And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: "Jesus is the Messiah."

ACTS 5:42 (NLT)

"Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus...

give my greetings to the church that meets in their home."

Apostle Paul,  ACTS 16:3,5 (NLT)

A lot of churches seem to fall into one of two camps: Sunday-centric with a small-group option, or small-group with an occasional Sunday thing. We think the Scriptures teach to focus somewhere in the middle.

Admittedly, The Gathering is more of a dream right now than a reality, but each day, we're working towards becoming a church of house churches. This means that we're striving daily to develop and entrust reliable leaders to lead neighborhood churches in their homes (per Acts 16:5), because we think those living in those neighborhoods know best how to reach them.

These aren't small groups. They're churches.

The difference? Really, it's authority.

Normally, a small group is led by a volunteer who may or may not have the authority of a pastor.

A house church, however, is led by a pastor who's been identified, equipped, and empowered to disciple, create community, and assist in meeting the needs of a small body of believers. House churches are ground zero for loving people. They are on mission for the city. They gather geographically, rather than generationally, ethnically, racially, or socio-economically.

But most importantly, a house church provides a community dedicated to seeing people change with Jesus.