DAWN European Network

House Churches - the old-new paradigm of church

If Europe shall be saturated by churches, traditional pastor-led churches will not be able to do the job alone. "Liquid churches" - churches that are small and flexible enough to penetrate every area of society like oil a motor - are needed. And normal people like you and me need to realize that their home, their office or their school class can turn into a church. Revolutionary? Not much longer. House Churches are becoming the "third power" in the Church landscape worldwide.

House Church Infos and stories from Europe:

www.housechurch.dk

"Nomads force us to reconsider our concept of Church",

says Church Growth expert Ralph D. Winter. Read more...

Northern India: 9,000 house churches planted in 5 years

Between the start of the recent house church movement in India (around 1996) and the end of 2001, some 9,000 house churches have been planted in India's 12 northern states. In 2001 alone, the number of churches grew by 66 percent, according to an Operation Agape report. The staff and leaders of some of these movements assign each person a particular area of responsibility, according to their gifting and calling. “T-I leaders” are responsible for a small number of believers (10-12) in one village. “T-II leaders” are responsible for the T-I leaders in a 20-30km radius. Both groups have normal day jobs. T-III leaders are tranined and work full time for the ministry, training T-I and T-II leaders, meeting their spiritual needs and mentoring them as they plant new house churches. T-IV leaders have full-time responsibility for whole regions, and T-V are the visionary leaders who influence a whole nation or more. Their task is to mobilise prayer support and other resources, organise conferences and to motivate and mobilise Christians for the process of 'spiritual harvest'.

Source: Operation Agape, e-mail alexagapeldh@cs.com