The Top 10 Things House Church Leaders Should Prioritize (What Makes H4C Different)
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Jeremy Pryor: [00:00:00] Hey guys, welcome to the Podcast. This is from a webinar that we did for a cohort [00:00:05] launch for House for Community. This is our House church slash house community cohort. So if you're interested in [00:00:10] that, please cover one k.org.
And so if you're interested. And the [00:00:15] distinctives of how we think about House, church, house community. We've spent, uh, the last 15 [00:00:20] plus years really trying things, some things that didn't work, making lots of mistakes, finding lots of cool, [00:00:25] uh, ways that we can express. This kind of, um, church in [00:00:30] our culture today in the West.
And so we wanna share that with you guys., In this two-parter. This second [00:00:35] one is the top 10 distinctives of our House for Community Blueprint. [00:00:40] [00:00:45] [00:00:50] [00:00:55] [00:01:00] [00:01:05] [00:01:10] [00:01:15] [00:01:20] these are the things that makes this particular.
~Um, ~training [00:01:25] unique. ~Um, ~so we've been through ~lots and ~lots of house church trainings. ~Like, you know, I've, I've, ~I've followed the Tampa Bay underground, the [00:01:30] Kansas City Underground. We spent time learning from Francis Chan. ~We are a church. ~We spent a lot of time studying with, ~like ~Frank [00:01:35] Viola, with Wolfgang Simpson back in the early two thousands.
~I mean, lots and lots of models. ~Caesar Kalinowski had a whole season with [00:01:40] Caesar. ~I mean, ~I love studying a lot of these different models. ~Um, ~some of these things on this list you'll only [00:01:45] find in our coaching, not because that they're better, they're just distinctive. There's things that are different about [00:01:50] each of these, and I've learned so much.
And some of these things we have taken from others, we're like, wow, that's so [00:01:55] helpful. You know, ~we're gonna, ~we're gonna adopt that as well. ~So, but these things are, these, these, ~these things are pretty specific and will help you [00:02:00] guys understand, is this cohort the right one for me? ~Um, ~there's so many good ones out there that ~are, ~are bubbling up [00:02:05] now.
Thank God. Like I said, that ~there are, um, ~there are some good coaching, but ~these, ~these are things ~that ~unique about House for community. [00:02:10] So ~we, ~we spent a lot of time respecting the unique role of the hosting household. I mentioned that [00:02:15] this is a big deal for us. I don't really see this very clearly in other distinctives.
~Um, ~[00:02:20] a lot of this comes from, some of you guys are familiar with our Ministry of Family Teams. ~Um, and ~part [00:02:25] of how family teams actually started was we spent a lot of time trying to plant house [00:02:30] churches with modern Western families and they just kept crumbling under the [00:02:35] weight because they weren't really built to withstand that level of [00:02:40] leadership productivity as a team.
And so we started family teams really with the [00:02:45] dream that someday these first century households would reemerge. And we are starting to see that happen. [00:02:50] So we do rely a lot ~on, on, um, ~on that kind of family training that you start to think about family, like a team [00:02:55] that the husband and wife are really important dynamic team that needs to be able ~and, ~and know how to work together [00:03:00] well.
Um, so, but this is something we spend a lot of time on. We care a lot about, um, probably [00:03:05] more than any other group that I've seen. If we design everything around ~maxim ~[00:03:10] maximizing sustainability, I've said a lot of things already about the importance of sustainability. ~Um, ~this [00:03:15] is really tough ~to, ~to do this for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years.
[00:03:20] And ~if we, ~if we present a model that burns everybody out, you know, within three or four years, [00:03:25] then it's just not gonna work. Like we have to make a model that's sustainable. ~Uh, you know, ~even in our [00:03:30] context, even if you are training people to become more like households or family teams, how do we make [00:03:35] this really sustainable?
