[EXCERPTS FROM THE USA TODAY ARTICLE ON SIMPLE CHURCH]
A January 2011 survey by Barna Research, the Ventura, Calif-based company he founded and later sold, finds 5% of Americans, about 11.5 million American adults, say they attend a "house church or simple church, which is not associated in any way with a local, congregational type of church," at least weekly or monthly.
That's up from 4%, about 8.8 million adults, in 2006. Although the increase is slight, its clearly "more than a passing fancy. It has staying power," current company President David Kinnaman says.
'Easter every day'
O'Hair tried it — and loved it. Before moving to California, she was on the staff of an Oregon megachurch that pulled out all the stops with Easter pageantry — and later disbanded.
"We just weren't seeing any fruit, any new members, for all that huge expense of time and effort. I love Jesus and I love the church, but I think the way we do institutional church in America will be extinct before long. It will just crumble," O'Hair says.
Now, she says she's happier celebrating Easter and her Christian faith with Sunday morning house church meetings and pot-luck breakfast with her spiritual family.
"We believe this is what Paul meant by the priesthood of believers, something that's increasingly missing in the modern, hierarchical church. God has given us an incredible way to be used by Him," says O'Hair, whose current day job is working in accounting at a private Christian school.
Sure, Easter is the big day when the church choirs are decked out, the banners are unfurled, the organ music rolls and the pastor delivers a powerhouse sermon.
"For us, it's Easter every day,"O'Hair counters. "We don't wait for once a year. We gather people of like mind who really believe they have gifts and callings. You don't have pastors and teachers who take over. The house church meeting is led by the Holy Spirit. Sing, teach, preach — you are free to do so."
Sometimes it's not even a house.
Listening to God
Ken Eastburn, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, checked out of traditional church a decade ago and jumped into a church without walls. Now he works with The Well, a network of eight groups like O'Hair's. He says he works hard to make sure "it's not about me. I'm not there to lead."
"The whole point is not to be passive about your faith," Eastburn says. "Groups might meet on Sundays or on a weeknight but the constants are that there's always a meal together, a time of sharing, a time of prayer and Bible reading, and listening to each other and God, not a pastor."
"I'm not putting down the traditional church at all. There is a place for it and people will find God in a megachurch who would never ever find comfort in a house church," Eastburn says.
Neil Cole, in Long Beach, Calif., followed a similar path: seminary, traditional church staff posts, burnout.
"I didn't want to be in front and be treated like the 'Bible Answer Man,'" Cole says. By 1999, he wanted to start churches for "people who never go to church."
Cole has written seven books on the topic and trained thousands through his non-profit company, Church Multiplication Associates, to launch what he likes to call "simple or organic churches so people aren't hung up on the word 'house.'"
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