About Us

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About House of Ancient Faith

Ancient Roots, Living Branches

 

House of Ancient Faith was born out of a simple conviction: the ancient Christian faith still belongs at the center of ordinary homes. In a world where many feel disconnected from traditional churches or unable to attend in person, this church was planted as a way to bring the historic pattern of Word and Sacrament into living rooms, around kitchen tables, and to bedside and hospital rooms. Rather than replacing the ancient Church, we seek to embody it in a new setting, online and in house-church gatherings, so that the timeless Gospel of Jesus Christ can take root wherever people actually live.

 

From the beginning, House of Ancient Faith has been shaped by the witness of the early Church, especially the Didache, by the Lutheran Reformation, and by a quiet confidence in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. We gather as a scattered but real congregation, meeting daily and weekly through live-streamed worship and, whenever possible, in person as the pastor travels to homes, nursing homes, and hospital rooms to preach, pray, and celebrate the Sacrament.

 

Who We Are

 

House of Ancient Faith is a Lutheran house-church and online community centered on Scripture, the historic creeds, and the Sacraments. We are small by design, pastoral and personal, built around one pastor who knows the flock by name, prays for them, and shows up when they are in need. Our name reflects our identity: we are a “house” rather than an institution, a spiritual family grafted into the ancient vine of Christ, drawing life from His Church across the ages.

 

We are quietly charismatic, in the sense that we gladly affirm the ongoing gifts and work of the Holy Spirit while remaining rooted in ordered, liturgical worship and the tested wisdom of the Church. Our goal is not to chase spiritual novelty, but to live as “living branches," bearing the fruit of the Spirit in ordinary life through a deep connection to the ancient faith.

 

How We Practice

 

Our worship and life together are shaped by the rhythm of the early Church and the Lutheran liturgical tradition. We gather online for daily early-morning Communion services Monday through Saturday, where the Word is read, a brief meditation is offered, sins are confessed, and the Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Members prepare simple bread and wine (or grape juice where needed) in their own homes, and together we receive Christ’s body and blood as one scattered-yet-united congregation.

 

On Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we celebrate a fuller service of Word and Sacrament: readings from Scripture, a Christ-centered sermon, the historic creeds, intercessory prayer, and the Eucharist. The liturgy is reverent, simple, and accessible, designed to bring the ancient forms of worship into the digital and domestic spaces where people live.

 

Beyond online worship, the pastor is available to travel for house-church gatherings, home Communion, bedside services, blessings of homes, and pastoral visits in hospital or nursing-home settings. In all of this, we strive to make pastoral care personal and sacramental, not just “content” on a screen.

 

We also teach and form believers through catechesis rooted in Scripture, the Didache, and Luther’s Small Catechism. New members walk through a simple process of instruction and conversation that covers the basics of the faith, the meaning of the Sacraments, and the shape of Christian life. Our teaching is meant to be both ancient and practical: grounding people in sound doctrine while speaking into the very real questions and struggles of modern life.

 

How We Teach and Believe

 

House of Ancient Faith is firmly confessional and warmly pastoral. We teach the faith with clarity and generosity, seeking to hold together theological depth and pastoral tenderness. Our preaching and teaching are centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ: His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and promised return. Law and Gospel are both proclaimed, God’s holy truth that exposes our sin, and God’s gracious promise that pardons and restores us in Christ.

We recognize the Church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, and we see ourselves as a small expression of that one Church in a particular form: a house-church and online fellowship gathered around Word and Sacrament. We emphasize regular participation in worship, confession and absolution, the Lord’s Supper, and a life of prayer as the ordinary means by which God sustains His people.

 

We also teach that the Holy Spirit continues to give gifts to the Church today, gifts of healing, encouragement, wisdom, mercy, discernment, and more, for the building up of the Body of Christ. We encourage the use of such gifts in a way that is rooted in Scripture, tested by the wider Church, and exercised with humility and love.

 

Our Statement of Faith

 

Our statement of faith is not meant to replace the rich confessional heritage of the Church, but to summarize how we stand within it.

 

1. We believe that the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and the final authority in all matters of faith and life. Through these Scriptures, God reveals Himself, convicts us of sin, proclaims the Gospel, and guides His people.

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2. We confess the faith proclaimed in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as faithful summaries of the biblical witness. In particular, we confess the Holy Trinity: one God in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the creator of heaven and earth; the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God and true man, who for us and for our salvation became incarnate, suffered, died, and rose again; the Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth.

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3. We embrace the primary Lutheran Confessions, especially the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small Catechism, as true expositions of the Christian faith insofar as they agree with Holy Scripture. We also esteem the Didache and the witness of the early Church as valuable guides for worship, catechesis, and Christian life.

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4. We believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Sinners are justified before God not by their works or merits, but solely through the person and work of Jesus Christ, received by faith. This saving faith is itself the gift of God, created and sustained by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace: the Word and the Sacraments.

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5. We confess that in Holy Baptism, God acts to unite us with Christ, forgive sins, and incorporate us into His Church. We confess that in the Holy Supper of our Lord, Christ’s true body and true blood are given and received in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of faith, and the deepening of our union with Him and one another.

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6. We believe that the Church is the gathered people of God across time and space, called out by the Gospel and sustained by Word and Sacrament. This one Church is made visible in local congregations, including our own house-church and online community, wherever the Gospel is rightly preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered.

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7. We affirm that the Holy Spirit continues to bestow spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church and the witness of the Gospel. These gifts are to be exercised in love, under the authority of Scripture, and in good order for the edification of all.

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8. We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Christ will return in glory to judge the living and the dead, to renew all things, and to bring His people into the joy of His eternal kingdom. In that hope, we seek to live now as “ancient roots, living branches”—rooted in the faith once delivered to the saints, bearing fruit in the world where God has placed us.