Sunday, August 06, 2006

Finally, coming to a house near you

The Barna Group shows that millions of adults are trying out new forms of spiritual community and worship, with many abandoning the traditional forms altogether.



“The house church now appears to have reached ”?critical mass" in the United States,”? commented Barna. “Analysts typically find that once a new tool or institution reaches 15% market penetration, and has evidenced a consistent or growing level of affirmation for at least six years, that entity shifts from fad to trend status. At that point, it becomes a permanent fixture in our society. Today, house churches are moving from the appraisal phase into the acceptance phase. We anticipate house church attendance during any given week to double in the coming decade, and a growing proportion of house church attenders to adopt the house church as their primary faith community. That continued growth and public awareness will firmly establish the house church as a significant means of faith experience and expression among Americans.”?




Read the rest, here.

4 comments:

  1. I read your blog this morning as the worship team was rehearsing for morning worship. I serve a traditional/blended church in S. CA. that is part of Barna's population group. A number of our community are part of both a house-church and traditional church. I see the poverty of the traditional church,building,denomination,bureacracy that drives young believers away in droves. The amount of time and energy that get sucked away just to keep the organization afloat is rightly questioned and even rejected. However, the house-church quickly becomes elitist and exclusive. You need a personal invitation, and someone to introduce you and bring you in, like a country-club of the spirit. It takes just as much work at the house-church level to sustain openness as it does on the institutional level to sustain simplicity and missional clarity.

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  2. Thanks Don,

    I think I'd like to talk with you a bit.

    I'll email you.

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  3. Interesting comments Don. I can see some of what you say reflected in the quote Randall used - when they talk about 'market penetration' you know things have gone a bit awry already.

    A key feature of housechurch should be outward facing attitudes in the members: much moreso than in a traditional church because there's no building for people to see as they walk past. The word 'missional' springs to mind.

    I do understand about being elitist, although I've experienced that more from the view of wanting to be recognised as more 'spiritual' than the traditional church. I find it hard to wrap my head round a house church that's by invitation. Over here (UK) a lot of us can't get the public through our 'door' quick enough.

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  4. I suspect when Don speaks of "invitation" he means that it's necessary to some degree because a house church will be significantly less known than the building with the big cross and worship times posted on a sign. You're not likely to find a house church category in the yellow pages.

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