Dale Partridge - What is a biblical house church？

00:00:00.000 we actually get this question all the time and my answer is always simpler than what people expect

00:00:11.280 a biblical house church is simply a biblical church in a house and what I mean by that is

00:00:18.060 that just because the location changes doesn't mean that the ecclesiology changes for example

00:00:24.780 that the biblical house churches that our ministry helps plant are confessional meaning that they

00:00:29.640 They adhere and affirm historic statements of faith, like the Westminster Confession

00:00:34.320 or the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.

00:00:38.640 They have appointed elders and deacons.

00:00:40.300 They have a liturgical structure or an order of worship.

00:00:44.040 They have church membership, regular Sunday gatherings, prayer, worship, the preaching

00:00:49.040 of a sermon, giving, communion.

00:00:52.600 In other words, what I'm saying is that a biblical house church is not a Bible study.

00:00:56.860 not just a few families getting together for Jesus and a barbecue. It's an orderly gathering

00:01:02.140 of the church that aligns with historic evangelical Christianity. And this is important because many

00:01:07.760 people, especially pastors, think that house churches are just rogue Bible studies of Christians

00:01:13.240 who have been hurt by the church and have zero accountability. And that's true, and some of them 0.99

00:01:18.960 are that. But that's not what our ministry does. You know, and we're also, we're not anti-traditional

00:01:24.460 church. We're not trying to compete against the traditional church. In fact, I would say that our

00:01:29.260 heart is to complement the traditional church and serve those Christians in the church who

00:01:34.380 find themselves more fruitful in a smaller environment.

Dale Partridge - July 21, 2020