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James Quansah teaching the Word of God
The Lord Jesus commands His servants to go and make disciples of all nations, baptize and teach them to observe all that He has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). Christ’s commands are contained in the Bible.
This requires that the disciples are gathered together regularly at one place for teaching, prayer, fellowship and bread-breaking or the Lord’s Supper. The earliest Church did these things (Acts 2:42).
The disciples of Christ Jesus are called Christians. Usually, in the beginning, some disciples meet in private houses or classrooms before they later buy a parcel of land and put up a permanent church building.
We read about several churches that were hosted in the houses owned by believers in the Bible. Prisca and Aquila had a church in their house (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19).
Moreover, Nympha hosted a church in her house (Colossians 4:15), Philemon had a church in his house (Philemon 2) and Gaius appears to have hosted both Paul and the whole Corinthian church in his house (Romans 16:23).
Today too, several churches are hosted in houses in several parts of the world. House churches became very common in Ghana and perhaps other places during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Government placed a ban on worshipping in classrooms.
In November 2018, I planted a church in my house. Though it led to the establishment of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre, a training and educational (teaching) ministry, the house church is not without serious challenges. The Bible does not talk about these challenges.
A house church is usually small in number. This is because the believers meet in a garage, hall (parlor, living room) or under one or two canopies on the compound. Often, chairs, instruments and other articles for service need to be packed and unpacked after each meeting.
Also, if the house belongs to the pastor, he is denied privacy as most members frequently invade his living room. This breeds familiarity, a dangerous thing that contributes to barrenness of churches and sometimes tears down churches.
Other people join the church with the mindset of visiting the pastor to beg for money to pay rent, school fees among others. Attempts to stop or discourage these attitudes often offend them which can lead to the collapse of the church.
Surprisingly, however, most believers hardly see the need to give or donate financially to enable the church to buy a parcel of land or rent a spacious hall no matter how they are taught the Word of God and the vision and mission of the church are well articulated.
It appears that they are conditioned or tempted to think that the church belongs to the owner of the house. But the church actually belongs to Jesus Christ no matter where it is planted.
What is more challenging is the fact that after evangelism, some new converts or people who honour invitations for the first time hardly stay. They complain of finding it uncomfortable to enter someone’s house for a church meeting.
Moreover, though God blesses the owners of the houses, sometimes they are exposed to various spiritual and physical attacks.
These and other challenges make numerical growth of churches hosted in houses very difficult if not impossible.
Under the circumstances, the servant-leadership of a house church can only continue to fast, pray and trust God for a new and strategic and spacious place to move the church.
By James Quansah
