Counting People Who Attend House Churches

Thursday September 3, 2009 ~ 13 Comments

According to a variety of sources, "house churches" appear to be increasing in number as some people move away from traditional forms of church. However, how many "house churches" are out there and how many people are involved? A new study by the Barna Group says it really depends on how you define "house church" and ask the questions in the survey. And, they are right.

From Barna:

When a question asks whether the survey respondent has "attended a worship service in someone's home, known as a house church," the results generally find about 10% of the adult population claims to have done so in the past month...

A different approach is to ask people how often, if ever, they attend a religious service - not a "worship service" - in someone's home or even in some other place that is independent of a congregational-form church. This more inclusive question typically finds that 22% to 24% of all adults claim to have had such an experience during a given month.

The most prolific response comes when adults are asked if they have "experienced God or expressed (their) faith in God in a house church or simple church meeting in the past month," regardless of whether it is affiliated with some other church entity. This definition, certainly the broadest of the six variations tested, finds that one-third of adults claim to have been involved in such a gathering during the preceding month.

So, how many are there? Again, it depends how you ask.

In 2006, this headline caught some attention: "1 in 5 adults attend house churches, according to first hard statistics."

At the time, I worked at the Center for Missional Research (CMR), and we thought it needed a closer look with some more specific parameters.

We commissioned a CMR/Zogby International to survey more than 3,600 people (1200 interviews on three occasions) about several issues, but particularly about their involvement in spirituality and alternative expressions of church.

We asked, "Do you meet weekly with a group of 20 people or less to pray and study scriptures as your primary form of spiritual or religious gathering?"

That seems a good description-- it does not say "house," which my organic and simple church friends says skews the question. They might meet in a coffee shop, etc. It also does not say it is a "Christian" meeting, so this could be any time of small religious gathering. But, it does say "primary form," so we were looking for people who saw this as their main setting for community nurture.

Remarkably, 26.3% of the 3600 Americans who were asked that question indicated that they did-- as their primary form of spiritual or religious gathering.

Comparatively, in one of the three surveys, we cross-tabbed the number to those who considered themselves "born again." In that case, 42.1% of those who identified themselves as born-again Christians said that they met weekly with a group of 20 or less people as their primary form of spiritual or religious gathering.

Obviously, large numbers of people are finding their primary spiritual instruction and community in smaller, less formal gatherings.

However, that could be a small group or Sunday School class. And, as Barna says, the number in House Churches depends on how you count.

We were looking to consider those who regularly attended a larger (or more traditional) church body. By doing so, we might be able to find those who don't go to an established/traditional church body, but still "meet weekly with a group of 20 people or less to pray and study scriptures as your primary form of spiritual or religious gathering."

When we cross-tabulated the "small group" question with the "church attendance" question, we found that 50 out of 3,600 adults attend both a group of 20 or less and "rarely" or "never" attend a place of worship. If extrapolated, this is almost 1.4 percent of the American population and may represent the purest measure of those who are not involved in an organized church, synagogue, or mosque but still are involved in some alternative faith community like, in the Christian faith, a house church. That is about four million Americans-- not a small number. It's by no means "1 in 5 Americans," but it is a large number and worthy of more research.

Here is a graph of our data. The light blue is represents those who indicated that they met "weekly with a group of 20 people or less to pray and study scriptures as your primary form of spiritual or religious gathering." The purple represents those who did not indicate they were involved in such a meeting. And, finally, the categories across the bottom are how often they indicated they attended church services.

To me, the lower right hand corner is the most helpful-- people who don't go to "established" church but are still involved in a small group to study scriptures. Now, none of these questions are perfect (and everyone will want to re-word), but each bit of info helps us understand the situation more clearly.

Barna's right. It depends on how you ask. Feel free to dialogue below.

Posted on September 3, 2009 at 11:21 AM ~ 13 Comments

Tagged with: barna, cmr, community, data, house church, research, zogby

13 Comments

By Jim Elliff on September 3, 2009 2:03 PM

Thanks for this. I've always felt that Barna's count is skewed. I'm one of five pastors of a house church network (5 congregations) in Kansas City that is going very well and growing steadily. However, we only know of one other house church that is in our denomination in the city. I understand there is another network here also that seems to be different theologically from us. I do often talk with church planters who are starting or wanting to start house churches in various parts of the country. We know the numbers are growing and the interest is rising. For those interested, our website is www.ChristFEllowshipKC.org. I've also written a few house church articles on my main ministry site for Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Jim Elliff

By Allen Krell on September 3, 2009 2:07 PM

Your research matches my experience with "House church" over the past year or so. The term "house church" often does not represent a church in the traditional idea of a church. They tend to be gatherings of Christians for mutual sanctification, some of whom go to a conventional church on Sunday mornings, some who do not. Many in conventional churches like some aspects (programs for children, youth...) but crave encouraging Christian relationships provided in the informal groups. For those who don't care about the programs in a conventional church, the "house church" may become their only church.

By T.C. Porter on September 3, 2009 2:30 PM

This is very good research. Thank you.

We (a coffee-shop/organic/church-type-thing) fall into the "under 20 ..." group, but will soon be "over 20." How will you account for us then?

It is also worth pointing out something I am seeing on the ground level: While most of our participants would answer affirmatively to the "church attendance" question, it is not meaningful attendance. It is somewhat like going to a theatre, or attending a time-share presentation with no intention on buying. My point is, those people are possibly just as well lumped with those who don't go to church at all. In fact, those in our group who also attend larger gatherings are increasingly frustrated with what Jon Foreman of Switchfoot calls "the show."

I hope you will continue to do comprehensive research on our type of communities to learn more about what is happening. I am particularly interested at present in the issue of funding. When the conversation invariably shifts to matters of "success" and institutional proponents tout their results, I can't help but wonder what would happen if all the resources (financial and human) of the SBC, PCUSA, UMC, etc., what if half those resources were unleashed in an organic setting? Then we could compare apples and oranges. My thesis would be that organic/missional/house communities are virtually unfunded compared to traditional counterparts, trying to do kingdom work on spare time and tent making wages. Maybe as it should be, but the apostle is worth his keep. And the church is accountable for its resources.

I know I covered a lot. Any thoughts? Thank you.

By Frank Turk on September 3, 2009 2:53 PM

Waitaminit -- you're saying that Barna's data is not the benchmark for studies of how American Christians are working out their faith?

(Here's the softball, Ed ...)

You should write a book about that.

By Michael Carpenter on September 3, 2009 3:27 PM

Besides us at Matthew's Table, I know of one other network of simple/house/organic churches in the surrounding Nashville area called The Way 247

By Ed Stetzer

on September 3, 2009 3:34 PM

T.C.,

You are exactly right about the difficulty of categorizing.

You have to wonder how many are nominal church attendees, but deeply committed to their alternative faith community / house church / whatever.

These kids of surveys-- from Barna or wherever-- are typically unable to answer those questions. A much more robust study is needed. I would love to do one, but that is for another day.

Frank,

Facts are our friends, but it is always good to have more facts. ;-) AND, even if "survey says," the Word wins.

I like stats, but I like us to use them to inform and not drive.

By Timothy Stewart on September 3, 2009 4:03 PM

What abouta church plant that first meets in a home with the intent to eventually lease a building, but needs to grow in size and finacial support? Is that a house church?

By Micah Mills on September 3, 2009 5:52 PM

It would be interesting to see the geographical, and socio-economic break downs of these numbers. Based on my experience I would bet that these numbers would skew higher in more urban and sub-urban areas as opposed to rural areas. I would bet it would also skew higher in the 25-40 age range. I don't know I just don't picture my grandparents in rural Oklahoma ever attending a "house church."

As a member and leader of a "house church" for the last 3 years. I am glad you and others are doing some research on this. It is more than needed. Thanks.

By Matt on September 3, 2009 10:40 PM

I'm also a house church pastor in KC, like Jim. I've had discussions with other house church leaders, and they reflect the discrepancies in the studies. Our church is completely independent and everyone comes to only our church. Another church, however is struggling with members going to institutional churches, as they seem to believe it's more legitimate. It is all in how you count it.

By Ryan Wiksell on September 4, 2009 6:40 AM

I think this study was very well-done, but nevertheless I'd like to put my thoughts into clarifying the definition of house-church.

Maybe the best approach would simply to provide my own re-word of the question:

"Do you gather approximately weekly with an independent group sized (by choice and/or necessity) at 20 people or less, as your primary Christian gathering?"

This might be too convoluted for the average interviewee, but it would accomplish a few things:

1) It catches those who may desire to go weekly, but can't, or those who meet several times a week, and are confused about whether that counts as "weekly"

2) It weeds out those who belong to a small group which is run by a larger church. Many of these people do consider this small group their primary experience, but that small group is actually a function of a larger church, and cannot really be called a "house church".

3) It weeds out those attending a brand-new church plant which just happens to be small, but plans to grow larger as quickly as possible.

Also, I would only ask this question of those who identify themselves as practicing Christians. Although it's helpful to know how many unchurched people find themselves in "house church", I think it's more useful to know how many Christians this describes.

By Kevin Powell on September 4, 2009 8:18 AM

Ed,

Excellent study. I, too, wondered about the "1 in 5" number that Barna came up with. If it was true than house churches in the US would be the largest grouping of Christians. (But I'm from Canada, and would love someone to do a study of house churches up here.)

That being said, you mentioned that you found that "50 out of 3,600 adults attend both a group of 20 or less and 'rarely' or "never" attend a place of worship."

I wonder what you would find if you broke it down further into generations to find out if young adults (say 18-30) were more inclined toward smaller, less institutional, expressions of church than their parents.

In my church, we have a small group of young adults (18-20 members), many of whom NEVER darken church's door. Their small group IS their church. And that's okay.

kgp

By Bill Donahue on September 4, 2009 9:15 AM

Thanks for the research, the clarity, the digging deeper -- not often pleased with the assumptions behind B's methods for asking q's or parsing data -- following all this closely, as well as missional hubs, etc. - thanks all of you for insights and pointing to other sites and movements - very productive - thanks Ed

By Bob Mayfield on September 4, 2009 3:40 PM

Good information here Ed. You always do a good job of looking behind the numbers.

It will be interesting to see if house churches can remain missional as each hc ages too