IT could well be the beginning of a new trend. Mega churches in the US are embracing the idea of expanding their network by planting more house churches.
Northland, A Church Distributed, based in Longwood, Fla., currently has 15 to 20 house churches in several states that virtually participate in the worship services held at the main campus every Sunday.
In an interview with a US-based Christian publication, Dan Lacich, pastor of Distributed Services at Northland said he considered house churches as the next extension of multisite movement.
“They participate very much like a multisite does, only meeting at a smaller venue, usually in a home, community room, or a condo association club house,” he told the Christian Post.
Each house church has a ‘site minister’ who hosts the gathering using the Internet or a Roku box to stream church services from Northland’s main campus.
According to Lacich, worshippers of house churches actively participate in the services as they would if they were physically at one of the multisite locations.
They greet one another, stand and sing during worship and hold communion, he said.
Although there could be some reluctance to the idea in the beginning, people get used to it.
While house church members gain on closeness to fellow believers, they don’t lose out on quality preaching that comes from the main church either.
The intimate setting allows for deeper conversation and relationship building, which can sometimes be more difficult to have in larger churches, it is reported.
Most mega churches that are tech-savvy seem to be following this trend. While the house churches hold their own worship services, they tune in to Roku box to listen to the sermon of the senior pastor at the main church.
Over 12,000 people attend Northland every week, including 4,000 who worship regularly online through Facebook, smartphone apps, or the church’s Roku channel, which has been installed in 5,000 homes so far.
“Our whole thing is for the church to be distributed out beyond the walls,” said Lacich. “We use technology and get the Gospel to where people are.”