So we spent a lot of time thinking about this question, you [00:03:40] know, do you need respite? ~Is there, ~is there, do you need to meet less often, even though you, you know, you kind of feel like [00:03:45] you should meet, but it's gonna burn you out. ~Like, ~these are things we're constantly thinking about and we're gonna talk a lot about in [00:03:50] this cohort.
~Um, ~we find all the first principles for the how [00:03:55] of the gathering of the, of the community from first Corinthians 10 through 14, like I said. ~We're very focused on that passage. Um, ~[00:04:00] it's very unique in the New Testament because it is prescriptively describing how to do [00:04:05] church. And one of the things ~that, ~that I was taught in seminary, and that is said often in, ~in, in theo ~theological circles, is there is ~no prescriptive, um, there's ~[00:04:10] no prescriptive way to do church in the New Testament.
And by that they oftentimes mean that ~in, ~in the Book of Acts, when it [00:04:15] talks about them meeting in homes, it's not really prescriptive, it's just descriptive. In other [00:04:20] words, ~it, ~it's not saying thou shalt meet in homes, it's just saying ~they, ~they met in homes. ~And, uh, ~and so this [00:04:25] argument is the reason why 95 plus percent of Christians in the West [00:04:30] meet in large, ~uh, ~worship centers as opposed to homes.
~Um, ~and [00:04:35] the thing that oftentimes is missing from that discussion is one Corinthians 10 through 14. I mean, [00:04:40] there are so many clear directives given to [00:04:45] how they, and these are commands Paul is giving to a specific church. This is how you are to gather. [00:04:50] This is what you are to do. That these are totally ignored, ~um, ~because you can't do the [00:04:55] things that Paul is describing here in, in, at massive scale.
And so ~people, ~we just ignore these [00:05:00] chapters. ~It's, it's, ~it's so remarkable to me ~how ~how much we ignore the clearest passages in the [00:05:05] New Testament about how to do church. ~I mean, this, ~the Holy Spirit felt it was necessary to preserve in the New [00:05:10] Testament, such a clear blueprint for how they did it. Let's [00:05:15] actually obey it.
Let's actually pay attention to it. And so that's something we're gonna do in this cohort. [00:05:20] One of the things you'll find happens when you study deeply of passage, like one Corinthians 12, for [00:05:25] example, that describes the importance of all the gifts of the body, is that one of the things that we [00:05:30] design a gathering of the body to do is release the largest number of gifts to build up the body.
So when you walk [00:05:35] into a worship service, ~uh, ~worship services are extremely effective at releasing the [00:05:40] gift of worship, at releasing the gift of teaching. There's all kinds [00:05:45] of other gifts that have to be completely silent in order for that particular kind of [00:05:50] expression, to really survive and be helpful because they don't know how to [00:05:55] release, you know, 10, 15, 20 other gifts.
They just sit there silent. [00:06:00] That's a tragedy. Like I want to see all the gifts build up the body. [00:06:05] And so it's great to be able to go to a worship service and experience somebody's gift of [00:06:10] teaching or gift of worship leading. But man, when you walk into a living room [00:06:15] and really get built up by somebody's gift of exhortation, somebody's gift of service, somebody's ~gift of ~gift of [00:06:20] mercy, somebody's gift of prophecy, like these are so powerful, it'll change [00:06:25] everything.
And then I actually walk in and look around the room after a gathering and say, every single [00:06:30] gift in this room was released. I've seen that happen. That is [00:06:35] unbelievable. ~Um, man, ~such a beautiful thing. That's what we want to see happen. One of the things that we try, ~we, we ~[00:06:40] we'll do in house for communities, we'll always strive for unity with all the expressions of the church.
Again, I don't [00:06:45] think you can encapsulate everything the church needs to be in, in a house [00:06:50] church model. And so I'm constantly trying to find ways to partner with other expressions of the [00:06:55] church. ~Um, ~you know, ~we, we, ~our whole house church worships with, ~um, you know, ~a hundred plus others ~on a, you know, ~[00:07:00] every other month.
~I mean, there's things like, ~there's things you can experience in that larger gathering that I want everyone in my community to [00:07:05] experience. We just don't do it every week. Right. ~Um, so ~a lot of the problems I have with the traditional church [00:07:10] model isn't that there's something ~like ~almost sinful about what they're [00:07:15] doing.
My biggest problem is it's just overemphasizing certain gifts or certain elements of [00:07:20] church and under emphasizing others and the actual way what they're overemphasizing doesn't [00:07:25] seem to be what's overemphasized in the New Testament. And what they're under emphasizing seems to be the things that the New [00:07:30] Testament's really emphasizing.
~So that's, that's, that's probably the, my kind of main challenge with that, those blueprints. ~But we strive to be united with [00:07:35] other expressions of the church, and if there are ways for us to collaborate [00:07:40] on, ~you know, ~larger initiatives across the city, ~um, ~or that we can participate in one another's, ~what, ~what kind of [00:07:45] the distinctives that each of our expressions have, then great.
Let's try to figure that out. I love, I [00:07:50] love those stories. One of the things that we want to do is model accountability to [00:07:55] elders or city fathers. So one of the biggest critiques of the House church movement [00:08:00] is people look at it, kind of cross their arms and say, you know, who are you accountable to? Like, [00:08:05] you're basically the Pope and the elder board and like you and your wife, and that, you know, that's, [00:08:10] that's a, that's an important criticism.
Um, how do we handle that? Well, the [00:08:15] way we handle that is that the, the. the Way that the New Testament [00:08:20] was governed was through these elders. And these elders were not in house [00:08:25] churches. They were at the city level. They weren't in, ~you know, ~branded worship services either. ~They were, ~they were city [00:08:30] churches. ~Um, ~we know that for sure in the very first chapter of Titus Paul actually commands [00:08:35] Titus to go to every city that they had been at and appoint elders not go to [00:08:40] every house, church and appoint elders not to go to every worship service and appoint elders.
He said, go to every [00:08:45] city and appoint elders. And ~so something, and, and that ~that was not an unusual thing at all. Every city, [00:08:50] every village in that time, in history, and for thousands of years before that were governed [00:08:55] by city fathers. You see this in the book of Ruth, you know, 2000 years earlier. [00:09:00] You see this whole city of Bethlehem being governed by a group of elders that sat at the city gate.[00:09:05]
We need to be submitting ourselves to city elders. And so the problem is where do you [00:09:10] find those guys? Like how do you find elders who are governing the city that they [00:09:15] don't exist anymore? ~And, ~and if they exist, ~they, ~they usually are governing a particular worship service [00:09:20] expression. They're not, They not necessarily, don't even see themselves as city fathers.
So one way that we really [00:09:25] encourage you guys to do this over the course of the six months is if you launch a house church, we [00:09:30] encourage you to think of a two or three city fathers that you would be willing to, [00:09:35] if all two or three of them agreed and said, Hey, you need to stop teaching that. You would [00:09:40] reflexively submit to what they say as a group, ~not as an individual, but as a, as a body.~
These are people that are respected not just by you, but by other [00:09:45] people for their spiritual maturity. They meet the requirements of elders that are described in the New Testament. [00:09:50] You can begin to restore the city elders by simply acknowledging that, [00:09:55] that they, there, there does exist some city fathers in your city, and they should probably [00:10:00] be respected and they can kind of have this oversight role.
So I tell people in our house, church, [00:10:05] look, here are the city fathers that I reflexively submit to as a group. If you ever [00:10:10] see me doing anything that you feel like is outta line, teaching something and you tell me and I disagree, or [00:10:15] I won't listen, you go to them and they will ~start. I, I encourage them, ~start an investigation.
Figure out if I'm [00:10:20] in sin, figure out if there's something I'm teaching that's wrong. And if they tell me [00:10:25] that they, as a group disagree with me and believe that I should stop and I disagree with [00:10:30] them, I will submit to them not myself. That protects everyone [00:10:35] in my house, church, and everyone that listens to me.
