House Churches

Diocese-Wide Evening Prayer

9pm Mon–Sat. Click here for the Zoom Link
Meeting ID: 211-936-7784
Password: prayers

(By Phone: 04 886 0026 and enter the number 211 936 7784 followed by the # key - when asked to enter a participant ID.)
Liturgy provided here.

House Churches and Small Group Discipleship

In this season, growing together and thriving together is our goal – and house churches or small discipleship groups are our main vehicle for doing this.  That’s why at this time, we encourage everyone, with the support of their parish leaders, to form house churches with others in your local community.  At the moment, that means using online tools like phone trees, Zoom or other video calling platforms.  This will give us a space for both worship and going deeper together in discipleship with others. 

Why is small group discipleship important?

The people of God have always held a balance in their life of worship and discipleship between the home and the temple. The extended local family is the place of deep discipleship and community, while the temple is the place of celebration and praise as the whole people of God. This current season gives us an opportunity to strengthen our small group discipleship and deep Christ-shaped commitments and connections to each other.  

Resources

These resources aim to marry house church liturgy with small group missional discipleship, and to equip every follower of Jesus in our churches to be confident in discipling others, whatever their context.

House Church Sample Frameworks:

Here you will find sample frameworks showing how you might structure your house church meetings, using the House Church Liturgy resources available below.

Intergenerational resources:

Bible Explore is a nationwide website full of intergenerational resources based on the Lectionary.

Other resources

St Peter’s Gonville Liturgy

Attached here is a sample Liturgy used by St Peter’s Gonville, in Whanganui.

Practices of Repentance videos:

Bishop Eleanor has produced a series of videos highlighting different ways we can incorporate repentance into our spiritual walk.

How to run a House Church

Watch this conversational video from Archdeacon Gendy Thomson giving tips and tricks for running your house church. You may like to download these notes to read alongside watching the video.

You can also watch these videos of how different church contexts have set up their own house church network. 

Passionist Family Groups:

Passionist Family Groups are a structure used in some churches to group people into intergenerational "families," which then break down into smaller groups that study the Word together and journey through life together. Archbishop Philip experienced the life that these groups bring to a parish when he became Bishop of Taranaki, and tells Bishop Justin about how they worked.