Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Copyright 2014........................................................................................ 4
Acknowledgements................................................................................... 5
Introduction ............................................................................................... 6
Churches in Houses.................................................................................. 8
Ministry from House to House ............................................................... 11
Important Events in Church History in Houses ................................... 12
Christ Ministered From His Own Home................................................. 15
Christ Does Not Discuss Church Buildings ......................................... 19
Christ's Ministry in People's Homes ..................................................... 21
Christ Teaches Disciples to Use Houses.............................................. 25
Growth in Numbers ................................................................................. 28
Growth in Spiritual Gifts ......................................................................... 31
No Performance on Sunday Morning .................................................... 32
Not Small Traditional Churches............................................................. 34
Independent Decision-Making Freedom ............................................... 36
Not Trying to Become a Traditional Church......................................... 37
Not "Exercising Authority Over" Believers .......................................... 38
Authority and Submission Not the Same Thing................................... 41
The Problem of Deception...................................................................... 42
Who is Your Covering?........................................................................... 45
The Passage Teaching "Covering"........................................................ 46
Feminist Teachings in the Church......................................................... 50
Examination of Submission in the Church ........................................... 51
Copyright 2014 Roger Sapp. All rights reserved. This book is protected
under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Unless otherwise
identified, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New American
Standard Version (NASV), Copyright 1960, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, The
Lockman Foundation.
A printed version of this book is available on our website
www.allnationsmin.org. It is also available as a printed or Kindle book on
Amazon.com.
All Nations Publications
P.O. Box 620
Springtown, Texas 76082 USA
1-817-514-0653
Secure website: www.allnationsmin.org
Acknowledgements
I want to thank Larry Frakes and John Beccacio for their extensive help on
this book. Both offered excellent suggestions and comments. Many of their
thoughts were incorporated into the book. Also Robert Short and Greg
Kiser offered encouragement and thoughts on various portions of this
book. Jenny Beamer used her excellent editing skills to make this book
much better. I much appreciate Jenny's work on this book. I appreciate the
excellent feedback that my wife, Ann, gave me on this book's content and
the cover design.
Introduction
The New Testament best expresses how the Church should meet and how
its leadership should function. The New Testament reveals only one
pattern of church life: Churches in houses. There is a great need to return
to this pattern as it provides the only church model that actually allows for
all believers to regularly participate and use their spiritual gifts.
House churches have been shown repeatedly to be the only pattern of
church life that is substantially reaching the lost throughout the world in our
day. It is a much tested pattern of church life that historically has been
spiritually vibrant in the most perilous times. Indeed, Christians meeting in
house churches completely evangelized the Roman Empire in less than
three centuries despite being often under severe persecution. House
churches will be the only pattern of church life that will survive and prosper
in the coming times of opportunity and trouble that Christians will
experience.
In the New Testament and Christian history there is ample evidence that
the home and not public buildings was the normal place of ministry with an
occasional larger meeting in another setting that was often outdoors. The
Church did not own church buildings until after the Third Century.
Ownership of church buildings was a clear signal of a decline in powerful
function as the Church entered the Dark Ages.
There are three expressions of the Church in the New Testament:
Churches in homes, churches in localities or regions and the Universal
Church. We will review the places that the New Testament speaks about
Churches in homes. Churches in localities would be like "the Church at
Corinth." These churches in localities would consist of a multitude of house
churches. The Universal Church consists of all believers everywhere. The
New Testament describes the Universal Church as Christs body."
There are many sincere and dedicated Christians who are not presently
meeting in house churches. What is written here is not an accusation
against them but is meant to be a straightforward encouragement to
everyone to start meeting in ways that Christ taught His disciples.
Transition to a more durable and fruitful way of meeting will be necessary
during this time of increasing pressure to compromise biblical truth.
Many of the organizations that call themselves "churches" today are not
found in the New Testament. They are often too large to be churches in
houses and have no intention of meeting in houses exclusively. They do
not include all Christians in a region or city so they cannot be the church of
the locality. The Church of the locality in the New Testament was not
divided into separate, competing groups of Christians by exclusive
membership and top-down authority structures.
These organizations that call themselves "churches" are Medieval - Dark
Ages - expressions and a departure from what Christ taught and
demonstrated Himself. They are a departure from the dynamic way of
Church life that is found in the New Testament. These Dark Ages ways of
doing Church are unfortunately the institutional way of thinking about
church life in Europe and North America.
This way of thinking about Church is found in Europe because that region
experienced "the Dark Ages. This way of thinking is found in North
America because of the influence of the British Empire. The Churches in
England were meeting in the Medieval pattern and brought it with them as
the British and other Europeans colonized and migrated to North America.
Therefore, this institutional way of thinking about Church life is found
strongly where the British Empire dominated.
There are probably many readers who consider their church to be
advanced and strongly biblical in doctrine. This book is not about doctrine
alone but rather the pattern in which a group of believers meets. Likewise,
it addresses how authority works in groups of believers meeting in the
Medieval pattern.
Groups that meet in buildings other than homes that have a "priestly
person" leading them - such as a pastor - are likely to be in the Medieval
pattern. If they sit in rows, have a Sunday morning service that involves a
musical worship team and hear a weekly message from that "priestly
person," and are encouraged to pay a tenth of their income in support of
salaries and costs of maintaining a building, they are likely to be in the
Medieval - Dark Ages - pattern no matter what they say they believe in a
theological sense. This institutional - Medieval - way of doing church
needs to be seriously examined in light of what the New Testament
teaches. It needs to be compared with what Christ Himself taught and
demonstrated on this matter.
This book has only one real aim and that is to review and encourage the
pattern that is found in the New Testament. That pattern is taught and
demonstrated by Jesus Christ. It is the pattern that will endure and prosper
as the end of the age approaches. What this book states is not meant as
criticism of the many dedicated Christians serving Christ in the traditional
7
Churches in Houses
The Early Church met primarily in homes. They did not own, buy, or build
buildings. The Early Church did not spend money on buildings for church
meetings. They did not worship in sanctuaries. They did not have high
building costs or the ongoing costs of maintaining a building and its
grounds. They did not raise money to build buildings for the purpose of
meetings of the Church. The Early Church demonstrates to us today that
they neither needed nor accepted the burden of specialized buildings used
for hosting church meetings.
The New Testament repeatedly reflects the truth of the Church gathering in
the homes of believers. For instance, a Christian couple - Prisca and
Aquila - had one of these churches in their home. Paul writes:
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life
risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the
churches of the Gentiles; also greet the church that is in their house.
(Romans 16:3-5a)
Paul writes again of this married couple and the church that was in their
house at the end of 1 Corinthians. He writes:
The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the
Lord, with the church that is in their house. (1 Corinthians 16:19)
Paul also mentions that a church met in the house of a woman named
Nympha. He writes:
Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church
that is in her house. (Colossians 4:15)
Noteworthy here is that a woman hosted a house church in her home. In
his letter to Philemon, Paul greets a couple named Apphia and Archippus.
He mentions that they had a church meeting in their house. Paul writes:
And to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the
church in your house: (Philemon 1:2)
Paul also greets a man named Gaius in his letter to the Romans. Paul
says that Gaius had been a "host" to him. This probably means that Paul 8
when he was in Rome - had stayed in Gaius' home. Paul also mentions
that Gaius was host "to the whole church. This suggests that Gaius
allowed meetings of the Church in his home. Paul writes:
Gaius, host to me and to the whole church, greets you. (Romans 16:23a)
The New Testament makes other references to what would seem to be
house churches. For instance, Paul writes twice about a particular
household:
Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanus, that they
were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for
ministry to the saints), (1 Corinthians 16:15)
Paul refers to this household in another place. He writes:
Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanus; beyond that, I do not
know whether I baptized any other. (1 Corinthians 1:16a)
It appears that this household was comprised entirely of Christians. They
had been converted through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. He had
baptized the "household" which would mean - by implication - all of the
people living there. This household was "the first fruits of Achaia" and they
were "devoted" to "ministry." This suggests strongly that this house was a
meeting place of the Church.
