The Benefits of Home Fellowship

There are many wonderful churches and pastors who do a fantastic job of teaching the whole Bible and preparing their members for evangelism and everyday life in a hostile world. By focusing on the benefits of home fellowship compared to traditional churches, I don’t mean to denigrate them. Unfortunately, those outstanding churches are the exception. There are millions of churches that provide little more than a weekly sermon and a program of religious themed entertainments. Sunday School (for those churches that still offer it) is usually so shallow that it’s only suitable for the most novice of Christians. 

That’s not to say that traditional church doesn’t also have its benefits. Dedicated facilities, paid staff, and economies of scale have undeniable upsides. I’ll talk about how the home fellowship can compensate for its small size and limited resources in a later article. For now, I want to highlight the great benefits of home fellowship as opposed to the traditional church.
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​Give people the means and courage to speak about their faith (Colossians 4:2-6, 1 Peter 3:13-17)

It’s rare for anyone in a traditional church setting to speak at any length about the deep, weightier matters of faith. Anyone other than a pastor or designated teacher, that is. If anyone ever does feel free enough to explore hard questions, they usually only do so in private conversation with the pastor or a family member, almost never in a group setting or with their peers.

Group discussions with their peers–without being unduly shut down or put off by the pastor–exposes people to ideas and approaches that they might not have considered on their own, making them less likely to be surprised by novel objections to the Gospel. Conversations in the home fellowship are more natural than in traditional churches, trust comes more easily, and people have more freedom to explore the depth and breadth of Scripture with less judgment.
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Home fellowships are a safer environment for members to talk about and fine-tune their own beliefs, helping them to build a deeper understanding and a confidence to put that understanding into words, a critical prerequisite to being able to talk to people outside the faith.
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Teach disciples to obey all of God’s commandments (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 20:18-21)

​Through discipleship relationships and a culture of intimate, interactive Bible study and practice instead of merely delivering homilies, home fellowships can guide believers through the meaning and application of the Law of God as given through Moses, as lived and taught by Yeshua, and as explained and illustrated through the rest of the Scriptures.

When most of the teaching in a church comes from the same handful of approved sources, the members of the congregation are often never exposed to some parts of the Bible or to alternative views of familiar passages. Chapter-by-chapter studies and open discussions provide ample opportunity in the home fellowship to discuss implications and applications of God’s instructions. If you stay in a home fellowship long enough, we will talk about every single verse and commandment in the Bible.
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​Demonstrate love as the fulfillment of the whole Law (Romans 13:8-10, 1 John 5:2-3)

It’s impossible to keep God’s commandments by yourself. How do you love your neighbor if you don’t have any real interaction with him? The home fellowship encourages the development of closer relationships and more consistent involvement in each other’s lives in and out of the gathering. Too often people are one way at church and another way the rest of the week, that is if they go to church at all. Home fellowship fosters consistency and provides ample opportunity to apply God’s instructions in real life.

It also provides many opportunities to exercise restraint and handle conflict. The sustained relationships developed in a home fellowship and real world living show how the commandments are like guardrails to channel love for God and one another. Behavior within the guardrails is loving, while behavior outside is not.
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​Value individual people (Romans 12:10, James 2:1-13)

In traditional churches, individuals often blend into crowds. It’s not unusual to come through the doors, sit in a pew for an hour or two, and then leave again without speaking to anyone. This situation is almost impossible in a home fellowship. In fact, we recommend that the fellowship hosts or elders meet everyone before they ever come to the fellowship, and once at the gathering, it would be extraordinary for a new person not to be introduced to everyone else almost immediately and have several conversations before going home.
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The relationships in a home fellowship don’t end when everyone leaves the gathering. Through hospitality, deep discussion of the Scriptures, and direct involvement in one another's lives, every person in a home fellowship can be acknowledged, valued, and loved, and not only on the Sabbath Day.
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​Foster intentional discipleship relationships (Acts 18:24-28, 2 Timothy 2:1-2)

Discipleship is more than Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible study. Discipleship is a years-long process that requires close personal relationships, interpersonal experiences, and one-on-one conversations. Church pastors don’t have the time to disciple individual members, and most churches discourage such relationships forming among the laity except in limited contexts such as “accountability partners”. 

