Once again in the Philippines, on the way up the mountain to the city of Baguio in 2000, God spoke to me and clearly said, “I want My church back!”
At first, I thought God wanted me to resign and give Him back my church. But God began to speak directly into my spirit and said that humankind had taken His church and turned it into man’s church. Men had changed the structure, the practices, the doctrines, and the truth, twisting it to conform to man’s ideas and philosophies in an attempt to wrestle authority away from God.
For the first three hundred and twenty-five years of the church, there were no church buildings. God’s people met in houses and in public areas. I believe that God is returning the concept of the house churches back to the body of Christ. He is looking for His pure church at the end times. Meanwhile, around the world, the house church movement is exploding!
The early church had no elite priesthood. Anyone who loved God, had some measure of spiritual maturity, knew the Word of God, and qualified under the guidelines found in 1 Timothy 3 could lead a group of believers in their house. During these times, Christianity grew and prospered during times of both persecution and peace.
The modern model for the house church is found in Mainland China. Despite intense persecution and even the threat of death, the underground house churches there have prospered. Today it is conservatively estimated that there are perhaps more than eighty-million born-again Christians in China.
If revival ignited today, existing church buildings would not be able to hold all the new converts. Even if money were available, land would have to be purchased, plans drawn, permits obtained, and ground broken. By the time that all occurred, the revival would probably be over.
While ministering in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, recently, pastors informed me that the Bulgarian revival of 1990 to 1994 died because there were no more buildings to hold the new converts. I believe God is leading His church back into homes and to the doctrines and practices taught by the early apostles.
This is not to say that returning to house churches is an easy task. It will take a lot of prayer and wisdom. Some may take advantage of the movement to divide churches by slipping in false teaching. Some may find themselves wandering aimlessly with no accountability. Still others may become mere social groups with a common interest.
Where there is the potential for abuse and the house church movement is suffering a fair amount of birth pangs, it is easy to see that sudden revival and the upcoming persecution will force the church to go underground and into house churches, like it or not.
(From the book Waging Spiritual Warfare by Richard Ing, pg 150-151)