There is another story in the Acts of the Apostles that is associated with
the Apostle Paul and a particular household. This is the household of Lydia
in Thyatira. Luke describes Paul's initial ministry to Lydia by writing:
And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of
purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her
heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her
household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay." And she
prevailed upon us. (Acts 16:14-15)
Paul stayed in Lydia's home while he did ministry in Thyatira. This passage
tells us of Paul having several significant supernatural events occur while
staying with Lydia. For instance, Paul casts an evil spirit out of a slave girl.
The evil spirit enabled the slave girl to be a fortune-teller. As a result of the
girl losing the ability to tell fortunes, Paul and his companion Silas are
arrested and are incarcerated in prison. While they are in the prison,
9
another set of supernatural events begins to unfold. Paul and Silas are
praying and singing praise to God, and an earthquake occurs. As a result
of this earthquake, Paul and Silas and all the prisoners are released
supernaturally from their bonds. Because the loss of prisoners means that
the jailer will be executed, the jailer begins the process of taking his own
life. He is interrupted by Paul and Silas who tell him not to take his life
because no one has escaped. As a result of these unusual events, the
jailer and his family become Christians. Shortly afterward, Paul and Silas
are released from the prison and they return to Lydia's home. Luke writes:
And they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when
they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. (Acts 16:40)
Because "they saw the brethren," it does appear that Lydia's home in
Thyatira was now a house church or in the process of becoming one. We
do know that there was a church associated with the city of Thyatira. The
Risen Christ, in the Revelation, speaks of this church. He says:
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has
eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: 'I
know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance,
and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 'But I have this against
you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess,
and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit
acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:18-20)
Christ says that their present deeds are greater than at first. He goes on to
say that they should not be tolerating a false prophetess who is influencing
Christians to commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Of course, the point here is that there was an active Church that may have
had its origins in Lydia's home.
There is also a remarkable story in the Acts of the Apostles concerning the
imprisoned Apostle Peter. A group of believers was praying for him in the
house of Mary, the mother of John. Peter was rescued by an angel from
likely execution in the prison. After the angel released Peter from prison,
he went to the home of Mary. Luke recounts this:
He (Peter) went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also
called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. (Acts
12:12b)
10
Peter knew about this group meeting in John's mothers house. It was
likely a house church that met there regularly. This particular John is also
called John Mark or just Mark. He is the writer of the Gospel of Mark. To
make the point perfectly clear, the writer of the Gospel of Mark attended a
house church. These references show that the Early Church did not meet
in buildings designed for that purpose. Meeting in buildings designed for
Church meetings began to happen during that period of time that is called
"the Dark Ages." Believers - living in close relationship with each other originally were identified as churches by the home in which they met. We
will need to shed the burden of the ownership of buildings as we prepare
for both opportunity and trouble in the days ahead as we approach the end
of the age.
Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ. (Acts 20:20-21)
The end of the book of Acts reveals that the Apostle Paul was still
ministering out of houses. In fact, he was using his own quarters for
preaching and teaching.
He (Paul) stayed two full years in his own rented quarters, and was
welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and
teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.
(Acts 28:30-31)
The Early Church did not change this "house to house" pattern of ministry.
Before Pentecost, Christ had set this pattern. This pattern continued after
Pentecost and through the first several hundred years of Church history.
During this period of time, the entire Roman Empire was evangelized by
Christians meeting in house churches. This occurred despite very serious
persecution happening periodically. Unpopular Christians - who were
meeting primarily in house churches - were amazingly effective in reaching
multitudes of lost people. They were so effective that they overcame the
pagan Roman Empire through faith in Christ. The Empire was declared
"Christian" in 313 AD.
Perilous times have come and are coming to the Church. "Brick and
mortar" church buildings are often the first thing to become useless in
persecution. They become very obvious targets. They are attacked and
destroyed. Or worse, in the recent past, they have been confiscated and
used for "retraining" of Christians in times of persecution. Sometimes,
these buildings have been kept open to give the false appearance of
spiritual freedom. They are often rigidly controlled by governments hostile
to Christ who use them against Christ and His Church. If we are to be
prepared for challenging days to come as we near the end of the age, the
Church will need to be in the original pattern of house churches.
Important Events in Church History in Houses
The very birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost did not happen in the
Temple or a specialized building for that purpose. It happened in a house
in Jerusalem. Luke records the event by writing:
And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one
place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent,
rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And
there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they
12
rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them
utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
The Holy Spirit filled "the whole house." There is no reason to think that we
need church buildings for important spiritual things to happen. The Early
Church did not need them.
A very important event - one of the most important events in the life of the
Apostle Paul - occurred in a house. Paul had been blinded on the road to
Damascus by Christ appearing to him in a vision. God had sent a man
named Ananias to minister to Paul. Luke relates the event in this way:
And Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands
on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the
road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your
sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately there fell from his
eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he arose and
was baptized; (Acts 9:17-18)
Paul's vision is supernaturally restored and he was filled with the Holy
Spirit. Paul is the most influential writer of the New Testament. He may be
the most influential follower of Christ in history. Yet, these important events
in his life occurred in a house. Obviously, God does not need impressive
buildings to do His work in us.
In Chapter 10 of the Acts of the Apostles, there is a striking story that
reveals God initiating His plan to save the non-Jewish world. This story
involves the instructions of an angel appearing in a vision to a Roman
centurion named Cornelius and the Apostle Peter receiving a related
revelation. These very important events in Church history all occurred in
homes. Luke begins his account of this event by telling us about Cornelius
and his vision of an angel who gave him instructions. Luke writes:
Now there was a certain man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of
what was called the Italian cohort, a devout man, and one who feared God
with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and
prayed to God continually. About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw
in a vision an angel of God who had just come in to him, and said to him,
"Cornelius!" And fixing his gaze upon him and being much alarmed, he
said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and alms have
ascended as a memorial before God. And now dispatch some men to
Joppa, and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; he is
13
staying with a certain tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea."
(Acts 10:1-6)
Cornelius does as the angel commands and dispatches men to Simon's
house where Peter is staying. As they come near the city, God gives Peter
a revelation. Luke writes:
On the next day, as they (the men dispatched by Cornelius) were on their
way, and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the
sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry, and was desiring to eat; but
while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; (Acts10:9-10)
Peter is praying on the housetop and falls into a trance. In the trance, God
reveals to Peter that He is accepting the Gentiles into the New Covenant.
By virtue of this revelation, God removes Peter's Jewish reluctance to
interact with Gentiles. Then the Spirit says for Peter to go with the Gentile
men who have just arrived at Simon's home.
And while Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold,
three men are looking for you. But arise, go downstairs, and accompany
them without misgivings; for I have sent them Myself." And Peter went
down to the men and said, "Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what
is the reason for which you have come?" And they said, "Cornelius, a
centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire
nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to
come to his house and hear a message from you." (Acts 10:19-22)
Peter goes with these Gentile men and arrives at Cornelius' home.
Cornelius has invited all his relatives and friends to come hear the divine
message that Peter is bringing to his home. Peter then preaches the Good
News about Jesus Christ and before he is finished, the Holy Spirit falls on
all who are listening. Luke writes:
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all
those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers
who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit
had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them,
speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, "Surely no
one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the
Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" And he ordered them to be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.
(Acts 10:44-48)
14
15
16
And when leaving the multitude, He (Christ) had entered the house, His
disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, "Are you
so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever
goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go
into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated? (Thus He declared
all foods clean.) And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man,
that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds
of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,
pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile
the man." (Mark 7:17-23)
In this passage, we can see that there was private instruction to the
disciples also happening in Christ's home. This important teaching of
Christ has been called: "The Things That Defile" among other things.
There are many important teachings that Christ gave His disciples from His
home in Capernaum. For instance, Christ gave Peter some important
instruction just after Peter encountered the Temple tax collector. The
Apostle Matthew records this interaction between Peter and the tax
collector and then the interaction between Peter and Christ. The first
interaction occurred just outside of Christ's home and the second inside of
Christ's home.
