Reclaiming the House Church

Kia ora All Saints Whānau,
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We are now a week into Level 2 Delta, and we hope that you are adjusting well and finding new ways of doing things in this new season.

Reclaiming the House Church  – Alert Level 2 Delta
When we heard the announcement last week about the changes to level 2, we as a leadership team began to prayerfully consider what this means for our parish. What was quickly clear to us is that meeting together in level 2 is no longer possible for All Saints. The biggest reason for this is the fact that the maximum number of people that can gather now is 50.

Given this realization, we began praying, thinking through options, consulting with other parish leaders, and working to get creative with our options. Our main goal was to find a way for us to stay connected with one another, worship God, and reach those around us. The conclusion we reached through all of this was that there isn’t a new silver bullet here. In order to accomplish our goals we actually just need to dig deep into who we are as a Church and who we have always been called to be.

When we look back to the early Church, following the death of Jesus, we see a bold and empowered group of believers that weren’t going to let the oppression or opposition stop them from meeting together and declaring the good news. We live in a world where at present we are battling a virus that for the safety of others is preventing us from meeting together in person in large groups. This isn’t going to stop us.

Every day the believers continued to meet together. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. (Acts 2:46)

We believe that the Lord is calling us as a parish to continue to break bread together in our homes during this season when we are unable to meet together in big groups. We often talk of Church in the TEMPLE and in the HOME. For generations we as a Church have been gathering primarily in the temple, but this is a time when we need to strengthen they way that we do Church in the home; meeting together to pray, disciple, worship and share meals together.

What does this look like for All Saints? We have worked to begin the establishment of a house church network throughout the parish that can help us all to continue to meet together for the foreseeable future while we are unable to gather in large groups. Some of these groups already exist and are up and running. We have also called upon new house church leaders who are filled with courage and boldness to gather and lead groups during this time.
 
What does a House Church Look like?
We currently have 10 groups set up with numbers being added to them daily to help connect the parish. Each group is lead by one or two people and those leaders are being lead closely by the deacons. Our aim is to gather in our groups weekly to connect with one other, fellowship, pray, learn and worship.

“And the Lord added to their number daily.” (Acts 2:47) We are aware that in the past, home groups, small groups, cell groups, or whatever we call them have typically existed to supplement Sunday gatherings and are generally centered around a study or group reflection. This is a fine thing and good to continue, but in this new and unknown season we are in, our hope is that our house church network can also be a place of prayer and worship together, and a place where we can invite and engage with people in our world who don’t yet know Jesus. An informal gathering with your house church is a great place to invite others into when they otherwise may not feel comfortable turning up to our services on a Sunday morning. There is great potential and flexibility in gathering together in this way.

We understand that for many of us this is new, unfamiliar, and possibly a bit scary. We are not used to gathering together and worshipping in this way. Many may feel they don’t know what to expect. If this is how you feel, you are not alone. But the reality is, we as a nation are likely going to be changing levels and restrictions for some time yet and we don’t want to let this stop us from doing what God has called us all to do. While it will take a shift for many of us, we believe that by not recreating the wheel, but looking back at the early church and living into the true calling of disciples, we can give ourselves and those in our parish a great vehicle for discipleship, growth and connection, even during this trying time.

Our hope and prayer is that you all will join us. If we step into the new and unknown together it is so much easier than trying to do it on our own. So let us walk boldly together into this new season and trust our loving and faithful God to give us all that we need to grow in our own faith and also in our ability to share that faith with those around us.

House Church (small group connecting in the name of Jesus in a house) may include:
Food
Prayer
Connection
Study/Input/Sermon Watching
Discussion
Fun
 
We can use the model of UP IN OUT

• UP (To God): Jesus Centered: Some form of input, worship and prayer
• IN (House Church): Authentic Community: Food, Connection, Discussion
• OUT (Our Community): Missional Living: Invitation to join in our crew, Hospitality

 
Breaking Bread Together
A Seder meal is the Jewish feast that is held at home on the first night of the Passover. It is held to retell the story of the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. In its’ core tradition, this meal was intergenerational, with the family unit celebrating the faithfulness of God together. We are a family! We are celebrating together and retelling the story of what Jesus has done for us in our home! We encourage our house churches to break bread together, sharing meals with one another and giving glory to God. We have also enabled Andy and Emily to serve our house churches by visiting each one regularly to celebrate the Eucharist with us as we meet in our houses with one another.

How can you participate?
We currently have groups which have already started, and more being added as our network grows and in an attempt to be able to have places where everybody in the parish can engage. If you would like to join in, the easiest thing to do is to let us know by clicking here to email us and registering your interest in joining a house church.

House Church Register

​As a leadership team, this is our primary focus and where we will throw loads of our energy into supporting the parish. We will be gathering house church leaders regularly for input, prayer and support, and they will look to gather their house churches regularly too. There will be resourcing for house churches from us with creative ideas for how to pray and worship together, providing input and teaching, and encouragement and ideas for ways we can reach out and grow.
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We want to acknowledge that not everyone in the parish for one reason or another will join a house church and we want to say that in response to that we are in the early stages of setting up a sustainable phone tree network where we can keep those not in groups well connected and supported.

Our aim is to establish this network in a way that has the agility to adapt with the level changes and strength to be sustained even as we add services back in when government restrictions allow.

Blessings in Christ,
​Guy, Summer, Andy and Emily

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