Customer Reviews

Missional House Churches

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This book stands out from others, including Wolfgang Simson's formidable "Houses That Change the World", because it is based on actual research. J.D. Payne is not so much a "cheerleader" for a preferred way of doing church as he is a reporter who bases his observations on where the data leads him. And where it leads him is to the conclusion that the missional house church phenomenon is accomplishing things that the more traditional church cannot afford to ignore.

As someone who has read a fair amount of the available material on the subject, I find Payne's book among the more valuable and will certainly use it as a primer for training house church leaders within my own circle of influence.

For anyone considering the idea of house churches, JD Payne, pastor, professor, and now director of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's church planting center, sketches the defining contours of a missional house church.

After surveying 33 missional house churches from around the country, Payne presents his take on how these congregations are answering the most essential ecclesiological questions (growth, leadership, evangelism, membership, finances, etc.). He acknowledges that the DIY ethic of the house church movement may seem too avant-garde for most American churchgoers, but then counters this reluctance with concise summaries of the biblical foundations behind these approaches. He is also clear and gracious in his critique of those practices which fall short of biblical models.

After establishing America's growing interest in house churches, Payne defines his terms. By "missional," he is describing, "churches [that] have within their very DNA a passion to take the gospel to their Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and throughout their world. They believe if they ever cease to be intentionally and regularly involved in evangelism, then they cease to be a church. Missional churches obey our Lord's command to "go" into all the world rather than waiting for unbelievers to come to their church gatherings" (8-9).

While not wishing to demean congregations that operate according to traditional or mainline understandings of the local church, Payne draws a distinction between the well-known concept of church--a big worship service, lots of programs, highly specialized clergy, etc.--and what he calls "house churches." This term is not used to refer to a location, but rather to a "whole range of topics about the church and how it should function" (10, Payne quoting Steve Atkerson).

This "range of topics " is the subject of Payne's opening arguments about the New Testament's use of the word translated as "church" (ekklesia). He points out that in no instance is the word "church" used to refer to a physical structure, an event, or something a person attends--though these are the most common associations Americans make. Instead, ekklesia is consistently used to describe a community of people who have been regenerating by the Holy Spirit; who boldly love one another; and who live according to a "kingdom ethic" that causes them to preach the gospel and love outsiders and enemies.

This case is built on the constellation of metaphors used throughout the New Testament to describe the church: a family, a body, a priesthood, a fellowship, a sanctuary, a bride, branches, sheep, etc.--most of which highlight the organic nature of the church rather than an institutional identity. And this is probably one of the hallmarks of the house church movement: the "fear that institutionalization will begin to take precedence over genuine relationships, thus distorting the simple expression of faith" (39-40).

Payne, who is definitely a proponent of house churches--though he doesn't think they're a panacea by any means--identifies several intriguing characteristics of house churches. The most spectacular might be the ratio between members and baptisms. This common measurement of effectiveness in evangelism attempts to identify how many church members are needed to see one person baptized in a year (baptism being equated with conversion). For example, in a church of 200, if there are two people baptized in a year, then it took 100 members for each conversion (100:1). Payne admits that this measurement has its limitations but believes it to be the best one presently available.

The house churches that Payne surveyed averaged between 4.3:1 and 2.3:1. That is incredible when compared with traditional churches, many of which see no baptisms in a given year, while the best average only 86:1. If you're not good at numbers, here's another way to think about it: imagine sitting in your church of, let's say 150 people. Over the course of the next year, 75 people get saved and join the church. You're church now has 225 people!

When asked about how they approached evangelism (in other words, what makes them so successful?), house church leaders responded according to four categories:

* Use of relationships: 67 percent
* Invitation to church activities and use of relationships: 9 percent
* Community activities/special events: 9 percent
* Invitation to church activities: 6 percent (79)

Unlike many Christians, "they did not see the corporate worship gathering as the primary place when evangelism should occur" (80). Instead, these house church members were seeing conversions because they were constantly sharing the gospel within their sphere of influence with boldness and clarity.

Payne also applauds the way missional house churches raise up new leaders, as well as how they make use of time and money for evangelistic and benevolence endeavors rather than the development of complex infrastructure, specialized training, building maintenance, or corporate-style marketing. He also draws attention to some obvious shortcomings: the potential for isolationism; a bias against clericalism that sometimes slips into the erroneous practice of abolishing all forms of leadership; and a too casual approach to assimilating new members. Without a covenant or any sort of membership process there doesn't appear to be a clear means of carrying out church discipline.

In his final chapter, Payne goes into preaching mode--though with professorial reserve. He cites several passages from two of the most influential missional writers--Roland Allen (an Anglican missionary with extraordinary prophetic insight who wrote during the turn of the last century) and David Garrison (whose more recent publications on the explosion of church planting movements around the globe have become standard reading among house church advocates). Payne uses some of their most piercing and inspiring writings to support his bracing assertion that "the most critical issue in North American church planting today is an ecclesiological issue" (150). At the heart of this issue are the many cultural adornments and extra-biblical additions that Americans believe to be essential to the expression of a local church: big buildings, lots of money, slick programs, talented musicians, sensational preachers, and so on.

These "extras" may seem good and helpful, but in many cases they may actually serve as massive obstacles to the rapid advancement of the kingdom. They are part of a model that takes years or decades to reproduce. This has been Payne's point all along. These things really are bells and whistles, and they do not build the church, Jesus does. And we are obliged to remove every obstacle that could be preventing the spectacular move of his Spirit here in the US.

In his book Missional House Churches, Dr. JD Payne has done us a great service by providing the first scholarly, yet highly readable, analysis of its kind regarding North American house churches that are actually experiencing growth and expansion. What factors have directly or indirectly contributed to their evangelistic impulse and church planting success? What challenges do the leaders of these Christian colonies face, internally and externally? What demographic patterns are evident in these faith communities? What practices and beliefs do they hold dear? What questions still need answering as this phenomenon emerges onto the landscape? Apart from some sections in which the author ventures into the land of "critique", rather than sticking to pure description and analysis of his subject, this is a highly balanced effort from an able scholar. Anyone planting house churches in the West will be challenged by this important work to sharpen their skills and to become more missional.

Rad Zdero, Ph.D.
Author of The Global House Church Movement (2004) and
Editor of Nexus: The World House Church Movement Reader (2007)