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Holding church at home helps some Christians connect
Smaller groups shun megachurches, discuss gospel on their own
CRYSTAL BOLNER, Statesman Journal November 6, 2004
Ed and Rene Tornberg say they don't need a building with steeples to encounter God and grow in their Christian faith. All they need are friends.
Church convenes at their South Salem home each Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
There are no pastors, no choirs and no missals. An average home church meeting usually includes a simple meal, Bible study and discussion.
"We've been to a lot of churches in our lives," said Ed Tornberg, who grew up in the Lutheran church. "Not that those churches were lacking anything, but when you have church at home I've found that you can share your faith and experience God in a more personal way."
His wife, Rene, who grew up with the Episcopal Church, agreed.
"At a lot of big churches, usually they are so big, many people don't take time to stop and listen to the Lord," she said.
The Tornbergs have been holding church at their home for the past month. Nate and Joanne Krupp share that celebration with them.
At a recent church meeting, the two couples started by sharing a meal, where they prayed and broke bread, then proceeded to study the Bible and discuss the teachings of Jesus.
It was informal, relaxed, personal and deeply spiritual -- everything the two couples said they sought but didn't find in traditional churches.
House churches are not uncommon. They've become widely popular in recent years as a growing number of people have become disillusioned with megachurches.
Proponents of house churches say they don't just want to be an audience in a church; they want to be full participants, and they feel they can do that in their own homes. House churches commonly include up to 15 people. If the groups get any larger, they often split and begin a new church.
The Tornbergs and the Krupps say their methods harken back to how early Christians gathered in small groups and in homes following Jesus' crucifixion. All of the hoopla and ceremony that's been attached to religious services since that time, they say, has taken away from the core of what Christians are supposed to be about -- the teachings of Jesus.
No official numbers exist on how many house churches exist nationwide, partly because of their independent nature. Some house church Web sites list as many as 1,274 house churches across the United States. There are at least five in the Salem-Keizer area.
"The world is so complicated and life is so hurried," said Nate Krupp, "you don't want the time you spend at church to be complex and hurried, too. You just want to get together with a few friends and share your faith."
It's not always easy for people interested in house churches to find each other. Commonly, house churches are fund through word of mouth. The Krupps didn't know the Tornbergs before their church meetings.
Ed Tornberg was looking for more information about house churches and came across a book Nate Krupp wrote in 1993 called "God's Simple Plan for His Church -- and Your Place In It."
When he found out Krupp lived in Salem, he contacted him, and the two families decided to begin meeting. Krupp has been involved in house churches for more than 15 years. He has attended as many as five in the past decade and has friends involved in house churches all over the country.
House churches are not just an American phenomenon. They also can be found in England and Australia and are most popular in countries like China and Vietnam, where many groups meet secretly because of religious persecution.
Critics of house churches say the groups are dangerous because they could lead to discrepancies and misinterpretations of the Bible, since many of those participating in house churches have no official training in theology.
But the Krupps and the Tornbergs scoff at that criticism. They said each person at their meetings typically has a different insight to offer into Scripture readings, and by sharing their thoughts they are able to keep each other focused.
"To some, they may look at our meetings and feel they look unorganized. We don't feel that way. We feel the Lord is leading our gatherings," said Joanne Krupp, who, like her husband, wrote a book on house churches, "Woman -- God's Plan, not Man's Tradition."
Rene Tornberg, between Scripture readings and preparing dinner, spends her time taking care of the family's three children -- Emma, 8, Ryan, 5, and Joseph, 21 months.
At this time, the children don't participate much in church discussion, but Rene Tornberg said she and her husband feel holding church at their home offers their children a chance to learn more from their parents about what it means to be a Christian.
"This is not easy," she said. "It would probably be a lot easier to just go into a pew, but then we wouldn't really be taking ownership of our faith."
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