How can I find a house church near me?

This is a question we get a lot. The answer is tricky, so we want to address it.

There are some places you can look online to find house churches near you, but this isn't our recommendation. That's because these resources are often out of date and unable to vouch for any particular gatherings. Our suggestion of what to do instead might be a little mind-bending based on your experience, but it's worth trying to understand.

Stereotypical Approaches to Church Shopping

If you're looking for a more conventional church to start attending, what tactics do you typically use to find options? In other words, how do you church shop?

You can ask around. Or you can go to some of the places everyone else is talking about. Or you can go to a place you've seen before because it has a prominent building in town with a sign out front. Or you can look online. These days, the last option of looking online is increasingly common.

Why that Won't Work with House Churches

As frustrating as it sounds, it doesn't really work this way with decentralized house church networks. That's because if you ask around, you might not know many people in a network like this. Because of their somewhat underground nature, they typically don't get as much buzz as the "it" churches in town. You're never going to see them as you're driving around town because they don't have dedicated buildings with signs. And typically, they don't have much of a reliable online presence.

So what to do?

Our Recommendation

Consider gathering a few people at your home.

Seriously.

We understand entirely how radically counter-cultural this idea might sound. But in most cases, it's honestly your best option. That's because there might not be anyone in your area gathering in this way (not yet). And even if there are, they might not have the space to add you and/or your family (space is limited). Plus, the best way for house churches to multiply is for ordinary people like you to start gathering people on their own.

We Can Hear the Questions Running through Your Mind

If you're like most Christians, a bunch of questions are justifiably running through your mind right now: Is that even allowed? Can I legitimately do this? What about heresy? What will we do with the kids? Who preaches? Who plays the music? Do we need a denomination or institutional covering and approval? Do we need a 501 (c) (3) non-profit status? What do we do about money? Etc., etc., etc.?

Take It Easy

Hold on for just a minute!

You don't need to create formal operations to start. Just find at least one other person, maybe two or more, who are willing to gather with you in an informal setting, like your home or theirs, to start reading the Bible, discussing, praying, and serving one another. Just do that. See what happens. And take it from there. You don't even have to call it a "church." At least not yet.

Get Help

If it sticks, start taking things more seriously. Start getting some training and mentoring. We'd love to help. You can join one of our upcoming cohorts. You can take a look at the resources we're developing, like this one and this one. Or you can contact us to get connected with someone who can help. And you can keep coming back to this blog for more answers to your excellent questions.