by the Home Church Working Group
Salem Community Church is organized as a network of house churches. In this way of structuring ourselves, we have chosen a vision of church which uses a large network to manage the deficiencies of many small churches, rather than a vision which uses small groups to manage the drawbacks of a single, large church. What follows is a basic description of the relationship between the home churches and the network on some major issues.
Home churches must be governed internally by consensus. Each home church can decide how they choose their representative (by rotation? by who has time? by functional role?), how long they serve (one meeting?, one year?, indefinitely?), and whether they have formalized leadership roles (are they "elders"?). The representative council meets routinely on a monthly basis or ad hoc when a problem arises that requires the agreement of all the home churches. The council members are responsible both for representing the wishes of the small churches to the network and for representing the decisions of the council to the small churches. Thus, their role is both representative and executive. In general, we wish to keep the powers and responsibilities of the representative council as limited as is reasonable.
Just as the New Testament seems to picture churches with varieties of leadership structures, from rather formalized structures (the Pastorals), to the ad hoc (early Jerusalem), to the entirely informal (Corinth), so the home churches are free to adopt a number of degrees of formality in their leadership. We leave the home churches to decide this for themselves so long as the formalized structure of the network is given. Each needs some way of performing "official" functions (such as weddings), but this can range from having formal elders to ordaining people for specific occasions or tasks.
One becomes a member of a home church and by virtue of that membership becomes a member of the network. By joining the small, a person also joins the large with all of its responsibilities and privileges. To be in either, one has to be in both. Membership in the network carries with it a diffuse but real responsibility for other members not in your specific home church.
Members of home churches are covenanted together as described in the "Description of Our Covenant." The covenant of the large has an organizational aspect to it: an agreement to responsibilities which help support the routines of the network. The network covenant also recognizes the diffuse but real responsibilities each has toward members of the other house churches in the network which become concrete in cases of common concern or extreme need.
Money has never been a major issue for us. When there is a need, the deacons of finance say "We need money" and people respond. We choose to maintain our finances at the level of the network and not the house churches in the interest of efficiency and as another means to create strong ties between the house churches. If a problem arises with this arrangement, the representative council can deal with it.
Good churches grow. That is a blessing that creates a problem. There are three ways to deal with the problem of growth that are either illegitimate or unwise. First, a home church growing indefinitely (by addition) is not an option, for consensus breaks down and houses become overcrowded. Second, closing the door to new members betrays a misunderstanding of the meaning and significance of being church. Third, our experience tells us that dividing into roughly two equal parts has profound disadvantages.
As an alternative to these three ideas, we have chosen to "bud," "shave," or "give birth to" new home churches. This means that a small group (about 5-9 adults) from one or more home church(es) in the network are sent out to begin a new home church. The old home church retains its basic identity, but is reduced to a more manageable size. Naturally, this method requires that serious thought be given to the maturity, gifts (especially musical), and mix of people who make up a "bud" (the Australians call this mix a "pastoral core"). The question of when a home church ought to bud is left up to each home church. For some home churches, twelve people will be too many; for others, eighteen may be about right. This will depend on the internal dynamics of the groups, the size of the homes, how many children they have, and so on.
The network, however, may grow indefinitely by simple addition, the same model as any standard-brand American church. Eventually, geographic spread might make it prudent to begin new networks elsewhere. But, as long as the home churches maintain their responsibilities for communication and facilitating the network meetings, we see no problem of virtual unlimited growth.
Children are integral, participating members of the home churches. Each home church will need to devise solutions for facilitating their participation that are appropriate to their own situations. At the network meeting, we make no specific effort to provide "Sunday school," but do try to facilitate some degree of participation by children and try to make the network an enjoyable time for them. The network can also organize activities outside of home church and network meetings for children, such as Bible clubs, youth groups, roller skating, movies, and so on, which would allow the children to meet and to develop relationships with adults who are not their parents.
Network responsibilities include things like doing child care, facilitating meetings, and cleaning and locking up. These rotate among house churches on a scheduled basis. Network teachings, however, are scheduled by a specific person designated to do so.
The home churches meet weekly. This is necessary to maintain continuity and identity. The network meets at least monthly. In addition, the network meets on major Christian holidays: Christmas and Easter. A network which meets together less often than monthly would risk disintegration.
The purpose of the network is not simply to duplicate the functions of the small churches in large terms; it has its own independent purpose and importance. The network meetings is intended to manage many of the deficiencies of small home churches. It does this through an emphases on more formal teachings by gifted members, the energy of large group worship, communication among house churches, and so on. The network, however, can serve this function without meeting as a whole group. Indeed, the many benefits which a network provides are only indirectly contingent on meeting together. For example, special interest groups, peer groups, Bible studies, ministry groups, and the like operate within and depend on the network apart from the large network meeting.
The network meetings must be relatively natural and easy to administer - it needs to be genuinely "routine." The meetings of the network and the home churches are not and never ought to be seen as competing with each other. Both are pieces of a larger puzzle and both need to be structured so that they do what they do best and look to the others for the things they cannot do well.
Version 3.2
As of 26 December 1996