category. When to view it? On every February 2, of course! The co-writer and director of Groundhog Day, the late Harold Ramis, reports on the commentary track of the disc that he had unexpectedly received letters from people of many different faithsj, praising the movie as a perfect example of their particular faith! Sadly, some of those letters came from Christians. The gospel according to Groundhog Day is this: Be a kind and generous resource to […] - [film9](https://home-church.org/films/film9/): Ghost Return toMovie Menu Paramount Pictures and Howard W. Koch Productions. Produced by Lisa Weinstein. Written by Bruce Joel Rubin. Directed by Jerry Zucker. This Academy Award winner (1990, best screenplay) has plenty going for it. It’s a mystery, it’s a love story, and (thanks to Whoopi Goldberg) it is a comedy. One thing it is not is a source of good theology, although there are many in the nominal church who believe otherwise. Writer Rubin and Director Zucker, who share a full-length commentary on the DVD edition of the film, are true believers in Ghost’s theology. They admit that they […] - [film8](https://home-church.org/films/film8/): Fireproof Return toMovie Menu Affirm Films, Provident Films and Carmel Entertainment, a Kendrick Brothers production This is probably the best of the productions of the Albany Georgia’s Provident Church movie makers. I don’t normally deal with purposefully Christian films because the non-believing society in which we all live is not likely to have watched them. But Fireproof has a lot of good things going for it. While the action concerns fire department personnel and does feature situations that require their services, fire is mainly a metaphor for the fireworks that can exist between marriage partners when things start to fall apart. […] - [film7](https://home-church.org/films/film7/): Family Man Return to Movie Menu Universal Pictures, Beacon Pictures. Produced by Marc Abraham, Zvi Howard Rosenman, Tony Ludwig, and Alan Riche. Written by David Diamond and David weissman. Directed by Brett Ratner. The Family Man has only one sentence of theology–bad theology at that–but presents an upbeat “simple life” theme that more than compensates. The one sentence? You’ll find it early on, where an angel named Cash (Don Cheadle) tells the would-be family man Jack Campbell (Nicholas Cage) that his situation was the result of good works that he performed the previous evening: Cash:  “The way you intervened in that […] - [film6](https://home-church.org/films/film6/): The End of the Affair Return toMovie Menu Columbia Pictures. Produced by Stephen Woolley and Neil Jordan. Novel by Graham Green, screenplay by Neil Jordan. Directed by Neil Jordan. The beginning words of this film, pounded into a typewriter by an angry Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes), are “This is a diary of hate.” Who is the hater? The hatee? The answer does not come until the last few minutes of the film. The action takes place during and after World War II in England, among an unconventional triangle made up of Maurice, Henry Miles (Stephen Rea), and his wife Sarah (Julianne […] - [film5](https://home-church.org/films/film5/): Deterrence Return toMovie Menu Paramount Classics, TF1 International, Battleplan Productions. Produced by Marc Frydman and James Spies. Written and directed by Rod Lurie. This is a movie that has some beautiful theology. Rob Lurie loves making political thrillers. And he’s good at it. Unfortunately, Deterrence spent only a week in the local theater in our area, and I was one of the fortunate few who found it. Get comfortable before you to which this film, as you will be glued to your chair until it is over. In my view, it is far better than The Contender, Lurie’s more recent political film. An un-elected US […] - [film4](https://home-church.org/films/film4/): City of Angels Return toMovie Menu Paramount Pictures and Icon Productions. Produced by Mace Neufeld, directed by Chuck Russell. Visual effects supervised by Joel Hynek. Screenplay by Tom Rickman, Clifford Green, and Ellen Green from a novel by Cathy Cash Spellman. This film is surely one of the strongest affirmations of God’s gift of human life that I’ve seen for a long time, even though it comes packaged in a slick Hollywood production and centered around the romance of two mega stars. It closely matches the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, and especially 11:7-9, in its sage wisdom on the importance […] - [film3](https://home-church.org/films/film3/): Changing Lanes Return toMovie Menu Warner Brothers, Regency Enterprises, and Atlas Entertainment. Produced by Dawn Steel and Charles Roven. Directed by Brad Silberling. This is billed as a “suspense thriller,” but it is really one of the most remarkable cinematic studies of ethics to appear on the screen in years. The stories of the two main characters are presented in parallel, with frequent segues back and forth. The characters meet for the first time as a result of an auto accident and, as the story unfolds, we see