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Today, growing numbers of church planters are looking to the first-century house church as their model for reaching people who might not otherwise walk through church doors. Among them is Meghann DeHaan who, with her husband, has literally opened up her home for ministry.

“God has revealed to us over time a gifting in hospitality. It comes naturally to both of us and we—and our kids—really enjoy hosting people in our home,” she says. “We are opening our home to families not connected to a faith community and welcoming them into our lives that we find in Jesus Christ.”

DeHaan, who serves as the vision and multiplication catalyst and kids co-director for The Living Well Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has had the opportunity to glean from the knowledge and experience of Philip Rose, who planted The Living Well in 2018. Rose and DeHaan were recently part of a small group cohort of church planters involved in an RCA process called Locally Grown. Each senior leader invited an apprentice to journey the two-year process, where they gained skills and grew as leaders through mentoring and community. By the end of the process, apprentices were ready to launch a new ministry to reach people with the love of Christ. DeHaan was Rose’s apprentice, launching what might someday be a network of house churches. For now, it is just one house church—a “fun church,” as declared by one kid who was sad to miss a gathering due to illness.

“My dream is that our house church would multiply, whether it be more people joining us to the point of needing to break off into more homes, or that a family in our church would try their own house church and we can support them with the knowledge we are gaining from our experience,” says DeHaan.

Their house as a sanctuary was confirmed during its building, she adds.

“It was the end of a spring day, and I got a message from my sister-in-law who was driving past our lot to check on the progress. She said that the framers had made progress for the day, and had obviously cleaned up, but they seemed to be sticking around to talk to each other. To me, it was an answer to a prayer we had been saying for our new home—that our home would be a place of safety and comfort for those who entered it, that they would linger in the presence of the Holy Spirit where peace and joy and rest is found.”