Trey,
It’s not a bad idea at all, but it needs a bit more developing, I think. You have to be more than “Honey I shrunk the church” if you’re going to get people interested in coming. They can watch Peter’s sermons at home. They COULD, but of course they probably won’t unless they’re already into that. There are a lot of considerations, and it’s really never easy. Best to have an idea what you’ll be facing before you take it on. (And it would be truly brilliant if you could say to people, “Yes. I’ve done this, and it works great!”) Things are never as simple as you think they’ll be; I’m sure you’ve experienced that law of nature.
There are:
Children: House churches attract young families and these families (in our area) are NEVER small unless they’re just getting started. The children will be of various disciplinary development (that is, some of the parents WILL let them do as they please, and some parents can’t seem to stop them.)
Adults: Not all the couples will be unified in their admiration of Peter’s sermons. I love them. My husband says they’re too complicated and hard to follow. They will have expectations of what a “church” ought to look like, and they may have specific expectations for a house church.
Food: This is our method of getting close to one another. We eat together. Without this ritual on at least a semi-regular basis, it’s unlikely you’ll develop any intimacy, and intimacy is what house church is all about. Friends “doing life” together. Otherwise, there’s honestly no point. Like I said, they’ll listen (or not) at home.
Attention Span: It’s awkward to sit in a living room with other people watching a televised sermon and not talking. People will eventually break in and say things. When that happens, you really have to hit pause and have a discussion. This is a GOOD thing, but just so you’re aware, that will happen. It’s what you ought to be hoping for, imo, because if it doesn’t happen, people will start thinking, “I could watch this at home.”
“Worship:” I’m not sure singing a bunch of sings together IS worship necessarily, but it’s an experience in a huge church with wonderful musicians and sound system and a vast sea of voices. You can feel the excitement and adulation in every cell and your spirit cries HOLY! Maybe it’s a sort of meditation in which you experience a degree of transcendence. You can do this alone, too, or maybe with one or two others of like mind. It’s extremely difficult in a living room with several other families and children who are NOT under the spell of surround sound and wonderful music. It becomes “just singing songs,” and I wonder whether it’s worth including at all. But maybe you can find a way to make it happen. If you do, I’d pay to know how to do that. On the plus side, I’m absolutely certain that this wonderful transcendent experience is not all there is to worship.
Proximity: A long drive can and will kill a group over time. You need people who are close together – not just for convenience on meeting day/night, but so you can do things together, help one another, get together for coffee, etc. through the week. A long drive just gets to be too much for people and especially for families.
There are other things, but just some things to consider as you put together your program. I’d love to see this work for you. If I were getting together another group (which is difficult, in my remote location), I would definitely use some of Peter’s sermons from time to time.