the enmity between the characters build to an almost unbearable degree. Yet we […] - [film2](https://home-church.org/films/film2/): Bless the Child Return toMovie Menu Paramount Pictures and Icon Productions. Produced by Mace Neufeld, directed by Chuck Russell. Visual effects supervised by Joel Hynek. Screenplay by Tom Rickman, Clifford Green, and Ellen Green from a novel by Cathy Cash Spellman. This film was marketed as a horror movie with elaborate special effects, and the review in the local newspaper dismissed it as worthless trash. So I stayed home. But a believing brother liked it so much that he saw it again, dragging me along. Later I purchased the DVD, which is loaded with interviews and a full-length commentary by the […] - [film1](https://home-church.org/films/film1/): Babette’s Feast Return to Movie Menu A film by Gabriel Axel. MGM Entertainment. Featuring Stephane Audran Here is a film about a small Danish house church fellowship that has been dealing with the death of its leader in a harsh, coastal environment. We meet each of the church members and soon discover that all is not well between them — petty jealousies, old grudges, and other signs of pain are among them, but they continue their meetings. In the midst of this comes Babette, who we eventually learn is a epicurean Parisian chef who is on the run from the chaos […] - [films](https://home-church.org/films/): Movie Time Theological Reflections on the Movie Scene by Herb Drake If I had a list of my favorite films, only a few of the films listed here would be on it–some, in fact, would be way down on my “favorites” list. But these films stood out because I believe they have themes or content that merit discussion from a believer’s point of view and might be considered for individual or group viewing and discussion. In some cases, it is unlikely that their producers even intended to produce a film that would go on such a list. Content of Modern Movies Well, not quite […] - [kierkegaard4](https://home-church.org/kierkegaard4/): Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship:A New Perspective by Vernard Eller (continued) PART II: THE DUNKERS AND THE DANE VIII. Christ as Savior and Pattern Jesus Christ was the foremost reality of S.K.’s faith and religious thought. Many scholars–at least among those of theological persuasion–have appreciated something of the centrality of that orientation; all too few have appreciated the uniqueness of S.K.’s Christological thought. His peculiar terms and concepts customarily have been picked up and treated without close examination, as though they already were understood–and that in accord with traditional modes of thought. Actually, however, S.K. was a pioneer in this field, offering a doctrine […] - [kierkegaard3](https://home-church.org/kierkegaard3/): Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship:A New Perspective by Vernard Eller (continued) PART II: THE DUNKERS AND THE DANE VI. The Churh Well Lost Thus far we have examined S.K.’s position regarding secular sociality, both the World Negative which his faith impelled him to reject and the World Positive which his faith equally impelled him to accept, to love, and to serve. We proceed now to examine his stance regarding religious sociality, i.e. those social groups designed with specific reference to the relationship between man and God, namely the church. We look first at the Church Negative; this is the form of the […] - [kierkegaard2](https://home-church.org/kierkegaard2/): Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship:A New Perspective by Vernard Eller (continued) PART II: THE DUNKERS AND THE DANE III. The Problem of Sociality Nobody wants to be this strenuous thing:an individual; it demands an effort.But everywhere services are readily offered throughthe phony substitute: a few! Let us get togetherand be a gathering, then we can probably manage.Therein lies mankind’s deepest demoralization.1 Spiritual superiority only sees the individual.But, alas, ordinarily we human beingsare sensual and, therefore,as soon as it is a gathering, the impression changes–we see something abstract, the crowd,and we become diflerent.2 In giving to den Enkelte and its characteristics as dominant an emphasis […] - [kierkegaard1](https://home-church.org/kierkegaard1/): The Vernard Eller Collection Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship:A New Perspective by Vernard Eller (continued) PART II: THE DUNKERS AND THE DANE I. The Decisive Christian Category “The individual”–that is the decisive Christian category, and it will be decisive for the future of Christianity.1 “Den Enkelte” (“the individual”–in contrastto “the public”) [is] a thought in which is containedan entire philosophy of life and of the world.2 This category is the point at which andacross which God can come to seize hold of the race.To remove that point is to dethrone God.3 Kierkegaard claimed “the individual” as “his category,”4 and there is nowhere else […] - [kierkegaard0](https://home-church.org/kierkegaard0/): The Vernard Eller