House churches are very loosely structured and vary from house to house. The format reflects the variety of people who attend them. Some are led by elders, some emphasize being led by the Holy Spirit, and some emphasize studying scriptures, and some emphasize singing and worship.
1 Corinthians 14 serves as a basis for house churches order of worship and Christians meeting together. What uniquely stands out is the description of everyone participating in what goes on in the meeting. One brings a song, one a revelation, one a tongue, one an interpretation. When someone speaks, or prophesys, 2 or three at most may do so. Then others are to discuss and weigh what is being shared.
A couple of observations stand out. Unlike traditional worship services from Catholic to Protestant one person was not in control of the meeting. Traditional western worship services are usually under the direction of one person. This was not the way early Christians worshiped and met together. One person in control of the meeting was a Greek/Roman ideal that gained precedent under Emperor Constantine’s direction. Acts 20:7 tells us that Paul spoke to the Ephesians and kept on talking till midnight. Reading this in an English translation gives a person the idea that Paul did all the talking and the people did all of the listening. However the Greek word used in this verse is dialogemai. It is the word where the English language gets the word dialogue. Monologue communication did not happen in the early church and nothing like present day sermons occurred in the early church meetings. There were times a person would teach and then others would discuss, reason and dispute the communication.
The early church for 300 years had highly participatory meetings. Everyone could sing and bring a song, everyone could bring a prophesy and everyone could pray, everyone could share their concerns and joys and they ministered to one another. Again these types of activities are limited to small groups. Groups over 30 people this would be very hard to pull off.
The early church meetings were simple and flexible. The meetings adjusted to the specific needs of those present, the moving of the Holy Spirit, and was based on relationships not rituals. When churches moved to being in large gatherings of people an order of worship was created with a professional clergy being designated to lead and maintain order. Rituals and liturgies where created that only clergy could lead. The meeting time and ministry was taken away from the laity and designated for clergy. This is in direct contradiction to what Ephesians 4 said was to happen. Leadership was given by God to equip the laity for ministry, not take it away from the laity. In Revelations God says he despises the Nicolatians. The word Nicolatians means “those who suppress the laity.” (Revelations 2:15) The word laity comes from the Greek New Testament word “Laos” which means God’s people. Through Jesus God created a people for himself the laity.
The biggest lie I ever heard was in a history class at seminary. A brilliant professor said in class that the early church did not have a set order of worship. He was both correct and wrong at the same time. He was implying that God did not leave directions for the church on how to conduct worship and their meetings together. God did leave directions on what worship and their meetings should be like and it is described in 1Corinthians 14.
The directions are so simple that the professor and I must confess I did not get it. God left directions that worship should be so simple that every believer could participate and make a contribution to the service. Again I repeat that people take ownership in what they participate in. To awaken every believer they need to be participants in worship and not just be observers.
The meetings of Christians were exposure to a new way of life not just learning information. The early worship services helped Christians catch the way of Christianity as much as they were taught the way of Christianity.