Who else wants to learn about House Church in a supportive and encouraging environment?   

Hi, I’m Chris Keenan,

The founder of Help for House Church. 

The process of learning how to “be the church” as opposed to “going to church” requires a fair amount of practice. That may not sit well with many people, but that’s the way it is. It’s highly likely you’ve spent the majority of your Christian life in a traditional church system.   

The house church or what is also known as simple or organic church model is quite different from the traditional church model most people are familiar with. There is a learning process required, as well as an unlearning process. During this process of learning how to “be the church” there are victories and there are defeats.   

Fear of failure and fear of rejection can stop learning in it’s tracks, regardless of the environment we‘re in. We all need a safe place where we can try out some of our ideas and see what works and what doesn’t, without worrying whether or not we’ll be rejected for making a mistake.   

That’s what we here at Help for House Church are all about.  

We provide a safe learning environment for followers of Jesus to learn how to live in community like Christians did in the first century.   

Most learning models are passive ones. They involve listening to a speaker or reading a book.   

Now I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, the process of “being the church” was a pretty interactive experience.   

Reading a book is not, neither is listening to a speaker. Reading a book or listening to a speaker on the subject of house church can provide a tremendous amount of good information. What it can’t do is help you learn how to apply that information, to work it into your life. It can’t help you practice new ways of relating.   

Can you imagine learning how to type by only reading a book?   

If it not reasonable to expect a person to read a book on typing and then without practice type 40-50 words a minute, why should we expect a person to read a house church book and without practice be able to affect much positive change in their church life? That’s certainly not a recipe for success.  

Secondly…does learning new things need to be tedious and dull?   

No.   

The most common method of education is based on rote memory. The idea is that if you’ve memorized the information it will somehow make its way into the fabric of your life. We know this is not the case. Students who have scored high on tests are consistently only able to remember a small fraction of the information weeks later. Therefore the student got a grade but not necessarily an education.   

Rote memory is tedious, and if you’re anything like me, I would rather avoid the tedious and dull and do something that’s both helpful and enjoyable at the same time.   

This is where we come in…  

We help people who like to share and learn about house church, to do so in small group settings via telephone conferencing.  

Here’s how it works.  

1. Each group is 50 minutes long.  

2. Each group has a trained leader to facilitate the sharing and help people practice working the information into their lives.   

3. Each group member receives a short lesson before their sharing session. This lesson is to provide some seed thoughts for people…to help get the conversation started.  

4. Each sharing session costs only $12.95 U.S.   

Give the service a try for free  

Benefits of Help for House Church.    

- It’s fun. We humans are social creatures and tend to learn better when we’re a part of a healthy group environment.    

- It’s practical. Learning happens best by doing. A part of each group sharing session is dedicated to role playing in order to allow people the freedom to practice what they’re learning without the fear of making a mistake.   

- Mistakes are normal when learning new ways of relating. We don’t believe that practice makes perfect, but practice certainly makes things better than not trying at all because of the fear of making a mistake. Mistakes are normal when learning new ways of relating.   

- Sharing stories with others can help reduce feelings of frustration and loneliness that people often have when they’re challenged by the process of “being the church.” It can often feel like we’re the only one dealing with our specific set of problems, when the truth is usually quite the opposite. Our challenges are usually more common than we realize.  

- Hearing other people’s stories often helps us make sense of our own situation, to give us some much needed perspective and clarity. Difficult situations that have existed for a lengthy period of time in a relationship can cause us to wonder if there is “something wrong with us.” Hearing other people share their stories helps us to realize that we’re not alone, and in fact, we most likely pretty normal. This feedback can provide a tremendous amount of hope for a person.   

- There are no long term commitments required, just join a group when you want to.  

- The structure is convenient. No need to travel. As long as you have a phone, you can join.  

- The groups are facilitated by trained small group leaders to ensure a positive experience for all.   

- It’s affordable, only $12.95 per 50 minute session.   

If you’d like to give the service a try for free, click here.  

Sincerely,  

Chris Keenan  

Founder of Help for House Church