Collection Kierkegaard and Radical Discipleship:A New Perspective by Vernard Eller Table of Contents To my two sons, Sander Mack Eller and Enten Eller. Part I: THE PERSPECTIVE Part II: THE DUNKERS AND THE DANE Part III: THE OPENING CONCLUSION Preface This book comes as the product of a rather long development. It all began, I guess, when, as a junior at La Verne College, I first discovered Kierkegaard–March 22, 1948, the check-out card in the library book says. The circumstances, I feel, were propitious for helping me become one whom S.K. hopefully might address as “my reader.” I […] - [Genesis](https://home-church.org/genesis/): Introduction Christians and Jews are not the only ones who love Genesis. It is widely regarded in the literary world as an excellent example of ancient literature even among those who do not study it for its “religious” content. Christians study Genesis not as a relic of a dead society, but as a part of God’s word that has value to the modern church. Some regard Genesis is the “foundation” of the Bible. This is not really the case. The people of God came into the knowledge of God during the wilderness period, so the foundation is best understood as the […] - [Book Reviews](https://home-church.org/book-reviews/) - [eakins](https://home-church.org/eakins/): Archaeology and the Bible By Dr. J. Kenneth Eakins Joel Kenneth Eakins was a professor of archaeology and Old Testament studies at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in Mill Valley, California, from 1970 to 1993 PART ONE I blend some of my own words with those of Professor Keith Schoville of the University of Wisconsin (author of Biblical Archaeology in Focus) and define archaeology as “the systematic recovery, analysis, and interpretation of the surviving evidence of human life, thought, and activity in the context of environment.” Elsewhere (in an essay published in Benchmarks in Time and Culture) I have stated my belief that “the purpose […] - [Feedback](https://home-church.org/feedback/) - [birkey3](https://home-church.org/birkey3/): The House Church: A Missiological Model by Del Birkey This article focuses on the house churches of the New Testament and their unique socio-physical structure. Since all the churches of the New Testament were communities small enough to meet in somebody’s private home, certain theological and sociological ramifications arise out of this stark reality. From this data we can observe a “missionary model” which has relevancy for contemporary mission and church planting. Examples of effective church decentralization in the Two Thirds World further support this thesis. Five decades ago Floyd Filson called attention to the failure of contemporary scholarship to grapple […] - [Gallagher](https://home-church.org/gallagher-2/): To What Extent Does the Constitution Preotect Religious House Meetings from Governrment Regulaltion? A Legal Analysis by Sean J. Gallagher Usage Note: You may freely reproduce and distribute this work provided that that no changes are made, no revenues are collected beyond the nominal cost of media, and credit is given to the author and to Oak Brook College of Law. Any other use requires the written permission of the author. Citing this material on other Internet sites is encouraged, but is to be done only by providing a hypertext reference to this file on this server. Table of Contents Precis […] - [Books](https://home-church.org/books/): Books for the Home Church Library The books listed below are highly recommended for the house church library. Even though many are out of print, pre=owned copies are often available on Amazon, eBay, and other book sellers. Please let us know of other books that you find useful. BOOKS ON HOME CHURCH                 The Church Comes Home by Robert & Julia BanksRobert and Julia banks first came to our attention through the rocommendation of Dr. Vernard Eller, who described Dr. Banks as “Mr. House Church.” In this compact volume, people new to the concept will find the answers to many of their questions about […] - [What to do with the Children](https://home-church.org/what-to-do-with-the-children/) - [pearl](https://home-church.org/pearl/): The Vernard Eller Collection Pearl of Christian Counsel for the Brokenhearted by Vernard Eller PEARL is an anonymous 14th-century poem, itself a gem both of literary art and spiritual devotion. Written in middle English, this monograph includes Eller’s translation and commentary. Counsel for those experiencing loss. To My Pearlsmy grandmother, Jessie Pearl;my aunt, Emily Pearl;my sister, Elfreda pearl;my sister-in-law, Margaret (from the French for “pearl”)and the remainder of the string not so named:my other grandmother and aunts,my mother and mother-in-law,my wife and daughter,my other sister-in-laws, nieces, et al.