Vision: Starting, Strengthening, and Multiplying Churches

Overview

Jesus told Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overpower it” (Matt. 16:18). Each Christian is part of Jesus’s church, and each Christian, by the grace of God, has a part in building it. But what is the church? And how can we know if we are pursuing Jesus’s holistic vision for his church? These questions are particularly important for Christian leaders, for our answers shape the way we approach our ministries.

We answer these questions by looking to Jesus’s and his apostles’ teachings as revealed in Scripture. Doing so not only clarifies their terminology, but it also clarifies the strategies they used to build the church. As we seek to align our ministries to the way Jesus led his apostles, the vision of our network is to start, strengthen, and multiply churches—building up the church in four categories: (1) in homes, (2) in cities, (3) in regions, and (4) throughout the world. This language reflects how the biblical authors categorized the church and organized it to accomplish Jesus’s purposes in the world.

This vision is supported and advanced by these core categories: (1) The Mission: To Make Disciples of All Nations, (2) Core Values and Purposes, (3) Strategy: The Apostolic Cycle, (4) Implementation, and (5) Gathering in Homes: The Weekly Assembly of the Church (since that practice is central in the New Testament).

Detailed Explanation

The Four Categories of the Church

The Greek word ekklesia means assembly, gathering, or congregation—a word usually translated as church in our English Bibles. The church of Jesus Christ is not a place Christians go, gather, or leave. In other words, the church does not consist of buildings or land. Instead, the church consists of people—God’s people—who have been saved by grace through faith, who reside in heaven and on earth, and who live under the lordship of Jesus.

The authors of the New Testament used the word ekklesia (using the singular form of the word) to describe four assemblies or gatherings of Christians. It can refer to:

Category 1 of the Church: Christians who meet in homes (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2)
The historic marks of the church (per, for example, Luther and Calvin) are (1) the right teaching of the Word of God and (2) the administration of the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper). These two marks signal that a gathering of believers constitutes a local church.
Category 2 of the Church: Christians throughout a city (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1)
Category 3 of the Church: Christians throughout a region (Acts 9:31)
Category 4 of the Church: all the people of God in heaven and/or on earth, for whom Jesus died (Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 5:25) (See Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1,051–1,052)

These categories refer to the people of God grouped in concentric circles—(1) in homes (the smallest assembly), (2) in cities, (3) in regions, and (4) in heaven and on earth / the universal church (the largest assembly). Local churches (whether defined by category 1 and/or 2) are historical manifestations of category 4. “The assembly of the local church is a kind of outcropping in history of the assembly of the church of the living God already gathered in solemn assembly before the throne in union with Christ…The local church is the historical manifestation, under the new covenant, of this massive, blood-bought assembly” (Carson, The Gospel and the Modern World, 83).

Are these four categories of the church merely descriptive of the way Jesus and the apostles described and led the church (and we are free to deviate as we see fit) OR are these categories also prescriptive (in terms of how we should describe and organize the church)? We believe that because these four categories emerge directly from the Bible, they are relevant in every generation and in every culture. Using these categories is one of the most foundational and practical ways that we can align our ministries to the ministry of Jesus and his apostles. For the first sixty years of the church as recorded in Acts and the epistles, Jesus and his apostles used the vocabulary of “church/assembly/congregation” to describe his people, for example, in homes. While Jesus undoubtedly grants his church much freedom in the ways we approach ministry, it is wise to study his vocabulary and approach to ministry diligently before we dismiss his categories and approach as evidenced through the ministry of the apostles. Perhaps there is more wisdom and cross-cultural relevancy in Jesus’s approach than we have understood or imagined.

Public Gatherings of the Church AND Private Gatherings of the Church

When the church began in Jerusalem, there was a great conversion of men and women: “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them” (Acts 2:41). That number soon increased: “But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand” (Acts 4:4). And “the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

How did the apostles organize the church to evangelize and to disciple people throughout the city? Under the apostles’ leadership, Christians met in public gatherings AND in homes. The following verses highlight the public-private dynamic of the church in Jerusalem:

“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts.” (Acts 2:46)
“Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.” (Acts 5:42)

In this way, the church in Jerusalem was—from the beginning—the church (in Jerusalem) consisting of churches (in homes).

We see a similar public-private dynamic in Ephesus. Paul said to the Ephesian elders: “You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20).

And when Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Rome (around 57AD), the citywide church in Rome (Rom. 1:7) consisted of as few as three house churches (Moo, A Theology of Paul and His Letters) to as many as seven house churches (Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus), depending on how one analyzes the lists of Christians in Romans 16.

