Household Aims

A Lighthouse in the Mist A new program designed to encourage evangelism in the church is being developed in the diocese. The Rev. Ron Meacock, incumbent of the Parish of Hastings, believes the Households of Faith program may help to build Christian community and strengthen churches. Mr. Meacock and a group of lay people and clergy from across the diocese began working on Households of Faith two years ago.

Households of Faith are intended to be an extension of the local church that trains and nourishes Christian people and is mandated to divide and double its membership every two years.

Early Church Model

Group of People "What we're doing is looking at the very early church model when groups of people met in homes," says Mr. Meacock. "Friends would have come along. It would have been a large extended family group with many children, parents, grandparents, widowed parents and people who wandered in." The idea is to use the home as a center for evangelism, which he describes as "sharing the faith."

It builds not on someone on the street corner preaching or someone being argued into the Faith, but someone meeting other Christian people and being attracted to the Faith.

People Ministry

Young People Laughing Eight to Twelve people are needed for a Household of Faith. Four of those would be core members of the local church, while the others would be fringe church members. "They would make a covenant to meet together on a weekly basis." Both the host and leader would be appointed by the church leadership, who would meet with them on a regular basis for instruction and to co-ordinate their activities.

A respected and competent person would be appointed as the leader, whose main job would be to run the Household. The host is one of the people who is willing to open his or her home for a gathering every week.

Clergy Participation

The cleric in the church where the Households are situated would oversee the formation of a Household. Normally clergy would not attend Households once they are formed, except to celebrate a communion service. The clergy's role is to equip the household leaders, train new leaders and retain oversight of the Household group. Once a Household is formed, one of its first tasks is to agree on how the meeting time would be spent.

Article by Susan Mann for The Anglican April 2002

Help to build Christian community

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