Husmenigheter har fått stor oppmerksomhet i amerikanske medier. Time Magazine har vært ute. Og nå sist Washington Post, melder House Church Chronicles.
"You can't ask questions in most churches. You might make an appointment with the pastor, get in his daybook for a quick lunch," said Rodgers, 50.
A growing number of Christians across Washington and around the country are moving to home churches -- both as a way to create personal connections in the age of the megachurch and as a return to the blueprint of the Christian church spelled out in the New Testament, which describes Jesus and the apostles teaching small groups in people's homes.
"These are people who are less interested in attending church than in being the church," said Barna, who became a home-churcher last year.
Man regner nå med at det er titusenvis av husmenigheter i USA.
The more recent rise of home churches has been facilitated by the Internet, said John White, a Denver-based coordinator for Dawn Ministries, one of several organizations that helps plant new home churches.
Legg merke til den rollen DAWN i USA spiller når det gjelder å opprette husmenigheter. I Norge nøyer lederskapet i DAWN seg stort sett med å uttrykke skepsis mot husmenigheter.
White said that when he tired of the "endless" church administration meetings and quit his job as a Presbyterian minister to start a home church eight years ago, it was difficult to find anyone to join. Now he has an e-mail list of more than 800 people nationwide who receive his postings about practical issues of home churching -- addressing such matters as how to organize child-friendly services, how to handle tithing, and what to do if the church gets too big.
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With more access to religious information online, people are realizing that they don't have to rely on a pastor with an advanced degree to lead them, White said. Instead, they can learn how to create an alternative in a few steps. The result is an overall "flattening of the church," White said.
This is in keeping with God's plan to have a "kingdom of priests" in which everyone participates in his or her religious life, he said.
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The service changes from week to week, depending on what members are going through or thinking about; they might organize a Bible study or discussion around managing their finances or overcoming depression.
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By about 9 p.m., it was time to go home. But Windsor said church does not end when the service is over. Members might meet several times during the week, and church can continue over coffee at Starbucks or during a biblical discussion at a family barbecue.
For them, church is not tied to a building or confined to a couple hours a week, he said. "It's a way of life."
Jeg tror Washington Post her gjør en bedre jobb en mange kristne blader. Er det stenene som taler?
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