This is the first in a series of posts sharing our family’s story and takeaways from over 15 years on the house/simple/organic church journey.
In August of 2010, I stepped away from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes staff to pursue what is now Simple Church Alliance. We began by partnering with First Alliance Church—a legacy church with a vision for church planting. Over time, that vision shifted. Rather than launching traditional satellite campuses, they chose to support a house church network planting strategy.
Looking back, I’m continually reminded how unique that decision was. I’ve heard on numerous occasions, “I’ve never heard of a legacy church doing this,” from people who would know if it had been done before. Perhaps First Alliance was one of the first churches of its kind to invest so heavily in a stateside house church initiative.
If that’s true, much of the credit goes to mature and grounded believers and staff at FAC, including Steve Elliott, who was the leader of this congregation at the time. He was incredibly encouraging and supportive of what, at the time, felt like a wild idea in my head. He reminded me that we could “experiment” in the Kingdom, and he was convinced that—even though it looked radically different—house church ideas could reach people that First Alliance might never reach otherwise.
From August 2010 to February 2012—when we were officially sent out—I joined the staff at First Alliance with one primary goal: to discern what God was saying and to share that vision with the congregation. We did this through Sunday morning classes focused on house church life and multiplication.
During that time, several members of the church became interested (and this was encouraged by the leadership), along with others in our city who heard about what we were doing. We also began meeting in our home on Sunday evenings, putting into practice the very things we were teaching.
By the time we were sent out in 2012, there were three communities. That quickly became two, and then over time, more communities formed—some grew, others dissolved. We learned to embrace the fluidity of Kingdom growth within organic structures.
For several years, I kept a map in my office to chart this movement, but eventually, I lost track. What became clear to me from this map—and still is today—is that God was the one initiating house church, not us. This was actually one of our core principles: That Jesus builds the church, not man. However, I don’t think we fully appreciated the extent to which this was true. While some communities were born out of existing simple churches, even more seemed to form independently, as the Spirit placed similar ideas in the hearts and minds of others. Many of those families and groups would eventually find us and choose to connect.
Now, over 15 years in, the map on our site gives a fairly accurate picture—though not complete, as some communities prefer to remain unlisted—of the relationships we still maintain with simple church communities and families pursuing this kind of expression of the Body of Christ. Other sites across the nation have also popped up with directories of house churches similar to ours. God continues to grow the Kingdom by opening His people’s eyes to the simple and organic nature of His family!
There’s so much we’ve learned and experienced that it’s hard to capture it all in a single post. As we’ve fleshed out the truths the Lord opened our eyes to in the beginning, Simple Church Alliance—and our understanding of “simple church”—have turned out to be very different from what we initially thought.
If you’re someone interested in simple, house, or organic church, I’d love for you to join the conversation. Subscribe to this website to have this series of posts sent to your inbox. In addition, I’m always glad to connect—whether that’s a conversation, a meeting, or simply hearing your story.
I remain deeply grateful for this path the Lord has allowed my family to walk. And I’m as convinced as ever that God is moving in our time—reshaping how the Body of Christ understands itself.
– Gavin Duerson
