This is a tremendous conference and an excellent resource opportunity. I have attended this conference, and would highly recommend it to all Colorado House Churches. With speakers like Wolfgang Simpson, Frank Viola, and Paul Young (author of The Shack), you know you will get a lot to chew on.

Below is an email from Tony Dale about the conference, click here for the House2House 2008 Conference Flyer.

I am dropping you this note to enlist your help in getting word out about the H2H National conference, and to bring you up to date information on what we believe will be accomplished by the conference. Through your mailing/emailing lists, if you are open to helping us in this way, many who are likely to be interested in what this conference is about will be able to hear and possibly decide to come because they value your perspective and endorsement.

This year, we are hosting a very special conference in Dallas, Texas. I’ve attached a flyer that explains the details of this conference. The conference is over the Labor Day weekend, which this year is the last weekend in August.

Specifically, I’m asking if you would kindly send a special one-time email blast to the people on your mailing list with your encouragement to people to seriously consider going, with the attached flyer. The subject line of the email could say something along the lines of: “The 2008 National House Church Conference.” We would like to extend our “early bird” registration rate to your contact as our thank you for you doing this email blast for us.

Registrations are already at the highest level we have ever seen for one of these National conferences. In fact they are running more than 2 X’s higher than we have ever seen for this early in the summer. The Holy Spirit is obviously drawing people. The mix of those speaking and the four “tracks” that will make up the bulk of the conference experience are also a factor in drawing people. These four tracks, of which people will be able to choose one primary track to be a part of are:

• House2Harvest-Reaching the unreached through world missions
• House2Harvest-Maximizing our workplace involvement and impact
• House2Harvest-Understanding the basics of House Church life
• House2Harvest-Relationship Christianity: Deepening our walk with God and with each other

Those speaking at the main sessions, will also each be involved, but under the facilitating leadership of others within the four tracks that will define the conference experience. We are very blessed to have the following coming as our main speakers within the plenary sessions:

• Dennis Balcombe – Missionary extraordinaire to the Chinese House Church movement.
• Wolfgang Simson – Author of “Houses That Change The World” and “The Starfish Manifesto”.
• Frank Viola – Author (with George Barna) of “Pagan Christianity” and many other books.
• Paul Young – Author of “The Shack”, which has taken the Christian world by storm over the past year.
• Felicity and I will also be involved in the plenary sessions

Although our official “early bird” registration date is already over, if you contact Paul Byerly at paul@house2house.com he will give you a “Registration Code” which when used by your contact list by June 20th will give them the same early bird registration rate as those who heard about the conference and registered early through the H2H lists. This rate will need to be limited to those who register by June 20th to help our planning processes. Please also note that the pre-conference day for network leaders and others in Christian leadership positions is already 70% full, and so if you have contacts that you think need to be a part of that pre-conference day, please urge them to register now, as we have to limit numbers there to around 100 because of limited space available at the hotel on that day.

Thank you very much for your consideration. If you have any questions, please feel very free to contact me directly.

Tony Dale on behalf of the H2H conference planning team.

THE QUESTION:How does your house church deal with (or avoid) the issue of finances?
Leave a comment, we want to hear what you have to say

Money matters. We all know this. For those of us who are part of the movement to return to the simple roots of the New Testament Church, we have also recognized there is something quite wrong about how the “traditional church” in America has dealt with finances. Neil Cole, a simple church thought leader, says that nothing slows down organic church multiplication like Buildings, Budgets, and Bigshots. I would say we have alot of all three. One might even look at the American church and surmise that church and finances are like oil and water…they just don’t mix.

Many house churches have sought to eliminate the resource draining “three B’s,” but in their place is a vacuum. I have been apart of, and read about, a multitude of church networks. Almost without exception, there is a lack of clarity around the issues of finances. I have felt prompted by the Spirit to begin revisiting what the Scripture has to say about finances, and hear what other spiritual families are learning. Also, since I have a full time job in web design, I can ask these questions without some of the awkwardness that others might feel who raise support.

So I would love to hear from you…How does your house church deal with (or avoid) the issue of finances?

Here are some questions I am exploring.