When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma
tax came to Peter, and said, "Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma
tax?" He said, "Yes." And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to
him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of
the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?"
And upon his saying, "From strangers," Jesus said to him, "Consequently
the sons are free." (Matthew 17:24-26)
Christ tells Peter that they are exempt - free - from paying this Old
Covenant tax because they are sons of God. While there is much more
that could be said about this, the point of discussing this passage is to
bring to light that this teaching occurred in Christ's home.
This teaching - "The Sons are Free" - occurred at the end of Chapter 17 of
Matthew's Gospel. The chapter divisions and verse numbering was added
much later in history for the purposes of translation. Without recognition of
this fact, we could possibly miss that all the verses in Chapter 18 occur in
Christ's home. The first verse in Chapter 18 reveals this. It says:
17
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven?" (Matthew 18:1)
This reveals that at the very same time that Christ had taught Peter about
his freedom from the temple tax, Christ taught all the His disciples many
things from His home in Capernaum. Chapter 18 is a long chapter
consisting of 35 verses and many of Christ's important teachings such as:
True Greatness (Matthew 18:1-5) (cf: Mark 9:33-37)
The Danger of Being a Stumbling Block (Matthew 18:6-9)
The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14)
Correction of the Brother Who Sins (Matthew 18:15-20)
Seventy Times Seven Forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-22)
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:23-35)
All these important teachings of Christ were taught to Christ's disciples in
His home in Capernaum. Christ was setting a pattern for His apostles.
They were exposed to this pattern of ministry for three years. Ministry from
their homes was prominent in His pattern.
Mark's Gospel gives us other information about Christ's ministry from His
home in Capernaum. Crowds had gathered at Christ's home in
Capernaum. However, not everything was always positive about this. Mark
records Christ's family trying to "take custody" of Him, thinking that he had
gone insane.
He came home, and the multitude gathered again, to such an extent that
they could not even eat a meal. And when His own people heard of this,
they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost
His senses." (Mark 3:20-21)
Apparently taking advantage of the accusation of Christ's own family that
He was crazy, the scribes added the accusation that Christ was possessed
by Beelzebul and was casting out demons by Satan's power. In answer to
that accusation, Christ once again teaches important things at his home in
Capernaum. Here are the teachings that Christ gives at His home at that
time:
A House Divided Against Itself (Mark 3:23-26)
Entering the Strong Man's House (Mark 3:27)
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:28-30)
18
19
The Jews therefore answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to
us, seeing that You do these things?" Jesus answered and said to them,
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews
therefore said, "It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You
raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
(John 2:18-21)
Even when the subject starts out about a building used for worship, Jesus
changes the subject to something else. Again, if Christ wanted His
disciples to build buildings, He missed another good opportunity to make
that point. Instead, Christ predicts His resurrection from the dead by calling
His body "this temple." There is a striking absence of any indication that
Christ wished His disciples to build buildings for the purposes of worship.
Christ uses what exists for ministry and goes where people gather but
does not encourage building buildings.
Often things in the Old Covenant are types and symbols of the things in
the New Covenant. The Old Testament Temple seems to be one of those
things. The idea of the Temple being the temple of a Christian's body is
first revealed by Christ in the Gospels but is continued by the writers of the
New Testament. For instance, Paul makes two references in two verses
about the physical body of Christians being the "temple of God." He
writes:
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy
him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. (1 Corinthians
3:16-17)
There is a third reference where Paul again describes the physical body of
a Christian as "the temple of the Holy Spirit." Paul writes:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians
6:19)
The dwelling place of God is no longer buildings as in the Old Testament.
God dwells in His people. Twice more Paul makes reference to the
dwelling place of God as now being Christians. He writes:
For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I will dwell in
them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My
people. (2 Corinthians 6:16b)
20
city had gathered at the door. And He healed many who were ill with
various diseases, and cast out many demons... (Mark 1:29b-34a)
The houses that Christ used did not have to be houses of his disciples.
Christ did healing ministry on the Sabbath even in the house of one of His
potential critics. Luke describes it this way:
[Christ] went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the
Sabbath to eat bread, [and] they were watching Him closely. And there, in
front of Him was a certain man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus answered
and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the
Sabbath, or not?" But they kept silent. And He took hold of him, and healed
him, and sent him away. (Luke 14:1-4)
Sometimes, Christ simply did ministry where the problem existed, such as
a house. He did not require people to come to some special, holy place
such as the Temple to receive ministry. For instance, Christ raised a girl
from the dead in the house of her parents. Luke tells us this story in this
way:
[Christ] had come to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him,
except Peter and John and James, and the girl's father and mother. Now
they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, "Stop weeping,
for she has not died, but is asleep." And they began laughing at Him,
knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called,
saying, "Child, arise!" And her spirit returned, and she rose immediately;
and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. And her parents
were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened.
(Luke 8:51)
Christ often taught the multitudes - using parables - in various places in the
outdoors. However, He explained the parables to His disciples in a house.
Matthew records this about Christ's ministry in parables:
All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not
speak to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the
prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN
PARABLES; I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION
OF THE WORLD." Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house.
And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the
tares of the field." (Matthew 13:34-36)
22
had failed to deliver a boy from a demon. Christ cast out the spirit in front
of a crowd outdoors but the private instruction of His disciples, shortly
thereafter about why they had failed, happened in a house.
When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the
unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you,
come out of him and do not enter him again." And after crying out and
throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so
much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!" But Jesus took
him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. And when He had come
into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could
we not cast it out?" And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by
anything but prayer." (Mark 9:25-29)
Not only did Christ heal the sick and teach His disciples in homes, but
other important matters happened in homes as well. For instance, after
Christ had entered Jerusalem, He sent the disciples to make arrangements
to celebrate the Passover in a particular home. This is, of course, the first
celebration of the Lord's Supper. Matthew, recounting Christ's words,
writes:
He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ' The Teacher
says," My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with
My disciples." (Matthew 26:18)
Other important matters occurred in people's homes also. Two houses in
Bethany, a village located about two miles east of Jerusalem, are
mentioned in connection with Christ. The home of Lazarus, Mary, and
Martha in Bethany and perhaps the home of Simon the Leper were
important places of ministry. These households had the privilege of hosting
Christ as He did ministry in Jerusalem. The Gospels record Christ and His
disciples leaving Bethany to go to Jerusalem and then returning to
Bethany.
He entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking all
around, He departed for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
And on the next day, when they had departed from Bethany, He became
hungry. And seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if
perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found
nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He answered
and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples
were listening. (Mark 11:11-14)
24
25
As you go, preach, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Heal the
sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you
received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your
money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a
staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. (Matthew 10:7-11)
What Christ says after this commissioning may not be as familiar to
Christians. In the next part of this passage, Christ tells them to minister out
of the house of a worthy person. Christ says:
And into whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it; and
abide there until you go away. And as you enter the house, give it your
greeting. And if the house is worthy, let your greeting of peace come upon
it; but if it is not worthy, let your greeting of peace return to you. (Matthew
10:12-13)
To place further emphasis on a house being a primary place of ministry,
Christ tells them in this passage what to do if they are not received. Christ
says "go out of that house."
Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that
house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you, it will
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment than for that city. (Matthew 10:14-15)
Later in this same chapter, Christ tells His apostles where they are to
proclaim the things that He taught them. Christ instructed his disciples to
proclaim the truth from housetops, but western culture may not fully
understand the implications. Housetops were generally flat and people
gathered in the cool of the evening on their rooftops. It would have been an
ideal place to proclaim the Good News. The house was the most common
place of ministry in the New Testament era. Christ says:
What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear
whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. (Matthew 10:27)
In a similar passage, Christ warns His disciples not to indulge in hypocrisy
because the truth will be eventually known. Christ says:
Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light,
and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon
the housetops. (Luke 12:3)
26
Houses were used by the church to proclaim the truth. Often, this
happened on the housetops.
