Welcome to Part 2 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church.

In the previous part, I shared my personal journey of wrestling with the traditional church system, and why I eventually had to admit that despite my best efforts, it was leaving me spiritually empty. Today, I share what life has been like since leaving the institution for a simple “house church” community, and clarify why my critique of the traditional model isn’t about elitism, but about finding a more fruitful way to grow together.

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Institutional Vs. Organic

This path that I’m on today started (officially) in December 2019, when I left my job as a pastor at a large church to start a church in my home. Part of the vision for this church is that whenever we outgrow someone’s living room, we multiply—appointing someone to lead the next church in their home, resulting in a network of “house churches.”

Funny enough, before my house church ever multiplied itself, God joined us with another house church that was started independently by a man named Jonathan. “The two became one,” so to speak, so neither he nor I can say that we started it ourselves—and what a blessing that is! It is God’s church, and Jesus is our Apostle (see Hebrews 3:1), the chief “Shepherd and Overseer of [our] souls” (1 Peter 2:25, cf. 5:4).

People often ask us what the name of our church is. We don’t have one. We also aren’t part of a denomination. We are just a group of sincere believers doing our best to follow the commands of Jesus, to know him, to love one another, and “to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). We do not attend any other churches (as if we would need to in order to get something that we’re not getting from each other). We’re not merely a “small group,” “life group,” or whatever kind of group-thing that churches implement to foster deeper relationships. We are a bona fide church—a thriving and self-sustaining body of believers without the systems, programs, buildings, budgets, bureaucracies, and activities that most Christian communities depend on.

We don’t sit around lamenting our former church experience (like many house churches are accused of doing). We don’t identify with “church hurt” or cynicism. We don’t bash our brothers and sisters who do it a different way. Quite honestly, we hardly ever talk about the churches we came from. Our fellowship has always been forward-looking, and it is filled with what God is doing in each of us today.

I am aware that this kind of thing tends to scare people. The term “house church” alone makes people’s alarm bells go off. It may even cause you to question my credibility. (It wouldn’t be the first time.) Where’s the structure? Where’s the authority? Where’s the accountability? Where is the long line of tradition that we can trust? How do we keep things from going off the rails? Etc.

To be sure, I have not embarked on this venture naively but by faith (and, I believe, with some important revelation that informs my faith). I am not blind to the dangers, criticisms, and fears surrounding the sort of “organic” community that we are building compared to the institutions that people are familiar with. Regarding the church model that we use, I don’t think that I’ve ever been presented with a concern that I hadn’t already weighed heavily and found a biblical resolution for. With that in mind, I ask you the favor, once more, of suspending judgment until you have read through this book entirely.

Six years in, we now have five house churches meeting separately, about 12-25 people per house, and we come together every six weeks for a corporate gathering. (There is, of course, much life that we share between us throughout the week, as well.) These six years have been the best years of my life, bar none—more fruitful, more restful, more life-giving, with more meaningful fellowship, more clarity, more understanding, more purpose, more of everything that the Christian life is supposed to be. This is what I hope to share with all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

That is not to say that it has been perfect or without struggle—not even close—but that it has been immeasurably better. This is, in part, due to the revelation of the gospel that God gave me (and many of us) in 2020, which I have written extensively about in my book, No Longer I: The Life-Changing Power of Simply Believing the Truth, and which I’ll cover in Chapter 5: The Gospel. However, another significant reason for this dramatic shift toward a more positive Christian experience has been the uncommon way that we have learned to function as the Body of Christ.

There is still a lot we haven’t figured out, and that is perfectly fine with me. As I said, we are on a journey, and God is teaching us as we go. I fully expect that I will need to revise this book in years to come, but I have come to a point where it is simply too good not to share what we’ve learned and invite others into the kind of life we’ve discovered.

I am a practitioner by nature. God showed me when I left my former church that it wouldn’t do any good for me to try to teach these ideas from the stage. I needed to live it and learn it myself, to prove that it is not only possible but far better, and then, after learning a few things myself, to invite others into it. All that to say, I am eager to share something truly beautiful with you.