• What does the Bible say about how we are to use our finances to further the kingdom of God?
• Can we, or should we, prioritize how we use our money? Potential areas of usage are the poor, brothers & sisters in Christ, apostles (overseers of larger church networks), etc.
• We are the richest nation in the world, and yet we as a nation and individual people are increasingly in debt. What are the consequences of this as a body of Christ? How can we show a “different way?”
• Who are the people in our church networks that should be freed up, or kept free, to lead the church without the potential distraction of outside employment? Are we supporting them? If not, do they feel free to ask for support?
• The issue of finances can raise such confusion and fear. I know as a pastor’s kid, I saw how money could divide in church politics. How can we approach this differently, organically, simply?
• Jesus was far more concerned about questions than answers, he almost never directly answered a question. So, what are the QUESTIONS Jesus wants us to be asking about money, what questions DID he ask about money? How will joining with him in that dialogue enrich our spiritual families?

What are your thoughts?
What are your questions?

This article is by a guest contributor, Greg. I met Greg at a gathering of house church leaders in Loveland who were getting together to discuss forming a network. I heard Greg’s story and wanted to share this story with you all.

Two years ago, had you met me, I was busy. Busy doing what good Christians do. My wife & I had our two wonderful sons in an organized church, and we were working to “further the Kingdom.” You could tell how much we loved God, because we never said “No.” Andrea was the Vacation Bible School director, a Sunday school teacher, and was helping run a program for teenage girls based on the Proverbs 31 woman. I was co-leading the Men’s Ministry, serving as an usher/greeter, teaching Sunday school, and mentoring.

Just prior to that time, we had finally gotten to a place financially that we could build our dream home. That included getting out of the city and moving to the country. Over three years at that home we plodded along, and life seemed right, but we were detached. Fortunately the Holy Spirit isn’t lazy.

In January 2006, I went on my first mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. While there, I saw how little those people have, but how happy they are. If you’ve not been to a place where people struggle for their daily bread, you may not realize your own blessings. I was cut to the core as I realized that my family was not living beyond its means, but beyond its needs. We could be doing so much more with our time and resources. During that mission trip, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. I was changed. I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm to follow Him anywhere.

If you could meet my wife, you’d see the compassion of Christ. She loves everyone, and seeks to make a physical impact for those in need with love, resources, or money. She has shown this time and time again. She had been telling me that the Holy Spirit was pressing on her heart to change our lives, even to sell our home. I had not heard His whispers, and therefore was not convinced. I was too wrapped up on living in silence, living with antelope and deer wandering our property, and with the separation from society.

We both had friends recommend we read the book “Organic Church” by Neil Cole. As we read, these ideas seemed to jive with what we were hearing from the Lord. “Instead of bringing people to church so that we can bring them to Christ, let’s bring Christ to people where they live.” “We are as foolish as the farmer who builds a barn and then stands in the doorway calling all the crops to come in and make themselves at home.”

We had been longing for true closeness with other believers, longing for relationships with non-believers. Can’t you love a non-believer without an agenda to get them to church? Are there really people out there just as excited about Jesus as we are? How can so many people keep Him & His salvation to themselves? We also started to have thoughts that to be honest were not easy to swallow. Was it right to leave the organized church? Didn’t that make us backsliders who were open to Satan’s advances? What would people say? We had both been in the church since our childhood. Could we really leave everything we’d known (& loved) about church and follow God wherever He led? What would this new “church” look like?

We prayed like we have never prayed before. We felt the Holy Spirit tell us to move. Move from our dream home back into society. Move from our church home to follow Him wherever He would lead. But…but, it would be such a burden. We just got here. Financially it would be foolishness. And what about the peace we’d found there? What about our friends at church? Would anyone even understand? But prayer and submittal leads to a clearer view. And that’s what we found. We both heard it. It was time to sell the house, and find the community with God’s children that we left behind. It was not an easy decision. It’s hard to pray for His will when you know it might not be your will.

Following our decisions, we received much criticism. Then the waiting……..didn’t He put us on this path? We set the price on our home way below appraisal, but just enough to break even. But it wouldn’t sell. Two realtors and 11 months passed, and we prayed….a lot. Even though I knew God sometimes asks for our patience while He develops us for what is to come, I was impatient. What I didn’t realize was how invaluable that time truly was. Andrea & I grew closer spiritually. One of our sons decided to give his life to Jesus. Our home became a more loving place where God’s instruction was a way of life instead of an hour-long ritual once a week.

