October 05. 2006 6:59AM
Path to God is nearer than traditional church for some Christians
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By LYN STEGEMILLER
Tribune Staff WriterThe pews are sofas lining the living room. Communion is a full meal that includes roast chicken, stuffing and green bean casserole.
The sermon will be an open discussion by anyone who cares to comment, about anything.
Welcome to "house church" in the large Sturgis home of the Kirk and Blue families.
Nineteen members of five families, and a few friends, share food and fellowship on a Sunday afternoon before gravitating to the living room. Individual conversations trail away as Chris Kirk begins praying aloud.
Then, calling for a song, he plays a guitar while everyone sings from song sheets handed out by his wife, Lori. Scott Jackowski, visiting with his family from Lockport, N.Y., also strums his guitar. A few others play percussion instruments, including 12-year-old Caleb Kirk on his djembe, a West African hand drum. Toes around the room, whether encased in shoes, covered with socks or left bare, tap to the rhythm.
The group spends the next hour sharing song, offering impromptu prayers of thanksgiving and reading from the Scriptures.
At one point, talk turns to relying on God to achieve what may seem impossible. Later, BK Zimmer, visiting from Casper, Wyo., reads Psalm 133, which begins: "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head ..."
"Let the spirit of the Lord flow!" she exclaims.
Throughout the service, the sound of children at play comes in with the sunshine through an open window. People come and go from the room where the mood is relaxed and laughter comes easily.
When the conversation eventually slows, Chris Kirk notes that the hard part of house church is deciding when a worship session is over.
"If you are the church, it never starts and it never ends -- so how do you know?"
Conversational church
A closer walk with God doesn't take the path to "traditional" church for many house church advocates.
They favor intimate, ongoing dialogue among a small group of believers over what some see as the overly structured, ritualistic, one-way communication of Sunday morning in an "institutional" church.
This type of worship has various names including "house church," "home church," "organic church," "conversational church" or "simple church."
As to how many Americans opt for this method of worship, estimates range from tens of thousands to millions. The very nature of house churches makes them less visible and harder to find.
Through the burgeoning Internet, however, those interested in house churches can check registries, interact with like-minded individuals and find out about regional and national gatherings.
There seems to be increasing interest in house church, though not necessarily in Michiana, Chris Kirk says.
Proponents stress that "house churches" are not small groups or "cells" momentarily breaking away from the large church body for intimacy or closeness. They are not groups meeting in homes until land can be bought and a church structure built. And, at least in the United States, they are not churches gone "underground" to avoid persecution.
House churches are an intentional choice to meet as the early Christians did -- in homes.
"I can't stress enough, it's simple church," Chris Kirk says. "It's simple people being led in simple ways."
The Kirks began participating in a house church about 17 years ago, he says, though he prefers the name "conversational church" since meetings don't have to be in a house.
Chris Kirk felt no depth of fellowship in the traditional church, he says, labeling it "spectator Christianity." Explaining why he did not feel fulfilled, Kirk describes people going to a building at a designated time, sitting in pews, staring at the back of people's heads and listening to a minister's monologue.
"A priesthood of all believers" allows everyone to contribute and interact, he says.
"We work hard at being involved with each others' lives, helping each other, reaching out to our community together," he says of the nondenominational conversational church.
No tithes are made or money collected unless a specific need comes up in the community or within the church, he says. Kirk notes there is no need to cover overhead costs such as a minister's salary or church maintenance.
"I just feel more comfortable with a mom-and-pop type of operation than I am with a franchise," he says. "Not that Christ can't be found in these other places. It's a matter of 'Whosoever will ...' It always has been "Whenever two or three or more are gathered ..."
"To me, that's Christ saying small is OK, too."
There is no set formula for house church worship, Chris Kirk says.
The Kirks and Blues, longtime friends, actually "live in fellowship" as well as worship together. One family occupies the house's ground level while the other lives on the top floor.
The size of their conversational church gatherings has fluctuated over the years, reaching as high as 35-40 people in the 1990s, Chris Kirk says. He finds "critical mass" to be three participating families so that the group can meet even when one family can't come.
Some choose to attend "traditional" church as well as the conversational church sessions.
Samantha Blue, who was raised in an "institutional" church, said she felt guilty for a while about not heading out to a church building on a Sunday morning. Now, when she does attend a traditional church, she wonders why she isn't back home.
Simple church
"A Family of Families Simply Knowing and Making Known our Lord, Jesus Christ." That description, posted on the Internet, is about a network of nine "simple churches" meeting throughout southwest Michigan and northern Indiana.
Spokesman Scot Jefferies, of Sturgis, says he first joined a simple church in 1999. He saw it as a way for his family to worship together and his five children to have a safe, effective, informal place to learn about being part of a church.
"That informality gave us a chance to explore each other's lives as well as what the Scriptures say," he says of the group.
Members take turns handling the leadership of weekly gatherings that may last five to six hours, Jefferies says.
Prayer, play, music, fellowship, apostleship and meal sharing occur. The group decides how best to use the tithes and offerings that come in.
Simple churches divide when they get larger, Jefferies says, so that the group can remain focused on its own neighborhood and meeting its needs.
When is a group too large? When someone suggests forming a committee, Jefferies says with a laugh.
"A 'committee' means we're getting so complex that we can't just talk together and come to a conclusion."
Though each church is its own entity, the groups are encouraged to "cross pollinate," Jefferies says. The periodic interaction keeps groups from becoming too "ingrown."
Though simple church fits his family's needs, Jefferies notes the option is not for everyone.
Some come to a group nursing anger or hurt from events at church elsewhere, he says. They are encouraged to go back and resolve those issues.
Others may not like the "messy" nature of a church that has no permanent home and must cart around items it needs from meeting to meeting. Still others may not be comfortable with the intimacy of "simple church."
"It's hard to hide," he says. "There is no back pew."
There is a place for every kind of worship expression, stresses Jefferies.
"You want to be careful not to box each other out. It's easy to create 'us' and 'them.' It's really all 'us' if we're the church."
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