And so ~I, ~I believe it's important to be in [00:10:40] submission to the, ~to ~city elders, to city fathers. But this is a hard thing to figure out given the fact that [00:10:45] we somehow, ~um, ~no longer practice this form of government. But ~I, ~I think ~you can, you can, this is the bandaid version of it. Like you can, ~you can recreate, you start to [00:10:50] recreate it in your city.
And, and we've tried to do that here in Cincinnati. All right. [00:10:55] Uh, focuses the community on the mission to multiply disciple makers. So this is a distinctive, I've [00:11:00] mentioned. We're going to spend a lot of time talking about what, why do church, like, ~it's not, it's, ~it's really important for us to think about [00:11:05] this mission to multiply disciple makers.
~Uh, ~and this leads us to a clear model for [00:11:10] multiplication. So many house churches have no multiplication model. They don't know who would lead another [00:11:15] one. They don't understand what, what the purpose is. We've spent three or four years building this tight community. Now you [00:11:20] want us to divorce and cut it in half?
~Um, ~no, that's not a good model for [00:11:25] multiplication. There's a different model. There's a model that has to do with multi-generational disciple making where you [00:11:30] start to see that there is a clear set of spiritual children and [00:11:35] grandchildren beginning to coalesce around a family within your house church that's not that hosting family, and [00:11:40] that's the natural way that families multiply.
And I think house churches multiply the [00:11:45] same way families do. So we'll talk to you guys about how that works, and then we [00:11:50] really prioritize the depth of relationship and dynamic interdependence. So you see that in first Corinthians 12, of [00:11:55] course describes the importance of dynamic interdependence in the body.
~But, ~but the reason why Paul put first Corinthians [00:12:00] 13, the famous love chapter, love is patient, love is kind. ~He, it's not, ~he didn't put that in a [00:12:05] book about marriage or about how to conduct a wedding ceremony. He put that in the middle of one Corinthians [00:12:10] 10 through 14 because it's in the middle of describing how a body gathers.
We [00:12:15] want to make sure that what is happening in the context of this community is that we're [00:12:20] learning to love each other, especially when it's hard, especially when we get in each other's nerves or when we have to forgive each [00:12:25] other. So we, this interdependence creates a certain kind of love, and the [00:12:30] love itself is one of the ends or reasons for the existence of the small [00:12:35] church expression, the household church expression.
So we want to experience that and prioritize that. It's a big [00:12:40] deal. And last one here is this provides an ongoing connection. So [00:12:45] if you guys, after six months of spending or launching a house, church with this blueprint, and [00:12:50] this is a place where you will now have a whole tribe that you can work with and continue [00:12:55] to journey with, ~um, ~through becoming a part of future cohorts, through becoming a coach [00:13:00] with a house for community in one KH through becoming a city partner.
Which are those [00:13:05] households who are trying to really expand the coaching of one KH in their city [00:13:10] so that we can see more disciple making happen, more evangelism through households and more [00:13:15] communities beginning to develop our house churches, ~um, ~because of the maturity of these households. [00:13:20] So, alright, those are the 10 distinctives that gives you guys a flavor.
This is what we're gonna talk about. ~These are the, these are the things that we're gonna hit. Um, ~I [00:13:25] mentioned that ~the, ~the cohort is for the launchers, the level uppers and the learners. And we want to encourage, I wanna know ~who, ~which one you are, [00:13:30] if you're gonna join the cohort. And, ~um, ~there'll be times where I'll be saying, Hey, ~I need, ~I need to just pause and say, do any of [00:13:35] the launchers have a question?
If we have too many people or too many questions. We're just gonna have to prioritize [00:13:40] that group a little bit more. But anyone in this group, ~uh, ~any of these three are very much invited, encouraged [00:13:45] to be a part of ~the, ~the cohort. So what's involved in housework community [00:13:50] is about an hour or two of learning you're gonna have to do every week.
