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Church in my home 
church in Jurong West vicinity 
City Harvest (Liz R.)
Sorry, City Harvest is not Traditional Church, Lolz...eom (Emmanuel)
The true City (Ivan)
Impressive (RTC)
What great feats of men to turn the wasteland into a holy masterpiece sanctuary of God! (Ivan)
Reasons??? (RTC)
I believe every building of a new church is a testimony of the members' faith in a great God (Ivan)
I can see that, but can you see this? (RTC)
In times like these (Ivan)
Living in the Old? (RTC)
The Old and the New (Ivan)
reply (RTC)
I am... (Ivan)
What about my questions? (RTC)
I try... (Ivan)
Place of worship???? (RTC)
I think... (Ivan)
Of course happier up there (RTC)
RTC (John Doe 666)
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Just to know, Are you meeting in some place with a smaller number of bro/sisters in Christ? ++Yes. There are about 7-8 of us meeting at my home weekly. With the much needed grace from God, we are learning how to minister Christ to one another, as directed by the Lord Himself, rather than having a designated leader plan the program. We hope to be able to flesh out 1 Cor 14:26 in our meetings. I think I am heading that way too...as I am looking for a set of believers who really LIVE the word and not get caught up in the INSTITUTION...... ++Then may I first welcome you into this journey of discovering church life the first century way. But a word of caution, it's not easy. The Cross and wilderness are before you. If you are comfortable let me know something about your gathering style to see if I might want to join something like it......... ++Of course I'm comfortable. But I'll let you read something from a book written by 4 brothers deep in the experience of church life. Three of them spent more than a week at my house in 2000. I must say that in the church meetings at my house, we are still very much in infancy stage, working out the principles you see described in this chapter. Read on. CHAPTER ONE - One of These Is Not Like the Other Two men, John and Henry, step out of their respective houses. Both men belong to the house church movement. Both are on their way to a meeting. One gets into a car, the other walks across the street. But the two men, going to different meetings, will have experiences that are poles apart. John drives across town to his meeting. Arriving at a nice suburban neighborhood, he goes in and sits down in a living room filled with about twenty middle-class Americans. He finds himself in a rather stoic atmosphere, one of quietness and reverence. When everyone has arrived, the meeting starts with a "word of prayer." Usually the man or woman with the strongest personality begins to lead the meeting. Then come three or four prayers. In meetings like John's, someone may speak in tongues or someone reads from the Scriptures, depending on which kind of group it is. A half-dozen songs are sung. Then comes Bible study. The brother who shares from the Bible is usually the one person who always shares in every meeting, He leads. Sometimes he dominates. A few years ago John attended a traditional church. Now he prefers the atmosphere and camaraderie of meeting in a living room with a few brothers and sisters. What he does not realize is, just as he was once there for the pastor's purpose, he is now there for the purposes of someone with a strong personality. And that person needs to lead ... and to dominate. In so doing, such leaders can have their egos satisfied and their dreams fulfilled. For John, the difference between the organized church and his house church is nil. After all, the modern-day pastor is fulfilling his dream wish, and so also is the house church leader. John left the traditional church and moved into a living room, yet he is still just a pawn in the hand of a leader-bent individual. This book is written by men who are in no way satisfied with either the institutional church meetings or those of most house churches. To that point let us look at Henry. Henry is also on his way to a meeting. But he doesn't get in a car. He walks across the street. John ended up in a living room because he was interested in church renewal. Henry was never looking for church renewal. He and others came together because they were madly, passionately after Jesus Christ. Henry lives in the midst of a community of believers who are not "meeting-centered." They do not drive to one another's homes; they live within a block or two of one another. They spend their lives near one another. Furthermore they are part of a revolution. A radical revolution. John does not experience what Henry experiences when he opens the door and enters a living room. Henry will not walk into a quiet, stoic, reserved room. Henry will walk into the benign chaos of church life. He will walk into a room where all the brothers and sisters are talking. Oddly enough, the meeting has already begun, although it may look like it has not! In fact, this meeting began months ago. Preparation for this meeting has been in the process for a long time. The meeting itself did not begin in that living room. It began on the street outside the house. In yet another way, the real beginning of this meeting started in