I'm all for the House Church Movement, but their faith in a Church Model to restore the glory of the Apostolic Age reminds me of the poor old Plymouth Brethren. The Brethren Movement began in the 19th Century when four Irishmen noticed that there was no biblical basis for having a Clergy and agreed that Clergymen were largely responsible for all the disunity, error and worldliness in the church, so they organized a fellowship "run strictly along New Testament lines," with no ordained ministers. They were confident that this Church Model would end sectarian strife and provide a basis of unity for all believers. By the 20th Century, the Brethren had schismed into 48 warring factions. A whole cascade of divisions and subdivisions resulted from increasingly inane Baptism controversies: "household" or "believer's baptism;" indoors or outdoors; in running water or still; one dip or three; forward or backward. One faction, the River Brethren, added to river baptism the ordinance of foot-washing. But then a controversy arose: should one Brother wash and another dry, or should both functions be performed by the same Brother? They divided into the One-Mode and Two-Mode River Brethren. The HC movement is pretty much the same way. Their pursuit of ecclesiastical perfection leads to constant bickering over every minutia of doctrine and practice. (There are allegedly exceptions, but I haven't found any, and I've been looking for a long time.) I recently heard an irate clergymen denouncing the HC movement for "meeting in living rooms and playing church!" Yeah, fighting, schisming, competing for converts, slandering each other - they're playing church all right! The HC has the potential to be the basis for the next great move of God because of the absence of revival-killing clergymen. But first we have to get Christ-centered instead of Church Model-centered.

wayneman wrote:

The HC has the potential to be the basis for the next great move of God because of the absence of revival-killing clergymen.

I have done all these mistakes in the past, and I am zealous to see these tricks of the devil stopped in the church. I wouldn't leave my church because I new God called me there, but I didn't agree on everything the pastor taught, so I made my life and everybody else's hell until I realized I was going to have to change. I won't get into all the change right now, its too long ;)

just an honest question about them

To all,

The one problem I have with regular church is I can't find a church that actually practices what they preach!! One that actually takes the gospel outside of their four walls to a lost and dying community ON A REGULAR BASIS. I've noticed that some do venture out at Christmas or Thanksgiving but that's it, it's not a ministry in the church. They don't take care of the widows and orphans either (Oh, they might help a widow once but God forbid they take her on like John took on Jesus's mother).

[b]My question about home churches is[/b] and I don't even mean to be sarcastic because I don't even go to a home church let alone a regular one; but how do home churches, the one's who are so close to Jesus it's scary (grin), how do they take Jesus out of their living rooms to a lost and dying community ON A REGULAR BASIS? How do they care for the widows and orphans?

Are there any?

If there aren't any, in my humble opinion and it's just mine but they are no better than the IC. Like I said, I don't attend any so I do not have a dog in this fight just an honest question about them.

The one problem I have with regular church is I can't find a church that actually practices what they preach!! One that actually takes the gospel outside of their four walls to a lost and dying community ON A REGULAR BASIS.

I wouldn't leave my church because I new God called me there, but I didn't agree on everything the pastor taught, so I made my life and everybody else's hell until I realized I was going to have to change. I won't get into all the change right now, its too long ;)