I honestly cannot imagine returning to the “institutional” church model. I cannot unsee what I have seen. For so many reasons, which I will explain in this book, that old system makes the spiritual life more difficult and complicated than it was ever supposed to be. Intended to support spiritual growth, I have come to believe that it often does the opposite.

It does okay at making babies (spiritually speaking), and maybe even growing them into toddlers. But overall, it’s sort of like a preschool. At some point, we have to realize that spending more time there isn’t growing us up; it’s keeping us from growing up. Similar to how a 2nd or 3rd-grader might feel while being forced to play pre-school games, those who have moved beyond spiritual toddlerhood know—often with a quiet ache—that there must be more.

I say all of this (God as my witness) without a trace of cynicism or anger in my heart toward the Church. I do not carry any sour feelings towards those brothers and sisters of mine who do not share the same convictions that I do and who still function in the traditional church model. Additionally, I do not attribute the poor state of the Church to apathy, lethargy, or anyone’s unwillingness to pursue God. I attribute it, rather, to the result of a system that most of us were more-or-less born into and ideas that we were bottle-fed from the womb, neither of which was made by God but by man (in the name of God). This distortion is exactly what the enemy hopes for—that we would settle for a man-made version of something that only God can build.

Spirit of Elitism?

As I express my contrarian viewpoints and/or favorable view of my own church throughout the book, I would ask that you not conflate this with me having a spirit of elitism. An elitist thinks to himself, “I am better than they are.” But I do not think I am “better” than you, nor that my church is “better” than yours. Rather, I think that my church’s ways (specifically the ones outlined in this book) are more effective and closer to God’s design than the ways of the traditional church system that most Christians still operate in.

And let’s be honest, most people who operate within the traditional church model think that its ways are better, or else they wouldn’t be choosing to do things that way. So we all have preferences, and at the end of the day, those preferences expose what we think is more preferable. That’s not “elitism”; it’s just “having a position.”

Assuredly, we can hold different positions about how the Church should function without looking down our noses at one another. Even more so, if we actually desire what’s best for one another and the whole Body of Christ, we should share our convictions with each other and work through them together. But the moment we start blindly accusing each other of elitism, we’ve stopped giving one another the benefit of the doubt, and we’ve closed ourselves off from the ability to build each other up.

God’s Design for All

Lastly, before we begin, I want to be very clear that “house church” is not the silver bullet. It was only the natural outgrowth of the convictions that the Lord began stirring in my heart a number of years ago, proving itself to be wonderfully biblical and surprisingly practical. I think it will be the same for some of you, but not necessarily for others. And that’s okay.

As such, house church is not the explicit subject of this book. Please read that again, and don’t forget it! Though I will not shy away from talking about the uniquely strategic value of house church, it will be up to you and God to determine how you apply the concepts we cover within your own community, even if you use a different model.

As for these concepts we’ll cover, let’s think of each chapter as a core design feature in God’s Temple, that is, the Church. God is the Great Architect, and if he built every church in the world exactly like he wanted to, while we should expect quite a lot of variance, we should also expect some things to be the same everywhere. To be sure, in God’s blueprints for the Church, there are things that apply to every church all around the world, without exception. These shared design elements are the non-negotiables, apart from which a church is unable to function properly and achieve its greatest heights.

Nearly every Christian would agree that among these core design features are things like teaching the Bible, gathering every week, using our gifts to serve one another, etc. In this book, I will by no means attempt to address all of these, for many of them are already broadly established in the Body of Christ. I will, however, in each chapter, make a case for an essential design feature that I believe is still missing from most churches today. If these are adopted, I argue that they will radically reshape and amplify nearly every Christian’s experience of God, one another, and his kingdom on this side of heaven, which is another way of saying that we will bear more fruit and hasten the coming of Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:11-12).

Be prepared, though, that some of these concepts may seriously challenge the way you or your church has functioned. They may lead you to feel overwhelmed and unsure how to proceed in the face of many obstacles. I will do my best to provide you with practical applications when I can, but a lot of them pertain specifically to the house-church model. Therefore, if you don’t go that route, then in some cases, I may not have a clear application for you. But I know who does!

