Raising Up Leaders in House Church

Over the last few years I've been corresponding with a brother in Christ, Vilbert Vallance, who lives in India. Recently he emailed me asking for help in raising up leaders within his house church family. As I was sharing it with him I thought it might be beneificial to others who might also want some advice about this.

Vilbert,

What I do in our group is to not do anything, or to do as little as possible. Really, the secret, if there is one, I'd say is to get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to do as much as possible. At first our house church always looked to me or to my wife to do everything - answer every Bible question, lead the communion, baptize the people, etc. So, sometimes I would just leave the room during prayer or after worship to let them figure things out together. Other times if someone asked me a question about the Bible I would lean back and say, "I don't know. What do you guys think?" and allow people to discuss this question without my interference. Sometimes I would ask another person, maybe even a child or a teenager, to lead us in communion, or to read a scripture to everyone. You can do this on the spot, or you can ask them ahead of time if they would do this when the time comes. That way you don't have to be the one to ask them but they will just do it because you've already asked them in advance. The hope being that, eventually, they will feel confident to read scriptures on their own and to take initiative when it's time for communion, or prayer, etc.

One thing that really helped our group in this respect is that we are a group of leaders. You may not have that in your group, I realize. If they are all mostly new christians then this will take more discipleship, but as they begin to grow in Christ you can begin to set them free and empower them to do more because they are all priests in God's Kingdom, just like you.

Maybe they don't know the Bible as much as you do, or have as much experience...but then how did you get your experience? Didn't someone allow you to lead? Didn't someone ask you to teach? These are the ways we raise up leaders, by allowing them to serve (not to lead). Because in the Kingdom of God the leaders are the servants of all.

If somone wants to be the leader (or the boss) then do not allow them to do this. If they want to serve, then let them do that because this is what a leader looks like in the Body of Christ. "The greatest among you is the servant of all," Jesus told us. So, everyone has the potential to be great in God's Kingdom because anyone and everyone can serve another person. It does not require skill or wisdom, only humility and love.

Another thing we did in our group was to start meeting in other homes besides ours. This allowed people to take ownership of the church and to see that there was nothing special about my house. Any house can be special because God's people meet there. Even if we meet under a tree, it does not matter. After awhile I would sometimes not even show up to those meetings outside of my house so that they could also learn that they do not need me to have fellowship or to "be the Church". They really don't need me (or you) they just need Jesus and each other. Maybe down the road you can do this with your group as they grow in Christ?

Does any of this help you? Please let me know if I'm not answering your question properly. I do want to help you grow leaders in your group.

Blessings to you as you serve the Lord and His Church.

Peace,

kg

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You can learn many more practical things about house church at MOMENTUM 2012 on March 30 and 31. This practical and interactive gathering will feature plenty of dialog, discussion and hands-on experience with organic church dynamics. Our event will include insights from practitioners like Neil Cole, Ross Rohde, Bill Faris, Ken Eastburn, Joe Chebat, Jeanne O'Hair, Bob Sears and myself. Scott Underwood will lead us in worship. Hope you can be there!
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