1. Simplicity

Think about it. What do you do when your life gets chaotic? When your house gets cluttered. When your phone get’s too many notificiations. When your computer desktop has too many folders. Most people simplify. They take away things that distract them so that way they can focus on what really matters.

In the same way, House Churches thrive because the people choose to simplify their Sunday morning gatherings. The leaders take away things that aren’t actually needed for church gatherings like: long, monologue sermons; kids programs; paid staff; robust volunteer teams; and more. It’s not that these things are bad, it’s just that they may take away from the things that matter most.

2. Authenticity

In most traditional churches, many attenders can come to a service, sit in the back, and leave early, never having to interact with anyone. This is not the case with house churches since the culture and enviroment is conducive toward authenticity. Here, strangers become friends, and friends become family through radically ordinary hospitality. In house churches, people can develop deeper, more authentic friendships because of the family culture.

3. Spiritual Gifting

Every Christian has spiritual gifting, and  – more importantly – every Christian should exercise their spiritual gifting. However, it may be very difficult to practice that gifting in a traditional church where the congregation sits and watches one or two leaders exercise their spiritual gift.

In a house church, believers are more welcomed to practice their spiritual gifts of teaching, encouraging, pastoring, prophesy, edification, and more.

4. Finances

Most traditional churches spend the majority of their finances on overhead (staff, mortgage, administration, etc) and only a fraction on their local communities.

Every house church is different, but many house churches (including The Way Church) have no paid staff, no mortgage, and it costs virtually nothing to gather together since our lunch is potluck style. This means that 100% of the donations that go through the church can be redirected to members that have a need, charity organizations in the local community, and even foreign missions.

5. Family Love

When traditional churches want to emphasize love in their church, they usually preach a sermon series on it to try and get it in the culture of the church. This method may be somewhat helpful, however, learning about love isn’t the same as living it out in the gatherings.

In house churches, a family type of love is the cultural norm because of the open hospitality, the deep conversations, the sharing of meals, and receiving communion. We feel more like a family when we sit together in dining rooms and living rooms rather than a theater-like setting. This is a big advantage of house churches.

Pros & Cons

I hope this blog post doesn’t sound like we’re just bashing traditional churches and how their doing it all wrong. Because the truth is, there is no perfect church. The house church model isn’t perfect. But we do have to be honest that these five points are great advantages to the house church movement compared to other church models.

I believe there are many other advantages, but these five are the biggest advantages that I could think of. There are also 5 Disadvantages of a House Church if you also want to see the other side of it.

If you’re looking for a house church, make sure to check out Find A House Church to check one out in your local area. If you’re in the San Antonio, TX area, we would love to have you over in our home this Sunday.