In the case that you find yourself agreeing with the concepts but not knowing how to apply them in your context, I encourage you not to give up. If these design features are truly necessary, and if God truly wants you to stay in your particular church setting, then he will provide a way for you to help move your church in that direction. Don’t abandon God’s design just to relieve yourself of consternation, but instead, cleave to God’s design and wrestle with him through the consternation until he gives you the wisdom you need. He is faithful.

Ultimately, whichever way the Spirit ends up leading you—toward house church or otherwise—I remain confident that there is treasure for you and your church within these pages. I pray that the following chapters will lead you, above all things, to entrust God with building his Church, no matter the cost.

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Questions for the Comments:

1. When you hear the term “house church,” what are the first thoughts or fears that come to mind?

2. What “core design features” do you believe are non-negotiable for a church to function properly according to God’s blueprint?

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In Christ,

Jake

Welcome to Part 1 of the weekly release of my book, Unless God Builds It: A Proposal to Radically Rethink the Church. In this opening section, I share my personal journey of wrestling with the traditional church system, and why I eventually had to admit that despite my best efforts, it was leaving me spiritually empty.

(Note: If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly installments, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from the Book section, and you will still receive my normal newsletter emails!)

Herein lies a proposal to followers of Christ everywhere to radically reimagine this thing we call “church.” I believe that what has been modeled for most of us is actually a far cry from God’s original intent.

Make no mistake about it—the Body of Christ is designed to reveal Christ’s glory. It is designed to build itself up until every member is radically transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. If you’ve never considered what that actually would look like, I encourage you to do so now. Take your time and imagine what the result would be if every Christian were truly matured in love, knowing and manifesting Christ in great measure. Surely, it means a lot of amazing things, but here are just a few:

• Everyone’s needs (both spiritual and material) are met because we all take care of one another.

• Individuals in the Church rarely get offended because God’s people are so forgiving and selfless.

• Brothers and sisters in Christ experience deeper fellowship with each other than is possible in any other kind of earthly relationship (including family).

• Each person in the Body is truly known because they are open about their lives and are encouraged and corrected in an atmosphere of love, leading to genuine maturity.

• The Church grows organically, both in numbers and in spiritual maturity, not because it finally learned the principles of business and marketing, but because God’s character and power are being manifest through his people.

• Every believer learns to walk by the Spirit, to live a fruitful life while at rest, and to serve a vital role in helping their fellow believers walk by the Spirit as well.

• Christians endure suffering with true joy, understanding their purpose on earth with full clarity.

• Broken families are restored, addictions are healed, unity replaces division, anxiety and depression become peace and joy.

• The power of God is regularly manifest via signs and wonders that only the Spirit can perform.

• The entire Body experiences the abundant life that God promises us in Christ.

What an awesome vision! What a worthy aspiration! This vision is not a pipe dream; rather, it is exactly how the Body of Christ is meant to operate. I tell you, the Bride of Christ is so beautiful that the God of the universe longs to be married to her. However, I believe that Christ will not return until his Bride is mature (see Revelation 19:7-8; Ephesians 4:13, 5:27; 2 Peter 3:11-12), so it’s maturity that we’re after.

Deep within every Christian—whether they realize it or not—are desires for this, for something more fruitful and more fulfilling than they’ve ever known or dreamt possible. But these desires will never be satisfied by thinking and operating the way the vast majority of the Church thinks and operates today. Thus, I am not here to convince you that the Church isn’t fully mature yet and that there is still much for us to do. I think most of my readers will sense this already. My goal, rather, is to convince you that the ways, the means, the methods, the model, or the mode of operation that we have defaulted to for a long time needs serious revision—a kind that few in our day have dared to entertain.

