House Fellowship, Church Growth and Holy Spirit
1 Corinthians 3:6
A paper by Pastor Femi Badekale for RCCG LP65 2016 House Fellowship conference
According to the
message of the National Coordinator of house Fellowship to this year 2016 House
Fellowship Conference
“Every child of God who
wishes to succeed in life, marriage, business and ministry should be conversant
with God the Holy Spirit.
God the Holy Spirit is
a person and not an impersonal force. He is the third person of the trinity. He
has all the absolute and relative attributes of the Almighty God, Acts 10:38.
He is the sole administrator of the Church, the body of Christ. He imparts life,
restores life and beautifies life. He teaches, heals, prospers, counsels, helps
us in prayers and empowers us for service.
The Holy Spirit is the
Vicar of Jesus Christ. It is therefore imperative for every House Fellowship
leader to be lead by the Holy Spirit.
What is an House Fellowship System
These are simply
churches meeting in smaller groups in homes. The foundation for this can be
traced to the early church where the disciples met in the temple courts and in
their homes regularly Acts 2: 46.
Both New Testament
example and principle argue for small home-sized groups as a key feature of the
local church. In the area of biblical example, Acts 2:46 states that the Jerusalem church met "in the
temple" and "from house to house . . ." Concerning the meetings
in the Temple, we know that Solomon's portico was probably quite large, and
could have accommodated even the several thousand that were a part of the
Jerusalem church. Thus, in Jerusalem, they held both large and small group
meetings.
Clearly, they did not
feel the large meetings were enough by themselves. It should be obvious that an
impersonal atmosphere will result if
we hold only very large meetings. The local church should encourage a network
of close relationships in its congregation because real community must be based
on close relationships. Smaller group meeting formats such as those described
in this passage would be ideal for fostering such relationships.
In another case, Paul
reminded the Ephesians’ elders that he had exhorted them both "publicly
and from house to house." Acts
20:20 In this passage, "publicly" probably refers to the school
room of Tyrannus Acts 19:9. But Paul
did not limit his speaking ministry to the large meeting place, even though one
was available. He also worked “from house to house.”
Paul apparently refers
to several home churches in the city of Rome Romans 16: 4, 10, 11, 14, 15,. In I Cor. 14:35 he mentions “churches” in the plural, after having
already referred to “the church of God which is at Corinth,” I Corinthians 1:2 in the singular.
It
seems clear from these and other references that operating a cluster of home
churches in each city was common practice in the book of Acts of Apostles.
These home groups continued to work together under the same elders. It is
probably significant that no church buildings have been found from the earliest
period of the church (33—150 AD.), and even those from the second century were
homes with a large room built-in.
The need for effective
small group ministry which is called house fellowship or home cell is implied
in the New Testament. If the main church is to truly develop the spiritual
gifts of its members, and mobilize the
power of the Holy Spirit to work through a trained and experienced laity
and if it is to facilitate true relationship-based community, it will need to
organize smaller groups in form of house fellowship centers where these can be fostered.
And the church was
said to be growing. It therefore became expedient for any church that wants to
grow to give adequate attention to the home cell house fellowship or cell
church or neighborhood fellowship or house caring fellowship, as it may be
called. According to Eddie Gibbs, “…I
cannot recall any growing church which does not encourage small group”. The
programs of an average house fellowship should include sharing of the word of
God, communion (feasting) and prayers. Some other suggested programmes house
fellowship can embark on are sharing brotherly love, counseling, welfare
activities, intercessory prayers, love feasts, visitation and evangelism.
According to C. Peter Wagner, church growth is “All that is involved in
bringing men and women who do not have personal relationship with Christ into
fellowship with Him and into a responsible church membership” . Church growth
has been considered along two major divides – quantity and quality.
For a church to grow in quantity means they
grow in number. This is quite important because the Lord wants His church to
increase. In the parable of the talent Matt.
