The Housechurch Movement Ruined My Life

Heather Goodman over at “All Things Are Yours” has written a great post about the pitfalls of the house church movement. I’m re-blogging it here, unedited.  The title is intentionally dramatic, but don’t be put off by it. The article is very balanced, something that is quite rare, in my experience.  She eloquently addresses some insidious areas where those who leave the institutional church may tend to miss the mark.

All Things are Yours

Catchy title, no?   I thought about various things I could call this blog post when I started writing it — things like, “The Dark Hole of House Church” and “the Dangers of Housechurch” and the “Slough of Housechurch Despondency.”   I finally settled on “The Housechurch Movement ruined my life” because, there’s enough truth in that to be worth titling this post that, and, I bet it will make you curious — and rightfully so.

First, let me talk about what I mean by “the Housechurch Movement.”  In recent years, regular institutional-style churches have taken to calling midweek meetings that go on in homes a whole host of names, anything from “life groups” to “cell groups” but occasionally “house church” or “home church.”   At any rate, these things are generally healthy and that’s not the house church movement I am talking about.

The House Church movement is a movement about…

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Isaac, the Well Digger

Isaac lived in an arid climate.  Water was life.  If he couldn’t find water, his flocks would die, and his family would starve. Isaac might have resorted to violence to defend his wells.  He might have started a generational feud.  Or he might have at least launched a campaign of harassment against the locals to discourage them from trying to take his well.  And perhaps, from a legal standpoint (or even a fairness standpoint), he would have had every right to do so.