> Another thing that has concerned me for awhile...how does one get married in
> the House Church since there are no "ordained" ministers or any other sort of
> leadership who can be delegated the responsibility of marrying persons. I say
> all this from what I believe to be the "law" in Texas (if not all states) that
> noone can marry two people without the express assignment from the group to
> which they belong. The captain of a ship at sea, the Fire Chief or Police
> Chief or any other licensed pastor, rabbi, priest or officer in a legally
> formed organization can marry with the blessing of the State...all other
> marriages are considered "common-law" and have certain waiting periods before
> they are considered legal.

The short answer to this question about marriage is that, at least in the U.S., it is surprisingly easy to satisfy the legal requirements involved for a house church to designate someone to perform marriages. (Thanks to the First Amendment!) In general, you just have to tell whatever state agency does the licensing that you are an "ordained" representative of your religious body. At SCC, we lay hands on whoever is going to perform the ceremony and ordain him or her for that particular purpose. So far, we have had people from SCC qualify legally to marry people in Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey (I think), and probably some other places. Another route to go is to simply go to a justice of the peace to satisfy the legal requirement, and then have a house church ceremony to celebrate the marriage.