25; Lk. 19, we saw how sad the master was about the servant who hid his
talent. Take note that he did not throw it away and neither did he spend out of
it. He returned it the same way he was given. Yet the master said he would have
been happier if he had given it to bankers and he would have received it back
with an interest Matt. 25: 27.
Numerical increase is the key here – the interest. How much of ‘interest’ did
the church get last year through the House Fellowship?
Qualitative growth is such growth that emanate as a result of the goal of the church being fulfilled – making members more conformed to the image of Christ. Apart from increasing in number, the church should be able to grow in having more people giving their lives to Christ; more people giving themselves for service; more member committing themselves to leadership and stewardship; more people having a great sense of belonging and more people getting their needs met in the church.
It is important to
note that the possibility of a church to grow in these two ways have been
criticized by some. They feel a church cannot grow in number and also grow in
quality. But the reverse should be the case. The church should be ‘the more,
the merrier’.
A church can grow in
number and also in quality. The concern of this conference therefore is to look
at how we can grow by the use of tool of house fellowship. A home fellowship's existence is not an end in itself.. In order
for groups to be spiritually healthy, they need a purpose greater than
themselves. On the other hand, good small groups tend not to stay small. Thus,
when a house fills up with people, much of the interactive character of the
group is lost. In addition, outreach tends to dwindle because there is no room
for new people.
In cases like this, it is
natural to divide the group in order to preserve the small size of the group,
while at the same time, reaching more people. In the Redeemed Christian Church
of God when a house fellowship center is over 12 members, new centers are to be
created out of it.
This is because the
church propagates a vision and a plan for planting new groups which encourages
outreach, discipleship, and equipping, home fellowships which tends to lead to
qualitative and quantitative growth.
We should establish ground rules that help to
ensure success for both newly planted groups, with a minimum of disruption to
the relationships that have been developed. In other words, the view of the
leaders might well be, "the faster our group grows, the sooner we get to
part ways with the close friends we have made so far."
STEPS TO USE HOUSE FELLOWSHIP FOR GROWTH
1. Have a set out purpose: House Fellowship should be run with a set
purpose in mind. Set a goal for what you want to see them achieve in every
month, quarter, and year.
2. Give them priority: Everyone including the leadership should give house
fellowship centers a place of importance. A situation where the Church fixes a
meeting during House Fellowship does not show that these groups are important. When
we make house fellowship look like a program for the babes, no one will be
willing to associate with it. The pastor is an important factor to a successful
house fellowship.
3. Allow room for innovation and make it attractive: It is generally
known that we cannot continue to do the same thing the same way and get a
different result. If we indeed need a different result, we should be willing to
change the way we do some of them.
4. Make them small enough: These tools are supposed to be small
groups. When they become too large, they begin to lose their importance as
small group. One major reason why many of the churches have them large is
because of unavailability of hands. That poses a good challenge to us because
it helps us to know that we need to raise more leaders.
5. Make space available: Many house fellowships meet in place where
there are no enough space to meet. The moment we get to that point, we should
begin plan to start another one or creating a space for them.
6. Go after people: We easily let people go. Go after new members;
target your neighbours, non-church members and others. When someone is not
coming again to the fellowship, we go out to check on them. Straying members should
be sought. There is need for visitation whether physically or electronically.
7. Pray: We need to pray that the Lord will bless what we do. We
should see these as tools for the growth of the church. House fellowship
leaders should always come together for prayers. Just the way a pastor will not
go to the pulpit on any day without seeking God’s face and God’s grace, not
house fellowship pastor should lead their session without a time of personal
prayer.
In conclusion doing the
above among other things and living the rest for the Holy Spirit who brings
increase will always give us rest. God bless Happy Conference
References
1. Revd. E. O. Adewara : growing the
church through house fellowship and Sunday school a paper presented by at orientation program for workers of unity
Baptist church, Ugbori, Warri on the 4th January, 2014.
3 Dennis
McCallum: Eleven Reasons Why Home Fellowship Groups
Usually Fail
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