About house groups at HBC

HBC tradition — each member belongs to a house group [Each house group is led by a member of the Diaconate; current house groups and leaders — to confirm]

House Groups are the smaller mid-week gatherings of the HBC family, hosted in members’ homes and led by members of the Diaconate. Each month follows a different theme, set centrally and explored across all groups. Membership of HBC includes belonging to one of the house groups — they are where the church really gets to know each other, where pastoral care happens in practice, and where the larger congregation is broken down into the smaller communities that sustain it.

The Diaconate today consists of ten brothers and sisters elected by the congregation (per the Our History page), each one responsible for a house group. HBC has six active house groups, each led by a member of the Diaconate: Esther (Sister Avis Gordon), Joshua (Brother Morris Foday), Jeremiah (Brother Noel Henry), Gideon (Brother Seymor Williamson), Ruth (Sister Sonia Senior) and Genesis (Brother John Mobolaji Giwa).

The historical roots of house-group ministry are visible in earlier HBC structures: the Pastoral Scheme set up on 17 November 1903 with a dozen “book-holders” to visit absent members and encourage fellowship was an early form of the dispersed pastoral care that today’s house groups provide.

Sources: [125th] p. 56 (membership including corporate worship); [Web History] (Diaconate of ten); [Centenary] p. 11 (1903 book-holders).