The Global House Church Movement

Since our local journey began, I quickly learned what the Lord is doing here is neither isolated nor a "flash in the pan" experience. Our walk has connections to the very infancy of the New Testament Church, and there's a trail of history, often untold, that confirms a continuity of house church/organic church life that continues to this day. There's also ample evidence that the Lord is up to something massive here in the 21st Century: restoring true New Testatment life and function around the globe.

In the growing collection of excellent books on the House Church Movement, I've come across a real gem:
The Global House Church Movement  by Rad Zdero.

Rad does a phenomenal job of covering the history of house churches and helping to envision disciples for life in this new, yet old context. And there is one chapter that really set me on fire: Chapter 5, Radical Principles, 10 Declarations of the Radical Church. I cannot resist sharing a few of these with you. But I will do so in small daily doses. Here is the first of my 3 favorites.

DECLARATION 5

We Declare the Citywide Church vs. Denominations

For too long, we Christians have been seperated from each other and divided along denominational lines like corporations, organizations or political bodies with branch offices in various towns, cities, and nations. But the tide is turning!  We now declare a grassroots Christianity that works together strategically as a citywide church in order to effectively reach that city or region as was done in the New Testament era (Acts 9:31, 15:36, 20:17; Romans 1:7; I Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; Gal 1:2; Eph 1:1; Philip 1:1; Col 1:2; I Thes 1:1; @ Thes 1:1)

Denominationalism, unfortunately has historically often served to fragment Christians into different camps even within the same geographic locality, effectively crippling them from reaching out as a united Body of Christ. Fortunately, God is working mightily today to break down many of these barriers to unify Christians to maximize their efforts to disciple their city for Christ.

Therefore, as grassroots radical Christians, we in the house church movement encourage efforts that prioritize citywide church efforts over any existing denominational ties.