Are Home Churches Biblical and Legal? What Does The Bible Say?

Many opinions exist out there about what a real church is and what legal hoops Christians must jump through here in America for a church to be in good standing with the state. But what do the scriptures actually say about a church’s legitimacy and its legal requirements? Well, we’re about to find out from the #1 Bestseller of all time: The King James Bible!

The church Jesus Christ is building is not a business and was never intended to look or act like one. Therefore, a local church assembly doesn’t have to file with any government agency to be legitimate. According to the scriptures, the church is the people of God, his family, and the symbolic body of Christ under his headship. It is subject to Christ and his word - not the government or any organization, including church denominations. 

What Is The Church?

The church of Jesus Christ is people who have been born again into the Kingdom of God according to the scriptures. In Acts 7:38, Stephen called the Hebrews who were led by Moses out of the bondage of Egypt, “the church in the wilderness….”

With the addition of gentiles into the Kingdom of God, we read this in 1 Pet 2:9-10

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

The church, then, is not a brick-and-mortar building, business, or corporation. It’s the powerful community of believers and the body of Christ. And when his body is submitted unto him and walking in obedience, “...the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18)

Where Can A Church Meet Together?

If we see the church as a family, we realize a family can meet anywhere. Geography has no bearing on a family. A family is a family whether it gathers in a stadium or a forest, a crowded warehouse, or a wide-open public beach. The church is also real and valid any hour of the day or day of the week. It doesn’t matter where or when we gather together. What happens when we assemble together is what matters.

How Many People Are Needed To Make A Real Church?

I remember talking to a brother in Christ who went to another church. We were discussing how many people it takes to make a church. He felt there needed to be at least five families. But when I asked him for some scriptural references, he didn’t have any. 

And that, to me, is really the point: what does the Bible say about whatever spiritual topic we’re discussing? Because if we can’t find our answers and direction in the scriptures, then aren’t we just making stuff up? Aren’t we doing what the Pharisees in Jesus’ day did?

The Bible doesn’t use numbers to legitimize a church. But here’s where numbers are used: 

Matt 18:19-20

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Acts 2:41

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

When you consider how the church has been persecuted over the years, oftentimes going underground and only surviving in small groups here and there, the idea of assigning arbitrary numbers to groups to be a legitimate church is laughable. If the Lord Jesus himself doesn’t seem to mind if only two or three gather in his name, we shouldn’t mind either.

The Home Church Movement

Since the church is the people of God, and most of the ministry we read about in the New Testament took place outside of a church building, then where we meet doesn’t really matter. The Bible refers to the church “in a house” several times. For example:

• Rom 16:5 “Likewise greet the church that is in their house…”

• 1 Cor 16:19 “The churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.”

• Phil 1:2 “And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house:”

• Col 4:15 “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.”

The saints of God have been meeting in temples and from house to house since the resurrection of Christ. Meeting in houses is just practical, especially for the gentile believers who weren’t allowed in Jewish temples. 

For the last few decades, Christians all over the world have been leaving the organizational church and its manmade regulations behind in favor of the close-knit church experience they read about in the Bible. Here’s what many of them are looking for:

Acts 2:42-47

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

The home church movement is very real and growing and will keep growing as more people reevaluate their personal walk with God.

The Post-Covid Church

I was surprised to see so many church leaders bow to governmental pressures not to assemble together when Covid came on the scene. There’s a place for measured precautions, but there’s a bigger place for faith and believing in God for the miraculous. 

Assembling together, praying together, exhorting one another, breaking bread together, and enjoying fellowship is what church is all about! The church experience is not a Zoom meeting and was not designed to be. Let us never again allow ourselves to be separated by contrived health scares. Let us be bold lions unafraid to gather in public and private places to worship God and edify one another!

Conclusion

Christians have gathered together in houses and elsewhere as churches for centuries. The church of two or three, or two or three thousand doesn’t need governmental approval or legal permission to be Christ’s powerful church in these last days!

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