Have you ever seen a dog wag
its tail? All of us have. The dog does it with ease, effectiveness, and
enjoyment. Why? Because it’s the most natural thing in the world for a dog to
do; it was designed that way. But, what would happen if one day the tail began
to wag the dog instead? The movements would be awkward, difficult, and maybe
even painful after a while. Why? Because it’s not the way the dog-and-tail were
meant to work together. This illustration provides a humorous yet important
insight for the Christian church: function must always determine form.
In other words, there is a God-given mandate to the church that, in turn,
determines the particular method that helps bring it into reality.
Unfortunately, what much of
the church has been doing for the past 1700 years is a reversal of this order
resulting in the unnecessary complexity, relative ineffectiveness, and unbiblical
nature of the ‘cathedral’ model of church, which is characterized by the three
cardinal myths of a special man running a special service in a special
building. It is imperative, then, for those of us passionate about making
disciples of all nations in this day and age to rediscover a more effective and
biblical model that places function and form in the proper
alignment. Who better to turn to for such advice than the first century church?
Specifically, this article outlines
five key functions characteristic of the early Christian movement
and the particular forms they used to carry them out: (1)
Invitation by Apostles, (2) Integration into Housechurches, (3) Involvement
through Participatory Meetings, (4) Instruction by Elders, (5) Interconnection
with the
Function: Invite. The early church recognized
that the world desperately needed to know and experience reconciliation to God
through Jesus Christ (Acts
Form: Apostles. The early church had a
select group of firebrands with clear calling, competence, and character who
were traveling Christian workers known as ‘apostles’ (Greek = apostolos,
meaning ‘sent one’ or ‘messenger’). Those with apostolic callings, in
particular, felt the urgency and importance of carrying out the gospel mandate
personally (Acts 13:1-3, 1 Cor
(2) Integration into
Housechurches
Function: Integrate. The early church was
convinced that all believers--new and old--needed to be integrated into a
community with others of like mind in order to keep going strong in their faith
(Heb 10:25). Disciplemaking happens best when done in the context of a cluster
of people working together, encouraging one another, and keeping each other
accountable. They employed group metaphors like the household of God (Eph
Form:
Housechurches.
To integrate people into community, the apostles bunched folks together in the
most natural setting possible, namely people’s homes. Why? House-sized churches
are simple, small, inexpensive, adaptable, duplicatable, and strongly affirm the
family nature of church life. Christians were one of the few religious groups
at the time that did not construct special religious buildings. As such, these
ordinary home churches were the dominant way believers met in the first century
and were spread across the vastness of the Roman Empire from east to west in
cities like Jerusalem, Colossae, Corinth, Philippi, and even Rome itself (Acts
2:46, 5:42, 8:3, 16:14-15,29-34, 18:4-8, 20:20; Rom 16:3-5; 1 Cor 16:19; Col
4:15; Philem 1:2).
(3) Involvement through Participatory Meetings
Function:
Involve.
The first Christians believed that every follower of Christ had a contribution
to make to others. They affirmed the fact that each believer had spiritual
gifts (i.e. skills, talents, capacities, experiences, Spirit-led promptings)
that were actually given and/or honed by God to benefit the Christian community
as a whole. They expressed this conviction using the metaphor of the ‘Body of
Christ’, with its interlocking relationships and the mutual ministry between
individuals (Rom 7:4; 1 Cor 10:16-17, 12:4-30; Eph 4:11).
Form: Participatory Meetings. To practically
implement this equal opportunity theology, church meetings were participatory.
No one man shows. No select few performing for the passive many. Everyone had
the opportunity and responsibility of bringing their spiritual contribution to
the ‘common table’ (1 Cor
(4) Instruction by Elders
Function: Instruct. Once apostolic workers
established a functioning disciplemaking community, the bulk of their job was
done because of their mobile and temporary role in the early church. However,
they were very concerned that individuals and housechurches would be instructed
properly to be as healthy and vibrant as possible in the long run, both
theologically and morally (Acts 15:36, 20:28-32; 2 Cor 11:28). There needed to
be ongoing care and direction, shepherding and strategizing, given to the
housechurches.
Form:
Elders. To
achieve this aim, mobile apostles typically appointed a small team of elders in
each Christian group to provide long-term care and supervision of the
housechurches (Acts 14:23, 20:17-28, 21:18; 1 Tim 4:14, 5:17; Titus 1:5-11;
James 5:14). They were not part of a first century clergy system, but were
ordinary, unpaid, volunteers who spiritually parented and led ordinary housechurches
in teams. Elders acted as the primary, but not the only, shepherds who cared
for people, gave instruction, and embodied Christian lifestyle (1 Thes
(5) Interconnection with the
Citywide Church
Function: Interconnect. A theology of unity and
oneness pervaded the mindset of the first Christians. They believed they were
to be interconnected with each other. The most powerful image they invoked was
that of the ‘Body of Christ’, which was comprised of a diversity of individual
members yet was united (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 10:16-17,
Form: The Citywide Church. The practical outworking of
this theology of unity on a local level was working together and doing life as
one citywide church. In their letters, the apostles never addressed the
‘churches’ in a given locale, but rather the ‘church’ of this or that city
(Acts 8:1, 11:26; 1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1). As such, the
only reason for separation between Christians in the first century--other than
overt heresy--was geographical distance. Consequently, the church in each
city--which was comprised of a network of housechurches--was held together
locally by three strands (Acts 15:22,36, 20:17-21, Titus 1:5): (i) a team of
elders who provided mentoring and management; (ii) house-to-house meeting
patterns; and (iii) occasional citywide gatherings that involved all
housechurches, which happened especially when apostolic teams visited. Creating
wider multi-city regional movements was also fostered by traveling apostolic
bands through personal visits and letters and interaction city-to-city (Acts
We have examined the first
century church to discover a critical lesson for us today: they minimized the
complexity of their forms in order to maximize the effectiveness of
their functions. They knew nothing about a professional clergy system,
special religious buildings, highly programmed worship services, or the
expensive programs that define today’s complex ‘cathedral’ Christianity.
Instead, they kept organization to a bare minimum as a house church movement so
they could focus on what they were really about, namely making disciples of
Christ. Are we willing to take a risk and follow their lead?
·
Steve Atkerson (2003), Ecclesia: To the Roots of Biblical Church
Life, www.ntrf.org.
·
Wolfgang Simson (1998), Houses that Change the World.
·
Frank Viola (1998), Rethinking the Wineskin.
·
Rad Zdero (2004), The Global House Church Movement, www.WCLbooks.com.
·
House-2-House Magazine, www.house2house.tv
·
·
New Testament Restoration Foundation, www.ntrf.org
·
Against Great Odds, available from Gateway Films (Box 540, Worcester, PA, USA,
1-800-523-0226), 1992, 29 minutes: documents the growth of Ethiopia’s Kristos
Church from 5,000 to 50,000 people using underground housechurches during ten
years of Marxist oppression in the 1980’s.
·
Church Planting Movements, available from International Mission Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention (
About the
Author
Rad Zdero earned his Ph.D.
degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queen’s University in
Rad Zdero
Lakeshore
Email: rad@housechurch.ca
Web: www.housechurch.ca
Tel: 905-278-1805