“so comely a pack of jolly jewels”(as the poet has it) “Again, the kingdom […] - [House Church Pitfalls](https://home-church.org/house-church-pitfalls/) - [eu2](https://home-church.org/putting-it-in-the-words-of-c-s-lewis/): The Vernard Eller Collection Putting It in the Words of C. S. Lewis by Vernard Eller Anyone who has followed my work at all knows that the heart of my concern lies in what I see happening in the life of the church (the Church of the Brethren in particular but the larger church as well), namely a serious deterioration of commitment to biblical, gospel truth. In expressing the concern, I have been hard put to find a term that accurately identifies the source and locus of the threat. I have been quite cautious about using “liberalism,” or “modernism”– first, because there are […] - [eu1](https://home-church.org/eu1/): The Vernard Eller Collection TECHNIQUE or KINDLY LIGHT? by Vernard Eller Two very different ways of proceeding are indicated by our two phrases, “technique” on the one hand and “kindly light” on the other. And as the church makes its way through the world, it 1S imperative that we give deliberate thought and attention as to which guide we should be following. As soon as we use the word “technique,” we are in effect stepping onto personal turf of the contemporary French social historian and Christian thinker Jacques Ellul. Beginning in 1954 with his groundbreaking book, The Technological Society, he has […] - [ea8](https://home-church.org/ea8/): The Vernard Eller Collection Humanity’s Referendum on GOD by Vernard Eller By Vote of the Constituents It strikes me as imperative that the human race (or at least the religionists involved) come to a firm decision as to whether: It obviously can’t be both ways at once. This is a true “either/or” which has to be decided one way or the other. The outcome of human history depends upon it. But who is to say? So, it is here I propose to do a referendum and let the different constituencies register their own opinion. You can keep score (if you have computer enough […] - [referandum](https://home-church.org/1998-2/): The Vernard Eller Collection Humanity’s Referendum on GOD By Vote of the Constituents by Vernard Eller It strikes me as imperative that the human race (or at least the religionists involved) come to a firm decision as to whether: It obviously can’t be both ways at once. This is a true “either/or” which has to be decided one way or the other. The outcome of human history depends upon it. But who is to say? So, it is here I propose to do a referendum and let the different constituencies register their own opinion. You can keep score (if you have computer enough […] - [ea7](https://home-church.org/ea7/): The Vernard Eller Collection On [Contemporary] Worship by Vernard Eller WORSHIP, of which Jesus says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:23) But which is the worship in truth? Is it the Contemporary-styled song and dance of which God says, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies … Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream” (Amos 5:23)? In John […] - [ea6](https://home-church.org/ea6/): The Vernard Eller Collection On the Risks and Dangers of WORSHIP by Vernard Eller WORSHIP (in all its different forms, and with all its different appurtenances) is a very big thing in the church-life of our day. That, of course, would seem to be all to the good; yet I am convinced that the matter needs much closer biblical thought and examination. What I here mean by WORSHIP is our human initiative in wanting to ascribe and render to GOD that honor which we find most appropriate to his name and being. Is that acceptable as a definition of “worship”? Apparently, we have never had […] - [ea5](https://home-church.org/ea5/): The Vernard Eller Collection So You See Yourself as a Prophet? An Amos or a Jonah? by Vernard Eller With some regularity today’s social activists of the Christian Left appeal to the Old Testament prophets as precedent for their confrontational protest-witness against the powers. I here want to suggest that we will be in better position to evaluate that claim if we first decide whether, by “Old Testament prophet,” we mean Amos or Jonah. There’s a difference. To launch the inquiry I now offer parallel, diagrammed sentences characterizing the work and message of Amos and of Jonah (conveniently ignoring Obadiah, whose […] - [ea4](https://home-church.org/ea4/): The Vernard Eller Collection Covenantal Sex and Marriage A biblical approach to marriage, fornication, divorce, adultery by Vernard Eller When confronting the tide of “Christian” divorces and remarriages, evangelicals have responded with a number of interesting books and magazine interviews. Yet I find myself increasingly restive about the line of approach these tend to take toward Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings on the subject. The implication was that these have the weight of legal edicts which lawyers must now argue through the use of “precedents,” opinions,” “interpretations,” etc.