Sunday, October 25, 2009

OPEN MEETINGS - Felicity Dale, USA

A vital concept of the Kingdom is the priesthood of all believers (Revelation 1:6). In many denominations, this idea is given lip service, but is rarely practiced. But God’s Word says that all of us are priests, that all of us can minister to the Lord and to each other (e.g., 1 Peter 2:9; Colossians 3:16).

In simple churches in the West, we use Acts 2:42 as our model. The disciples “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” A “typical” gathering might include a meal, fellowship, time around the Word of God, and prayer.

In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a body to describe the church (vv. 12-27). Just as a body has many members and each one is significant, so it is with the body of Christ, the church. Each person in the group is important and each person has a different contribution to make. We are not looking for conformity, but rather, a synergistic diversity.

This body of Christ functions like an orchestra, with the Holy Spirit acting as the conductor. The rich sounds of a symphony occur because all of the different instruments in the orchestra play the part assigned to them. If we all play the melody line in church, we may miss out on the magnificent creativity of the bride of Christ.

But Paul also says that weaker members are necessary to the body of Christ and worthy of greater honor (vv 22-25). The contributions of those who are shyer or more reticent to speak should be given greater attention.

The ultimate head of this body is Christ, and as each person follows the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the body functions as it should. You see, the Lord wants to be more than “the guest of honor” in our meetings. He actually wants to be in control.

If we are not careful, house or simple church gatherings can run like a traditional church meeting, especially in the West where many house churches start with existing Christians. Our friend John White describes that tendency as “Honey, I shrunk the church.” One person leads the worship, another teaches, someone else is delegated to do an activity with the children; the only thing that is different is that the location is smaller. A major dynamic of simple church is that the Lord has a plan for our times together. He knows what is going on in people’s lives. If we will let Him, He will touch and change people and the world around us.

This pattern (often called “open church”) is found in 1 Corinthians 14:26. “When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” That is why keeping the church small is so important. In a larger gathering, it would be impossible for everyone to take part.

But how do we follow the Holy Spirit in a gathering?

Let’s say that we are in a meeting and someone has just prayed a powerful prayer of praise to God. What should happen next? How can we know what the Holy Spirit wants? In our experience, the best way is to make that person’s prayer our own spontaneous vehicle of praise to God. If a verse of Scripture or a song comes to mind, chances are the Holy Spirit is speaking. In other words, if we fully participate in what is going on, the things that come spontaneously to mind are most likely from the Holy Spirit. Expect a variety of gifts of the Spirit—prayer for each other, insights from the Scriptures, gifts of the Spirit such as prophecy and visions, just to name a few.

In nearly all simple churches in the West, it’s rare to have one person stand up front and teach. Instead, the group interactively studies the Scriptures. All it needs is for one person (even a child) in the group to be able to read. Everyone joins in the discussion. Research shows that people remember only about 20 percent of what they hear, 50 percent of what they see and hear, but 70 percent of what they say themselves[i]. When people share what they see for themselves in the Scriptures, they are learning more effectively than when they passively sit back and listen.

The vital thing is that people learn, and that doesn’t necessarily happen even with an experienced teacher. In a simple church gathering, the person facilitating the study constantly points to the Scriptures, emphasizing that the Bible—not the person teaching—is the authority. Often we have had longtime Christians join us and after a few months say, “I have learned more in the past three months than I learned in three years of sermons!”

In simple churches we are trying to simplify how we “do” church so that more and more people can participate. I love what a Filipino church planter says: “I never do anything in church that a one-week-old Christian would be unable to do!” Think of how that applies to our praying (no more five-minute sermon prayers) or to our sharing what the Lord is doing in our lives (no more Christianese).

Simple is not the same as shallow. Some of the most profound spiritual experiences come in a simple church context. When the Holy Spirit is free to work as He wills in a gathering of disciples, the effects can be far-reaching. On the other hand, simple can be duplicated. If a few easy-to-follow patterns are established early on, then almost anyone can facilitate a time together.

We multiply what we model. Let’s keep things simple and multiply rapidly.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you! Very helpful. Simple and short articles like this one are often more useful for us who have to translate materials to make them available for all who are active in the housechurch movement.
    Thank you for writing this one (and see you in two weeks in India)

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