Certainly, we can agree that there are yet disciples to be made, churches to plant, a message to be shared, fruits to bear, works to be done, etc. But can we agree that our normal ways of accomplishing these things are flawed? Can we agree that the way the Church tends to organize herself and go about her activities is misguided—yes, even counterproductive to our shared goals? Can we agree that there is, in fact, a better way, which God intends to show us, which will require that we let go of many things we hold dear? My goal is to persuade you that these things are true. I simply ask that you consider all I have to say before making any judgments.

I Tried the System

I understand how bold, even arrogant, this may sound. Really, I do. But the Lord knows that I have come to the conclusions in this book through the only way that one can truly understand anything—that is, through humility. I did not get here by thinking to myself, “I am wise. I know a better way. Let me tell them all why they are wrong.”

Instead, I ran the usual course. A bit like King Solomon, I tried the conventional wisdom. I gave the Church and its leaders the benefit of the doubt. I believed they knew what they were doing, and I followed suit. I served my church heartily, working within the system, seeking the Lord’s help, fine-tuning and tweaking and experimenting with whatever I could to produce more biblical and gratifying results. But it did not work. It did not satisfy. And this is not because I failed to give it a good college try.

Were there occasional breakthroughs? Small “wins” here and there? Sure. Was God still working in our midst? Of course. Still, I could not shake the feeling that something was off, and slowly but surely, my hope that this lackluster churchianity would somehow work itself out if we just kept trying harder began to dwindle.

The truth is, there was no other church I had seen or heard of that was different enough to intrigue me. Despite their variances in size, theology, ministries, and so forth, they all appeared to fall terribly short of that divine vision of maturity that the Scriptures set forth in my heart. And the longer I served within the system, I became increasingly fearful that if I continued the course I was on (that most Christians are on) within the Church—repeating the same patterns, employing the same wisdom, over and over again—there would never be that magical moment I was waiting for where things just click and change, where my experience of Christian community becomes as meaningful and fulfilling as I knew it was meant to be. Instead, somehow I knew that I would end up being woefully disappointed years down the road, wishing I hadn’t spent so much time chasing my tail. Or worse, I would find myself settled into the domesticated version of Christianity I was trying to avoid.

So, that’s where it started. I had tried the wisdom and ways of the Church as we know it, and it proved itself empty. It left me unimpressed. That was not pride but sincerity, which I believe we owe to ourselves, to God, and to one another. In sincerity, I came to God often (as I still do), saying, “I don’t know the way, but I trust that you can show me.” This is a divine privilege—and it is just as God intended—that he alone would be our Shepherd and our Teacher. And in return for looking to him, he began leading me down the path that I am still on today, which I am eager to invite you onto.

This path is not well-lit, nor is it well-paved. The map is under reconstruction—old and frayed, hard to read, and missing some vital elements that would make it a heck of a lot easier to read if we had them. But it is fun and freeing. It is wild and exciting. And God alone can get us to the destination, as each of us plays our part in this adventure.

Whatever kind of relationship you have with the Church—whether you are a pastor or a missionary, a staff member or a leader, a regular or irregular attendee, a church-hopper, a small-grouper, hurt by the Church, mad at the Church, hopeful, content, disillusioned, or dumbfounded with the Church—this message is for you. You, a Christ-follower, are on this earth for one explicit purpose—to build up the Body of Christ, of which you are a vital member. Please take a moment to reflect on that statement. (We will talk about it more later.) It is your prerogative to care immensely about the way the Church functions and the way you function within it, for it is inextricably linked to who you are, what you were made for, and how fulfilling your life will be.

Table of Contents | Next Part >

Questions for the Comments:

1. Have you ever felt the same “quiet ache” or dissatisfaction with the traditional church system that I described in this section?

2. When you imagine a fully mature, Spirit-led Body of Christ, what is the most beautiful aspect of that vision to you?

Want to discuss these topics with other like-minded believers? We regularly explore the theology of the Church, discipleship, and spiritual growth in our monthly Community Calls. It’s a great place to connect—upgrade to a paid subscription today to get access!

Subscribe now

Like what you’re reading? You don’t have to wait for the next part. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon. Buy ‘Unless God Builds It’ Here

In Christ,

Jake

Over the coming weeks and months, I am publishing the entirety of my book right here on Substack, completely for free. You’ll receive bite-sized emails every few days taking you through each section of the book (Table of Contents are below).

