Red Family Church: More Than a Small Group

As we sound the trumpets and begin to share our vision for Red Church with friends and family, we have received one common question from people that we often have to address for clarification. When we tell them about the idea of Family Church, some have said "Oh...you mean small groups...we've seen that before" And at that point is where many think they have figured us out but we quickly have to slow them down and explain how our Family Church Model differs from a small group model. Below are 4 reasons our model separates itself from the traditional house group model most are familiar with.

NOTE: Before you read any further, We are NOT knocking the small group model, we are simply sharing the differences over the two models to provide clarification on what our vision for Family Church is. Small group has its place and purpose under the right church community model. We believe the Lord has not called us for small group implementation, but has called us specifically to unleash a fresh spin to house church planting.

#1 - Lead by a Pastoral Family, Not a Group Leader

We have made the decision to commission Pastors to lead their own Family Church. And just as pastors on a "Macro" level (Traditional Church Model), these pastors are not just responsible to provide biblical study, but also to provide pastoral direction for their disciples. In more common small group scenarios, leaders act more as facilitators with minimal to no pastoral authorization from senior leadership. We imagine a true bond forming between our disciples and their pastors, this element is unfortunately lacking in most common church communities. Just as the 12 disciples walked with Jesus, being taught by him as they ate and drank, and did life together, we believe every christian is deserving of such relationships with those who would take on the call of sheperding them and teaching them the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven as Christ did.

#2 - Not Just Midweek, but Sundays!

Sunday is the holy grail of Christianity, it is the day most of the world expects to engage in spiritual assembly. Often times house groups are only authorized for weekdays and Saturdays, resulting in only a small percentage of members participating. With this in mind, we really felt that in order to sustain the model and show the world we were very serious about this vision, we made the choice to further empower our pastors by assigning two Sundays per month where family churches will host their gatherings in place of the traditional church general assembly. We envision a house church model that promotes very high participation by allowing our members to participate during the day of the week most people are prepared to attend, Sunday. We take this very seriously and have prepared a strong development program to ensure our Family Church Pastors are qualified and prepared to lead others to a more healthy and strong relationship with Christ.

#3 - Planted to Reproduce - Let's Multiply!

Our mission is to ensure every all of our Family Churches are constantly pregnant, preparing the next leaders to take on the role of FC Pastors and plant the next family church. This model of reproducing is not found in typical small group models. Our vision for multiplication relies on the simplicity of the Family Church model, they exist to expand the kingdom of God as we plant more and more in every town and city and across the globe. In a traditional small group model, groups are placed without multiplication in mind, but as temporary or seasonal bible study groups that deactivate once a series is complete or dissolve until the next series begins and starts all over again without necessarily reproducing. Our vision is that the planting of one family church, leads the planting of another, that plants another., truly embracing a culture of multiplication.

#4 - Established to Further Evangelism

We have to come to realize that people can have different entry points when it comes to discovering Jesus and connecting with a church community. Some of the people will never walk into a traditional Sunday church environment, but some would openly come to a cozy home when invited to experience God in a more laid back, relational way. Family Church is not just about bible study for Christians, it's about providing another platform from where we can position the gospel for the lost.