In another passage, Christ again commands the Twelve Apostles to use
houses in ministry that required a journey. Mark writes:
He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs; and He
was giving them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them
that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff; no
bread, no bag, no money in their belt; but to wear sandals; and He added,
"Do not put on two tunics." And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a
house, stay there until you leave town. And any place that does not receive
you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake off the dust from the
soles of your feet for a testimony against them." And they went out and
preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many
demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.
(Mark 6:7-13, cf: Luke 9:1-6)
Not only does Christ command the Twelve Apostles to use homes but He
gives a similar command and instruction to the Seventy that He sent out.
The Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two ahead of
Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He
was saying to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His
harvest. Go your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of
wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.
And whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house.' And if a
man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return
to you. And stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for
the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to
house. And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set
before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, 'The
kingdom of God has come near to you.'" (Luke 10:1b-9)
Again, the house will be the primary place of Christian ministry. Christ tells
them to offer a blessing to whatever house hosts them. Christ says that the
blessing "Peace be to this house" should be given. If a man of peace is
present in the house, then "your peace will rest on him" but if not, it will
return to you.
Christ also tells them not to move from house to house as they do this.
Perhaps, this is to avoid the temptation to look for a better situation.
27
Additionally, not moving from place to place might provide the advantage
of people in the region knowing of what house to go to find Christ's
disciples doing ministry. Again, it should be noted, that Christ had homes
at the center of His plan to reach the lost sheep of Israel. It is still at the
center of His plan to reach the world. The time is short. It is time to yield to
the Lord on this important matter and prepare for the end of the age.
There are other statements by Jesus Christ that show that He intended the
home to be the primary place of ministry. For instance, Matthew records
Christ saying...
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do
men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the
lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15)
Christ teaches that lamps are related to the witness and watchfulness of
the Church in the "Parable of the Ten Virgins" and the "Parable of the Lost
Coin." In the Revelation, Christ says that "lampstands" are churches. Both
lamps and lampstands are ordinary objects found in First Century homes.
Light is being given to "all who are in the house." People of that period
hearing Christ would have understood that He was saying that Christian
ministry would ordinarily take place in a house.
The Apostle John also offers us this apostolic commandment:
Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ,
does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the
Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this
teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a
greeting... (2 John 1:9-10)
John says that believers should identify a false teacher by the fact that he
does not "abide in the teaching of Christ." This would mean that he doesn't
do or teach what Christ taught. A few phrases later, he further identifies
that a false teacher "does not bring this teaching." In other words, if a
teacher is not living in what Christ taught and does not teach what Christ
taught, he should not be "received into your house." Again, the place of
ministry where someone would teach is "your house."
Growth in Numbers
As already stated, the New Testament reveals only one model of church
life and that is the house church. It has a proven history under the most
difficult of circumstances. Even in the best of times, it has shown a
28
29
30
of these people. They are limited in their spiritual growth and ministry by
the Medieval system.
The problem is partly that the authority structure of an institutional "brick
and mortar" church creates a pyramid of people. It has a single leader at
the top and then a secondary layer of leaders that have been given some
limited permission to do ministry. The secondary layer consists of at best
20% of the church and fills up all of the available places of ministry. The
remaining 80% of the church is not expected to do much of anything but be
present to worship and to be involved in giving financially.
The great problem with this is that half of the 80% are capable of doing
significant ministry but will never be given permission or opportunity to do
so. In fact, if an equipped and growing Christian begins doing significant
ministry - without specific permission - they will often be considered rebels.
They may even be seen as a threat to the leadership.
This way of doing church often stifles people who are growing spiritually
and need to do ministry to continue growing. It creates a "cork in the bottle"
effect. If someone begins to have a dynamic life in the Spirit, there is an
attempt from leadership to "cork" them. Often these people will never find
significant ministry with a church like this if they are marked by the
leadership as needing to be "corked." In order for them to continue to
grow, they will have to go someplace else. Of course, there are a few
exceptional leaders that work diligently to involve people at a greater level.
However, as the church grows larger, the number of people that are not
involved in ministry will also grow proportionately. There is no way to fix
this problem of uninvolved people, as it is built into the nature of a
Medieval hierarchal church.
These uninvolved people are a wasted asset of the Church. If they go too
long in this unfulfilling situation, they may also lose heart and drop out of
church life, while not dropping out of faith in Christ. "Bricks and mortar"
churches often have many gifted, bored, and unchallenged people who
continue attending church only because they see it as the right thing to do.
If they are not in the approved 20% and have been "corked" in the past,
they may attend without real passion any longer. Eventually, they may lose
heart and quit attending all together.
speakers and musicians. The speaker may even use a prompter to deliver
what appears to be a spontaneous message but was written out and
practiced repeatedly. Those who are learning will have a hard time getting
much opportunity to do ministry in the environment of a performance
before an audience. They are simply not professional enough to
participate.
Surely there are quite a few in a church of more than a thousand members
that have the spiritual gift of prophecy. However, the free exercise of
spontaneous spiritual gifts does not fit into this performance. It will often
seem too risky to leaders to allow congregational members to have
freedom to exercise spiritual gifts. Therefore, the leadership will often
suppress those who could function. There are some larger churches that
may approve those that they trust explicitly to function. They may fit a nonspontaneous planned prophecy into the schedule of the service.
Typically, these "brick and mortar" churches will acknowledge the
existence of spiritual gifts but have congregations that have little
knowledge or expectation of functioning in spiritual gifts. Most
congregational members will not have a sense of permission to do
anything spontaneous as far as spiritual gifts are concerned. This doesn't
seem to be an oversight of leadership but often the result of concerns
about creating a bad performance on Sunday morning. In many cases,
leaders would rather not have spiritual gifts happen at all, if they have to
deal with unexpected things happening on Sunday morning. There is no
expectation or flexibility in these churches for the Holy Spirit to guide and
direct.
Obviously, the environment of a performance is not conducive to
Christians learning to function in these gifts. God never intended a meeting
of the church to be a performance before an audience. There should be no
audience, and worship should not be a performance. The Father expects
that every one of His children could participate with their gifts. Consider the
description that the Apostle Paul offers concerning a meeting of the Early
Church. Paul writes:
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a
psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an
interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Each one - each believer - was expected to participate. This is, of course,
a simple definition of what should happen at a house church gathering.
Everyone should offer something to help others. Everyone's purpose
33
should be to edify other people. The house church has the capacity for all
to use their gifts regularly.
There is no concern about how professional people may be in their
ministry in the house church. Because house churches thrive on
relationships, coaching is a common occurrence. Such coaching can help
every Christian to learn to use spiritual gifts to edify all. Spiritual growth
can quickly happen in a house church. There is freedom to exercise
spiritual gifts. Permission is already given without expectation of
professionalism.
Experience leads to maturity in a caring environment. Therefore,
substantial growth in the quality of spiritual gifts happens as time goes by.
The person exercising spiritual gifts becomes more skilled and gains a
mature exercise of the gifts as they are exercised regularly. The
"perfectionist" environment of many institutional "brick and mortar"
churches does not produce the same fast growth because of a lack of
opportunity.
Christ will need multitudes of His followers functioning in their gifts and
ministries at the end of the age. The great harvest of souls will need
millions of laborers who are fully equipped in spiritual gifts and the
ministries of Christ. The Church - in the Medieval pattern - has already
demonstrated its inability to equip the majority of those who attend
regularly. The house church, on the other hand, is preparing millions of
Christian laborers for the amazing time to come of a great harvest of souls
at the end of the age.
34
who attend. Therefore, "house church" remains the favored term to the
author.
House churches should not be small institutional churches. A house
church is not an institutional church that has divided itself into small groups
but still meets together on Sundays as a traditional church. We should not
apply institutional "brick and mortar" concepts to house churches. Those
concepts are too limited. The great strength of a house church is its
freedom to be whatever it needs to be in the moment.
There should be no ambition to grow in numbers. That is an ambition of
the traditional church. (House churches do grow without this ambition.)
There should only be one ambition and that is to be together with a group
of friends and the Lord. Indeed, the basic and most simple definition of a
house church is found in Christ's statement:
For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in
their midst. (Matthew 18:20)
The key element is the pure motive of "gathering together in My name."
