Thank you, Jake, for writing this chapter with such biblical foundations and practical examples!
I have been believing for a long time that we do not need strict human structures and agendas and that everyone should participate when believers meet together (that was one of the reasons we left the traditional church system) but reading this brought confirmation and clarity on how we could facilitate informal gatherings in a more organic Spirit-led way.
Actually, I realized that me and my wife have sought the Lord periodically at home like that - and so many times it has really been full of life, joy and heavenly insights when we have just simply waited on God without any predetermined human plan.
Unfortunately, we have not yet found open believers in our city who would like to meet every week in such a way.
But I am praying for God to connect us with the right people who are willing to wait on the Lord together! 🙏🏻
Ahhh, that's right, I remember you told me you were in Bulgaria before. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone there either, LOL.
Well, LORD, we ask you to show your favor to Steven and his wife by connecting them to other believers who they can experience this kind of fellowship with. In Jesus' name!
God is faithful -- just keep your eyes open to how he may be leading you to connect with others and inviting them into this.
We have been so often frustrated with various „big/traditional“ churches and their strictly structured services but also with small groups/house churches which are led largely in the flesh and „spiritual fellowship“ being understood as complaining about life, talking against other ministries or sharing about different teachings/ministries/trainings someone has been in contact with (not that sharing external resources is always bad)…
On the other hand, probably, we have often not been really open to some people God may bring into our lives due to different doctrines, characters, spiritual conditions, ministry approaches and experiences.
So I believe God is teaching us in this season to wait on Him to show us which relationships He wants us to invest in 🙏🏻
Jacob, I think this is a spectacular start to the book. I can't wait to read the rest of it. I especially enjoyed learning some things that I never knew before. I have to admit, I am very low hanging fruit in regard to this topic. I have thought for several decades that the church needs to operate this way. Back in college, around 1980, I attended a smallish Bible Church that operated their main meetings this way. Fully open meeting, communion every week. I thought it was wonderful. The meeting started at 10:30. From 9:00 to 10:00 he had a teaching time that everyone was welcome to come to. But everyone knew the main meeting was at 10:30.
This is a very good chapter. But I wonder about two things:
1) There will be people who prefer the traditional gathering in a large building. Some will prefer it because that is what they are used to. Others will do it because they don’t want to participate. They only want to be “consumers.”
2) What do you do when you discover there is a unbeliever in your assembly? Do you handle it as we are told by Jesus in Matthew 18, as a church discipline situation, or as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 5? What impact will you think it will have on the others in the assembly?
1) This is true, no debate there. I would simply argue that it’s a shepherd’s job to lead the sheep, not to be controlled by them.
2) There’s nothing wrong with an unbeliever being present; we welcome them. We just don’t regard them as having the Holy Spirit, and they don’t participate in the Lord’s Supper with us. However, if someone who claims to be a believer is walking in sin, we do indeed exercise church discipline. I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking about the impact, but please feel free to keep asking questions!
Hmm. An interesting concept and profitable for smaller gatherings. How would a traditional church worship setting move towards such? Is there a role for both types of services? Is the concept more driven by certain types of individual and group personalities?
How do children interact? In any group one may find those that feel “called” to dominate conversations and teachings. How to handle such.
Anyhow, i appreciate the foundation being Spirit driven.
Maybe my thoughts are to be covered in later chapters. Well written!
Thanks for your comments! I think some of this will be covered in later chapters, but here are a few thoughts:
1. As for how the traditional church setting might move toward this, I'm not entirely sure. But one possibility (which some churches have done) is to make home churches the primary gatherings on Sundays and then to meet mid-week at their building for a larger gathering like normal. This sets the precedent that the home gatherings are primary and the large gatherings are secondary.
Another possibility is simply to create space within/throughout the larger gathering for anyone to speak (both to share their gifts and to weigh what others have said), and to be highly intentional about this. It is more difficult to do this with a lot of people in the room but certainly not impossible.
2. As I said near the end, there could be a role for both types of services, but I do not think the "traditional" type should be the primary gathering, unless it is adapted to be highly intentional about open participation to meet the standards of Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 14.
3. You asked if the concept is more driven by certain types of individual and group personalities. I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but I think you're wondering if the open meeting that I described is more tailored or fit to some Christians and not others. If that's what you're asking, then I would say emphatically no. There is certainly a variance in terms of who will be naturally more comfortable with this, but that makes no difference. The act of every member engaging at the level of ownership/stewardship that I'm talking about is something that, in my opinion, simply must be learned for the sake of discipleship.
4. As for children, I believe there are various solutions, and each group can decide collectively what they see fit. Our church has gone through different phases of what to do with the children, but for the last few years, we've simply had them all with us. The younger children are usually just sitting quietly, but they sometimes will pray or share a testimony. The older they get, though, the more they tend to engage.
5. As for your concern about those who may feel called to dominate, or similar situations: All these concerns are dealt with when we exercise sincerity, submission, and collective discernment. I plan to speak in depth on this in another chapter. But this is the part where Paul says, "let the others weigh what is said." And "the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets." And "let all things be done for building up." If we feel that someone is dominating and it's not helpful, then it's our job to speak up in love and sincerity. Then the church can prayerfully weigh that together, and God brings agreement. That's the gist of it anyway. It's not easy, but it's highly effective. And it's how God designed it to keep order in a Spirit-led gathering.
Thank you, Jake, for writing this chapter with such biblical foundations and practical examples!
I have been believing for a long time that we do not need strict human structures and agendas and that everyone should participate when believers meet together (that was one of the reasons we left the traditional church system) but reading this brought confirmation and clarity on how we could facilitate informal gatherings in a more organic Spirit-led way.