–seeking a “judgment” as to whether God’s law prohibits or allows divorce, remarriage, and the […] - [ea3](https://home-church.org/ea3/): The Vernard Eller Collection Jesus and the Farmworkers by Vernard Eller This won’t be what you are thinking it is. You are not herewith invited to be a spectator, or auditor, as I discourse about what I see to be the relevance of Jesus’ teachings for the present situation of the United Farmworkers (Cesar Chavez and people of that sort). No, things are going to come much closer home. We will be examining what Jesus has to say about you (and me and everyone else) and how you are doing in your assigned role as “farmworker for the Lord.” I find six of […] - [ea2](https://home-church.org/ea2/): The Vernard Eller Collection Why the First Commandment Must Be First Mark 12:28-34 by Vernard Eller When reckoning a passage in Mark’s gospel with the title “Why the First Commandment Must be First,” I see that the first thing I must do is specify that we are talking about Jesus’ Two Commandments rather than Moses’ Ten Commandments. Actually, it won’t make all that much difference. In time we will discover that both Moses’ Two Commandments and his Ten commandments follow the same order of priority as do Jesus’ Two. Nevertheless, we presently are addressing Jesus’ version of the commandments as given […] - [ea1](https://home-church.org/ea1/): The Vernard Eller Collection Peace: Not As the World Gives by Vernard Eller “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives….” With these words of Jn. 14:27, it strikes me that Jesus is making a rather clear demarcation between two different orders or qualities, of peace. I don’t know that Jesus there means totally to scorn the one sort of peace and ask us to go exclusively with the other; yet clearly he does have some ideas about the priority, the promise, and the value of each. For […] - [rev5](https://home-church.org/rev5/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (continued) by Vernard Eller 4:1-14 IX. The Apportioning of Mankind 20:4-15 To this point, John has been very careful and thorough regarding every event he has described; indeed, there may not be one he has not repeated a number of times in the effort to give us fuller insight and elucidation. But now—at least until he gets to the new Jerusalem (which is only one chapter away)—he rushes along at such a pace that seemingly very important matters get glossed over and serious questions are raised which he shows no interest in […] - [rev4](https://home-church.org/rev4/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (continued) by Vernard Eller 4:1-14 VI. The End-Time in Freehand Sketch 12:20 John now is ready to go through an end-time account for the third time; but in this instance he chooses to discard his pattern of the seven-series and do it freehand We can be glad he does, because it produces what is probably the most meaningful treatment of all. The freehand approach carries a number of advantages. John can let the story make its own way. He will now set the end-time into a somewhat larger perspective, recounting […] - [rev3](https://home-church.org/rev3/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (continued) by Vernard Eller III. The Control of History in the End-Time 4:1-14 As we move into this scene in the throne room of God, be very aware that John’s motive in writing and ours in reading is not simply the satisfaction of curiosity as to what a certain spot in heaven may or may not look like. No, John still is making an affirmation regarding the nature and meaning of history, ours as well as his own. And the essential fact about this history is that it is controlled from […] - [rev2](https://home-church.org/rev2/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Most Revealing Book of the Bible (continued) by Vernard Eller II. The Revealer’s Letters to Seven Actual Churches 2:1-3:22 Christ the Revealer dictates to John a letter for each of the churches. They are filled with specific details with which the original readers would have been completely familiar and with which we are almost completely unfamiliar. The frame of reference obviously is first-century Asia Minor and not a twentieth century end of history. A couple of general observations should be made before we look at the letters individually. First, it becomes plain that at least some […] - [rev1](https://home-church.org/rev1/): The Vernard Eller Collection The Most Revealing Book of the Bible by Vernard Eller “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Made Known to John” Table of Contents Revealing What? A technical and authoritative exegesis of the book of Revelation this is not. Our purpose is more to amble through it as a book to be read and enjoyed rather than treating it as a corpse to be dissected or a cipher to be broken. Revelation is here called “revealing” not because it displays attractive figures for calculating the time of the end, but because it highlights some of the most engaging contours […] - [allwrong5](https://home-church.org/allwrong5/): The vernard Eller Collection Could the Church Have It all Wrong? (continued) by Vernard Eller V. The Covenant of the Body Broken Here starts our focused and detailed treatment of the Lord’s Supper. The method will be different from what we