From this brief survey, we see that the early Christians were committed to public gatherings of the church AND private gatherings of the church. From the apostles’ perspective, both were essential for the church. When we adopt the apostles’ vocabulary and approach to ministry, we realize that if our citywide church gatherings on Sunday mornings have more than 25 people, those people (and others in their neighborhoods!) could also meet in two or more house churches on Sunday evenings. Both-and, not either-or. And that is one of the primary ways the church grew during the first 300 years of its existence—from house to house, and from meal to meal.

Over time, these churches developed into complex networks—with churches like the ones in Jerusalem, Ephesus, and Rome serving entire regions for the purposes of starting and strengthening churches.[1]

House Churches, Citywide Churches, and Regional Churches

With these categories in mind, we utilize the following terms to clarify and organize our network’s activities: (1) House Churches, (2) Citywide Churches, and (3) Regional Churches. God’s people meet in both public and private settings to study God’s Word, pray, minister to one another, and to sing. And both settings are essential, as each context provides unique advantages.

1. House Churches

House churches are the places where God’s people experience community more intimately. Homes are ideal, for example, for taking the Lord’s Supper in the context of meals, and applying God’s Word in ways that are more attuned to individuals’ needs. At their best, house churches serve as the primary mechanism for evangelizing and discipling those in the surrounding community. These churches naturally gather in clusters based on geography or other factors.

2. Citywide Churches

A citywide church consists of all the Christians in a city (perhaps including nearby rural areas). These Christians congregate in one or more local churches in the city.

Citywide gatherings of Christians have unique advantages. In larger, public meetings, leaders can more efficiently cast vision, organize people, and teach God’s Word. Also, nothing symbolizes the unity of the body of Christ better than when God’s people gather together in public settings to hear God’s Word, to pray, and to sing.

With these first two categories in mind, we think it wise to gather on Sunday mornings (or other days and times) to equip men and women to lead in house churches. And we gather in homes on Sunday evenings to take the Lord’s Supper in the context of a meal, study the Word, pray to God, minister to others, and sing to God—which are all held together by our fellowship with God and one another. Like the churches of the first-century, every church that follows this model is a (citywide) church of (house) churches.

3. Regional Churches (local churches with a region-wide influence)

The church (the people of God) in a region consists of Christians in cities and rural areas. Inevitably, there are local churches that exert a significant influence on churches throughout the region. They do not necessarily lead through their positional authority. Instead, they lead primarily through their ability to cast vision and provide resources (whether financial, educational, or otherwise) for other citywide churches and house churches. That is precisely the way the first-century churches in Jerusalem and Rome, for example, functioned: those churches consisted of multiple house churches (category #1), in their respective cities (category #2), with significant influence in their regions (category #3) and the world (category #4).

The Practices of Church Networks

What activities create, strengthen, and multiply churches? They include:

strengthening individual churches through teaching the Word of God, praying to God, and striving for personal and corporate holiness
identifying regions, cities, and neighborhoods that need new churches
equipping and sending men and women to proclaim and explain the gospel (for example, through evangelistic Bible studies in neighborhoods)
gathering new believers into house churches for their edification
bringing together multiple house churches in citywide gatherings for the purposes of equipping leaders, encouragement, and prayer
leveraging the giftedness and resources of regional churches to start and strengthen citywide churches
developing and appointing elders to lead new and existing churches
partnering between regional, citywide, and house churches (in varying combinations) with similar visions. This could take the form of shared training sessions, gathering together for prayer, and co-financing new church plants.

Until Jesus returns, those priorities remain for his church. And that includes networking with like-minded leaders to advance Jesus’s mission for the church.

Again, the unifying vision of our network is to start, strengthen, and multiply churches—building up the church in four categories: (1) in homes, (2) in cities, (3) in regions, and (4) throughout the world. We partner together to pursue that global vision—for the love of the world, the edification of God’s people, and the glory of God.

[1] For more information on the development of the early church, see Jeff Reed’s chapter “The Churches of the First Century: From Simple Churches to Complex Networks” in The Encyclicals: A Global Return to “The Way of Christ and His Apostles.”

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

Why are all four categories of “the church” essential to keep in mind? In other words, what happens when we either neglect or overemphasize one or more of those categories?
When considering verses such as Acts 2:46, 5:42, and 20:20, why must we strive to meet as Christians both publicly and privately?
What are the advantages for the people of God meeting in homes that cannot be easily replicated in public gatherings? How are neighborhood house churches well suited to evangelize non-Christians and to disciple Christians?
Given that the first-century Christians met in homes (as churches), was that practice simply descriptive or was it also prescriptive (a model we should follow)? Explain.
What are the advantages for the people of God meeting in citywide gatherings that cannot be easily replicated in private gatherings?
What are the best ways to create and strengthen networks of churches that share a similar vision? For example, what are the roles and the activities of leading churches in a region? What are the main objectives and strategies of the Gathering Network?
What ideas, if any, might we incorporate into the life of our church or network of churches? What would implementing those concepts look like in practice?