Common Practices
As believers, we look different than the world around us. We hold to a source of truth that is increasingly at odds with the culture. We refuse to live isolated lives in our own homes. And we reach beyond our comfort zones to serve people without looking to benefit. At least we are supposed to!
Although there’s a lot of variation in our network of house churches, we are united by some common practices:
1. Teaching sound doctrine
We do not prescribe specific teachings, but we believe that over the course of a year or two a healthy church covers the basics of faith, including:
Who is God?
Who are we individually AND who are we as a church?
Soteriology: sound doctrine on salvation
Pneumatology: sound doctrine on the Holy Spirit
Ecclesiology: sound doctrine on the church
Missiology: sound doctrine on the kingdom and our mission in it
Eschatology: sound doctrine on the death, judgement, and final destiny of the soul and of humankind
2. Fellowship
Fellowship (koinonia) is not an event, but a common central practice of the church. To the healthy church, fellowship is having all things in common. What does that mean? It means week by week as we grow together, we really do labor to share everything: money, land, authority, space, food, and power, until they are not mine or yours, but OURS…corporately. It sounds radical, but we can help you understand what it looks like to move toward it. Instead of changing the biblical definition of what true fellowship looks like or stopping short by saying, “We’re already doing better than our neighbors or other churches,” we want to define it biblically and start walking toward it as a church… even if we never completely achieve it!
3. Eucharist
Eucharist is not simply a practice of remembrance, but it has everything to do with the New Covenant. Eucharist is about unifying with our brothers and sisters in Christ—making sure there is nothing between the different parts of the body. Eucharist is about unifying with the Father, Son, and Spirit today. Eucharist is about looking forward to the time when we will take Eucharist with Christ when he returns. We encourage the church to practice Eucharist whenever it gathers.
4. Eating together
The church eats together. But rather than just satisfying our physical hunger, we eat to commune with each other. The table has a way of equalizing us, breaking down social barriers, and allowing everyone to just be themselves. It can be passed off as trivial or extra, but it really is a vital part of becoming family. We eat together to connect, to share, and to do life together at its most basic level.
5. Reading the Bible together
The church is in the Word daily. The church gathers around Christ, His Spirit, and His Word. This isn’t simply a discipline but a distinguishing factor of the church. We are in the Word, discuss the Word, and living out the Word together. It’s not simply about teachers teaching the Bible but the church being shaped by it. The word is on our lips in the morning when we wake up and at night when we go to bed and every hour in between. It’s our way of life.
6. Living on Mission
Do the poor know our names? Maturing Christ-followers create justice in their wakes, through fighting injustice in scourges ranging from human trafficking to racism to neglect and high health care costs. Injustice is not a faceless idea or fleshless system. In the same way, those who are oppressed and objectified have names, and we should know them, AND they should know our names. Our house churches prayerfully seek out what areas God is calling them to action.
If the thought of leading a house church successfully into all these areas seems daunting, we get it, and we are here to help! Let Beacon come alongside you as we rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us together.