The 10 Anchors of Union Church are theological convictions and philosophies of ministry that we are tied to in order to remain faithful to our core values of Gospel, Community and Mission. These Anchors inform everything from our partnerships and budget to our church government and Sunday liturgy. We believe that a strong commitment to these Anchors will create a culture that will bring God glory and us joy.
Anchor # 10 - House Churches
We are committed to a missional community (house church) model and rhythms. One of the largest impediments to holistic discipleship is the cultural misunderstanding of church as a weekly event to attend rather than a missional family to belong to. The former sees Jesus as simply one aspect of life that can be catered to the particular preferences of the individual. The latter sees Jesus as Lord of all – Monday through Saturday, where preferences are set aside for the health of the group.
In an effort to dismantle that paradigm we want to be intentional with our language – we don’t “go to church,” we “go to the worship gathering,” for example. If our basic theology defines the church as a “gospel community on mission” then small groups of 10-25 people constitute a church as well (on a micro-level). We see this “house church” language used multiple times in the New Testament (Philemon 1:2, Acts 2:46, 1 Cor. 16:19, Col. 4:15). Our vision for Union Church is not to only be a weekly assembly of believers but rather a network of house churches, strategically scattered around Auburn and Opelika and the AU campus, missionally investing in neighborhoods, apartment complexes and schools in specific ways so that every person in Auburn and Opelika has a daily encounter with Jesus in word and deed.
Under the banner of holistic discipleship, we want the house churches to be more than an additional midweek meeting. We want these micro churches to Eat, Listen, Story, Bless, Celebrate and Recreate alongside one another as well as the unbelievers in their contexts. These missional rhythms will both stretch and encourage the believers and consistently display the gospel to those in their circles of influence. Within each house church there are gender specific groups of three called “fight clubs.” Fight clubs act as small discipleship groups that help fight against sin and fight for joy by pushing one another to embrace depth and consistency in our identities as Gospel Learners, Family Members and Kingdom Ambassadors.