House churches, unlike institutional "brick and mortar" churches, are not
looking for validation by large numbers. People who meet in house
churches do not find their significance in having large numbers attend
services. Those that lead house churches do not obtain significance by
being able to draw financial support from larger numbers of people
attending. The motives of leaders remain much more pure.
There should be no sense of failure if there are more empty chairs than
last week. There is no ambition to be a large gathering in a building. There
is no hidden ambition to be known as successful. The motives in house
churches remain simple and pure. Those that do house church should only
be interested in being together and being with Jesus.
The institutional pattern of a leader who does the great majority of the
ministry while everyone else sits in rows for a limited time on Sunday
morning should not be what happens with a house church. There should
not be a leader who dominates things. That is the Medieval pattern of
church meetings but is not the pattern of the Early Church. A healthy
house church will not be dominated by anyone but the Holy Spirit.
A house church will respond to present needs of those who attend and to
the leading of the Holy Spirit. Teaching can happen as a planned event but
will often happen spontaneously as the need and opportunity arises. (This
35
is much like the example of Christ interacting with His disciples.) Mature
Christians will have much influence but not as a result of their authority
over anyone. They will be highly influential because of their maturity,
wisdom, and fruitfulness.
37
Leaders in this situation tend to forget that they were succeeding at doing
good ministry. They forget that the people were being blessed without a
building before. This new financial situation forces the leader to spend
more time publicly raising money to pay the bills. He ends up teaching
questionable things about giving. (Giving to pay for the cost of building is
not found in the New Testament.)
Often the relationships change subtly in a situation like this. An
authoritarian attitude is gradually adopted by the leader. This may be so
subtle that even the leader does not perceive it happening. Before, the
leader was simply a more mature or more gifted Christian who was
positively influencing his brothers and sisters. Everyone was growing
through participation in ministry to each other and to the Lord. The leader
now seeks to "exercise authority over" his brothers and sisters in an
authoritarian manner. The other Christians have less and less opportunity
to actually do significant ministry.
Authoritarianism is a characteristic pattern of church life that comes from
the Medieval period. It is not characteristic of the house churches in the
New Testament. Even the Apostle Paul appealed to the Churches that he
had planted as their "father." In the context, "father" means "founder." He
did not seek to influence them as someone who had "authority over them."
He influenced them as one who had a history in relationship and friendship
with them.
No growing house church has to become an institutional "brick and mortar"
church. It should remain in the biblical pattern. Believers can continue as a
house church. If they become too large for practicality, they should plant
new house churches. Everyone could have resisted the temptation to
become an institutional "brick and mortar" church and maintained their
purity of motive.
38
39
How did the "brick and mortar" churches end up in a pattern of authority
that is in conflict with what Christ taught? Let us remember that Christ
referred to "rulers of the Gentiles" and "great men among them" in His
teaching forbidding this kind of authority. The most obvious example of
"lording it over" and "exercising authority over" in Christ's time was the
Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire was highly conscious of authority. It was hierarchal in
nature with the Roman Emperor, Caesar, at the top and subordinate
authorities such as Governors and their appointed servants who all
"exercised authority and "lorded it over" the citizens and slaves of the
Empire.
The Christians of the First and Second Centuries, on the other hand, were
strikingly free of authority consciousness. In fact, they were labeled by the
unbelieving people of the Empire as "levelers" meaning that they did not
acknowledge a hierarchal authority among believers. The authorityconscious Romans found this very strange. This is not to say that they
were rebellious. Quite the contrary was true. They submitted first to the
Lord and secondarily to secular authority. They practiced mutual
submission with each other. They were highly submitted but not in a
hierarchal pattern.
After the Roman Empire became "Christian" in 313 AD, the Church began
to be reshaped and came to resemble the system of authority of the
Roman Empire. It began to do what Christ had forbidden. (This is also the
period of time that it began to build buildings for Christian worship.) The
Church took on the characteristics of being a layered, top-down,
hierarchical authority. Instead of an Emperor, it had a Pope. He had
subordinate authorities of archbishops and bishops "exercising authority
over" priests. The priests, in turn, "exercised authority over" the common
people. This is all very much in disobedience to Christ's teaching of not
"exercising authority over" believers.
When the Protestant Reformation came, Protestants rejected the authority
of the Pope, his bishops and priests, but established a nearly identical
system of hierarchal authority. It just had fewer layers of authority. While
the Protestants reformed portions of theology, they still maintained the
hierarchal system and authority practices that Christ had forbidden.
The Protestants also had a priestly person at the top of each congregation.
Luther named his Protestant leaders "pastors" using the French word for
"shepherd"--to draw a distinction between them and the Roman Catholic
40
priests. 1 He also had them wear black robes rather than the various
colored robes of Roman Catholic priests. These distinctions were very
superficial especially concerning the exercise of authority. The pastor
"exercised authority over" another group of subordinate leaders - elders or
deacons - and they together exercised authority over the common people 2 .
Layers of authority still existed no matter what they called them and how
they were arranged.
Protestant leaders were still "exercising authority over" other Christians.
Unfortunately, this way of thinking about authority in the Church affected
the thinking of other independent groups of believers that were neither
Protestant nor Roman Catholic. Many are in this pattern simply because it
is all that they have known. They may not be aware that many Christians in
the world today have never been in this pattern and will never adopt it.
King James, a Protestant, wanted to harmonize the Bible with the existing hierarchal structures
in his day. The Anglican Church had existing hierarchal "pastors." King James had the translators
insert the word "pastor" in Ephesians 4:11 for the Greek word that is translated everywhere else
in the New Testament as "shepherd." This gives the wrong impression that the early church had
"pastors" as we know them today. However, there is not a single passage where a "pastor" or a
"shepherd" is in authority leading a congregation as we know them today. King James translators
did similar things with the word "bishop."
2
In some "brick and mortar" churches (such as Baptists) the deacons are actually elected by
majority vote by the congregation. Usually the deacons control a hired pastor who also must be
elected by majority vote by the church. Despite this more democratic way of doing church
business, it is still a departure from what the New Testament teaches. In our observation of these
churches, usually either the pastor or the deacons become entrenched in authority over a time.
Leaders will "exercise authority over" other believers and will strongly dominate the politics of
these churches.
3
Ephesians 5:21
41
His Church. Christ has direct authority over each believer. He alone is Lord
over them. Christ leads His disciples - in a direct and personal way - by the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. By mutual submission to each other, there is
no "exercising authority over" any believer by any other believer. Every
believer has Christ indwelling and therefore can be His spokesperson.
Therefore, we listen to and cooperate with each other - submit to each
other - as we obey the Lord.
If our submission to another believer is in clear conflict with obedience to
the Lord, then we are obligated to obey the Lord as we continue to do our
best to patiently and kindly submit to each other. If our obedience in
specific matters violates our conscience and our understanding of what
Christ teaches, we must kindly refuse to obey. If we believe that it would
be unethical or immoral to obey, then we must respectfully refuse to
cooperate. Ultimately, Christ remains Lord over us as we remained
submitted to other believers.
Submission is always mutual. Everyone is required to submit to each
other. Leaders must submit to every other Christian and not just a small
group of leaders "above" them in hierarchy. This means even those who
are mature Christians must submit to the youngest believer among us. Any
believer can speak for Christ because He lives within them and not just
those at the top of a hierarchal authority system. All believers are honored
by mutual submission. Every believer must be willing to listen to every
believer as we seek to do the will of Christ.
See to it that no one misleads you For many will come in My name, saying,
"I am the Christ," and will mislead many. (Matthew 24:4-5)
Confirming the same sign, a few verses later, Christ says:
And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.
(Matthew 24:11)
At the end of this chapter, Christ then says:
"Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,'
do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will
show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the
elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. (Matthew 24:23-25)
While there are many things that Christ mentions in this description of the
end of the age, there is only one thing that he mentions more than once.
Christ warns of religious deception three times. He warns about being
misled.
The Medieval model of the Church developed as the Church had largely
departed from Christ's teaching to His disciples. It is highly unlikely that
submission to a hierarchal Medieval Church will be protective at all. Since
the house church is what Christ taught and demonstrated to His disciples,
it is much more likely to be protective from deception.
Submission in the Medieval model is to a narrow group of leaders.
Common sense should acknowledge that this would not be protective of
deception. This model is likely to protect heresies of various kinds by
stifling those who would ask important questions. Since in the house
church model, every believer can speak for Christ, it is unlikely that a
heresy can be taught for long without someone asking important questions
about it.
The Medieval model of the Church has already been in violation of Christ's
teaching on not "exercising authority over" believers for more than a
thousand years. There is already much heresy being protected by this
model. This is unlikely to change significantly. We should place little
confidence in this model's ability to protect us from deception in any
significant way.
43
We will need protection at the end of the age from deceptions. That
protection will not come from a selective submission to a few leaders in a
hierarchy. That protection will come to us as submit to one to another and
as we honor all believers - especially mature Christians - to speak to us for
Christ.
The leader that is supposedly "covering" a believer is submitting only to a
single person "above" him in the hierarchy. If that person at the top of the
hierarchy is in error, then there is no one who will be able to correct him.
He will only listen to someone "above" him. Since those that he is
"exercising authority over" or "covering" will only listen to him, this insures
that a false teaching never gets corrected.
Those that question leaders about doctrinal issues in authoritarian
structured groups are likely to either be encouraged to silence or shown
the door. In a church group like this, they are much more likely to
encounter the attitude-- "my way or the highway." Despite the fact that the
believer has committed money, time, and service to this group, nothing of
their investment will be honored if the leader marks them a rebel due to
their questions. Sadly, this spiritual abuse is thought to be the right way to
do things in many groups of believers.
No one who is not an acknowledged authority will be able to get someone
in authority to listen to them because they are only listening to those
"above" them. The problems of a bad teaching will not be corrected in this
kind of relationship. Heresy will be protected by the hierarchal relationship.
This arrangement is not protective at all. It is likely to propagate doctrines
that are seriously questionable but are being protected by a hierarchy.
Consider that the Roman Catholic Church is the most "covered"
denomination in the world with each person in a congregation submitting to
a priest. Each priest is submitting to a bishop. Each bishop is submitting to
the Pope. Nevertheless, the highly submitted Roman Catholic Church is
full of heresy and superstitions. Historically, this institution has also been
the source of many abusive financial practices of the poor such as selling
indulgences. Historically, it has been the source of persecution, torture and
murder of other non-Catholic Christians and Jews. This is hardly an
endorsement for the idea of being covered by layers of authority.
Those who believe in mutual submission are in a much more protected
state. No leader can propagate a false doctrine without being
compassionately challenged by those in fellowship with him. He is likely to
see that there are flaws in a questionable teaching. Believers who practice
44
mutual submission have the right to ask difficult questions about the
biblical merit of what is being taught. They are not silenced by authoritarian
attitudes. People in house churches are often engaged in a dialogue with
teachers. They want to know leaders and are unsatisfied at simply hearing
a monologue without really knowing the person who is giving it.
45
46
man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. (1 Corinthians
11:3)
This is the first point. This verse says "the man is the head of a woman."
Normally, this is taken to mean that a wife and unmarried daughters - of
any age - remain under the protective "covering" authority of the man who
is their husband or father. This is completely consistent with many other
passages in the Bible located in both New and Old Testaments. Readers
should note that the only passage about "covering" is not about the
authority of church leaders at all. It is entirely about the family.
The New Testament actually has six more places where wives are
encouraged to submit to their husbands. 4 This does reinforce the biblical
ideal that wives and daughters have a special protected place in the family
under the "covering" authority of the husband and father. The family is the
only place where any man may righteously exercise spiritual authority over
another person.
The protective "covering" of the authority of a husband or father is the
scriptural and normal meaning of covering. It was widely accepted
throughout the Church until the Shepherding Movement of the 1970's
began to misuse the idea of "covering." They taught a regimented
hierarchal view of the authority of leaders over their followers. At the same
time, feminism was undermining the authority of husbands and fathers
over their families. In effect, "covering" authority was stolen from husbands
and fathers by the devil and given to leaders in the Church.
The "Shepherding Movement" duped believers into thinking that being
"covered" would protect them spiritually. Christians were taught that
leaders spoke for God even if they were wrong. This resulted in much
abuse of ordinary Christians by leaders. This movement was thoroughly
discredited by exceptionally bad fruit. Nevertheless, because the
"covering" teaching was compatible with the "Dark Ages" model of the
Church, it was widely adopted to reinforce the hierarchal system.
As stated before, the second point in Pauls teaching of covering is
largely ignored but should not be as it has very strong implications that
contradict the present day teaching of "covering" in many churches. Here it
is:
Ephesians 5:21-22, Colossians 3:18, Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 2:13, 1 Peter 3:1
47
While the husband is properly head of his wife and his unmarried
daughters, the head of the husband is not a spiritual authority in the
Church but Christ Himself.
Remember that Paul started this teaching on "covering" by writing:
...Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of a woman....
(1 Corinthians 11:3b)
This passage does not mention another earthbound human "exercising
authority over" the man as his "covering." In stark contrast to the idea that
a man needs a human being to be his "covering," Paul actually
discourages the man being "covered" by an earthbound human authority.
Paul writes about a "covered" man by stating:
Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying,
disgraces his head. But every woman who has her head uncovered while
praying or prophesying, disgraces her head. (1 Corinthians 11:4-5a)
The man should be "uncovered" or he "disgraces his head, who is Christ.
If a Christian man has an earthbound human authority "exercising authority
over" him, he disgraces Christ. There should be nothing on a man's head
because Christ is his "head." The same passage that says that a woman
should be "covered" by the authority of her husband says that the mans
head should not be "covered."
The later verses in this passage state that a womans longer hair and a
cloth "covering" for her head were used to illustrate - by means of a symbol
- her husbands or fathers authority over her. The husband or father, on
the other hand, was not to be "covered" in the same manner as a wife or
daughter or he disgraces his 'head, who is Christ.
In summary, these verses have said that a woman should be "covered" but
a man should not be "covered." There has been no mention of another
man acting as a "covering" for a man at all. In fact, this passage forbids the
man being "covered" like his wife is "covered". The passage also makes it
abundantly clear that Christ is the head of every man. Paul continues the
context with some of the same ideas.
For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off;
but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head
shaved, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to have his head
48
covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the
glory of man. (1 Corinthians 11:6-7)
Again, the same two ideas emerge from this passage but this time with a
precise explanation from Paul. A woman - a wife or a daughter - should be
"covered" but a man "ought not" to be "covered." Again, Paul forbids a man
to be "covered" like the mans wife or daughter is "covered". Paul gives a
clear and reasoned biblical explanation of why this is important. He says
that the man "ought not" to be "covered" like his wife is "covered" since he,
the man, is "the image and glory of God." His wife is to be "covered"
because she is "the glory of the man." Again, there has been no mention of
the need of the man to be "covered" by another mans authority. In fact,
this kind of authority has been forbidden a second time and Paul has
explained why this is so. Pauls explanation certainly contradicts modern
reasoning on this issue. Paul explains why a woman should be "covered"
and a man should not be "covered" in the next two verses in the passage:
For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; for indeed
man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake.
Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head,
because of the angels. (1 Corinthians 11:8-10)
Paul elaborates on why a woman, a wife, needs to be "covered" and why a
man should not be "covered". It is because the woman was created for the
mans sake and not the reverse. (The man was not created for the
womans sake.) The wife is to be "covered" by her husband because she
was created to be his helper. The man, on the other hand, was not created
to be the helper of his wife and therefore should not be "covered" as the
wife is "covered".
The implications of Pauls explanation are obvious. In the family
relationship, the womans role is to help her husband as Eves role was to
help Adam. However, in the Church, this is not so. No man was ever
created to emulate a "covered" wife to a leader. Additionally, no man or his
wife is "covered" by a leader in the Church. Obviously, the spiritual
relationship between a husband and wife are of a different nature than
relationships between believers in the Church.
