House Churches in Post-Communist Europe: Qualitative Interviews from Poland with a View to Informing Missiological Practice - Hardcover

by Randy Hacker (Author)

This is an exploration of house churches, especially in Poland. The book begins with a review of literature about the "global house church movement" and continues with an article on the early Christian transition from house churches to purpose-built buildings for churches. Next is an article regarding the concept of "sacred space" in relation to house churches. The first half concludes with a chapter on methodology of research for a qualitative interview approach to studying house churches. The thesis then presents a theological method for using the qualitative interviews to develop ecclesiology. Sixteen interviews from thirteen house churches are presented. The thesis continues the theological method by attempting to answer the question "why is it going on" and presents a thematic analysis from the qualitative interviews that includes input from sociological research done in Poland. The thesis concludes by using scriptural and academic sources in conversation with house church interviews from the interviews and global house church literature to present four primary conclusions in a practical-prophetic ecclesiology.

Author Biography

Randy Hacker has been living in Lublin, Poland, since 1999. He is married, with three sons and a daughter. He is currently pastor of the Lublin Baptist Church, a Polish Baptist Church, in Lublin, Poland, and co-pastor of the International Christian Fellowship of Lublin, Poland; regional training coordinator for WorldVenture in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa; and lecturer in missiology in England, the Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine.