House Church Movement Catches on among Sri Lanka’s Urban and Rural Poor

by Ranjit DeSilva

Joachim Hettiarachi, principal of the Ibbagamuwa high school, arrived home one afternoon to find a mother and her teenage daughter waiting for him. The girl was ill. The village doctor could not help her; neither could the witchdoctor. Someone had suggested that she take her daughter to Pastor Hettiarachi.

Joachim Hettiarachi, principal of the Ibbagamuwa high school, arrived home one afternoon to find a mother and her teenage daughter waiting for him. The girl was ill. The village doctor could not help her; neither could the witchdoctor. Someone had suggested that she take her daughter to Pastor Hettiarachi.

He talked to the woman and counseled her from the Bible. Next, the pastor called his wife and family and they began to pray for the sick girl. It appeared that she was under the power of evil spirits.

They prayed from three o’clock in the afternoon until 11 o’clock that night, asking God to have mercy on the girl and heal her. Finally, relief came and she was healed in answer to the persevering prayers of a dedicated Christian family.

Both mother and daughter received Jesus into their lives. The woman went back to her village and told her family and neighbors the story about how Jesus had delivered her daughter from the power of evil spirits.

The village elders came together and decided to invite Pastor Hettiarachi to visit their village and talk to them. He accepted and the entire village turned out to hear him. Since educators are highly respected in rural Sri Lanka, they listened to him intently. They liked what he had to say and invited him to return in a couple of weeks.

Soon faith began springing up in the hearts of some who had heard the pastor and several turned to Christ. They formed a house church and Christ’s presence was established in their village. This is just one story of how the small church movement is growing in Sri Lanka.

Sixteen million people live in Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of India. The Sinhalese constitute the majority (71 percent), followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils (11 percent), the Indian Tamils (9 percent), Moors and Malays (7 percent), and Bughers (.38 percent). Twelve million people (78 percent of the population) live in rural villages and tea and rubber plantations. They live in 25,483 villages, comprised of colonization schemes, the Mahaweli settlements, and traditional villages.

In addition to practicing Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam, over 90 percent of the people practice "popular religion." This is comprised of some elements of traditional Buddhism and Hinduism, mixed with witchcraft, planetary deities, and astrology. Their lives are controlled by numerous fears—of evil spirits, sickness, evil eye, evil mouth, apele (bad times), and kodivinas (black magic). They live in perpetual fear.

GROWTH OF THE SMALL CHURCH MOVEMENT
The "small church movement" refers to house churches planted among the urban and rural poor. A house church is defined as "a group of baptized believers meeting regularly for teaching, communion, and fellowship."

From 1984 to 1987 we saw prolific growth in the small church movement in Sri Lanka. A 1984 survey by the Church Growth Research Center in Sri Lanka revealed the existence of 420 rural churches. The following years saw these gains:

1985: 90 new house churches planted, a 21 percent increase.
1986: 138 new churches, a 27 percent increase.
1987: 85 new churches, a 13 percent increase.

That brought the total of rural churches to 733.

The majority of rural churches are house churches. Believers converted from Buddhism and Hinduism meet in homes because their meeting in a church building would attract persecution from family and neighbors. The safest place to meet for teaching and fellowship is the home. Non-Christians feel comfortable coming to a home to hear the gospel.

VALUE OF THE HOUSE CHURCH
Worship in houses, or the "house church," goes back to New Testament times. In Acts we read that Christians broke bread from house to house (2:46); they met in every house (5:42). Peter preached in Cornelius’ house (10:32); believers prayed in the house of Mary, the mother of John (12:12). Paul and Silas preached in the house of the Philippian jailer (16:32). Paul taught from house to house(20:20) and in his hired house (28:30). Romans 16 indicates that there were at least five house churches in the metropolis (vv. 3, 10, 14, 51).

Culturally, the home is where people meet and share. Young people meet each other there, since no dating is possible outside the home in Sri Lanka, until after the engagement. The family shrine is in the home, which is a place of devotion and worship.

Children are instructed in religion and moral values in the home. The home is a place of blessing, the scene of the "house warming" blessing, done when a family moves into a new home. Marriage receptions are also held in the home.

Socially, people do not need to put on any special church clothes to come to a house church. Non-Christians may feel awkward about entering a church building, but not a home. Breast-feeding mothers don’t come to church, since they cannot attend to their babies, but it’s convenient for them in the home.

Economically, many people do not attend church because they can’t afford the bus fare. The don’t have this problem if they attend a house church in their neighborhood.

After his church growth workshop in Sri Lanka, Vergil Gerber noted:

The need for strategic planning and planting of house congregations surfaced early in the workshop….It was pointed out that distances between churches was one of the primary hindrances to body evangelism. An obstacle which had never been raised previously in the 34 nations where workshops of this kind have been held. Even families of professing believers who might otherwise identify themselves with the church find it physically impossible to have an active involvement in it because of travel difficulties.¹

The house church can also minister to different homogeneous units. The advantage of the house church is its family atmosphere, and it can be used as a place for evangelism.²

Lay leaders in the home ministry need to be trained. Lay leaders learn on the job by leading the house church meetings and achieving maximum lay participation. Their training is a convenient way to start new churches and it contributes to family conversions, leading to a Christian presence in the village.

