How to Start a House Church

​What's the difference between house churches and all the various other forms of small group ministry that churches operate?

The following is a description of various forms of small group ministry and what makes house churches unique:

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• Bible Studies

  • Whether part of an organized church or just a meeting among friends or family, Bible Studies generally unite for the sole purpose of studying the Scriptures and perhaps prayer for one another.

  • There is typically an agreed-upon text or a book study that guides the discussion.

  • Generally such meetings are facilitated by a designated leader, but some people may gather less formally and allow a curriculum of some sort to guide them.

  • Such meetings are sometimes marked with a start date and end date, generally dictated by the intended length of the study.

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• Small Groups (or “Life Groups,” “Community Groups,” etc.)

  • Many church organizations have found that large Sunday gatherings are insufficient to foster meaningful relationships among people, so they implement a small group ministry.

  • Small groups generally gather in homes but may possibly be facilitated in restaurants, coffee shops, office spaces, or classrooms at a church building.

  • The emphases of such meetings are generally fellowship, guided discussion, and prayer.

  • In most cases, a small group leader is appointed to lead discussion and facilitate the schedule.

  • Discussion is generally guided—sometimes following a book or curriculum, or perhaps following a list of discussion questions written by the main church’s lead pastor.

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• Affinity Groups

  • Some Bible studies or small groups are: 

    • gender-specific (men’s breakfast, women’s ministry, etc.), 

    • age-specific (youth group, senior citizens ministry, etc.), or 

    • interest-specific (crafting group, hunting group, camping group, homeschool moms group, etc.)

  • These affinity-based groups can be great for inviting friends with shared interests or from shared walks of life, but they are rarely capable of reaching and making disciples of whole families.

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• Cell Groups

  • Cell churches appear like typical churches, generally having a building or at least centering around a weekly large gathering. But such churches also have a robust and intentional small group ministry that is highly organized. 

  • The main church has a pastor, and his or her ministry is spread to “cells”—easily replicated small groups where people discuss material recommended by the main pastor. 

  • Cell groups often follow an in-house curriculum, which may be built on the pastor’s Sunday message or anything else the pastor recommends.

  • Some of the largest churches in the world follow this cell model. It tends to thrive best in cultures where people are used to following directions from strong leaders.

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• Friend Groups

  • In a completely informal sense, there are indeed friend groups who gather irregularly simply to enjoy each other but also include a spiritual component to their time together. While they may not think of themselves as a “small group ministry,” they do minister to each other in the context of a “small group.” 

  • While components of “church” may indeed happen in such informal gatherings—perhaps a spontaneous time of singing together, discussion about the Bible, a spiritual gift or two, and even prayer—the irregular schedule of such meetings and the fact that they are not purposeful (and therefore might be nothing more than a hangout or game night) make them a poor substitute for a purposeful church meeting.

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• House Churches

  • House churches are regular, self-contained (though ideally networked), self-replicating gatherings of believers in homes where every believer is a minister and where a dedicated local “pastor” takes biblical responsibility for the spiritual wellbeing of the people in the group.

    • Regular: House churches meet at least weekly.

    • Self-contained: Each house church is a full expression of Christianity, which means if someone only ever attends house church and never a larger meeting, they are adequately obeying the Biblical command to gather with other believers.

    • Self-replicating: Each house church is not merely a “spoke” attached to the “hub” of the group that spawned it. Each house church is a potential “hub.” Every healthy house church contains the capacity to raise up new leaders and start new house churches.

  • Not Bible Studies: House churches study the Bible, but unlike “Bible Studies,” they do not follow a fixed curriculum or other book, they are not classes taught by a leader, and they invite insights and revelations from every person in the meeting.

  • Not Small Groups: House churches fellowship and pray like small groups, but their discussion time is not guided with fixed questions or talking points. 

    • Most weeks, the house church pastor doesn’t know what the topic of conversation will be that night—only what he or she will briefly share. 

    • According to 1 Corinthians 14:26, every believer in the meeting has something from the Spirit to contribute, and all of these things must be done.

    • The goal of the meeting is to identify what Jesus is communicating to the entire group through what everyone shares, and then meaningfully respond to it.

  • Not Affinity Groups: House churches may contain people who join because of shared interests (like “Affinity Groups”), but those shared interests are not the point of the group—in fact, those shared interests may never even come up in the house church meeting. The only “shared interests” discussed are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as they are revealed to us in the Bible.

  • Not Cell Groups: House churches ideally network together (like “Cell Churches”) for greater organizational impact, but unlike cell groups, there is no “lead pastor” dictating the weekly topic of discussion. Instead, each house church pastor exercises his or her own God-given wisdom in shepherding the sheep Jesus has entrusted to them.

  • Not Friend Groups: While house churches are comprised of friends who hopefully spend time together outside of scheduled house church meetings, they are more deliberate about pursuing God together than any ordinary friend group. House churches gather weekly with a dedicated focus on ministering to each other, learning from each other, praying for each other, and loving Jesus together. And such churches include intentional friendships with people we might otherwise never associate with.

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House churches are a complete expression of “church.”

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In the healthiest house churches, we have communion, worship, prayer, fellowship, spiritual gifts, evangelistic outreaches, baptism, and biblical instruction. We live life together beyond a weekly meeting. We are not just friends in our gatherings but throughout the week.