House church

House church or home church is a label used to describe a group of Christians who regularly gather for worship in private homes. The group may be part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish, but some have been independent groups that see the house church as the primary form of Christian community.

The House Church movement was pioneered by people like the Revd Ernest Southcott in the 1950s, when he was vicar of St Wilfred's Church in Halton, Leeds in England. Southcott believed that if people would not come to church, the church must go to the people, and his book The parish comes alive spread these ideas widely among Anglicans.

Sometimes these groups meet because the membership is small, and a home is the most appropriate place to assemble, as in the beginning phase of the British New Church Movement. Sometimes this meeting style is advantageous because the group is a member of an underground Christian movement which is otherwise banned from meeting as is the case in China.

House church (Russia)

House church (Russian: домовая церковь) in Russia is an church building or a part of the dwelling intended for performing religious rites by members of a certain household or an institution, such as a university, a prison, an orphanage, a boarding school, a seminary, etc. Unlike a parish church intended for everyone, its management is outside the jurisdiction of the corresponding administrative unit of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1917 there were over 200 house churches in Moscow alone. All home churches were abolished in the Soviet Union. Russian emigration maintained a number of home churches. Their establishment renewed in post-Soviet Russia.

See also

Christianity in China

Christianity in China has a history going back to the 7th century during the Tang dynasty. Today, it comprises Catholics, Protestants, and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism, Mahayana Buddhism and Confucianism,Christianity has existed in China since at least the seventh century and has gained influence over the past 200 years.

In recent years, the number of Chinese Christians has increased significantly, particularly since the easing of restrictions on religious activity during economic reforms in the late 1970s; Christians were 4 million before 1949 (3 million Catholics and 1 million Protestants), and are in the tens of millions today. Various statistical analyses have found that between 2% and 4% of the Chinese identify as Christian.

In many parts of China, the practice of religion continues to be tightly controlled by government authorities. Chinese over the age of 18 are only permitted to join officially sanctioned Christian groups registered with the government-approved Protestant Three-Self Church and China Christian Council, and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church. On the other hand, many Christians practice in informal networks referred to as "house churches", the proliferation of which began in the 1950s when many Chinese Catholics and Protestants began to reject state-controlled structures purported to represent them. Members of such groups are said to represent the "silent majority" of Chinese Christians and represent many diverse theological traditions.