What Paul has taught is not evident to many today who have been taught
to believe nearly the opposite of what these verses actually say. The
hierarchal church - in some places - is actually reversing what this passage
teaches. The hierarchal Church is often subverting the authority of
husbands and the submission of wives. They do this by silence on this
49
a much more general submission, not just to a single leader but to all
leaders and believers in a region. We must see the church beyond the
walls of the institutional "brick and mortar" church and not allow ourselves
to be committed only to those believers who fellowship in the same
building. We need to know the believers who live near us. This will become
increasingly important as we near the end of the age. We should not
accept the artificial and unwholesome divisions created by "membership"
to church organizations.
We should no longer accept the idea that a periodic meeting of leaders is
the "unity of the Church." As long as leaders purposely seek an exclusive
commitment - membership - of believers to their group, they create
structural disunity in the Church. This kind of disunity originated in the Dark
Ages. This kind of disunity is continued by believers continuing to meet in a
Medieval pattern. The unity of the Church will only be realized when
believers in the same neighborhood know each other well. When believers
can fellowship - without institutional barriers and without exclusive
submission to hierarchies of leaders - we can begin to declare unity.
There are six places where the New Testament speaks of the submission
of a wife to her husband 5 . The New Testament only speaks to this issue of
submission to leaders in the Church in three places 6 . The traditional
church often places great emphasis on submission to leaders but is often
silent on submission of wives to husbands. This is certainly out of balance.
All three of the passages about submission to leaders reveal a general
submission that should be thought of as "cooperation." The first of these
passages is found in the Apostle Pauls writings. This passage was quoted
early in this book concerning house churches. It is quoted here in
reference to submission - subjection - to leaders. Paul writes:
Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they
were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves for
ministry to the saints), that you also be in subjection to such men and to
everyone who helps in the work and labors. (1 Corinthians 16:15-16)
This passage encourages the believers to be submitted to leaders in the
area of Achaia. It also encourages them to be submitted to everyone who
5
Ephesians 5:21-22, Colossians 3:18, Titus 2:5, 1 Peter 2:13, 1 Peter 3:1
and while 1 Corinthians 11:3 does not use the word "submit," it declares the husband as "head"
of the wife. It could be considered a seventh encouragement for wives to submit to their
husbands.
6
1 Corinthians 16:15-16, 1 Peter 5:5, Hebrews 13:17
52
Indeed, this call to mutual submission is found in various places in the New
Testament. For example, the passage that calls twice for the submission of
wives to husbands begins with this:
and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)
Clearly, Pauls understanding of the submission of a wife included the
understanding that a wife could speak to her husband on behalf of Christ.
If a husband loves his wife as Christ loves the Church, then he will take
seriously what she has to say. No one is exempt from submitting to the
most humble believer in the Body of Christ. All know Him from least to the
greatest. All can speak on His behalf.
This class-free, hierarchy-free, attitude was a distinguishing characteristic
of Christians in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was so aware of
hierarchy and class distinctions that they derisively called the Christians
levelers. These unbelieving critics meant that the Christians leveled
everyone by treating everyone exactly the same. Christians did not see
other Christians as being an authority over them. Leaders did not "exercise
authority over" other believers. (Strong evidence of this attitude can be
easily found in the Book of James.)
The third passage on submission to leaders is found in the last chapter of
the book of Hebrews. It reads like this:
Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your
souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not
with grief, for this would be unprofitable to you. (Hebrews 13:17)
Once again, there is no evidence of submission to a single individual as a
personal pastor or personal apostle. This passage calls for submission to
the leaders. Once again, it is "leaders" in the plural. This is a call to submit
to all the leaders in a region.
There were no divisions of the Church like we have today. We have to
remember that when this was written that the Church was not divided into
separate fellowships of believers each with a separate group of elders. The
church consisted only of house churches scattered over a region with a
few acknowledged elders mixed into possibly hundreds of small house
churches. Therefore, it is not a call to submit only to those leaders at a
particular building and then to ignore the other leaders in the region. The
passage is encouraging submission to all the leaders in a region.
54
unquestionably true. There are some unusually strong individuals who can
accomplish this. However, the Medieval system will have its corrupting
influences even on these strong individuals of good character as it does on
all those who sit in the chairs.
Good leaders might embrace the theology of "the priesthood of all
believers, but in practice, they will not demonstrate it. The people in the
chairs will not see themselves as the equal of the leader in matters
pertaining to God. The truth of their inequality is continually demonstrated
by the meetings of the Medieval system. The person acting in the "priestly
role" needs to seriously consider if continuing in that role is demonstrating
the actual truths of the New Testament to believers. Proper belief is not
just taught. False beliefs are also "caught" by continual exposure to
practices that do not conform to the truth.
56
this, large "Medieval" churches attract unsaved men and women whose
primary purpose for being there is to develop a relationship with someone
of the opposite sex. Sometimes these are people of bad character. They
go from relationship to relationship and create havoc in the lives of people
they encounter in a large church. Often a large church has little interest in
identifying these victimizers and disciplining them. In general, large
"Medieval" churches avoid doing what the New Testament says about the
discipline of sinning members.
Institutional schools of ministry often teach formally and informally that the
leader of a church should not become friends with congregational
members. The concern is that a leader will not be able to "exercise
authority over" a friend. Beyond that, there are concerns that if
congregational members discover his weaknesses, that he will lose
respect.
The traditional leader who lives this way is very vulnerable to temptation.
He doesn't have peers in his congregation who know him and can tell
when he needs help. These kinds of solitary leaders are not protective at
all of the people that they are serving. They may even enter into temptation
and become the victimizer. There is an ongoing exposure of ministers of
large churches using their position for sexual seduction. In fact, the week
that this paragraph was written, there have been five individuals in ministry
in the Dallas-Fort Worth area exposed in serious sexual sin in three large
churches in this region. This has all been from "brick and mortar" churches
in the area. All of them have a hierarchal type of authority structure.
One pastor in our region was recorded privately begging a 17-year-old girl
in his congregation to take off her clothing so he could see her naked. She
recorded two hours of this shameful behavior - without him knowing - on
her smart phone. She repeatedly tells him that what he is asking is wrong
and particularly wrong since he is a preacher. Additionally, three ordained
young ministers - working for another "brick and mortar" church with
hierarchal authority - were exposed using underage girls in the youth group
for sex. A third "brick and mortar" church in the region revealed this week
that they had hired men who were undocumented child molesters to care
for children in their nursery.
It was a bad week for the reputation of the Church in this region. It was a
bad week for those families that had children involved in these incidents. It
is apparent that a good deal of this kind of sinful and abusive behavior
goes on in "brick and mortar" churches that teach "covering" and criticize
house churches for a lack of accountability. There is likely to be much
58
Willingness to Compromise
In the 1990's, I had several uncomfortable lessons about how willing
ministers of "brick and mortar" churches are to compromise the truth and to
conform to the expectations of the public. Perhaps this comes from
pressure to fill the seats in order to be able to pay the bills. These lessons
occurred after I had retired from the US Army Chaplaincy and had started
traveling in healing ministry.
One of these lessons happened at a large Christian conference. I was one
of six men who were speakers at this six-day conference. One of the
meetings was a board discussion on five-fold ministry. This occurred on
the first day. A woman in the audience asked about our views concerning
the submission of women to their husbands. Each of the men expressed
his view on the subject. The first four men expressed the popular feminist
view on the subject. Each of them challenged the validity of the idea that
wives should submit to their husbands. Of course, this view is very similar
to what the non-Christian American culture believes about these things.
When it was my turn to speak, I expressed what I believed to be the proper
biblical view of the subject. I even quoted from the New Testament
passages. I was aware that this view was likely not to be popular at this
conference. Nevertheless, I spoke what I believed to be the truth on this
59
matter. I was openly "booed" from the audience and the first four men each
immediately and strongly disagreed with me loudly and publicly. The fifth
man said that he agreed with me somewhat but saw the other perspective
as well. He spoke only about three sentences.
