So here's your lesson about House Church, in Washington D.C.
I attended House Church, located in Mary’s Center, a nonprofit organization providing housing for the church. Now presently located in Adams Morgan area of D.C., this church used to meet in individuals’ homes, then at Catholic University, when the group became too large. It has existed since the 1970s.
The church does not have a pastor or a permanent leadership team, but instead uses lay leadership, and members of the church volunteer to lead worship and “meditation”, to teach Sunday School, lead children’s circle, and to share of their life experiences and growths. House church has no declared denomination that they are affiliated with. Instead, they welcome different perspectives from different communities. The group of people that meet at House Church range from toddlers to adults in their early fifties and sixties, with the majority of the people attending being in their early thirties and forties, either single or married with children. The racial context of the group is mostly white people. Many of the attending members in the church come from Mennonite affiliated backgrounds, and are pacifists. This is shown in the musical setting, singing in four-part harmony.
The church has no building of its own. This is intentional, and is, according to Doug Hertzler, one of the people that I interviewed, “a reminder that being a Christian is about service, not just worship, or the symbolism of a church building.” It is also productive, and is a way for their tithes to be put to better use. House Church is informal, and they improvise when needed—once, during one of the services I attended, they planned to have a fellowship meal the next week because there was a need for the youth to have a meal before they went ice-skating. The services are moments of silence, separated by words of reflection, prayers and praises, and bursts of song.
In House Church, each member’s reflections and experiences in the world are contained, as desired, in parts of the services throughout the year. The themes of the month for the services focus on things in people’s lives that they have experienced that have made them grow in their faith. The meditations are based on what they have experienced in the larger community. These things are viewed in connection with what they have lived through in the past, and learned through their faith. Members can apply what the mediation says to their own life.
Within the geographical community, Cheryl Martin, the woman I interviewed, felt like there wasn’t a community aspect within the church that was a part of their weekly lives. When the church began, service to the community was a part of their occupation, and daily lives. Many within the church have connections to outreach that they do or have done in the past, through mission or social justice work within the community.
When I attended House Church the three times, each time, the ritual was very similar. The service was begun in the same aspect and similar idea, as they were within the same monthly theme. The order of the service was the same, and only the content differed. The context depends very much on the theme of the months. Services in the same month may have the same theme, but different thoughts each service—different reflections at meditation, different perspectives at Children’s Circle, and different discussions in Sunday school hour. This is necessary for variety in looking at how God is working within each person, and being able to reflect within oneself about how they can relate to what is being said.
One important aspect of the service is the singing time. People can reflect on the words of a song that is sung during a service, and when a man shared a song that he had written, and members could reflect upon the words. Prayer is an important aspect, because it gives one member a chance to offer their prayer requests to God, be accountable to the group about what is going on in their lives, and it lets the other members pray for their friends. There is a lot of reflection time during the service, giving members a time to take in what is being said, and apply it to their own lives. Variety is one of the most important parts, different people with different thoughts—getting out the perspectives of the entire congregation. In this way, the church is very deeply connected to each other.
Before I came to Community House Church, I thought that it would be similar to a Bible study, in the way that there would be a group discussion and singing time. I had attended a house church at EMU with some fellow students that was similar to the Bible study idea. I didn’t expect there to be a children’s moment, but I found it relevant and necessary to attend to the spiritual needs of the children. My next thought was that it would be an intergenerational Bible study. My conceived idea of a Bible study didn’t have any service aspect, but I thought that the church would have some sort of service. I have learned this semester that service is a necessary part of the church. I thought that they would delve more into the Scripture that they read. It seemed it was read, but then glanced over as the meditation was portrayed, knocking out my entire thought of it being a Bible study.
My method was to attend House Church as a visitor, only on Sunday mornings. I chose this group because of size. I have been overwhelmed with meeting so many people every time I go to a church for the past year, because my family recently moved to a new church. Then I went to college, and had to visit new churches all over again. Relationships are so important to me, but if there are too many people, then it takes a lot of the fun out of growing in relationships, because it seems like I have a shallow relationship with each person there. I was happy to hear that House Church only had forty to sixty members. When I attended, I observed and added myself to the group as I could. When I got my first ride home from church, and Cheryl Martin gave her phone number and told me to call if I needed a ride again, I felt included, because she made a point to do that. I felt like this church—or at least this family—was open and real.
The service usually started with a song and some scripture reading. They have “children’s circle”, a moment when they make part of the service relevant to the younger members of the congregation.