REASONS FOR GROWTH
1. Contextualized approach to the Buddhists. Ninety percent of the churches planted in the villages of Sri Lanka are among Sinhala Buddhists.3 Although we have had some 500 years of colonial Christianity with Portuguese, Dutch, and British missionary work, no sound missiological approach to Buddhists was developed that led to conversion growth.

Tissa Weerasingha, a Sri Lankan pastor, did some pioneering studies. He began with "felt needs" and developed a model that made sense to Buddhists. He borrowed concepts from Buddhism and invested them with Christian meaning, so Buddhists could understand the gospel. The "transference of merit" was a key concept that helped Buddhists understand the meaning and purpose of Christ’s dying for them on the cross.4

This contextualized approach was used by graduates of Lanka Bible College and other schools, as well as by rural pastors, and led to great success among Buddhists.

2. Prayer and fasting. Due to terrorism in the north and east of Sri Lanka in the 1980s, many churches called for fasting and prayer. As Christians began to wait on the Lord, he directed them to pray for the harvest of the nation. Thousands prayed that the war would end and that people would come to faith in Christ. Because of these prayers, we believe, God opened the hearts of thousands of Sinhala Buddhists to the gospel.

3. Manifestation of the power of God. Together with a contextualized approach, the manifestation of God’s power in numerous miracles of healing and deliverance from demonic bondage was a key factor in opening the hearts of the people to the gospel. As Buddhists saw the sick being healed in home meetings, and demons come crying out of people they had possessed, faith was born in the hearts of many.

As village pastors prayed in the homes of Buddhists for freedom from fear of evileye, evil mouth, and planetary deities, God answered their prayers and brought freedom from fear. Since these answers met a primary felt need among the Sri Lankan Buddhists, they were open to receive the gospel. They wanted to know more.

4. Conversion process. The conversion process was not hurried. The Sinhala Buddhists came to believe the gospel at their own pace. This is important, because rushing them to make decisions could result in "green fruit." A Sinhala proverb says, "When a fruit is ripe it will fall to the ground."

A Buddhist must first understand the biblical creation story, because it tells the origin of suffering. Buddhism, by contrast, teaches that the reason for suffering is tanha (craving). Buddhists must also be taught about the person of Christ. We present Jesus as a person with the greatest merit ever, since accruing merit is of primary importance to every Buddhist. Merit will help you in the next life and determine at what level you will be born.

While attending house church meetings, Buddhists gradually grow in their knowledge of Christ. Finally, before baptism, the convert must cut the string of protection which is tied around one’s wrist. The string supposedly protects one from harm by evil spirits and other dangers. In cutting the string, the converts transfer their faith completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are now ready for baptism.

5. Contextualized worship. When Buddhists pay obeisance to the Buddha, five parts of the body touch the floor as they kneel before the image: feet, knees, elbows, sides of the palms, and forehead. If they stand, they must hold the folded palms at the forehead, signifying that the Buddha is higher than the pantheon of gods. When worshiping the gods, they hold their folded palms at the chest.

What worship posture does a converted Buddhist assume? We suggest upraised hands above the head, signifying that Christ is higher than the gods and the Buddha. This is important for the former Buddhist, who now recognizes Christ as Lord over the Buddha and the gods.

In our house church worship services, we move the furniture out of the living room, or we use a special room. Worshipers sit on mats on the floor. The pastor also sits on a mat. He may kneel or stand when preaching. All worshipers kneel in prayer.

FUTURE OF THE MOVEMENT
During the 1980s, the growth of the small church movement involved at least 16 denominations. Rural pastors and leaders met annually to share and teach one another. They set new goals of planting five new house churches each year. Their vision was sustained by teaching and encouragement in a leaders’ journal, SARUBIMA ("Good Soil").

Leaders now have a goal of planting 1,300 new house churches by the year 2000, or a total of 2,000 house churches. Some of the rural churches have purchased property, or had property donated to them, to build small structures for worship, thus giving them visibility in the village.

Churches have also sent their younger men and women to Bible training schools, so they can be sent to other areas to start new churches. In January, 1991, for example, 20 students completed their studies and training for ministry at Lanka Bible College. They were both Sinhala and Tamil students. They will go into church planting, Bible teaching, pastoring, and youth ministries.

Six students returned to serve in the troubled North and East regions, where violence continues. Although terrorism has slowed the small church movement, the vision continues and the gospel will reach into more and more villages.

Indigenous leaders are moving in the right direction in seeking to contextualize the gospel to the Buddhists. They are also contextualizing leadership patterns, as well as such customs as the Sinhala New Year, puberty rites, and the marriage ceremony.

The growth of the small church movement in Sri Lanka can be traced to the contextualization of the gospel among the Sinhala Buddhists in communication, power encounter, conversion, and worship patterns.

Endnotes
1.Vergil Gerber, "Report on church growth evangelism workshops in two highly resistant countries of Asia," in Asia Pulse, Vol. VIII, No. 2, April, 1977, p. 7.
2. Gene Getz, Sharpening the Focus of the Church (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974), p. 171.
3. Ranjit DeSilva, The Harvest is Ripe (Peradeniya: Lanka Village Ministries, 1988), p. 2.
4. Tissa Weerasingha, The Cross and the Bo Tree (Taichung: Asia Theological Association, 1988).

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EMQ, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 274-279. Copyright © 1991 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

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