During the next few days of the conference, I had an amazing amount of
healings and miracles happen despite being unpopular. There was an
unusual amount of grace to minister by the Spirit. The healings and
miracles did seem to change people's opinion of me. Nevertheless, not a
single person said that they agreed with me during the first four days of the
conference.
I did not really expect what happened next. On the last day of the
conference, each of the four ministers - who had publicly disagreed with
me - approached me separately. Each of them said that they actually did
agree with my perspective. I asked them why they had not said that
publicly. Each of them said in their own way that they were afraid. They
knew it was the unpopular position. They were intimidated by the idea of
the majority of the people not agreeing with them. I suspect that there were
quite a few of the people attending that did agree with me, but they were
also intimidated by how I was treated.
This was a real eye-opener for me to discover that ministers would say
publicly something that they did not believe privately simply because it was
the popular position and acceptable in the culture. These ministers had
allowed me to take the heat of standing for the unpopular position even
though they believed it also. They had even openly criticized what I had
said despite believing it themselves. They were willing to lie about what
they believed and be unfairly aggressive with me all for the sake of
remaining popular. Remaining popular does seem to be necessary to get
people to come to a "brick and mortar" church. Filling the seats is required
to pay the bills.
Getting my mind around this willingness to compromise was tough but it
was another lesson in how the Medieval system influences ministers to
compromise with the culture. It is only the strongest ministers who function
in this system that are able to maintain their integrity and still publicly
speak the truth.
A second lesson occurred when I was invited by some other ministers to
go to a ministers conference that was several hours drive away. There
were six of us going together to this ministers conference at a large
church. We arrived and found that there were about sixty ministers that
had come to this conference. We fellowshipped for a half hour or so and
60
then the meeting began with the senior minister of the church leading it.
After an hour or so, the senior leader introduced two men from Africa. He
told us of how fruitful they were and how powerful they were in the Spirit.
He told us in several ways that these men were the modern-day
equivalents to "Peter" and "Paul."
The senior leader told us that we needed to let these men lay hands on us
to receive an anointing of power. Who can be opposed to this? So all sixty
of us lined up close to the altar to let "Peter" and "Paul" lay hands on us.
"Peter" and "Paul" started at the opposite end of the altar from where my
minister friends and I were standing. As these two men laid hands on the
ministers, they were falling down one after another. Falling down is
believed to be evidence that the power of the Holy Spirit has come and as
a result the person cannot remain standing. Because my friends and I
were at the other end of the altar, we got to see all the ministers fall down.
Then the two African men arrived at our group. All of the men that I came
with fell down when "Peter" and "Paul" laid their hands on them. However,
when these African Christian ministers got to me, I didn't feel a thing. I felt
nothing different. I felt peaceful, but I generally feel peaceful. Well, "Peter"
and "Paul" got much louder and ended up pushing me backwards but not
down. The senior minister began to rebuke me saying, "You need to yield
to the Spirit, brother." I replied, "I would be glad to yield to the Spirit, but I
don't feel anything particularly different." Thankfully, after I said that "Peter"
and "Paul" gave up. It was embarrassing and confusing to be the only one
standing and the only one who did not feel anything.
Well, we finished the meeting and I felt the whole time that I had been
marked as rebellious and unspiritual. I was glad to be done and to be
heading home. I didn't say much on the trip home because my mood was
not good. This situation had discouraged me. However, the other five
ministers did a lot of talking. In fact, each of them admitted that they had
not felt anything when "Peter" and "Paul" had prayed for them. I sat there
quietly taking this in. They had pretended to feel something by falling
down. All five of them had conformed to the expectation and had misled
everyone at the time, including me, that they had felt something. I quietly
took in that they really didn't think that doing this was wrong either. It made
me wonder just how much compromising and deception each of them was
willing to practice in their ministry to obtain the approval of people. It also
made me wonder if any of the sixty ministers had felt something. It was an
eye-opener. The Medieval church system seems to create ministers that
are willing to compromise their integrity to obtain the approval of people. I
61
am sure that this is not true of all, but it was certainly true of the majority in
this situation.
See the author's books "The Children are Free" and "Take the Tithing Test" for a detailed,
biblical analysis of the doctrine and practice of tithing. They are available on
www.allnationsmin.org.
62
House churches seldom ask for giving except when they are helping the
poor or perhaps to quietly help one of the Christian families that is
attending. All may "chip" in for food and other expenses. They do not need
tithing to pay the cost of buildings and salaries. They are free to support
evangelism, house church planting and helping the poor. They are free to
use their money to bring in gifted ministries to serve a community of house
churches and support public meetings that reach the lost and other
Christians.
63
64
troubled by the freedom that people in house churches have in the area of
finances. He was tempted to attach a price tag to his ministry.
Christ has better solutions for ministry than compromising like this. While
the Church should financially support legitimate ministry, that ministry
should be only be dependent upon the Lord and not the Church. Failure to
keep this focus creates a compromise of integrity and financial
manipulation of the Church.
People in house churches do what they choose to do in giving. Leaders
can appeal to them as did the Apostle Paul. Like Paul, a leader can teach
them to be generous but he cannot legitimately take away their freedom to
make their own financial decisions before the Lord. Freedom of choice is
one of the greatest strengths of house churches.
In Summary
The original pattern of the Church was house churches. Christ Himself
demonstrated that pattern and commanded His apostles to continue that
pattern. The Early Church completely evangelized the hostile Roman
Empire without buildings and without layers of hierarchal authority. These
institutional "brick and mortar" ways of thinking and doing church began to
happen in the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages way of doing church is not
superior to the way that Christ taught the Church to function. It is inferior in
many ways. It will not protect us from deception and is likely to increasingly
compromise the truth to attract a larger audience. It will not be what the
Church needs for prosperity, fruitfulness, and survival as we near the end
of the age. While we may have some serious adjustments to make and
some learning to do, this pattern of church life will produce abundant life. It
will be what Christ and His Church needs it to be. Let us quickly return to
the original pattern of church life. The sooner that we do this, the better
that we will be prepared for the end of the age.
We are in the process of establishing the Guardian House Church
Fellowship. If you are looking for advice about how to move from your
present situation to a house church situation, there will be those who are
highly experienced in these matters to provide help and consultation. The
network will be a non-authoritarian, value-based network. If you find
yourself in harmony with the values expressed in this book, we invite you
to further examine the network by joining our email update for the network
by clicking on this link and adding your email address:
Guardian House Church Fellowship Email Update Form
65
Bibliography
On House Church
Houses that Change the World: The Return of the House Churches.
Simson, Wolfgang (2001). This is a short but insightful book that explains
the differences philosophically and in practice between three kinds of
churches. They are the traditional "brick and mortar" church, the Cell
Church and the House Church. This book seems to have some filler at the
end to make it longer but the first half is excellent.
Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity.
Colorado Springs: Viola, Frank (2008) A constructive follow-up to Pagan
Christianity; explains the purpose of Christian fellowship, spontaneous
church meetings (1 Cor. 14:26), and the priesthood of all believers (1 Pet.
2:9). This book has an extensive bibliography of house church literature.
Rethinking the Wineskin: The Practice of the New Testament Church.
Frank Viola. This book examines the divine genius of Jesus Christ and His
Apostles in growing organic, indigenous church communities in houses.
Viola balances fresh biblical exegesis with a broad range of scholarship
and church history.
On the Medieval Church System
Pagan Christianity? Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices.
Frank Viola and George Barna (2008) A scholarly work based on the Bible
and church history that dismantles institutional sermons, pastors, pulpits,
church buildings, Sunday clothes, tithing, seminaries, etc. This book
reveals that many of these practices are based on a mixture of the New
Testament with Old Testament and Roman pagan practices.
On Abusive Authoritarian Teachings and Practices
Apostolic Fathers and Spiritual Bastards, Roger Sapp, All Nations
Publications, (1999) This book focuses on what the Bible teaches
concerning modern apostles and the relationships with other Christians.
Reviews the authoritarian teaching - that sometimes leads to abuse - that
66
67
68
69
70