A home fellowship is a natural environment to encourage the development of discipleship relationships between more knowledgeable and mature community members on one hand and younger, newer, untaught, or mistaught community members on the other.
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​Facilitate active participation (1 Corinthians 12:12-31, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40)

Everyone sitting in rows, facing the same direction to listen to one person deliver homilies on what he believes they need to hear, promotes a passive, consumer-type culture in the church. The laity effectively outsource their faith to the pastor who tells them what to believe, how to understand every Bible verse, and which Bible verses to ignore. The pastor teaches or preaches or drones while the people listen. Ideally, the people should learn something, but almost everyone learns better with some kind of interaction.

The intimate, face-to-face setting of the home fellowship gathering discourages the passivity of religious consumers and encourages all community members to contribute to the learning experience of everyone present to the extent that they are able and ready, whether through service, prayer, singing, music, prophecy, discussion or whatever gift or resource they possess.

The expectation and freedom of give and take among peers in the fellowship naturally extends beyond the gathering to real life. The home fellowship culture encourages individuals to be proactive in promoting the spiritual and material wellbeing of everyone else.
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​Support one another (Galatians 6:1-10, James 5:13-20)

In many traditional churches–especially larger ones–most people only know each other within the context of church activities. In better churches, they might have an annual retreat or even a softball team, but these programs are still often a long way from ordinary daily life. You’re unlikely to hear about one family who can’t afford to fix a roof leak or the couple who are struggling in their marriage.

Home fellowship provides more opportunities for people to simply sit and talk, to get to know each other, become actual friends, and build trust. The close, personal relationships that develop in the home fellowship encourage community members to be open about every kind of struggle and to support each other in whatever way is appropriate and possible, while preserving propriety and dignity.
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Financial sustainability (Proverbs 22:7, Matthew 6:19-34)

A modest church property could carry a mortgage of over $1 million. Add building and grounds maintenance, utilities, a secretary, two pastors, and other professional services, and almost all churches have a significant incentive to ensure a healthy income of tithes and offerings. Very few people go into ministry to make money–clergy salaries are notoriously low–but the pressure to keep up with finances will weigh on the entire congregation.

Home fellowships have no mortgages or leases, no utilities or maintenance that aren’t already included in the routine expenses of living, and rarely have paid staff. There will always be expenses involved in hosting people in your home, but those can be easily defrayed by donations of small items like paper plates and plastic utensils. The money to pay for advertising or special events can be raised as needed. Without leases, mortgages, and paid staff, a home fellowship can operate without debt and has the flexibility to start, shift mission focus, and even relocate without significant financial loss.
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​No credentialism or alternate priesthoods (Matthew 23:1-12, Revelation 1:4-6)

Scholarship and formal theological education are good things and should be respected, but most churches tend to treat professional clergy as a de facto priesthood, even those that don’t explicitly call their clergy priests. The result is that the congregation members have little to no incentive to study for themselves. Those who find motivation on their own are often actively discouraged if they try to speak about it, reinforcing the culture of passive religious consumerism that is so common in the traditional church model.

Knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures are critical skills for elders and important for all of God’s people, but according to the criteria that Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus, godly character is even more important. The home fellowship can be more effectively structured around the biblical model of elders, servants, and the priesthood of all believers than can a traditional church, thus discouraging new quasi-priesthoods and doctrinal dictatorships based on credentials, titles, or succession.
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​Elders appointed according to biblical standards (1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-11)

In many Christian denominations, pastors are appointed by a distant bureaucracy and are almost always limited to people with a specific set of official credentials, but the consistent practice in Scripture is for local elders (there is no office of pastor in the Bible apart from the elders) to be chosen from among the men of the local congregation, often–though not always–by the congregation. Elders should be friends, family, and neighbors of their people, not strangers.

