115. To Create A House Church That People Want To Come / Pastor Chai
Many pastors and lay-leaders who attend house church seminar find it burdensome that house church has to meet every week. They are pretty convinced that house church is not a small group but a “church”. So meeting every week is somewhat understandable to them. However, the real burden comes from persuading church members who are used to meeting every other week or every month for their small groups or cell groups.
However, as long as sharing time goes well during House Church meeting, this doesn’t really become a problem. All humans have an inborn desire for self-expression. The reason why many guys go to a bar or pub after work is mainly to relieve stress by talking to their friends. Many ladies love to gather with their friends to talk mainly to relieve stress. So if house church can provide an opportunity to relieve stress for their members, people would rather want to meet every week.
That is why house church must fulfill our desire for self-expression. To make that happen, shepherds have to “listen”, not “teach”. Traditional church leaders who have done many Bible studies tend to teach, though with good intention. But house church is not where teaching happens but “sharing” of lives happen. Also providing predictable Christian answers or cliche must be avoided. It is much better to share a brief personal testimony or give a question that can clarify their thoughts.
During House Church meeting, sharing of emotion has to be the focus, not facts. It is ok to talk about sports, political issues or economy during meal time but not during sharing time. It is so easy to gather facts and information these days simply by searching the internet. There is no need to share this kind of information during house church. The focus has to be sharing of “emotions”. So those who lead the meeting need to practice asking “how do you feel?”, rather than “what do you think?” So it is vital for house church leaders and members to check if healthy and honest self-expression is happening in their house churches, or just a simple exchange of information is happening.
