I think the house church model is unquestionably the example we have in the NT, but God says nothing of what model is best. I am a “member” of the largest independent bible-believing “institutional church” within 60 miles probably. I view it as a very good church. However, I no longer regularly attend there because I think fellowshiping in homes is most appropriate. I do not have a systematic theology of home fellowship, but I probably have 8-12 reasons for abiding in that model for now. The most recent significant factor that struck me before joining a home fellowship was a missionary in our institutional church who was a church planter, visiting churches around the Pacific Northwest. At a missions conference, he told us that his supervisor challenged him that perhaps there was no biblical precedent for his work. Now, by all appearances, this “challenger” appeared to be struggling with the question himself as well. The speaker at our conference actually thought it was a legitimate challenge and was concerned, but after study came to feel that that was a lot of the apostle Paul’s work. What shook me out of my stupor about contemporary understanding of NT times was that the issue was OBVIOUS. It wasn’t this church planter who should have been challenged, it was the ignorant (I don’t say stupid) brother who even suggested that this church planter’s work may not have had biblical calling. I didn’t see how this church planter’s work could have been seen as being anything BUT virtually identical to the apostle Paul’s work. I realized how completely upside down even “church leadership” is in understanding the NT church, and even godly church organizational relationships. One TREMENDOUS advantage of the house church brothers I meet with is this: There is only one Head of the church. It is Jesus Christ. There is no other leader. The Holy Spirit gives leading. That’
s it. When we gather, we look to God’s Word depending on God’s Spirit to guide us. We put no confidence in each other.

I enjoyed my dad to his death, but as a PK I do not “revere” Reverends for anything beyond their function of shepherding according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, which I believe must always be measured in their godliness by what scripture teaches us. To be honest, I am influenced by my dad’s teaching. He consistently eschewed being called “reverend”. I think he felt it pompous. I understand that only God should be spoken of in those terms.

Another amusing factor that I think of in “house churching” is as follows. It’s not directly related to house church, it’s related to ignorance of church functions. I told a layman from a baptist church I didn’t believe in “pastors”. It was meant to be provocative; it was hyperbole. His response helped me learn something though. He said I should do a word study on the word “pastor”. I think he felt that would surely straighten me out. I decided to. It took about 30 seconds, and I’ve learned since that “pastor” is just an english transliteration of the latin word for “shepherd”. The word “pastor” really doesn’t belong in the English Bible at all, because it’s a latin word (not greek). There’s a perfectly good English word for the latin word “pastor”; it’s “shepherd”. It’s no accident that “pastor” sounds like “pasture”. If we want to transliterate foreign language words, most of us use greek-based English bibles now, not latin ones, so it would be rational to say “Poymane” instead of “Pastor”, but really “Shepherd” is best (& probably a small “s” would be best as well, unless we are talking about the Lord Jesus).

Anyway, while I do feel there is much to be said in favor of a more godly understanding of church functions and descriptions, I think your post here is consistent with God’s Word, so I suggest it’s a good post. Thank you for your faithfulness to God’s Word.

This is what manchurch is all about. Becoming a mature man, in word, thought and action. As I reflect, I am reminded of some recent immature thinking which translated into some childish words, which resulted in an unhappy wife. The last thing I want is my wife to think of me as a child.