A Church of House Churches — Jason Shepperd of Church Project
A Church of House Churches — Jason Shepperd of Church Project What do you think of when you hear the words “house churches”? Do your palms get a little sweaty? Do you start to get nervous, and look around for an exit? Do you get twitchy, and wonder if somebody is going to convince you that this is THE WAY? In recent years, Exponential has been asking church leaders to review their score card, and take stock of what they value and celebrate. What if our scorecard valued multiplication over anything else? Would it help us to be open to other models that God is using in church multiplication? Regardless of your chosen model, today’s episode will help you to think outside the box and learn some important lessons from what a reproducing house church movement looks like. Today’s guest is Jason Shepperd of Church Project. Church Project began in 2010 with 40 people in an obscure warehouse, and quickly grew to thousands. We were pursuing a New Testament elemental DNA of discipleship, simplicity, generosity, diversity in community, reproduction, and a “declergyification” of the centrality of the church. We were attempting to return to a biblical and Spirit-led church planting pursuit, and to resist most common elements of churches and church planting – massive marketing, mega overhead, and attractive and attractional elements. Church Project isn’t just a church. It’s a church of house churches, that has also become a network of churches of house churches. Confused yet? After few minutes into today’s episode, you won’t be. In fact, you’ll be refreshed by Jason’s commitment to strip everything back to the barebones of multiplication and “do things the easy way.” Perhaps you thought that house churches did things the hard way, but after today, you’ll see a network of multiplying house churches that has plenty of money to spare and give, simply because they have very little overhead. Here’s some of today’s topics: Why you might need to reconsider the house church model How house churches multiply The benefits of space, and paid staff to a house church movement How you can rewrite your church’s scorecard What can established and traditional churches learn from house churches? Listen to today’s podcast and find out from Jason Shepperd.