When an offer did come in on the house that we could accept, we were excited & all of sudden worried. Now was the test, are we following God, will we even hear Him? Will we choose His path even if it doesn’t fit our comfort zone? We had three weeks to find a place to live. For some this may sound pressed for time, but do-able. But remember, we were driven by where God wants to build His church not just a home. All of our prayers for the past year would be for nothing if we didn’t wait to hear His voice in this one big decision. Over the next two weeks, we feverishly looked for a home. We did not want to limit God, but we did have a couple things we could not negotiate on. My job requires that my home be within 15 miles of central Fort Collins, so we opened up to all surrounding areas. We did not limit our search beyond some specific rooms & price and we looked everyday. Nothing seemed right. Even what my wife and I felt led to were different. God, how can we be sure it’s Your voice if we’re hearing it differently? We went on prayer walks through the most likely neighborhoods, but the whisper wasn’t there.

We found ourselves sitting on a Sunday evening, just one week before our closing without a home to move to. Andrea had loosely looked into rental properties but now stated she would find one for us to move into. Again, I asked God if that was what He wanted. I felt the urge to drive around one more time. I loaded my tired family into the car and we set out praying for the Holy Spirit’s direction…..no destination, just praying.

There was nowhere new. We had seen all the neighborhoods and all the houses. As the sun dipped below the mountains, we turned down a street we had been on before. We actually looked at a house there when our realtor told us to open ourselves up to a higher priced house. I had refused to compromise then, believing God put us on a path to save money for His work. Then we saw a “For Sale” sign, six houses down. How had we missed it? “That is what I want,” I told my wife. She explained that it would definitely be out of our price range. So we sat in front of the house, longing just to know where we’d be going, exhausted, just ready to do God’s work wherever that would be…..now we would settle for just knowing, God, even if it’s not where we want. The flyer said the home was way above our top price, but everything else was perfect. We went home and prayed. “Lord, You lead. We’ll follow wherever You lead. Our lives are Yours; do with them as You will.”

The next morning, I told my wife to call the realtor and tell her that we wanted that house in our price range. The realtor laughed at us & said “It’s not possible. They’ve already lowered their price almost $100K.” We told her just to call and ask. A few minutes later, we got a frantic call from our realtor saying “They’re taking your offer if you can put it in writing by noon. So we better go look at the house & see if you even like it.” (Seems funny making an offer on a home we’ve never walked through, but we knew it was from God.) And as we walked through the house, we both sensed approval, a peace that this was where He designed for us to be all along. And strange, it felt right to both of us even though through this whole process we’d been looking for different things.

There are so many circumstances, events, and details that we could share to express how we KNOW without a doubt that only God could orchestrate such an elaborate plan with every single detail pointing to Him. But that is not the point of this posting.

Where are we now? We are closer to the Lord than ever. We love, worship, and serve as a family. Our home church is simply my family and my single brother. God has led people into our lives and we have invited them to be a part of our worship. We have also invited them to just be a part of our lives. No more seclusion. No one has taken us up on our invitation to come to our church, but I am now patient. This is not our group to build; it is His. As we think back over this journey, the hardest part was stepping out of the boat, trusting that we wouldn’t fall as long as we had our eyes on Him. It hasn’t been easy. But not everything in His plan is easy. We have been tested. Our resolve hasn’t always been so strong. There have been times we long for the organized church. There have been times when my wife and I hear His voice saying different things. How do you continue your journey when times aren’t so easy and the excitement is wavering…..you just pray and know that He is God.

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We want this site to help tell the story of what God is doing in our beautiful state through Spirit gathered communities of faith. We also want to be a resource to the same…so tell a couple friends about this site, or link to it from your blog!

