This book by Roger Thoman is only 60 pages and easy to read. I have included a short excerpt below. You can download this for free here.
Coming together, for Jesus-followers, is really as easy as, well, coming together. The Bible does not provide us with an outline or order of service because we are his people, coming together with his love and purposes on his heart, for his glory, and with his leading. As such, times together can involve anything and everything from eating to praying, from sharing life’s journeys to crying with each other, from studying scripture to listening in silence, from laughing together to ministering in spiritual gifts, from talking and more eating to prophesying and teaching.
When people ask this question, “what do we do when we get together?” I like to encourage them to think through two scriptures, initially, that speak to this question.
The first has already been mentioned: 1 Corinthians 14:26 says “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.”
The second is Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Notice, again, this is not an order of service, simply a broad record of what God’s people tend to do when they gather. The four elements of Acts 2:42 provide some guidelines for gatherings, but the Holy Spirit wants to be the one leading and controlling our agenda. When we get together, it is a supernatural gathering with God in our midst.
As Felicity Dale said, “If we will learn to hear and follow His promptings, we will never have a boring meeting.”
Because we have learned, in the past, to have certain people lead our gatherings, moving into Spirit-led, participatory gatherings can be a daunting endeavor. The way to learn is to do it. Make mistakes. Learn some more. Don’t give up. Every person is a minister, and when we capture that in our times together it is incredibly rewarding. The body of Christ can reflect him in wonderful and varied ways when fully unleashed to do so.
Roger Thoman, Simple / House Church Revolution
5 replies on “Simple / House Church Revolution”
Subscribed-thank you! This article reminds me of why the phrase “simple church” seems so fitting and how impactful getting together for food (“breaking bread,” true “communion”) listening prayer and sharing what we heard and received from the lord to edify one another as we dwell on those things (and then more food) is!
Roger and his wife travel to Africa once or more per year helping brothers and sisters multiply houses of faith. They also help them set up businesses so they can imitate Paul doing ministry “free of charge”, always combined with marketplace work. Every gift multiplies 100 fold.
https://appleseedministry.com/
Why do U call it a church?. It’s supposed to be a Christian form of the Greek and Roman Ekklesia
It is really just a word that people are familiar with. Words have different meanings for different people. I think we should be able to let it slide. We have been taught too many formulas and God is not in them.
Precisely. It’s just a relatable term but yes, “church” is taken from “cirque” I believe which is Latin for “building.” So yes, we are not technically the “church” but rather the ekklessia or “called out ones.” “Christians” is relatable but innacurate in the same way. I prefer “The Body.”