Following this, they have a prayer request and praise time. My favorite part is the way they let everyone be a part of that. In some ways, this is a great summary of how the entire church is run through lay leadership. It’s completely voluntary leadership, and everyone gets a chance to lead if they choose. The prayer is done through each person stating their own prayer request or praise, and then the participation of the entire church is shown in the chorus of “Oh Lord, hear our prayer (and/or) praise.” This is shown with one person leading and then the others also participating, and then it switches, as someone else has a prayer request.
There is usually more singing, and then one of the members who has prepared a meditation for that specific date (asked by the coordinator of the month, in concordance with the theme of the month). These monthly themes are planned and prepared at the member’s retreat once a year.
At the Cutting-edge retreat, at Rolling Ridge, the church members combine ideas and experiences to create the next year’s agenda of themes for each month. Each month is given a coordinator and then each one finds music leaders, someone to do the children’s circle, and leaders for other areas of the service. This retreat recruits members to lead the youth group and Sunday school, and other aspects of church. At the retreat, they reevaluate everything they are doing during the year—is it worth the energy or not? Having a monthly member’s meeting and a yearly membership renewal is a very proactive attitude toward the membership.
After the meditation, the children and Sunday school teachers leave for Sunday school hour. The adult attendees and members have a place that they can share prayer requests felt unnecessary to share with children, and also the discussion of the mediation, or something else that is planned. This is a very casual time to reflect on what was presented/said, and also for people to discuss some business of the church.
I have attended services when they were discussing the yearly budget, Israel-Palestine relations, and Bolivia during meditation. I loved how everyone was so open to what was going on, and did not have a definite leadership within the church because everyone led in the way that they could.
Through my observation, the church was well planned, and had many people working on it. Several members were involved in the process to make church happen every Sunday, and this group of member changed every month. Sunday school hour was a discussion that was a reflection period for some and a processing time for others. It was a deep, open place for people to reflect and get through what they were thinking about, regardless as to whether they were questioning something in their faith. Everything was up for interpretation.
Through my interviews, I learned about some of the detailed parts of the church, and how it was planned. Cheryl Martin-Claussen, who has attended House church for almost twenty-seven years, started attending House Church the Christmas of 1983. She was doing voluntary service in D.C, and was visiting home for the holiday when her grandmother asked her if she had found a church yet, and she said she had--House Church--though at the time, she was just making the decision so she had something to say to her grandmother. Now, as she continues to attend House Church, her reasons for attending accompany how her faith has grown. Women in leadership are not at issue at House Church, and it is warm and welcoming to whoever attends. People are welcomed, not just to attend the services, but to ask questions about their own faith, and these are reasons that she finds house church still very relevant.
Cheryl said that there isn’t as much community outreach within the church as there used to be—people who were involved in outreach wanted a church where there was community around what they did in their daily lives. Now the energy is put into making the service happen, and having church three Sundays out of a month. I learned more about how much work goes into each service, and how it is all originally planned—through a yearly retreat that all of the members attend. As people become interested in the ideas of doing community outreach again, then there will be more activity in that area. I learned of many other things that the church has to offer and what each entails—there is a small group option that happens every other week and where the groups go deeper into what they are thinking about and working through.
I reflected on Cheryl’s interpretation of the important aspects of House Church. She said that there was a lot more silence at House Church than other churches. There are a lot of shared responsibilities that are spread out more and passed along to others as each year passes. There is a high value in children; not only through the children’s story, but also in that children can be involved in any aspect of the service.
When I interviewed Doug Hertzler, an attendee of House Church for eight years, his reason for attending House Church was because it was not defined by the style of an individual pastor. The services continue to have “surprising content,” because people thought creatively and differently. The church has no denomination, so attendees who feel uncomfortable in a service that isn’t their background don’t have to stress because they are in a very open setting.
Doug said that the most efficient way for House Church to attend to community outreach in the area is to give tithed money to organizations. Another financial focus is mission work, and the organizations that people work for within the church are financially supported. Doug cited that there had been a decrease in the size of the congregation in the past few years, but that makes it more possible for members of the church to share.
In the American culture, it has become habit for many to attend church on Sunday, to go to Bible study on Wednesday, and to live the life of an average American otherwise. Many do not take their faith seriously, leaving Jesus in their hearts, but letting their own feet do the walking. At House Church, members give effort to create a service and attend so that their faith can be shown through their lives. Their messages are reflections of what they have experienced in their lives, and each member can learn from the other. Because of House Church’s size, there is deepness and openness throughout the group. Everyone can be candidly open and share deep thoughts with one another because they know that the other can take whatever thoughts they have—whatever questions they carry in their hearts—seriously. This rarely happens in the large church setting, especially for people who are introverted or cannot speak openly in large groups. They have to wait until they go to a small group. House church can be a small group setting on Sunday morning. House church isn’t a typical American church.
