Current research shows that the church in the United States is in overall decline.

consist of small groups that multiply into house church networks or form collective churches

Home fellowships are the heart of our movement. In places where traditional church buildings cannot exist—whether for cultural, security, or political reasons—small groups of believers gather quietly in homes. Families and friends open the Scriptures, pray, and share meals together. It is in this context of family and friend groups that the Kingdom of God is transforming lives. These simple fellowships are multiplying, becoming self-propagating, self-sustaining, and self-governing discipleship movements rooted in the New Testament pattern.

They gather as simple churches.

In MultiplyUs Conferences, we consider the terms, disciple-making movement (DMM) and church-planting movement(CPM), to be synonymous. (We recognize this is not a universally-held view, but we believe it to be more inclusive. Tofacilitate ease of communication, we'll use "DMM" here, but we respect either term and use them both in training.)

6. Reproducing groups or simple churches are intentionally formed as a part of the multiplying disciples process. Theintent in DMM approaches is that disciples, groups or simple churches, leaders and movements can multiply endlesslyby the power of the Spirit.

Separately, evangelical researchers Thom and Sam Rainer concluded, “Most churches are dwindling. Most denominations are not growing. The population in the United States is exploding… the church is losing ground. We are in a steep state of decline.”

I thought the concepts in the book were so important that we did a 4-part message series on it at our church called Meltdown: The Decline of the American Church.Part 1 – Smaller Than We ThinkPart 2 – Revenue ReductionPart 3 – People Are LeavingPart 4 (Clayton Walker) – We Aren’t Reaching New People

In The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church, Christine Wicker writes, “Evangelical Christianity in America is dying. The great evangelical movements of today are not a vanguard. They are a remnant, unraveling at every edge. Look at it any way you like: Conversions. Baptisms. Membership. Retention. Participation. Giving. Attendance. Religious literacy. Effect on culture. All are down and dropping. It’s no secret…”

nd his cautious advice atLlandaff Cathedral — against Prichard and Seddon’s re-roofing— was remarkably progressive for its date.

In the eyes of ecclesiologists their greatest achievementhad been to rescue the Gothic Revival from the smear of Popery.Pugin — that ‘wonderful man’, as Burges always thought of him— had tainted the movement with a whiff of incense. Ruskinsupplied an anti-papal deodorant.

able-ended chapels form the majority of chapels overall andare more readily associated with the urban development that took place in Wales duringthe nineteenth century

I was thinking this morning how House Church is much like a wagon train going across the wilderness. By the time you get to your destination, you know everything about everyone on that train. You help each other and protect each other and become bonded together. The institutional church is like a high-speed bullet train. It's more comfortable, more efficient and takes you the same distance in a shorter amount of time. Also you have barely enough time to get acquainted with 1 or 2 people.

For those who can hear. When you name you divide. There is zero biblical precedent for naming a certain group of believers .... Identify with the body of Christ in your area .... We are exhorted to, "let there be no division among you".The only use of "churches" plural in scripture refers to the church in different locations. There was no such thought of "churches" within one locality. Love you all and pray more will see this so the world may see we are one and know that Jesus was sent by the Father.It's important John 17:20-23

Often it helps to have the location or region in the name, a mountain near you or the name of the valley you are in, or a creek, stream or river. What says 'home' about where you are?

Pleeaasse don't give "it" a name.There is no "it". You believers are part of the church in your location and you meet together.There is zero biblical precedent for a group of believers giving their particular group a name.I understand that nearly all believers do .... That in no way makes it right.Names seperate us from others of the church in our area.

Paul TrosclairHow is it biblical to name a church ?2wBeth BalmesPaul Trosclair geographical. E.g.Church in Corinth. Church in Ephesus.2wJohanna WhittakerBeth Balmes .. Paul's letters were to the CHURCHES (ekklesia) in ...

The Lk10 "rhythms" are now being practiced in 28 countries, across 6 continents.

A final strand of the development of the prosperity gospel was the development of charismatic Pentecostal churches in America. An umbrella term for a decentralized group of churches — comprising over 700 denominations — Pentecostal churches are characterized by an emphasis on what is known as “spiritual gifts” (or charisms, from which the term “charismatic” is drawn). A worshipful Christian might experience, for example, the gift of healing, or might suddenly start speaking “in tongues.” This tradition of worship meant that, for a believer, the idea that God would manifest Himself to the faithful in concrete, miraculous ways in the here and now was more prevalent than it would be in, say, a mainline Episcopalian church. In addition, the decentralized nature of these churches also meant that individual leaders, many of whom practiced faith healing or similar practices, had a particularly strong effect on their congregations and could build up individual personal followings.