The Church 
Most Christian churches, from the third century CE to the present time, have been "program-based" organizations. Each is usually composed of one or more clergy, staff, volunteer committees and a large congregation. They conduct many programs during the week: from Scouts to Bible study; from choir practice to young adult meetings. The highlight of the week is the Sunday (or in some cases Saturday) service. And the highlight of that service is usually a member of the clergy preaching to the assembled congregation. That is what most people visualize when they hear the term "church."
A second, recent and growing church model is composed of many "cells" - each with up to perhaps 15 adults -- and their children -- meeting in each other's homes. The cells are the focus of church life; the congregation as a whole is seen as a federation of many cells. The weekend service still exists, but it is much less important to the membership than the weekly, intimate cell meetings. They meet in homes "for fellowship, ministry, prayer and evangelism, while the large group meetings are designed for preaching and worship."
Still a third model dispenses with the central church organization entirely, and consists of individual home churches. There is no professional clergy preaching to an assembled congregation; rather, there are many independent groups of lay persons meeting together on a regular basis. They may meet in homes, apartments, parks, restaurants, halls, etc. They may or may not network informally with other home churches in their area. Their structure bears a strong resemblance to the structure of the primitive Christian movement, modern-day Amish groups, and Neopagan covens.
Historical precedents:
Home churches attempt to replicate the meeting style of the very early Christian movement. In the 1st century CE, there were no cathedrals.
In most modern-day home churches, all members are considered to be equal. There are no professionals in charge; they often have no leaders. Those which do have leaders select them democratically and often rotate the position. Instead of a minister or priest addressing a congregation, they have discussions, prayers, and sharing among equals. This lack of a hierarchy is seen as a common theme in the Christian Scriptures:
Jesus talked to his disciples, saying:
Mark 9:35 "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
Matthew 18:1-4: Jesus again talked to his disciples, saying "...whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 20:25-28: "Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve...'"
Jesus, criticizing the Pharisees and religious teachers of his day, told his disciples that:
Matthew 23:4-13:"...you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
1 Corinthians 14:26 describes an early church meeting, in which everyone present shared in providing hymns, instruction, revelation, tongues, or interpretation.
Home church members feel that they are following the organization of the early Christian church which, "included leaders who were servants, a body of believers who shared, exhorted, confessed to, and built up each other and practiced the love and care they professed. [They met]... in small groups to maintain an intimate environment. Here they broke bread and built each other up in love while they lived out their faith for all to see!"
Home church members believe that Jesus intended the church to be different from the various forms of Judaism in the 1st century. He did not intend Christians to form large monolithic organizations, in which the authority and power is concentrated in a few leaders. Home church members feel that once primitive Christianity accepted the inevitable standards, requirements, methods, structure, influence etc of a large worldly organization, they lost their focus on Jesus.
They feel that they are following the example of the early Christian church, as expressed in Acts 2:46-47:
"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bred in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." (See also Acts 5:42)
Other pertinent passages are:
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| Acts 12:12 mentions that group of Christians who met at Mary's house |
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| Acts 16:40 describes how that Paul and Silas came out of prison, and went to Lydia's house where they met with a group of Christians. |
| | Acts 20:20 mentions that Paul taught from house to house. |
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| Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:19 refer to a church that met in the homes of Priscilla and Aquila. |
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| Colossians 4:15 refers to Nympha and a church which met in her home. |
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| Philemon 1:2 mentions Archippus and the church in his house. |
The very early Christian movement was not forced to meet in each other's homes because of religious persecution. They appear to have chosen this organizational structure, because their home meetings were mentioned in the early verses of Acts, long before widespread persecution started.
The position in the early Church that is referred to as pastor, elder, bishop, and overseer were in reality leaders chosen to watch over the membership. They were unpaid amateur volunteers, who served part-time. They were not career clergy who were employed by the church. They were not educated at Bible schools or seminaries; they were trained on the job by other leaders.
Beliefs and practices
Home churches are almost invisible. Many are not associated with a church congregation or a denomination. They usually do not advertise in any media. They have no formal name. No umbrella organization links them together. They are not registered with governments as tax-exempt non-profit groups. They have little or no annual budget. Some home church members do not even like to be referred to as "Christians" because that term has grown to represent the traditional large church establishment in many people's minds.
There is great variation among, and often within, home churches concerning theological beliefs and practices. Most follow the conservative wing of Christianity.
"We are from almost every 'Christian' background, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, many others have never been associated with any sect. We agree on very little doctrine. Some believe baptism is necessary for salvation, some don't. Some believe smoking is okay, some don't. Some believe that drinking alcohol is okay, some don't. None believe that doing something that harms his neighbor is okay. None believe that breaking the laws of the secular authorities is okay."
Eleven "streams" within the house church movement are documented in an essay by Frank A Viola These include fundamentalist, neo-evangelical, post-evangelical, world-faith, etc.
Home church meetings are often unstructured, and vary from week to week. Sometimes the members may be moved to pray, or to read or to sing, or to discuss a spiritual topic. Sometimes they might share their experiences with each other, or emotionally support or spiritually and minister to each other. Freedom and lack of formal structure are major components of home churches. All are given an opportunity to speak, as they are moved to do so. However, most do not grant all of their adult members equal status: they generally do not permit women to teach or to lead.
A frequent feature at home church meetings is a shared meal. This is a full meal in remembrance of the Lord's Supper. It is followed with the elements of a loaf of bread and a single cup of wine which is shared by all. They believe that this closely replicates the Lord's Supper celebration of the early church.
Some home church members take an antagonistic view towards organized religion; some feel that Christian denominations are the Mother of Prostitutes described in Revelation 17. They look upon religious organizations as man-made; they recognize only one group of Christians: the Body of Christ. Jeff Henning comments: "The Churches have reproduced Christians after their own kind, which is weak, vacillating, and driven by the views of society. The church system is so corrupted from the biblical pattern that nothing short from a clean break and meeting in homes can free us from the pollution."
They view their mandate as operating as a family, not a business.
With essentially no costs, they can afford to direct all of their finances towards helping the poor. Not being burdened down with various programs, they can direct their energy towards evangelizing those that they regard as unsaved and lost.