His Church
More on the local churches
As we consider the remainder of this study, we shall leave behind the subject of
the Universal Church and seek to answer, from Scripture, some simple questions
on the local church. What were the original principles that governed the
gathering together of the early churches?
WHERE SHOULD A CHURCH MEET?
At the outset of the book of Acts we find the Christians gathered together in
the outer court of the Jewish Temple (Acts 2:46, 5:42). This should not be
surprising, since we know that the earliest converts to Christ were all from the
Jewish religion. As the gospel spread to include Gentiles, and as persecution
came from Jewish leaders, there was a move away from the temple and from Jewish
things. From then onwards, all further mention in Scripture of church gatherings
indicates clearly that the New Covenant believers congregated in their various
homes: (Acts 5:42, 8:3, Rom. 16:5, 1 Cor. 1:11, 16:19, Col. 4:15, Phil. v2).
Nowhere is there any hint of special buildings dedicated to church meetings. The
inspired Scriptures have furnished us with numerous examples, which are quite
sufficient for answering this question. Without any ambiguity whatsoever we see
that the normal, regular meeting place for a local church is in the believers’
homes. Because of the nature of the Church we cannot rule out the possibility of
some exceptional circumstance that might give rise to the need for a church to
meet in some other place for a time. However, that which is shown to us at least
seven times in God’s inspired Word can only be considered the normal pattern.
As for reasons why we should meet in our homes: the first one is quite simply
because this was the established principle of the New Covenant churches. In
addition to this there are two types of benefit that are gained in following the
scriptural pattern. The following thoughts are by no means exhaustive:
Some of the spiritual benefits
In the New Testament the Church is likened to a family; families do not usually
congregate in large public buildings to share their most intimate moments. The
local church meeting is not a public matter; it is for the family members*. The
home environment is far more conducive to encouraging everyone to participate in
a meeting, whereas a public building is more likely to inhibit the shy and less
confident person. In our next section (How should a church meet?) we shall see
that God desires to speak and work through all the members of His family. Also,
people, especially our children, see that communion with God is not something we
reserve for special occasions, in special places. Our mighty creator wants to be
worshipped in our homes and to be at the centre of family life. Also, consider
the impact this may have on our unbelieving neighbours, if praise and prayer
were heard from houses all over the district!
Some of the practical benefits
There is no cost for the hire or purchase and maintenance of a building. All of
the church’s collection can go to the needs of others and not be consumed by the
building. It eradicates the confusion in the minds of the ‘untaught’ regarding
what is the Church. Even many Christians still think of the building as being
‘the church’, some attributing to it Old Testament temple connotations. There is
no burdensome ‘set-up’ routine to go through before and after meetings,
particularly those in rented buildings. With a variety of homes to choose from
there is greater flexibility in accommodating people geographically/practically.
Of course some arguments could be put forward in defence of a larger, public
building on a practical level, but either way, the spiritual benefits and
adhering to the God given pattern are overwhelmingly the more important issues.
A note in conclusion
In conclusion of this I want to pre-empt any argument that says “the Church has
developed further since those early days and it has since become necessary to
evolve with it and accommodate everyone in large buildings.” When it was said
that they (the Christians) had “turned the world upside down” it did not seem to
imply that they were few in number! The New Testament writings cover a period of
up to 60 years. If it was ever God’s intention that the Church should build or
hire public buildings it could have been easily achieved over much of the known
world within that time. Even 1 or 2 years is a very long time to get organised
on a building program – particularly if God was with you on the project! No,
God’s New Testament Church and His principles for it were entirely formed and
complete within that time (See Appendix 1 & 2). Regardless of whatever else has
been done, the Holy Spirit chose to record for us seven times that Christians
met in their homes.
HOW SHOULD A CHURCH MEET?
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For we have many
members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being
many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. Having then
gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait
on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on
exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ...” (Rom. 12:3-8).
“the head (Christ), from which all the body by joints and bands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”
(Col. 2:19).
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and
admonishing one another; in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Col. 3:16).
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
(Heb. 10:24,25). “How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, everyone of
you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an
interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” (1. Cor. 14:26).
As previously mentioned, it is not the exclusive responsibility of a few select
individuals to do “the work of the ministry”. It is quite clear from the above
references, and many others contained in the New Testament, that every child of
God is intended to be a contributor within the Body. There is an expectation
that every believer present at the meeting will participate in some way. One of
the effects of meeting this way is that it produces an alertness of every
individual gathered in the meeting. It gives a strong sense of dependency on
communion with God in order to be able to give aright. This focused, spiritual
attention is not limited just to the duration of the meeting but affects the
heart and mind both before and after, giving each one much to contemplate
concerning his or her contribution. By this I do not mean the premeditation of
our words, the important factor is the preparation of the messenger not the
preparation of the message. What Paul is describing in 1 Cor. 14:26 is not
prepared messages but rather the spontaneous expression of the Spirit.