early morning gatherings throughout the neighborhood, in groups of two's or three's. Henry is a part of an organic experience of church life. John has no idea what that means, nor even that such things exist. He and his friends have settled for the traditional "church in the home." When Henry enters that living room, he may be greeted with "Hello, holy one!" Or maybe he will just be hugged. Henry responds in kind. Very soon thereafter--just about at the announced time for meeting-everyone. moves to the middle of the room. They begin singing--singing mostly songs they have written! These are songs which have come out of their life with Christ and with one another. There is no leadership-bent person controlling this meeting. There is no lone person dominating the direction of the meeting. No one particular person starts this meeting. No one particular person will end it! The meeting is started, directed, redirected, stopped, started again, up a hill, down a hill, through the eternals, out of the eternals ... all by the brothers and sisters in the meeting. No one person leads, yet the dynamic of the meeting never ebbs. This meeting is not led by one who is trying to fulfill his ego or dream wish. This meeting is led by God's people, and by the Lord Himself. This meeting has no head except Jesus Christ. Yet everything flows. And everything makes sense. Nonetheless, there is always a sense of surprise as the meeting develops!! There is much singing, much laughter, much testifying of the Lord and His riches, much testifying of the Lord and His house. All that is done by all the brothers and sisters in that room. Nor is it stilted nor does it smell of being organized. The meeting is a study in the organic nature of the ekklesia. To put it another way: Chances are, you've not seen or been in a meeting like this. Chances are neither have generations of Christians before you. The situation John finds himself in did not "just happen." The situation Henry finds himself in did not "just happen." With purpose and forethought, both of these totally different kinds of meetings came into existence. The problem with John's situation is that the man who leads the group created that rather boring meeting. The group of which Henry is part was planted by a man, too. But he is not in that meeting. Probably no one knows where he is. This man in absentia might be characterized by some as a wandering madman--a man possessed with Jesus Christ and with seeing His house return to this earth again ... a man burning to see God's people walk in freedom, the freedom which is their birthright ... a man determined to see God's people free of legalism ... and God's people free to be in charge of their own gatherings ... a man who settles for nothing less than God's people making their own decisions, God's people reclaiming the ekklesia ... and God's house belonging to God and His people rather than to a minister or a leader-bent individual. This very absent man has raised up an ekklesia that is given back to the Lord and to the Lord's people. He is a man who leaves--does not stay. A man who is not a local fixture. Or, as previously stated ... a revolutionist!! When John leaves his house church meeting, he says a few good-byes, gets in his car and drives back across town to his house. He will probably have no contact with these people again until next week. John lives a Christian life that is meeting-centered. The meeting that Henry is in? It looks like a cross between an American birthday party, Monday night football (and maybe like it is when your team wins the Superbowl). Or it can express itself in a dozen different ways, or more!! It is an American expression. A free-flowing get-together of God's people, passionately going after Christ. This is church! The other? It is a drag. When Henry leaves the meeting, he will head back across the street to his house with his arms around two or three brothers. As the men separate, they will call out salutations. When will they see one another again? Not next week! They will see one another tomorrow morning at 6 am ... before the Lord. John's meetings were set in motion for church renewal. The gathering which Henry is part of was set in motion for far more radical reasons: for a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ being utmost in mind. John goes to meetings. Henry is experiencing a way of life. The meetings these two men go to are worlds apart. One draws strength from an ideal and a formula. The other draws its strength from a living vision and from other realms. The two meetings have origins that are worlds apart. Each has its origin coming from completely different mindsets. Dear reader, if you are tired of sitting and listening, tired of stoic, reverent, regulated meetings, please know that this other world does exist. Your Lord is out there, living and breathing, on the streets of America. Will you know Him? That is, are you desperate enough to pursue Him? If the answer is yes, I look forward to the possibility that I might one day meet you. |
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May I.... by John Doe 666, 2002, Jan 02
Here's some info by RTC, 2002, Jan 02
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