Within my preconceived ideas, I mis-defined the “community” of House church. I think of community as the group of people you are surrounded by geographically, so my thoughts on the community of the house church were of the surrounding area of where the church met, and people within their own homes. As I attended, and interviewed Doug and Cheryl, I realized that House Church is community oriented—but the community is the church and it’s members. It is where the people in the church spend their time, work, and resources, and the countries that some of the members have been to. In this way, House church is based on community outreach. In cases of reaching out directly to those that are around, the church has thoughts of, but because of lay leadership, there are limitations on how much can actually be done, because so much work it put into making the tri-monthly services happen that there isn’t much motivation to continue working toward that.
Next year, this could all be completely different, because the yearly retreat could cause a large amount of reflection on this idea, putting it into the upcoming year’s list of things to be done, and then there could be a large amount of people involved in the direct geographical community, as well as involved in the church.
Being called “Community” House Church on their website, the perspective I took was one that included community outreach. I learned through the budget meeting that they financially support many different organizations in the city. There are people that have previously worked with or in different organizations that do not anymore, but are supported financially by the tithes of those in the church.
The true “community” aspect of community house church is within its members. They reach out in their daily lives and come together on Sunday mornings to pray, reflect, and lean on each other when the other isn’t strong. They come together to see if dreams are in consensus and to ask the questions they aren’t ever certain they will find the answers to. They are not just answering the questions that are asked of the monotonous American “Christian” lifestyle, but to question these answers. It is also knowing that it is okay to ask these questions, and to struggle with thoughts on faith, spirit, and truth.
Each time I have attended House Church, it has been hard to take notes. I usually take notes to stay on task, and for this reason, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. These meditations are great for me—they intrigue me and keep my attention. I think that learning about how other people have applied their Christian faith to their own lives is very motivating in my own life because I can see other people living their faith. When there were meditations on Bolivia and the Israel-Palestine conflict, I had little prior knowledge of these issues, and so I was interested to learn about them, and how they applied to people’s lives. I have an interest in doing missions, and I also enjoy hearing about other people’s experiences. People at House Church are real. They take their experiences and apply them to how God is working in their lives. I can then take what they have said and apply it to mine, and see where God is leading me.
I’m so used to hearing a sermon directly from Scripture, and making it relevant to my life, that I’m curious as to whether I could grow spiritually in House Church. The messages have been informing to me and have made me more aware of injustice in the world, but I cannot say that I have grown. Maybe it’s the type of information that shapes me rather than sits on a page of notes, to be taken in at the time, but then to be moved on from. Because I have yet to attend a small group, members meeting, or the “cutting-edge” retreat, I cannot say that I wouldn’t grow spiritually. In order to attend a correct view, I feel that I might have to observe more into the daily lives of those who attend, and how they feel their spiritual needs.
When attending House Church, all I intended to do was attend. I didn’t realize how much of an open family they were, and how much they would envelope me with their love. I didn’t expect to be invited back—many people at many different churches don’t see that when they offer a smile but not words, it’s the same as a frown. Being passive about being a friend IS ignoring and is synonymous with being an enemy, it seems. House church has a lot of openness, and assertive people who will talk, and some that will listen.
I am drawn to attend House Church. I want to be part of all the different aspects—like the small groups that are available. I would have loved to be able to attend the yearly retreat and be a part of intimately connecting with these people and our God.
What I questioned before coming to House church was the atmosphere of others. I have a hard time trying to connect with a lot of people, especially larger churches. We are all at church to develop deep relationships with our God, and with people as well, and when there are so many people, it is impossible to connect with all of them, or feel like we know them. So this church’s size was perfect for me. I know people who attend a house of worship with thousands. It’s impossible to connect with people who gather together out of tradition and habits—not 100% for the level of faith in their hearts. I wanted to attend House church to see the other side. After seeing this side of worship, I’m taking these memories with me as I look toward other options of church in my future.
The observations I had in House Church were clarified and confirmed when I did my interviews. I understood where the support came from and how people hold onto their faith through accountability and humility. In this church, the children’s circle seemed more significant than in other churches, and the you could tell that the information displayed to the children during their time was important to apply to all of the member’s lives, not just the children. They do not hesitate to include children who are able in the worship service.
While attending, I felt like there was a lot of accountability, that everyone felt comfortable, and had a great level of closeness with each other. I understood that when Cheryl mentioned that she was “unafraid to ask questions about [her] faith,” and at the retreat, when members recommitted their membership openly with each other, it helped me understand the level of realness that the church has between it’s members. This is how I feel church should be. Not an alike age group of a small group, not a large group with puddle-deep relationships, but an intergenerational setting, with different perspectives actively announcing themselves.
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