200 Christian leaders from 40 nations met in New Delhi, India, Nov 11-14th, 2009, to explore the scope and significance of house based discipling communities and emerging house church movements worldwide. Known best from the history of the underground house churches in China that report by now more than 100 million members alone, a similar phenomenon has emerged in the last 15 years in numerous nations outside of China. Conference reports indicate that, from very small beginnings, in many nations fairly sizeable house church movements have emerged, including on the continents of Africa and Latin America. The latest research indicates that the number of house churches in Europe have already reached or surpassed 10,000, Australia could have up to 10,000, and New Zealand up to 6,000 house churches. Research in the US shows that between 6 and 12 million are already attending house churches, making house churches one of the three largest Christian groups in the country. In the case of Bangladesh or India, with many hundreds of thousands of house churches, the various networks of house churches have already become the largest Christian movements in their respective countries.
“But it is not about setting up house-based worshiping communities alone”, says Dr.Victor Choudhrie, one of the conveners of the summit. In India, many house churches are beginning to change not only the spiritual climate, but begin to model the wholistic life in the Kingdom of God at the village level, demonstrating Gods ability to restore families, health and even to „heal the land.“ Dr. Choudhrie stated: “For example, constant prayer walking and the breaking of curses placed on the land has, in a number of areas, resulted in unprecedented harvests and other agricultural breakthroughs, demonstrating tangibly the blessing by which God is able and willing to upgrade and empower everyday life.”
In addition to that, the development of house churches in many nations is experiencing such a fresh and positive response from people growing up in Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist communities that, compared with recent Missions history, this could only be called historic. Many participants expressed the observation that “the house church movement is growing up” and is beginning to make its own very significant contribution to fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus to disciple all the people groups of the world. Possibly the strongest emphasis at the Delhi Summit was the call to return to “the Gospel of the Kingdom”, in contrast to various truncated pseudo- “gospels” that have left many outside and even inside traditional churches with straw in their mouths. This raised great hopes that even in the churched nations of the cultural West, a reevangelization and recalibration with the original message of Jesus will breathe new life into dim situations, and lead to a new level of genuine discipleship, authenticity and even authority in cultures that mistakenly thought they can safely close the chapter on Jesus.
If God “does not want anyone to perish” and if his glory, like He said, will once truly “cover the earth like water covers the sea” (70,2% of the earth is covered by water), the Summit placed a daring challenge before the existing and emerging house church movements of the world: to work together, under God and with each other, to see that half the planet is discipled through the multiplication of discipling communities everywhere. Many at the Summit responded and started to seek God for appropriate next steps and even strategies towards such a pan-ultimate goal (more on this in “The Starfish Manifesto”, www.starfishportal.net). Many house churches have already demonstrated their ability to double their numbers about once every 12 months. One participant observed that it would therefore take such an initiative only around 13 years to see half the planet discipled. In many areas of the world, regular house church conferences will call those that are or want to be involved to come together, for training, relationship, vision building and strategic planning. The summit agreed to encourage more trainers and catalysts, many from within house church movements in the majority world, to criss-cross the world and stimulate fresh passion and vision to cooperate with God and each other, in the framework of the Kingdom of God, to fulfill the task Jesus has left all His disciples with.