By the Rev’d L. Nguyen

Season: The 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (National Bible Sunday with a focus on Home Groups)

Readings: Isaiah 45:22-25 | Romans 15:1-6 | Luke 4:16-24

National Bible Sunday is a time to reflect on the Bible’s importance in Christian faith, history, and our individual lives. It is a day to honour the Bible and its enduring influence.

Aotearoa, New Zealand does not have a long, formally established history of National Bible Sunday. But it does feature in our Lectionary for the 3rd Sunday in July. (1)

This morning in this sermon time and into our worship we are noting and experiencing the bond of worship and the call to learn together.

Quick show of hands, Who has heard the term House Church, Home Group or House Group? Who has belonged or currently does belong to a Home or House Group or House Church?

My reading around the topic of Home Groups informed me that there may be some confusion around the terms and place in our church story.

An overview reminds us that the earliest of Christians did, at first, gather at the temple and at synagogues.

But as Christianity began to separate from Judaism, believers began to gather exclusively in homes. They primarily gathered in the homes of Christians who had houses large enough to host a gathering of 10-50 people (the size of most churches in the 1st century). We see such gatherings throughout the New Testament.

In Acts, we can see how houses quickly become the primary location for Christian gatherings (1:13; 2:2, 46; 12:12). And in his letter to the Romans (Ch 16) Paul addressed at least 5 different house churches.

It is surmised that the first gatherings were in homes because that was really the only option. Buildings were expensive and in some cities like Rome it would have been extremely difficult to afford to build a building or to purchase an existing one. Plus, the gatherings were relatively small. Most fellowships were 10-20 people, 50 at the most.

Interestingly, writers note that house churches in the first century were not reacting against the organization of the synagogue or the liturgy of the temple.

The people weren’t opposed to meeting in a building on principle. They met in homes because they didn’t have other real options.

We’re not exactly sure when churches started meeting in buildings. There is evidence of a church building that dates back to 240 AD at Dura-Europos in Syria. (2)

What we do know is that small house groups or home groups did not remain a fixed feature of Christian church life. Our current understanding of Home Groups or Small Groups seem to have their roots in the 16th century.

Among evangelicals, the small group traces its origins to two parallel lines of development to this time. In Germany, the Lutheran Pietist Philipp Jakob Spener used small groups to revive experiential faith in Christ. In England, the Anglican Anthony Horneck employed them to channel the zeal of earnest young men. Small groups later became a vital means in the movements of the Moravians and Methodists and, partly because of them, throughout the churches of the First Great Awakening.

Alongside the small group’s role in fostering awakening, the small group realized the Reformation ideal of the priesthood of all believers, inviting ordinary Christians to meet, sing, pray, and mutually encourage each other’s faith. (3)

So, today, we are not talking about gathering as an alternative to being church here in All Saints.

We are, as the name suggests, referring to small groups of people who gather, possibly in someone’s home, or café or even onsite as we do on the 2nd and 4th Sundays – to study the Bible, pray and build community.

Home groups, we hope, in our time are the church in microcosm, an expression of the wider church.

They reflect what happens in here in church: worship, support for one another here, and a focus on serving those outside the group. (4)

I invited from our current existing groups to share about their lived experience of home groups – so that you know it’s not me “making it up”.

Here are a few Comments from Tuesday Afternoon Home Group:

• “I appreciate home group because of the sharing, caring, friendship and trust.”
• “I like that there are opportunities to explore different understandings.”
• “I find it a comfortable place to be.”
• “I find it a privilege to be able to come into someone else’s home.”
• “It’s a place where it’s accepted others have different views and opinions. There’s non-judgement for others having different points of view.”
• “I find it stimulating. It’s great to hear about others’ life experiences and to listen to challenging stories and ideas.”
• “It’s an important part of my life. You get to know people and grow.”
• “I appreciate the teachings we get from a variety of sources that are life-encompassing.”

And from a comment from one member of Our Home Group:

“Our Home Group started in October 2022 and because one member was in her 90’s, I called us ‘The All Saints Old Girls’. She was unable to continue attending, and they didn’t like being referred to that way, so in my diary I now write NSOAA, (Not So Old After All)!

We’ve chosen to stay as a very small Group because this allows us to be completely open with one another, and we’ve enjoyed growing into a very safe degree of intimacy. None of us feel any stress about coming because of the degree of trust and fellowship we experience.

We’ve used a variety of resources and have grown through tackling studies we wouldn’t normally choose. We don’t always stick to the point, as we enjoy digressing and exploring whatever issues a passage or study might raise for us.

If we don’t understand something we feel very comfortable about saying so and listening to the wisdom of the others.

When we first started meeting, because I’d been a Baptist pastor for 30 years, the girls expected me to lead – but over time we’ve discovered that one of our members has a spiritual gift for teaching and leadership. Initially she was astonished and embarrassed to be told this, but we’ve laughed, teased, affirmed and encouraged her because we enjoy being led by her.

At our last session we studied Roman 1:1-7. I led this, and there was much astonishment, hilarity and joy as I helped the others discover that God has called them to be saints. Yes! Ordinary Christians like us have been ‘set apart’ to God and (I guess like you) in our everyday lives we’re experiencing the joys of this ongoing process of being-transformed, of being made increasingly ‘holy’ by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and of being prompted to do whatever God has in store for us to do for him and for others.

Last Sunday, we laughingly greeted one another as saints! The truth is that we’re all ‘saints’, and being part of a Home Group has enabled us to have a comfortable but full-of-laughter understanding of this truth! Living as a follower of Jesus is not a personal, private, individualistic thing – it’s a way of life that gets worked out, grows and matures in the context of COMMUNITY, so being in a Home Group is a helpful way of acknowledging this.“

Thank you.

Home Groups do need someone or a core group to get them going.

We seem to be a bit at an impasse here at All Saints.

Our current groups are full and active…

We’ve started one on Sundays after church in the Oak Room. People do enquire about them, and I think there is a need for an active group open to newcomers’ groups during the week, both daytime and evening. Today, normally, you would have 12 minutes on:

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! (Is 45:22).

“Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour” (Romans 15:2)

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk 4:21)

Instead, my sermon ministry today has been to inform and invite you, if you are not already doing so – to go bigger in your faith by going smaller.

Start or join a home group – weekly, fortnightly monthly find your tribe within the tribe. Why?

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).

We all need nurturing, it’s a big world out there – one hour a week in here may not be enough and you may be wondering how to jump start yourself, your spirit, your soul.

After church today we have our 3rd Sunday morning tea in the Oak Room to which everyone is always welcomed.

And we will also have a morning tea downstairs in the Haseler Hall for anyone interested in finding out more about Homegroup. Over morning tea served downstairs we will have a shared conversation and homegroup resources.

Whichever way you go, may you know that you are loved by a steadfast God who encourages us to live in harmony one with another.

Amen.

References

(1) https://anglican.org.nz/Resources/Worship-Resources-Karakia-ANZPB-HKMOA/Lectionary-andRelated

(2) https://theologyintheraw.com/are-house-churches-biblical/

(3) https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-daring-idea-of-small-groups

(4) https://robertatkin.net/blog/home-groups-what-is-a-home-group/ (The word church is a translation from the Greek word ekklesia. (The New Testament was written in Greek, which was the lingua franca of the day; much like English is the dominant language in the West today.) Ekklesia was the common word for a meeting or gathering of people. So, in the New Testament, a church was a gathering of Christians and did not mean a particular type of building or a denomination.)