just used with baptism. There we located all the NT references we could find—and then tried to group and arrange them into logical order. Here we begin with a theory regarding the Lord’s Supper—and then will adduce scriptural support point by point. Our primordial premise, of course, has been developed at length in earlier chapters: The Lord’s Supper belongs solidly […] - [allwrong4](https://home-church.org/allwrong4/): The Vernard Eller Collection Could the Church Have It all Wrong (continued) by Vernard Eller IV. I Baptize You Our three chapters thus far have continually spoken to (and had implications regarding) the Lord’s Supper. Baptism, for its part, has received pretty short shrift. This is not owing to any prejudice of mine against baptism. It is due to the fact that NT baptism simply does not have the rich sort of biblical background that covenant-remembering Passover provides for the Lord’s Supper. Yet we now turn to baptism—to learn as much as Scripture has to tell us. Christendom, of course, has […] - [allwrong3](https://home-church.org/allwrong3/): The Vernard Eller Collection Could the Church Have It all Wrong? (Continued) by Vernard Eller III. The Centrality of Covenant We have been narrowing the field in our effort to establish that the New Testament interpretation of the Lord’s Supper (in particular) has come to us not out of any sort of sacramental tradition but precisely out of the unique Jewish tradition of historical recital. Consequently, we now undertake the task of identifying the basic content of what it is that gets “remembered” in that tradition. (And recall, we are talking of that fine quality of “remembering” in which the “rememberers” put themselves […] - [allwrong2](https://home-church.org/allwrong2/): The Vernard Eller Collection Could the Church Have It all Wrong (continued) by Vernard Eller Table of Contents II. A New Testament Without Sacramentalism The foregoing chapter established the basic distinction between the sacramental understanding of worship and recital. The chapter following will develop the overall content of biblical recital. Yet this present chapter must be dedicated to a “clearing of the decks”—the predominantly negative but nevertheless essential step of showing that the New Testament contains no sacramentalist tradition that would challenge, qualify, or hamper our going all out with recital. Our outcome I think will be unimpeachable—yet the getting there won’t be […] - [cc112972](https://home-church.org/cc112972/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller How Jacques Ellul Reads the Bible Keeping the balance between the forest and trees by Vernard Eller November 29, 1972 Voices in our midst are calling for some sort of new biblical hermeneutic. Most insistent among them, perhaps, are those of Brevard S. Childs (Biblical Theology in Crisis) and James D. Smart (The Strange Silence of the Bible in the Church). The primary complaint seems to be that regnant methods of interpretation simply are not communicating biblical truth in a way that is moving or meaningful to most believers. The one who has come closest to meeting […] - [cc031170](https://home-church.org/cc031170/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller Sex Power and the Revolution Observe a fallacy: That sexual permissiveness can be compatible with real social revolution by Vernard Eller March 11, 1970 We live in the midst of thoroughgoing social revolution. (As you see, I like to open my articles with a strikingly original statement that will catch the reader’s interest.) The younger generation has determined to replace the structures that have saddled us with the injustices of war, poverty, racism and the like. One of the oppressive orders it seeks to replace is that of our sex mores and practices. […] - [cc100869](https://home-church.org/cc100869/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller Who Are These Blumhardt Characters Anyhow? by Vernard Eller October 8, 1969 The editorial concerning the 50th anniversary of the death of Christoph Blumhardt that appeared in the July 30 Century was a nice little squib. However, the sentence to the effect that Blumhardt “inspire[s] cultic response from followers and receives occasional footnotes from influential people” made us cultic followers mad as hops. I have volunteered to step forward, because I already have been called things worse than that–by Martin Marty even, that cultic follower of Rosenstock-Huessy. (“A brilliant conservative” Marty said. “Brilliant”–preposterous!) […] - [cc121868](https://home-church.org/cc121868/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller Christmas and Luke’s Theology of Hope It is for us, as for the people of the third Gospel, to look beyond the stable toward the Kingdom of God by Vernard Eller December 18, 1968 I was head over heels in the theology of hope (That theology The Christian Century editors have described as “bidding fair to displace the so-called secular theology of the past few years”)–indeed, I was in the very process of reading