I recently posted this on my personal blog and thought it would be good to share here. ~Rose Starr

Some of you may know that we are a part of a house church network. Desi, my husband is a pastor/house church coach/mentor here in Denver. We have had a very interesting journey these past 4+ years in this lovely city. We came out as inner city missionaries to start a traditional church. After meeting in our home weekly for awhile (doing house church but not calling it that!) we ended up being given a large donation from an anonymous donor and began renting a small chapel. Although we had a sizable core group, we didn’t grow. We moved to another location and again did not grow. I struggled with not enjoying Sundays at all. It was so much work to haul tub after tub of stuff only to go through these church motions and then have to clean up again. We moved to another location and started meeting on Sunday nights. Again, no growth…people left instead! It was discouraging. We felt like we were wasting God’s resources and after much prayer and about 6 months at that location we went back to Sunday mornings at a house.

We decided to pray and seek God and His will for our group which had grown and shrunk and grown again with people leaving and God bringing us together with another small group. Turns out we had the same vision and heart for the city as this other group who joined up with us before we moved to Sunday nights renting space at a local church. Desi and Bruce (his ministry partner) along with Carrie (another inner city missionary) began to meet/pray regularly and in earnest. I’m not sure how, but we heard of a large house church conference that would be in Denver that summer that was put on by House 2 House. We felt led to go and wouldn’t you know it, that was our start into house church gatherings. We had a lot of ‘traditional mindset’ to re-think as we searched the Scriptures to see what ‘church’ was really about. We discovered some simple and profound things: That were two or more are gathered in His name, He’s there and really that is church…the believers…we are His bride…the church is people and when we are together, we are doing church! Now this may be too liberal a definition for some folks, and that’s ok, but we love it!

Our group met on Sunday mornings at one house for about a year, getting used to being a part of something so different than most of us had been a part of. We began to minister to one another in beautiful ways. We used resources to give to the needy in our own group as well as in the city. We grew in friendship, love and life. We saw some leave and many more come. We joined up with large traditional churches for outreaches and VBS’ in the summer. We prayed that God would send laborers for the harvest and He did! Story after story of how He grew us and brought new people. I love it! Near the end of last year, we realized our core group was getting too large for the house we met in. We all began to pray and ask God to lead us, to move in our hearts and give us a desire to multiply in order to grow and continue to make disciples.

Since then, we have grown into a network of five house churches. One meets Sunday morning, two on Sunday nights (alternating between two houses), one Tuesday night and one Thursday night. Each church looks and feels a bit different, but each is active, alive, nurturing and growing. Desi and I are hosting every 2nd & 4th Sunday evening partnering with another couple who live about a mile from us who host the 1st and 3rd Sundays at their house. It’s nice to start off just every other week and share the hosting and cooking. At our Sunday evening gatherings we share a meal at 5:30 and have our gathering after the meal. Our first gathering was last Sunday. I felt led to have us do an activity I found in a book about Lent for kids. It was a family tree where we all drew/cut out a symbol with our name to represent our branch. We then wrote on leaves qualities that we saw in others that were a blessing and glued the leaves to their branches. It was a wonderful way to start off our gathering and include our 4 kids. We then moved into a time of sharing while we sipped tea and after a little while the kids retired to the basement for a movie. We adults continued to share and fellowship till almost 11pm!

Here’s our Family Tree

Our gatherings will be a bit ‘loose’ as we seek to listen to the Spirit’s leading. Our desire is to encourage spiritual gifts and give place and time for those gifts to be shared. We want to come together with something learned from the week that we can offer to each other. We desire transparency, honesty, respect, to honor one another and to grow in relationship with our father God. We will invite neighbors, friends and whomever God leads us to with no expectations other than to see what God has for us.

Our network will plan regular large gatherings, outings, trips, parties, outreaches, celebrations, ect…in order to stay connected with one another. Desi and I will host a game night once a month with the invite open to all the house churches and our neighbors. We are praying about various VBS’ put on the the various house church homes/neighborhoods for this summer to reach kids and neighbors with God’s love.

I wanted to share what we were doing and how blessed I am to be a part of something that has helped me grow in my spiritual walk more than ever before. I have been challenged to be an active participant in every meeting. To be open to different views, different people, different ways of interacting with God. We still have much to learn, will probably make mistakes, will start something- realize it doesn’t work- and change our plans, and that’s ok! I have so much to learn as a daughter, wife, mother, friend and neighbor. I am learning to be ok with the process, to enjoy the journey, to see events in my life as a small piece of a much larger picture, to see God’s hand of grace in every aspect of my daily life. It’s mind boggling really.

~Rose