‘On or Off the Bus’: Identity, Belonging and Schism. A Case Study of a Neo-Pentecostal House Church

Abstract

Despite the current high profile of neo-Pentecostalism within the church, the internal life of the Charismatic house church remains largely an unknown quantity. Attention tends to concentrate on the easily visible: ecstatic forms of worship, the remarkable growth rates of many Charismatic congregations and the often highly critical revelations of people leaving these groups. These revelations almost inevitably dwell on the high levels of control over individuals, often seen as an abuse of power, by the group in question. The recent media reportage of events in Sheffield with the Nine O’Clock Service is a good example of both these strands. In recent years there has been a move towards a more open profile on the part of the house churches generally but in many cases the public rhetoric of the leaders of these groups is, on closer investigation, not altogether an accurate reflection of what is happening on the ground. With a few exceptions, what has been written about the internal dynamics of these groups comes from theological sources.

‘Now you’re either on the bus or off the bus. If you’re on the bus, and you get left behind, then you’ll find it again. If you’re off the bus in the first place then it won’t make a damn.’ And nobody had to have it spelled out for them. Everything was becoming allegorical, understood by the group mind, and especially this: ‘You’re either on the bus ... or off the bus.’

(Tom Wolfe; The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. 1968, p.74)