The elders in a home fellowship–along with their character, familial relationships, and personal histories–are known to everyone else in the fellowship. They are less likely to be put on a pedestal by either the fellowship or themselves. The members of the fellowship can take an active role in selecting and guiding their own elders.
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​Transparency in everything possible (Acts 5:1-11, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6)

When a church is a franchise of a national or global organization or even when it is locally autonomous but managed by a professional class, the goals, finances, and operations are often invisible to the members. Most people rarely think about what is happening in the offices and simply wait for the pastor or the board to tell them what is happening. This opacity doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything inappropriate happening behind closed doors, but it does provide cover for abuses if anyone in leadership is inclined to take advantage of it.

Finances, plans, policies, projects, and relationships are much harder to conceal in a home fellowship and are more likely to be openly discussed ahead of time. The culture of community ownership encourages people to ask questions, and the smaller membership necessitates more democratic involvement in almost all activities. Secrets, agendas, and whisper campaigns are unlikely to remain hidden for long.
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​Conflict resolution (Matthew 5:21-26, Matthew 18:15-20)

Conflicts are inevitable in any group of people, but the larger the congregation, the easier it is for members to avoid conflict simply by avoiding interaction with people. Members of a home fellowship will have significant differences in opinions, attitudes, and backgrounds. This fact and the close-knit culture makes interpersonal conflict more likely in some respects, but it also gives people more opportunity to practice gracious conflict resolution. “Love your neighbor as yourself” becomes a routinely lived reality instead of an abstract ideal. 

When members of the fellowship are unable to work out their differences among themselves, the process that Yeshua described in Matthew 18 is more natural and easier to implement in the home fellowship environment. Everyone is invested in the people and relationships involved, and the elders are well known and approachable. As long as everyone wants a positive resolution, compassion and compromise comes easier than when congregation members are only acquaintances or even strangers.

​Integrating children and strengthen families (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Luke 18:15-17)

Without dedicated programs that segregate children and youth from other age groups, children in home fellowships aren’t suddenly “graduated” into a completely new culture based on birthdates or academic grades. Instead, home fellowships gradually integrate children into fellowship activities such as Bible studies and ministry projects by keeping them present and encouraging them to participate as they are able.

This gradual integration also encourages parents to take the primary role in their own children’s spiritual development. Conversations that take place in the gathering easily continue during the ride home and become recurring topics throughout the week. Parents spend more time talking to their children about spiritual matters so that children are well grounded in the fundamentals and reasons of their faith before they are expected to face challenges from the world on their own.
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​Ease of propagation (Ephesians 4:1-32, 1 Timothy 6:3-5)

A church in the traditional model, increased membership is the primary means of growth. The church might build a larger building, hold multiple services on Sunday, and hire more staff, but the goal is to make the existing church bigger, not to start new churches. If a church does grow by starting new congregations, it happens in one of two ways: planting or splitting. In a church plant, specialists are sent to a distant geographic location–far enough away that it won’t compete with the parent church–to procure facilities and begin a marketing campaign. In a church split, a disagreement over some point of doctrine becomes antagonistic enough that some of the staff and members leave and start their own church nearby in direct competition to the old. All three modes of growth are usually pathological.
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In a home fellowship, the elders should be mentoring other members so that, when there are too many people to reasonably fit in a single living room, they start meeting in two locations. This isn’t a split, but a peaceful and intentional propagation. The members and elders of both fellowships maintain good relationships, continuing with discipleship and cooperation as before. Both fellowships are likely to go on meeting together for special occasions even as they begin planning for further growth and the next propagation event.

Conclusion

There is nothing sinful about the organizational and gathering model of the traditional church. In some ways it has significant advantages over the home fellowship model, and God could even explicitly lead some people to follow that path. However, home fellowships more closely resemble the practice of the Apostles in Acts and the instructions given by God to Moses and by Paul to Timothy and Titus.
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We believe that home fellowships offer a more biblical, relational, and resilient way to live as the body of Messiah. They help believers understand their faith at a level that traditional church rarely matches. Not only do they teach God’s commandments, but they show his commandments lived out in real life. Each person is valued; nobody is an anonymous “attendee”. These benefits aren’t theoretical. They are the real, demonstrated, and natural outgrowth of gathering house-to-house as the Apostles did in all the cities of the Roman Empire in the first century.

This is the path forward: start small in the homes of friends and family, disciple and propagate intentionally, and network regionally until there is a healthy home fellowship within 30 minutes drive of every believer.