House Church Structure
Each house church will consist of two house church leaders who have been prepared through the church. Groups of 6-9 will receive $50 per week for dinner costs. Groups of 10+ will receive $70 per week.
Each group will decide how to prepare the food each week (rotations between members suggested), the location of the meetings, who will prepare the worship song, and any other logistics such as bible verse sharing, daily devotionals, or testimonials.
During individual sharing time, members are encouraged to share about their weeks with an emphasis on the most prominent emotion or thought of the week, paired with any prayer requests or answered prayers.
Each group will decide how to prepare the food each week (rotations between members suggested), the location of the meetings, who will prepare the worship song, and any other logistics such as bible verse sharing, daily devotionals, or testimonials.
During individual sharing time, members are encouraged to share about their weeks with an emphasis on the most prominent emotion or thought of the week, paired with any prayer requests or answered prayers.
Being Open and Present
In order to connect with one another as family in Christ, we encourage our members to engage in the practice of opening up and listening to each others' stories with attention and care. Because prayer requests may get shared with pastors or prayer groups, we encourage members to clarify which parts of their sharing they would like to remain confidential within the group.
We would like to remind our members that we are not a group of people that come to church because we have everything under control. We come with the expectation that because we are all sinners, every single person struggles with something in their lives. Instead of judging one another for our shortcomings, we must allow the holy spirit to guide us to love the way He first loved us.
We would like to remind our members that we are not a group of people that come to church because we have everything under control. We come with the expectation that because we are all sinners, every single person struggles with something in their lives. Instead of judging one another for our shortcomings, we must allow the holy spirit to guide us to love the way He first loved us.
Giving Advice
Because we care about one another, we may at times feel inclined to help one another in times of trouble. We would like to ask for discretion when it comes to offering advice, especially during the sharing portion of House Church gatherings. We want to offer the floor to whomever is sharing at the moment and should simply be present with that person in that moment. It is good to encourage one another, but it is always God who directs each of our unique paths.
We may at times need to hold our brothers and sisters accountable, but accountability is different from advice-giving. Accountability talks should be done in private with love and empathy after having spent some time in prayer for the person and for our own hearts.
We may at times need to hold our brothers and sisters accountable, but accountability is different from advice-giving. Accountability talks should be done in private with love and empathy after having spent some time in prayer for the person and for our own hearts.
Relationships
We believe that church can be a great place to meet our potential life partners. What better place to meet the person that will potentially shift the trajectory of our lives? Because of how important this is, we would like to encourage all members to pursue any relationship with great care and transparency; It is important for us to consider ourselves and other members, and we should not find ourselves unable to speak about our relationships with other members or leaders within the community. Although the world has been directing us towards a culture of casual dating as a means of escaping loneliness, we challenge everyone here to be guided by the holy spirit while navigating relationships.
Conflict
Because we are seeking authentic connections, conflict is inevitable. We highlight the importance of placing God at the center of our relationships so that we can face these conflict with grace, humility, and love. When faced with conflict, whether externally or internally, we encourage members to be honest in sharing their concerns with trusted leaders in the church - with the intention of fostering growth and healing rather than gossip or judgement. With Christ, conflict should be viewed as an opportunity rather than as something to be feared or avoided.