Jolene Larson, one of the people who gathered Thursday at a Brighton home, reads a passage from the Bible. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Megachurch, meet microchurch.

Growing numbers of Coloradans believe the tiny house church, also called a simple church or an organic church, might be the mightier transformer of Christian lives.

A recliner becomes a pulpit. A sofa and some armchairs serve as pews.

Where two or more people are gathered in his name, Jesus said, there he is. House churches range in size from two people to a dozen or slightly more.

Some prefer the name "simple church" because there are congregations that meet at coffee shops, parks or other venues.

The key element is that the group is small enough for everyone to participate fully and to connect intimately. In this, the new followers believe, they are like the earliest Christians, who also met in small groups in homes.

A house church is not about one person standing up and talking for 45 minutes, says former Presbyterian pastor John White, a consultant who helped launch the house-church movement in Colorado 12 years ago.

Back then, he couldn't find anybody local doing it, and little was written about it. Now, the movement is flourishing.

"Traditional church works fine for a lot of people, but there's a growing number of people for whom it's not working," White said...

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