Matthew’s House
Website: http://www.matthewshouse.com
(Located in Oceanside)
Church Review
Scriptural View: 3/5
Beliefs: 3/5
Community: 5/5
Preaching: None
Worship: Contemporary
Service Times: Wednesday 7 pm, Thursday 7pm
Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 3/5
Site Content: 3/5
Review: Matthew’s House (MH) is part of a growing house Church movement. Each week in different homes people gather together to ‘be the church’. This Church is highly missional and they desire to reach the neighborhood where God placed them. As I spoke to one of the Pastors, Rick Horton (Who doesn’t like to be called pastor) he shared with me stories of people who were neighbors, friends and acquaintances who participated in this gathering and ended up being saved.
Pastor Horton explained, “Over and over again we saw people who would say something or pray and ask God into their life. No one told them how to do it or explained the process. They just realized they wanted what everyone else was talking about.” During my visit to MH I met a number of people who had been Christians 6 months to one or two years. This church is focused on living out the gospel.
MH does not have formal preaching. Each week they gather and talk about the things of God and share what is going on in their lives and then bring up scripture to apply to it. I am uncomfortable with the lack of expository preaching of God’s Word. This is too important of an element to not have in a healthy church. (see: 9 Marks of a Healthy Church)
After gathering with them and talking to a handful of people, it is clear they hold to the Nicene/Apostle’s Creed. They hold scripture to be the inerrant Word of God. There are many things that MH is doing that mainstream churches can learn from, particularly their high level of community and outreach.
A great church of outreach and evangelism to their neighborhood but it lacks strong Bible expository preaching.