Jürgen Moltmann&rlquo;s The Theology of Hope–when an invitation to give a Christmas sermon arrived. As I set about preparing my sermon my […] - [cc041068](https://home-church.org/cc041068-2/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller The Ethic of Promise Ethical Thinking in the Eschatological Mode April 10, 1968 If the Theology of Promise (or what some people may still insist on calling “the Theology of Hope” is ever to make anything of itself, sooner or later will need to develop a department of ethics. What follows are some preliminary thoughts in that direction. I. Contextualist An ethic of promise will be contextualist–but it will be accompanied by a radically changed understanding of what constitutes a decision’s context. In current ethical thought (whether or not this is the deepest intention […] - [cc041068](https://home-church.org/cc041068/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller Theology of Promise vs. Theology of Hope by Vernard Eller April 10, 1968 While this letter makes reference to a number of prior articles in The Christian Century,  the astute reader will nevertheless be blessed by the contrasts Dr. Eller makes between a human and a God-centered theology. Comments on an Unsolicited Series SIR: Stop the train! There is an open Switch ahead that could deposit our whole Theological Express down a dead-end siding! “The Theology of Hope” is absolutely the wrong name for what we are talking about, and we ought to get it […] - [cc122767](https://home-church.org/cc122767/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller The ‘MAD’ Morality An Exposé by Vernnard Eller December 27, 1967 The Caesars of contextual ethics have told us that morality, like all gall, is divided into three parts: Obviously there is something wrong with this typology. It is clear that the ethical theory regnant in respectable circles even before the New Morality put in its appearance could hardly have been classified under either No. 1 or No. 2. Neither the Niebuhr brothers nor Paul Ramsey could have been called legalists or libertarians, so they must have been New Moralists; yet it is […] - [cc110167](https://home-church.org/cc110167/): The Vernard Eller Collection Protestant Radicalism Identification of the Phenomenon as Eschatological Witness in the World by Vernard Eller November 1, 1967 In this article, Dr. Eller traces the “believer’s church” theology articulated on this site (and referred to as “house church theology”) back to its historial roots in pietism. He aligns that theology with eschatology–not the kind of “popular” eschatology that is characterized by prophetic speculation, but the idea that the redemption, and mission of the people of God can only be eschatological in its whole approach to its work in the world and its obedience to its king. ed. Within Christian […] - [cc052467](https://home-church.org/cc05246/): The Nude Morality or “But, Fellows, We Don’t Live in Eden Any More!” by Vernard Eller Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller September 20, 1963 Recognition is due the fact that the fight for the new morality is being largely carried on by one particularly dedicated band of film critics–such Dave Pomeroy (Internationo1 Council of Religious Education and elsewhere), Ludo P. Ruotolo (Christianity and Crisis), and Al Carmines (motive). A memorable example of their work is Alfred Edwards’ review in the November 1966 motive. But perhaps the best summary of the position is to be found in Malcolm Boyd’s article, “Which Are the Moral Films of Hollywood?” in […] - [cc121466](https://home-church.org/cc121466/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller A Theology of Nonresistance Man’s ultimate liberty cannot be defended by war; indeed, the very act of going to war marks its loss. by Vernard Eller December 14, 1966 I propose to set before you a theology of nonresistance. Let me insist at once that a theology of nonresistance is not the same thing as the case for nonresistance. Rather, what I have to say proceeds from the profound conviction that the only adequate basis for a truly Christian pacifism must come from a committed reading of the New Testament, must signify obedience […] - [cc042866](https://home-church.org/cc042866/): Letters to The Christian Century by Vernard Eller COCU: Self-Defeating? Can this merger achieve its own most central objectives? And could a merged church forward the continuing effort of the body of Christ to become more truly evangelical, catholic, reformed? by Vernard Eller April 28, 1966 The Consultation On Church Union (COCU), also known as the “Blake/Pike” proposal, was an attempt to unite all American Protestants into a great, national “true church.” Ultimately it went nowhere, but Eller’s critical analysis of this great ecumenical effort is nevertheless instructive with respect to the “spectrum” of denominations and any attempt at achieving a union through […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/home-church.org/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)