How Disciple-Making Keeps House Churches from Fizzling Out

We have heard of multiple house church movements in America and Europe that have come and gone over the past few decades. In several cases, there were as many as two dozen churches connected as a network in a region.

When we meet people who were involved in a movement like this, they are nostalgic about the glory days when things seemed to be thriving, but eventually, they tell us, it all fizzled out quite quickly.

What happened?!

Our answer: They prioritized being a house church (and even a network) over their identity as disciples who make disciples first and foremost. The outward impulse to make disciples is an essential, non-negotiable aspect of being a healthy church, no matter a church's size (large, small, or in between).

Two Inevitable Problems

This core component of disciple-making isn't just so we can eventually multiply our numbers and keep growing and growing. Numerical growth certainly can be a side effect of making disciples. But numerical growth is not the primary reason we must make disciples.

A church that isn't on mission together faces two inevitable problems that threaten its very existence:

• We start prioritizing personal preferences over concern for others, which leads to conflict.

• We are dependent on the leadership that got us started, and we therefore lack long-term resilience.

Eating Ourselves Alive

There is a common joke about churches splitting over the decision of what color carpet they will have in their sanctuary. It sounds funny, but the joke exists because arguments like this happen regularly in churches.

Whether or not a church has ever actually split at an institutional level over carpeting may or may not be true, but it's not uncommon for churches to argue over matters such as the length of a worship pastor's beard, whether to remove a clock from the sanctuary, whether to use gluten-free communion bread, and whether fake plants should be removed from the platform.

And we can face our own versions of these conflicts in house churches. We have seen house churches come to an impasse over which translation of the Bible to use, whether to wear face masks during COVID, political opinions, and what to do with children when gathering. Without a common mission to unite us by looking outside ourselves, we turn inward, and our differences become magnified.

Dependence on Leadership

Another common issue is that a house church network is often catalyzed by a single dynamic leader who serves almost like a senior pastor for that network. Just as conventional churches might grow under the leadership of a singular dynamic pastor only to collapse when he leaves—or worse, when he fails morally—house church networks can face a similar situation when overly dependent on leadership.

If the people in our churches are not equipped to make disciples, when the primary leader and catalyst leaves the area, retires, or dies, the movement loses its organizational momentum. This is, unfortunately, a common pattern in movements heavily dependent on a charismatic founder's presence and leadership.

Making Disciples Is a Non-Negotiable

To avoid these sad outcomes, making disciples must be at the core of what it means to be a healthy disciple and a healthy church. This is why some of Jesus' final instructions in all four gospels and at the very beginning of Acts included commands to make disciples of all nations, to proclaim the gospel to all creation, and to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. Then we see the very first church at the end of Acts 2 making disciples by adding about 3,000 to their number, and indeed more in Jerusalem, then throughout Judea, Samaria, and beyond.

Not only is making disciples a command to obey, but being disciples who make disciples is part of our identity as followers of Jesus. It is who we are. Consider these words from Peter: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9) Our proclamation to the world is a primary purpose for Jesus calling us to be his disciples in the first place.

Some might say, "But our church does make disciples—we disciple each other!" Of course, mutual edification is essential, and that topic deserves its own blog post. But there must be an outward movement as well. Otherwise, we risk insularity, isolation, and the satisfaction of our selfish desires.

For these reasons, when helping others form new house churches, we are clear that we are not just about house church for the sake of size, informality, community, or other similar reasons. Those things are great and even biblical, but if we don't understand our identity and duty as disciples who make disciples, our efforts might ultimately be in vain. Without prioritizing and committing to disciple-making, we create groups that are indeed committed to one another but remain insular, or we see groups that come and go. It's only a matter of time before it fizzles out.

What We See in the New Testament

Contrast the insular nature of churches that do not prioritize disciple-making or a network of groups dependent on central leadership with what happened to the earliest disciples in Acts. In chapter 7, Stephen is stoned in Jerusalem, and then widespread persecution ensues. The disciples are then forced to spread to other regions:

And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. (Acts 8:1, 4–8)

While the apostles (the formal leaders) remained in Jerusalem, the ordinary, everyday disciples were confident and competent enough to proclaim the gospel, make new disciples, and see a new church start in a new city.

Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples

What about you? No matter which church expression you find yourself in, you need to see yourself as a disciple of Jesus who makes other disciples. It's just who you are if you follow Jesus. As we mentioned above, that is the biblical assumption, it is Jesus' command and expectation, and it is the identity that the earliest church lived into.

If you want to see health in your church, start with yourself. If you don't feel confident or competent about your identity as a disciple-maker, we'd love to help. You can keep reading blog posts like this one here and here. We invite you to download our resource "Five Practices for Following Jesus with Your Whole Heart" here. And what might help you most is joining one of our upcoming cohorts here.