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Spiritual abuse- the dark side of House Church

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I came across a post by George Barna today called, “House Churches, Isolationist and Cult-Like?”

Barna expressed the concern that it was unfair to paint house churches with a broad brush by inferring, that in general, they’re cultish and isolate people.  He made the point that these things also occur in institutional churches and any fair analysis should reflect that.  I agree.

But as I read the many comments that followed his post, one thing became clear to me: Almost none of them addressed the very real concerns of manipulation, isolation, spiritual abuse and cult-like behavior that is too often occurring in house church settings.  If you’ve spent any time on my blog you can’t help but notice that I’m for house churches; they met that way in the early church and are entirely biblical, so what would be the problem? 

My concern is not about house churches, but about BAD house churches.  I think it’s high time we talked about the subject.

For most of us this is all brand new!  The idea of house church sounds very appealing, especially when compared to what you may have been used to in the institutional church.  So you start looking… you read books, go online, listen to Mp3′s… maybe even attend a house church conference.  It’s amazing how many different ideas are out there about house church: concepts, ideas, answers from authors and pastors and anyone else who cares to throw in their 2 cents!  It should be obvious, but in our desire and passion for this new “body life” what we often fail to do is use discernment.

There is a dark side to house church.

The purpose of this post is just to mention that.  To hopefully make you stop and think… To evaluate.  To ask questions and consider.  To open your bible and look there FIRST.  To use your bible as the FINAL authority.  Everything that glitters is not gold.

I am an advocate for house churches.  I believe in the church gathering in simplicity… but we need to have our eyes wide open. 

Here’s my response to Barna’s article:

After reading the article, and all the comments up to this point, I am very surprised that almost no one is standing up to address the very real concerns of isolation and cultish behavior in many house churches. I agree with you Mr. Barna, that using a broad brush to smear house churches is not good. However, I think these issues are valid and of real concern. Perhaps it would be worth doing some research into this subject (if you have not done that already). I’m a believer in simple expressions of church; I advocate for house churches, but I am concerned with what I’ve seen.

Three couples who are friends of mine all went in search of church outside of the IC and in each case wound up in what I can only call cultish groups. They were, in fact, isolated and manipulated (in one case very, very seriously). These were all people who loved Jesus and simply wanted a truer expression of church life. These are cases I know personally about, from people I know well. I find it alarming that 3 couples who are friends of mine actually found themselves taken in by these home groups! It makes me wonder how common this situation is.

As I’ve gone online and tried to do more research I’m further alarmed by the wreckage that has taken place in the lives of others through home groups, and the outright manipulation that some leaders have exerted over others.

I believe home groups, in and of themselves, are entirely biblical. I do think, however, that the issues brought up in your article need to be addressed and not glossed over. Too many people think a home church is the answer to all the problems of the IC, when in fact, they may find themselves in a whole new set of problems if they fail to go into home church with their eyes wide open.

Finally, I doubt you’ll be seeing my friends wanting to try home church again any time soon! Perhaps if they’d been warned of the dangers they would have tread more carefully and not be turned off to home church now. I wish I could have been the one to warn them, but this is a realization that I have only come to over time- (My idea of home church was once all rosy too!) Like I said, I still believe home churches are biblical, and I still am an advocate, but I’m also a whole lot more careful. We need to give people a balanced, informed picture of what’s going on in house churches, anything other than that is disingenuous.

Tags: are house churches biblical?, bad house church, body life, church manipulation, dangers of home church, George Barna, house church authors, house church cults, spiritual abuse, the early church