~I. ~There's assignments, you're gonna go through some [00:13:55] videos, ~um, ~I'll show you in a second a syllabus you're gonna get that'll help you walk [00:14:00] through all of the videos and also give you, ~uh, ~a place to journal through what you're [00:14:05] learning from each one. ~Um, ~we're gonna do a coaching call every other Tuesday from nine to 10:00 [00:14:10] PM Eastern Time.
~Um, it's, uh, ~there's no cost to this coaching. It's a very intense coaching. [00:14:15] Requires a lot from us and our team, ~um, ~the way that we handle, ~uh, ~payment for this and we make this sustainable [00:14:20] for us financially. Is we wait until people sign up for the cohort. They've experienced a lot of [00:14:25] benefit from it. And after a couple of months, ~um, ~during a follow-up call that we do with everyone who is [00:14:30] in one of our coaching cohorts, we want to hear from you.
We want to get some good feedback from you. We want [00:14:35] to answer any questions you have about one kh and at the end of that conversation, we always give you an opportunity to [00:14:40] become ~a, um, you know, ~a contributor to the course. And we'll talk to you guys about where ~that, where that, that ~those resources go and how that can help [00:14:45] multiply and bless our ministry.
And so, but there's no ~like, uh, ~cost to [00:14:50] signing up for one kh, ~um, ~or for house for community. And then, ~um, ~six months is [00:14:55] what you're committing to. So I really want you guys, if you apply and decide to come be part of it, ~um, ~to really stick [00:15:00] it out for the six months to come to all the Tuesdays. If there's something that you can't come to, just ~let, ~let me or Caleb, [00:15:05] especially Caleb know.
~Um, ~we don't like it when people join and drop out. There's only one exception to that. There's one [00:15:10] kind of dropout that we always like. ~Um. ~And that is a dropout that decides to [00:15:15] move from house for community to a different cohort, life on life discipleship. ~So ~[00:15:20] sometimes people are in a house for community cohort and we're about to launch a life on life discipleship [00:15:25] cohort, and they're like, you know what?
~Um, ~I think it's gonna be a few more months before we're gonna start anything with regards to a [00:15:30] community, but I need to learn how to make disciples. If you come to that conclusion, then, ~you know, and ~[00:15:35] you wanna transfer over to, and those are much shorter ~co ~cohorts, those, ~uh, ~life on life, but they're very [00:15:40] intense.
But I love, love. That's, that's kind of often in the sequence of, ~um, ~one [00:15:45] KH Most people, ~uh, ~start with life on life discipleship. And so if you don't have a disciple [00:15:50] making blueprint that you're, you're, you're like, I've never made a disciple. I don't really know how to make disciples that make disciples.[00:15:55]
We would ~love, ~love, love to coach you how to do that. ~Um, ~we have a very effective blueprint for, for how to coach [00:16:00] you, how to make disciples, ~um, ~who ma who multiply disciples, how to launch a whole disciple making movement in your [00:16:05] city. So. ~Um, ~any point you can double dip. If you've got the time, you can go through both cohorts.
I would love [00:16:10] that. You can pause this one and go to that one. Those are all options for you. Or you can just stick [00:16:15] out this one, which is of course, what we'd expect from most people who sign up for this one. But just so you [00:16:20] guys know that, that that open door is always there to, ~uh, ~prioritize your disciple, [00:16:25] disciple making training.
~Um, first, uh, we always, um, very much, uh, champion that move. ~So how do you join? You can [email protected]. You just click [00:16:30] on house for community. It's also, it's, you know, you can also go straight to the URL slash community coaching. I wanna show you [00:16:35] guys real quick. The syllabus. This is our next level of coaching.
