We begin an ancient, Biblical style of gathering July 6!

The Purpose of Meeting Together: As stated in Matthew 28:18-20, the purpose of a church gathering is to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to observe all that Jesus commanded…

How DO WE prioritize disciple-making in church gatherings?

Correct Fellowship=Disciple Making

teaching + fellowship + breaking bread + group prayers

OUR GOAL AT 9:30 AM: to preach the apostles’ doctrine 

OUR GOAL AT 11:00 AM: to strengthen, encourage, & comfort one another.

The Process: According to Acts 2:42, the early church continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers. What we are doing is preaching and teaching at our 9:30 AM gathering as usual, and then further the teaching of the apostles through fellowship beginning at 11:00. We will begin with 2-3 people on stage using the podcast style of interviewing, discussing, and asking questions. Then we will encourage group participation, and some of the fellowship elements described below.

Biblical Sunday Gatherings Were Created By God To Edify the Christians (“to instruct or improve someone morally or intellectually, helping them build character and understanding. The term has roots in Latin, originally meaning “to build” or “to erect a house.”)

Paul explains how to build up others in the faith in 1 Corinthians 14.

26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, (1) each of you has a psalm, (2) has a teaching, (3) has a tongue, (4) has a revelation, (5) has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification.

27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, “let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.” (Here is what this means. We are an English speaking church, but a number of our members speak other languages. If one of them prayed or gave a word of testimony in Spanish it would help a few who understood, but it would waste a lot of time for them to then interpret their words into English.)  

29 “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 30 But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

(G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon: prophecy= interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching)

The Bible Format: The format for a church gathering is outlined in 2 Timothy 4:2, which emphasizes preaching and teaching. In 1 Corinthians 14, we see a more detailed outline, which includes:

Pursuing love and spiritual gifts, especially prophecy (1 Cor 14:1-5)

Edification, exhortation, and comfort through prophecy (1 Cor 14:3-5)

We see a team effort by all the Christians of a local church sharing, building up, encouraging, and comforting each other by talking to each other, singing together, and praying together. In fact Paul explains in verse 37,  “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.” Obviously over 2000 years we have forgotten that this style of church is commanded by God and was practiced in ALL THE churches in the beginning.

Now, this is only the basics from scripture for why we are changing to this new format. We will train and coach our church to follow God’s ways because God’s way, deepens the disciple making process as commanded in the great commission.

So we are now doing church the OLD way, but a NEW way for us today. We want to experience the community of the authentic church of old. Join us!

Here are a couple of examples of the basic changes on stage that we are moving to:

https://youtu.be/90czr-lhKHM (start at 4:25 on the video)

https://youtu.be/VOS28GW-Kx4