History of the house church

History of the house church

1. For its first 300 years, the church met in the spontaneity, flexibility and intimacy of believers’ homes. There were no church buildings, pastors, Sunday worship, crusades, seminaries or tithing. During this period the church grew in faith and in numbers daily. (Acts 16:5)

2. Paul shared the whole wisdom of God from house to house. All training was church based. House churches were banned by law in 380 AD. The church lost its soul and entered into its dark age for a millennium. (Acts 20:20; 27-29)

3. The Nicolaitans believed in ‘conquering the laity’, by claiming a higher status, dividing the church into speakers and listeners. Yeshua hated this division equating it with loss of first love, idolatry and immorality. Yet the modern church continues to practice this unscriptural dichotomy. (Acts 6:5;Rev. 2:4,6,14,15;Matt 12:25)

4. House churches suffered severely under the Romans. Constantine saw a vision of the solar cross, invaded and became the Roman emperor. He appointed himself the de facto Pope, built the first cathedral, appointed paid clergy, and started the Catholic Church. (312-325 AD)

5. The Roman Empire saw a phenomenal growth of nominal Christianity where heathen priests were ordained with their rituals that remain prevalent in the church, such as cloaks, pulpits, sermons, sacraments, altars and music. Traditional churches have Gothic, pagan architecture; and its government of clergy and officers is based on Roman administration; whilst its worship is based on Babylonian cult. That is why the institutional church is imploding from within instead of exploding outside in the world.

6. In 321 AD, Constantine decreed under the penalty of death, to venerate Sun-Day for Sol Invictus-the unconquerable Sun. Steeples atop the cathedrals caught the first light of the sun and celebrated with ringing of bells. The Bishop of Rome became Pontifex Maximus (Pope=Papa), the bridge between God and man. 

7. The NT church was led by the Holy Spirit, who inspired psalms, revelations, teachings and prophecy which resulted in new believers being added daily. Pope Gregory (500 AD) permanently perverted worship by programming sequential “Order of Worship” with hymns, scriptures, sermon and sacrament, prevalent in modern church; killing the Spirit of  participatory Church. (1Cor. 14:26)  

8. Pope Leo (440 AD) introduced clerical celibacy, ending biblical eldership of men with one wife. Infant baptism became obligatory in 416 AD. Crusaders (1096 AD) committed genocide of Jews and Muslims. 600 years of Inquisition resulted in millions of believers being declared heretics and tortured, often to death. Meanwhile, the monks methodically monkeyed the Scriptures.

9. In 1517 Martin Luther ignited a Reformation by writing his “95 Theses” against the Catholic Church. After affirming the house churches in 1526, he capitulated and declared death penalty for house church leaders in 1530.

10. The true church survived through the ages, not in the structured church, but in the homes of martyrs. Luther’s Reformation was only a theological one, “salvation through grace by faith”. God is now restructuring His church for a global harvest, in new wineskins called house churches, simple churches and organic churches.