So ~the, ~[00:16:40] what you'll get is a 20 page syllabus if you join. ~Um, and ~so the beginning of it, it [00:16:45] sounds like a lot, but like I said, it's maybe an hour or two a week, mostly watching videos ~and, ~and kind of reflecting on those. ~But it's like, so before you, before you come to, um, the, like when you, you're after the kickoff meeting, ~[00:16:50] before you come to the second meeting, you'll have watched these three videos.
So total about 40 minutes ~of, ~of [00:16:55] content. ~Um, ~and then if you click on any of these, these zip you down to this fun little table here. [00:17:00] So this is the assignment that you'll hear at the end of that video. [00:17:05] And what we want you to do is just take some time and journal away inside of this little box [00:17:10] here. Now, if you don't like to journal away inside of a Google doc.
You're [00:17:15] welcome to do that on a piece of paper or journal or whatever. We just ask that you complete this. Now, we love it [00:17:20] when you do it in this so we can see what you're writing, ~um, and, um, we can spy on you. But if, um, and then ~Caleb's gonna be checking these and you're ~gonna, you're basically ~gonna make a copy of this [00:17:25] Google Doc, give us access to it, and we're gonna just be checking to make sure that number one, you're doing [00:17:30] your assignments.
And number two, that we're tracking with what you're learning. And there's anything that we, you know, we wanna make sure we're [00:17:35] doing a good job as your coaches. ~Um, ~so that's a very important part of this process. So [00:17:40] that is, ~uh, ~the, ~um, this ~syllabus side of this thing. So six months, you'll learn so [00:17:45] much you'll be inundated ~with, ~with information.
There's deep theology, there's [00:17:50] all kinds of tactics and strategies. ~Um, ~we're trying to figure out all the things you would [00:17:55] need. ~As a, ~particularly as a hosting, ~uh, ~family, to be able to have a healthy [00:18:00] house church expression come out ~of, ~of this six month experience. That's our goal. ~Um, ~and we're gonna [00:18:05] keep trying to ~like ~level this up, ~uh, ~over time.
So that is, ~um, that is, uh, ~the presentation [00:18:10] part of this. ~Um, ~April, Brent, you guys wanna chime in? We're gonna do a q and a here in a second. ~Um, and ~you guys are [00:18:15] welcome to hang out for as long as you want. We can chat for a while. ~Uh, ~or if you need to go, that's fine. Just if you [00:18:20] want to make your way over to one kh, ~uh, ~and sign up, if you've decided to do that, that's all you have to do.
That's the [00:18:25] next step. ~And you will, uh, ~we'll take a look at your application ~and, ~and you will jump into the cohort that starts [00:18:30] in ~two, almost ~a little under two weeks, right? Tuesday. ~Uh, so yeah. ~Brent, where were you?
Man 2: Yeah, no, ~uh, ~I thought that was great. ~Um, ~[00:18:35] just very excited about this ~and, um. Um, I, ~I can't wait to see the fruit that comes out of ~outta, uh, ~people that join this [00:18:40] group.
Yeah.
Jeremy Pryor: Super good. April, anything ~that, there's gotta be something I said ~that you gotta [00:18:45] correct, because that was a lot of, a lot of me talking.
Woman 2: No, you did a pretty good [00:18:50] job. Oh, thank you. Yeah, you did. ~Um, ~I just agree with [00:18:55] like, all ~the, ~the things he said that ~I, ~I, I was right there with him, with all those [00:19:00] things we've learned through the years and things we've tried ~and, ~and ways we've learned.
~Um, ~and [00:19:05] so praise God, it would be so great if someone could, you know, benefit ~from, ~from those things that [00:19:10] we've tried. And, ~um, ~I do agree with like, not everyone can handle the experiments [00:19:15] and so, ~um, ~let the people who can handle the experiments. Try them [00:19:20] and then kind of like report back with ~the, um, you know, ~the findings.
And so I think that's kind of what [00:19:25] that list was. Just took us 20 years to make it.
Jeremy Pryor: That's right. [00:19:30] Our losses, your gain, guys.
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