ACTS HOUSE ASSEMBLY

Leadership?  Or Servant!

Some assemblies have a very conventional leadership structure, others have none. A commonly held belief in the modern day house church "movement" is that the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough to demonstrate a New Testament belief in the "priesthood of all believers" and that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of the Church, and the believers the body. The absence of hierarchical leadership structures in many house churches, while often viewed by the Protestant church at large as a sign of anarchy or rebelliousness to authority, is viewed by many in the house church movement to be the most viable way to come under true spiritual authority of love, relationships, and the visible dominion of Jesus Christ as Head of his own bride (i.e. the church). This does not mean that they reject all leadership, however. Many house churches develop elders and deacons who serve the members. Some house churches also accept ministry from church planters and itinerant workers they consider to be apostles.

Who is qualified to start a house church?

1 Timothy 3:1-7
Qualifications of Overseers
¹ This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of an overseer, he desires a good work. ²An overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; ³ not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; ⁴ one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence ⁵ (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); ⁶ not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. ⁷ Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

Born again believers with years maturity in the Lord as per [1 Tim 3:1-7] can start a house church.  Christians need to embrace the idea that every Christian is a minister (1 Cor 12).  Too often we've made minister a synonym for pastor or preacher.  A minister is a servant, whether ordained or not, and all Christians are ministers.  God has gifted all believers with at least one gift and sent his Spirit to dwell in each believer (1 Cor 12:1-31, Rom 12:4-8, 1 Pet 4:10-11).  Thus, all believers are ministers.  We must stop thinking of our buildings as churches.  Believers, not bricks, make up the church.  Elders and teachers help equip the saints (Eph 4:11-12), but all believers are in the ministry.

A person doesn't have to be ordained or earn a seminary degree to start a house church.  The key to starting a house church is being a born again Christian of integrity, possessing a passion for God's glory, and a desiring to learn from Scripture.  Starting a house church in teams with at least 2 people per team seems better than doing it solo. 

Meeting format

Many house church gatherings are free, informal, and includes a shared meal (Lord Supper). Participants hope that everyone present will feel free to contribute to the gathering as and when they sense the leading of the Holy Spirit to do so. Leadership structures range from no official leaders, to a plurality of elders. There is a deliberate attempt within most house churches to minimize the leadership of any one person, openly plural responsibility of leadership is preferred and sought.

Networking

The house church movement today also owes much of its networking and exchange of information to the use of the Internet; HC is generally used as an abbreviation for "House Church" and IC is used to designate "Institutional Church" which is the generalized term for more traditional church structures, including a church building and/or sermon-centered church services directed by a pastor or minister.  More recently local networks of house churches have begun to form with gatherings of house churches in an area getting together periodically for celebrations.