Actually, I realized that me and my wife have sought the Lord periodically at home like that - and so many times it has really been full of life, joy and heavenly insights when we have just simply waited on God without any predetermined human plan.
Unfortunately, we have not yet found open believers in our city who would like to meet every week in such a way.
But I am praying for God to connect us with the right people who are willing to wait on the Lord together! 🙏🏻
Of course, Steven! I pray the Lord connects you with some people for this. If I may ask, where are you located?
I live with my family in Sofia, Bulgaria, but I am raised in Berlin, Germany (I have both German and Bulgarian nationality).
We have friends in different places in the country and abroad who seem open to such endeavors but for now none really close to us.
Ahhh, that's right, I remember you told me you were in Bulgaria before. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone there either, LOL.
Well, LORD, we ask you to show your favor to Steven and his wife by connecting them to other believers who they can experience this kind of fellowship with. In Jesus' name!
God is faithful -- just keep your eyes open to how he may be leading you to connect with others and inviting them into this.
Thank you for praying for us, brother!
We have been so often frustrated with various „big/traditional“ churches and their strictly structured services but also with small groups/house churches which are led largely in the flesh and „spiritual fellowship“ being understood as complaining about life, talking against other ministries or sharing about different teachings/ministries/trainings someone has been in contact with (not that sharing external resources is always bad)…
On the other hand, probably, we have often not been really open to some people God may bring into our lives due to different doctrines, characters, spiritual conditions, ministry approaches and experiences.
So I believe God is teaching us in this season to wait on Him to show us which relationships He wants us to invest in 🙏🏻
Jacob, I think this is a spectacular start to the book. I can't wait to read the rest of it. I especially enjoyed learning some things that I never knew before. I have to admit, I am very low hanging fruit in regard to this topic. I have thought for several decades that the church needs to operate this way. Back in college, around 1980, I attended a smallish Bible Church that operated their main meetings this way. Fully open meeting, communion every week. I thought it was wonderful. The meeting started at 10:30. From 9:00 to 10:00 he had a teaching time that everyone was welcome to come to. But everyone knew the main meeting was at 10:30.
David Gregory
Very cool, David, thanks for the encouragement!
This is a very good chapter. But I wonder about two things:
1) There will be people who prefer the traditional gathering in a large building. Some will prefer it because that is what they are used to. Others will do it because they don’t want to participate. They only want to be “consumers.”
2) What do you do when you discover there is a unbeliever in your assembly? Do you handle it as we are told by Jesus in Matthew 18, as a church discipline situation, or as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 5? What impact will you think it will have on the others in the assembly?
Hey Tom!
1) This is true, no debate there. I would simply argue that it’s a shepherd’s job to lead the sheep, not to be controlled by them.
2) There’s nothing wrong with an unbeliever being present; we welcome them. We just don’t regard them as having the Holy Spirit, and they don’t participate in the Lord’s Supper with us. However, if someone who claims to be a believer is walking in sin, we do indeed exercise church discipline. I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking about the impact, but please feel free to keep asking questions!
Thanks for the feedback!
Hmm. An interesting concept and profitable for smaller gatherings. How would a traditional church worship setting move towards such? Is there a role for both types of services? Is the concept more driven by certain types of individual and group personalities?
How do children interact? In any group one may find those that feel “called” to dominate conversations and teachings. How to handle such.
Anyhow, i appreciate the foundation being Spirit driven.
Maybe my thoughts are to be covered in later chapters. Well written!
Thanks for your comments! I think some of this will be covered in later chapters, but here are a few thoughts:
1. As for how the traditional church setting might move toward this, I'm not entirely sure. But one possibility (which some churches have done) is to make home churches the primary gatherings on Sundays and then to meet mid-week at their building for a larger gathering like normal. This sets the precedent that the home gatherings are primary and the large gatherings are secondary.
Another possibility is simply to create space within/throughout the larger gathering for anyone to speak (both to share their gifts and to weigh what others have said), and to be highly intentional about this. It is more difficult to do this with a lot of people in the room but certainly not impossible.
2. As I said near the end, there could be a role for both types of services, but I do not think the "traditional" type should be the primary gathering, unless it is adapted to be highly intentional about open participation to meet the standards of Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 14.
3. You asked if the concept is more driven by certain types of individual and group personalities. I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but I think you're wondering if the open meeting that I described is more tailored or fit to some Christians and not others. If that's what you're asking, then I would say emphatically no. There is certainly a variance in terms of who will be naturally more comfortable with this, but that makes no difference. The act of every member engaging at the level of ownership/stewardship that I'm talking about is something that, in my opinion, simply must be learned for the sake of discipleship.
4. As for children, I believe there are various solutions, and each group can decide collectively what they see fit. Our church has gone through different phases of what to do with the children, but for the last few years, we've simply had them all with us. The younger children are usually just sitting quietly, but they sometimes will pray or share a testimony. The older they get, though, the more they tend to engage.
5. As for your concern about those who may feel called to dominate, or similar situations: All these concerns are dealt with when we exercise sincerity, submission, and collective discernment. I plan to speak in depth on this in another chapter. But this is the part where Paul says, "let the others weigh what is said." And "the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets." And "let all things be done for building up." If we feel that someone is dominating and it's not helpful, then it's our job to speak up in love and sincerity. Then the church can prayerfully weigh that together, and God brings agreement. That's the gist of it anyway. It's not easy, but it's highly effective. And it's how God designed it to keep order in a Spirit-led gathering.
God bless you!
So good, if the first chapter is suppose to get you excited to read what is to come, nailed it!
This gets me pumped!
Can’t wait!