Contact: Amy Karjala, 503-680-9325

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., June 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- One in five U.S. Christians attends a house church at least once a month, while some pastors and church experts worry these gatherings make it harder to maintain sound doctrine and accountability than in traditional churches. One Orange County church body has opted for a hybrid approach to take the best of both.

A Barna Group study finds that attendees of house churches are more satisfied with their experience than are attendees of conventional churches. That discovery is no surprise to Ken Eastburn, pastor of The Well -- a formerly traditional church body in Orange County that left its building in 2005 to become a community of house churches.

"House churches can provide a more intense experience that really helps people grow and develop spiritually," says Eastburn. "You just can't be invisible in a house church. Everyone is expected to dive in, participate, and be challenged. There isn't room for complacency."

And Eastburn has seen it both ways. The Well was once a very traditional Southern Baptist church. "We didn't follow the traditional house church model, meeting in homes from day one," notes Eastburn. "We actually decided to leave our building."

The result? A hybrid approach to house churches. "We are one church body, with several separate gatherings. Our doctrine and philosophical approaches to things like giving and missions are maintained throughout each of our gatherings," says Eastburn.

This experience provides Eastburn and The Well with a unique perspective, one they are actively sharing with both house churches and conventional churches. The Well believes it has a unique story to tell, and as they learn what it means to be a church body without walls, they invite individuals and churches to join in the conversation at www.leavethebuildingblog.com.