(Note: If you have already read the book and do not wish to receive these weekly installments in your inbox, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ at the very bottom of this email. It will only unsubscribe you from this Book section, and you will still receive my normal newsletter emails!)

Here’s the description of what you’ll be reading:

Are we missing God’s design for Church?

There’s a quiet but growing hunger among believers for something deeper, something more authentic than the systems many have inherited. Unless God Builds It speaks directly to that longing.

In this bold and thought-provoking work, pastor Jacob Hotchkiss draws from years in traditional church settings and his current experience within a network of home churches to challenge conventional models of church life and leadership.

He invites readers to rediscover a Spirit-led, organic expression of the Body of Christ. With biblical conviction and lived experience, he explores what it truly means to make disciples, equip the saints, and build a thriving Christian community, not through human effort, but through complete dependence on God.

This book is not merely a critique of modern church structures; it is a compelling vision for renewal. With clarity and conviction, Hotchkiss addresses key aspects of Christian growth, leadership, discipleship, and unity, offering a path forward that is both deeply scriptural and refreshingly practical.

For those seeking a more meaningful walk with Christ, or wrestling with the limitations of traditional church systems, this book offers both challenge and hope. It dares to ask: What might the Church look like if God alone were truly the One building it?

If you are ready to let God reshape your vision of the Church, hang tight. As I publish each new section, you’ll be able to access them all from the the table of contents below.

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Table of Contents

Click on any published section below to start reading! If it’s not hyperlinked yet, then I haven’t posted it yet.

Enjoying it too much? You don't have to wait for the next post. You can read the entire book right now in paperback, ebook, or audiobook format on Amazon, by clicking HERE.

Introduction

• I Tried the System

• Institutional Vs. Organic

• God’s Design for All

Chapter 1: Waiting on the Lord

• Kill the Engines and Catch the Wind

• How God Gets the Glory

• Ishmael and Isaac

• Just Let Him Cook

• Preaching in Vain

• At Odds With the System

Chapter 2: Equipping the Saints

• Living Out Your True Calling

• Your Purpose on Earth

• Our Shared Calling

• What It Means to be Equipped

• Optional Relationship, Optional Discipleship

• It’s Time to Take Ownership

Chapter 3: The Open Meeting

• Why Your Church Isn’t Church

• The Biblical Precedent for Open Participation

• The Historical Trajectory of Church Meetings

Chapter 4: Submission

• It’s Not What You Think

• Submitting to One Another

• Making Church Decisions Together

• The Spirit is the Guardrail

• Your Desires Are Sometimes Your Gifts

• Women Speaking in Church

Chapter 5: The Gospel

• It’s Better Than You Think

• Our Present Union With Christ

• Faith is Always the Application

• Equipped with the Truth

• We Need Revelation

Chapter 6: Church Discipline

• The Missing Ingredient for Growth

• Community Demands Conformity

• Identity Affirmation

• Escalation and Submission

• Withholding Forgiveness

• The Destruction of the Flesh

• Institutional Measures Will Always Fail

• What’s at Stake

Chapter 7: Loving One Another

• Like Christ Loved the Twelve

• Putting on Love

• Divine Appointments

Chapter 8: Evangelism

• Some Must Evangelize, and Some May Evangelize

• Staying and Praying

• The Most Evangelistic Endeavor

Chapter 9: Unity

• Visible vs. Invisible Unity

• Names and Denominations

• Unity of Mind

• What God is Saying and Doing

• Macro vs. Micro Unity

Chapter 10: Leadership

• A Return to Biblical Standards

• Elders, Overseers, Shepherds, and Leaders

• Fruit vs. Gifts: The Qualifications for Overseers

• People to Imitate

• Let Them Be Tested

• Office vs. Function

• The Organic Path to Ministry

Chapter 11: Moving Forward

• With Wisdom, Love, and Lots of Faith

• Starting a House Church

• Final Remarks

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