House to House: Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century Church [Paperback]

Larry Kreider (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: House to House Pubns; 2nd edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1880828812
• ISBN-13: 978-1880828816
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,357,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Anointed, January 25, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: House to House: Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century Church (Paperback)

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. My pastor gave it to me as a training tool. I have read it several times. It gives practical and biblical information on cell churches; mostly answering the "why" and "how" questions that everybody seems to have. Excellent resource for anyone who feels led to be a part of a cell group.

4.0 out of 5 stars PRACTICAL, BUT NOT QUITE THERE !, May 30, 2011

By 

Rad Zdero "Rad Zdero" - See all my reviews

This review is from: House to House: Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century Church (Paperback)

Larry Kreider's book "House to House: Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century" is 216 pages long and is divided into 17 chapters and 2 appendices. The main focus of the book is introducing and instructing the reader on how to build a successful evangelistic cell-based model of the church for greater missional impact.

There are several strengths. First, it is written by someone who has years of experience as a pastor of a large mega church using a cell group model and who now leads an international network of cell and house churches (DOVE Christian Fellowship International). Second, it is an easy-to-read, step-by-step, practical work that is meant for a popular level audience, which will be a useful tool for anyone interested in the topic. Third, the author is mission-driven and is not satisfied with people just getting streamed into inward-looking small groups, but rather wishes to help reap a harvest among the lost. Fourth, there are numerous anecdotal stories that help the reader understand how this can work in a real-world context, as well as stories from the author's own experience that is spread across several chapters. Fifth, the book examines many relevant issues, such as evangelism, leadership training, multiplication, dangers/pitfalls to avoid, biblical leadership examples, etc.

There are some weaknesses to the book. In the cell church's attempt to get away from the overly-programmed approach of the traditional congregational model, it has become overly-programmed itself with all the "hoops to jump through" for cell members and cell leaders with its potentially limitless leadership hierarchy of cell leaders, section leaders, elders, pastors, etc, and, despite Kreider's protests to the contrary, there will always be an ongoing dependence on buildings or large spaces for regular congregational celebration meetings of all the cells (pp. 25, 165-167). This is based on an attempt to artificially bring into the church a combination of the multi-level hierarchical system using the "Jethro Principle" based on Exodus 18:21-24 (pp.27-30) and the apostles and elders of the New Testament (pp.147-157). This can lead to a mechanistic approach to structuring the New Testament church. None of this can be found explicitly in the New Testament for how the early house churches were formed and functioned (Acts 2:41-47, 5:12, 5:42, 20:20; Rom 16:3-5). Only two levels of leadership existed in the New Testament church: local elders and translocal apostles. There is an attempt, however, to develop something like a New Testament basis for ecclesiology (pp.147-167).

Overall, however, the book does offer good insight into the cell church model, it is very practical, and will be immensely beneficial to those interested in restructuring the church for harvest and hostility.

RAD ZDERO, author of LETTERS TO THE HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENT and THE GLOBAL HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENT