Home Guide: Frequently asked questions about starting and leading a small group, home fellowship, cell, or house church.

Home Fellowship Guide
"A Practical Guide for a Home Fellowship Leader"

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The Most Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a home fellowship?

It is you and a group of people who would like to meet together to worship the Lord, study the Bible and share experiences you can be a home fellowship. In the group you will pray for each other, support and encourage one another as you all grow spiritually.

2. Why do we need home fellowships?

We need them as a way to learn how to live a Christian life by example. We learn obedience to God’s Word by seeing other people live a life of obedience. The Apostle Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). (In home fellowship new believers can follow the example of more mature brothers and sisters and grow through relationships.)

3. What do home fellowships do?

You will be growing together spiritually as you build relationships with Jesus and with others. You will do it by applying the Word of God in your lives, having fun together, praying together, having meals together occasionally; sharing each other’s needs, joys and sorrows, and just loving each other with the love of Christ. You can meet weekly or biweekly, depending on the desire and on the schedules of the members.

4. Who can be a home fellowship leader?

Any committed Christian who feels called of God to serve Him by leading a home group to build His kingdom. There is one requirement – the testimony of the work of Jesus Christ in his (her) life.

5. What is the role of a home fellowship leader?

You will provide oversight; direction and loving care to the group. With the love of Christ and help of the Holy Spirit, you will learn to lead as a friend and fellow Christian. You can start with being a host and/or hostess and later can become a spiritual father and/or mother to the members of the group. You will pray with and for the people, and will study and learn to apply the Word of God to your lives.

6. Can a woman be a leader of a home group?

Yes. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). If we are to discriminate between men and women, then to be consistent, we’ll have to discriminate between “Jew” and “Greek” — which is, of course, wrong.

7. Does a home fellowship have to be under the authority of a local church?

HFLI’s belief is that since it is Jesus Who is building His church, so He should be free to work with His people inside or outside churches or denominations. You can start the group with or without the supervision of a local church. You do though have to be under the authority of Christ and walk daily in living contact with the Holy Spirit.

8. Is any experience required for the leader?

No. You’ll learn as you go. Anyone can make mistakes. If you don’t have experience, be open about it before the group. Ask for their support and prayers. This will take away from you the pressure of trying to be “perfect”.

9. Does it matter how old you are?

No, it doesn’t. Even if you are very young, but know that God called you, you can do it. The prophet Samuel was only a boy when he started ministering. David was a young lad when he defeated Goliath. If you need to defeat your personal “Goliath” — that is, fear of what people will think about you — then do it on the strength of the Lord! We at HFLI believe that the Lord will use a lot of teenagers to lead the small groups successfully.

10. What is common between a “regular” church and home fellowship?

Home fellowship is a small church. From the book of Acts we learn that the early church met from house to house. The Apostle Paul addressed the home fellowships of his time as “the church that meets in the house of…”. Home fellowships can form congregations (clusters of groups) that would be the local body of believers, especially in places where there are no “regular” churches.

11. What is the difference between them?

“Regular” church usually owns a building; home fellowship meets in the member’s homes. Home fellowships don’t have a “professional” pastor that is paid a salary, so their offerings can be used for missionary projects and for taking care of the needy. In the time of persecution of churches home fellowships have a much better chance to survive underground. In a large formal church people don’t get to know each other much, but in small groups people have opportunity to build relationships with each other as they grow in the Lord, to be transparent and to become a spiritual family.

12. Can I start my group with making it a spiritual family?

No. New people will need time to get to know each other and start trusting you as their leader. So we recommend you to start with the role of the host and/or hostess and the Bible discussion group that can gradually be developed into the spiritual family.

13. What is the role of the host and/or hostess?

Host and/or hostess are those who invite people to their (or someone else’s) home and lead the meetings. They are coordinators and facilitators of Bible discussion. After a period of time they can consider becoming spiritual parents to the group.

14. What is the spiritual family?

All born-again believers are a family – to us is given a high position in the Lord Jesus to be called children of God (Jn.1: 12). HFLI suggests that after 3 months of meetings groups would start developing into a spiritual family. It would simply mean that people would agree to become more open and committed to each other, just like people would be in the natural Godly family. Mutual love and care would be the goals of the spiritual family. This is not a requirement for the groups, but a vision for those who will feel called of the Lord.

15. What is the role of the spiritual father and/or mother?

Just like natural parents are in charge of the family, spiritual parents are responsible for the spiritual well being of the members of the group. Development of a spiritual family doesn’t happen overnight, it takes faith and perseverance. The leader of the group does need to have a heart of a shepherd, a father’s heart toward the group members. He will lead them to become a spiritual family not only by the formal commitment of the members, but also by the spirit. The spirit of love manifested at your meetings will make it a desirable place for anyone coming from the outside.

16. Are there any costs involved?

Though this book is available on the web cost free, we trust the Lord to supply the needs of our ministry. If you are led of the Lord to send your offerings to HFLI, we’d appreciate and welcome that. If your group would like to become partners in our work, you’ll be given an opportunity to make financial contributions on a continuous basis.

17. What is the mission of HFLI?

The mission of HFLI is to bring a church down to people using home fellowships as a vehicle.

18 Would you suggest people to leave their churches in order to attend home fellowship meetings?

No. Usually home fellowships don’t meet on Sunday mornings, so participation of believers in home group meetings would not interfere with their church involvement.

19 What services does HFLI provide?

A booklet “Home Fellowship Leaders Guide” and a book of 12 lessons n English (Russian and Spanish versions are in work). After you have used this book, you can request the next batch of lessons by e-mail or snail mail.. You can send us questions and request limited counseling through E-mail. We will keep your “Leader’s Report” form on file and might send you personal counsel when the Lord would lead us to do so. Also from time to time we will publish a newsletter where you can read testimonies from around the world, articles about small groups, trips taken to visit home groups overseas and updates on what is happening in the home office.