Let us look further on in the passage of Scripture in 1. Cor. 14. Verse 31
reads, “for ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be
comforted”. Let us here simply consider the principle of what is being said
rather than getting caught up on the topic of prophecy. For the purpose of my
point, we will think of the term ‘prophecy’ as being equated with any oral
contribution to a meeting, such as in all of the above quotations. If it were
simply the hearing of such a word that brings the ‘learning’ (ministry to the
understanding) and ‘comforting’ (ministry to the spirit) then it would only
require that one person should exercise any oral gift in the meeting, or perhaps
even a few people for variety, but no - Paul says, “ye may all ...” In other
words, it is not the hearing only that edifies but also the active taking part.
Even in the realm of natural things we know that, if a person teaches something
to others, that message is more firmly imprinted in the mind of the one
teaching. How much more so is this a principle in spiritual things. Also, each
person has his or her own unique personality that comes through in their
participation, even as the various books of the Bible frequently affirm the same
truths, but in different ways.
There are two keynotes I would like to mention here concerning how a believer
makes his or her contribution to a meeting. Firstly, it should be “with
simplicity” (Rom. 12:8). There is no need to add ‘religious’ tones to our
voices, nor should we adopt the mannerisms of others whom we may esteem. God
desires many sons, all uniquely showing forth the image of His Son. He does not
want us to be clones of one another. Secondly, we must remain “within our
measure” (Eph. 4:7). Where the Bible talks of us having a ‘measure’ it simply
means limitations. The warning is to be careful not to exceed these so that we
do not fall foul of the ‘roaring lion’.
In what ways then may a Christian verbally contribute to a meeting? First of
all, in all of the various ways already contained in the quotations at the
beginning of this section. One may add to these; prayer, praise, the reading of
Scripture, personal testimony and perhaps others. The key principle here being
that we gather together in order to “build one another up in our most holy
faith”. The encouragement to all is to participate at some point, in one or more
of these ways. It is not making a legalistic rule that every individual must say
something in order for the meeting to be considered complete. This would be
rigid and ritualistic and would not create an environment of true freedom. The
atmosphere of a meeting should be both reverent and joyful, there should be fear
and liberty - “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
The Greek word here means (by implication) ‘freedom of access to God’. In saying
‘fear’ I mean godly reverence, which is shown by people taking care not to use
this liberty as a platform for the flesh.
This common sharing [GK. KOINONIA] principle of meeting is what I am referring
to in this study where I have used the terms, the ‘normal/regular’ church
meeting. This does not imply that there is not liberty in every congregation for
the elders to arrange many types of meeting with various purposes, such as for:
prayer, teaching, evangelism etc, but meetings that take any other form than the
above mentioned, must only be in addition to the regular [fully KOINONIA] church
meeting and must never replace it.
The norm in so many situations is for the church meeting to be ‘man led’. First
of all a ‘worship leader’, usually a musician, leads the congregation in singing
etc. Next it is the turn of the ‘minister/pastor’ to give his ‘sermon’. All this
combines to make what people refer to as a ‘church service’. The concept of the
religious service has no place in this Covenant where every individual should
function spiritually as a priest. A ‘service’ is when something is done for you.
There is no two-class structure in the Church - the doers and the done to. The
worship leader and choir/musicians* are all practices adopted from the Old
Covenant. The Old Testament was of an entirely different order from the New with
regard to all of its ordinances and practices. All of the rituals and practices
from the Old Covenant have, according to the writer to the Hebrews, “passed
away” (Heb. 8:13) and should no longer be a part of the New Testament era. The
believer, under the New Testament, has been brought into sonship and does not
need to come to God through any intermediary or ritual.
Church order
“Objection!” I hear. The Bible says “... Let all things be done decently and in
order” (1 Cor. 14:40). To some minds the only concept of a total participation
meeting is total chaos. This notion presupposes that if a human being does not
entirely direct the proceedings then no one will. “Is there not danger involved
with churches meeting in this way?” - “Yes”, is the simple answer, but it is not
our place to reorganise the churches in order to give the appearance of
spiritual stability. If there is danger involved in abandoning ourselves to God
and His Holy Spirit in this way, it cannot be compared with the detriment caused
by departing from the New Testament pattern. The above quotation is Paul’s
ending to a detailed discourse that sets out the manner of church meetings in
the way I am describing here.
The true Author of a meeting is the Holy Spirit. He gives men “utterance”, and
“moves” them to speak, or to keep silent, - see Acts 2:4 and 2 Pet.1:21. Jesus
himself is in the midst of the gathering - Mat.18:20 and Psalms 22:22 (this
psalm is all prophetic of Him). The Father is the one to whom, essentially, we
direct our praise and worship - John 4:23, but also remember John 5:23.
Ultimately, the Three are One, but the essence is this: it should be from God,
through God, to God.
Though we are all sons and all have the Spirit, this does not mean that we are
all fully mature in spiritual things by any means. Therefore we are given three
specific guiding factors with regard to the keeping of order in a church
meeting. 1 Cor. 14 gives us much of this guidance. This is not at all surprising
since one of the reasons for which Paul was writing to this church was because
there had been to some extent a breakdown of order.
Vs. 32 tells us: “And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets”.
This means that as God fills our hearts we are not compelled to speak out at
that very moment, if at all. The Holy Spirit resides in every born-again
believer and part of His fruit is self-control. This not only means control of
obviously sinful desires but it is the control of everything within us. This
includes all of our thoughts, ideas and potential contributions of spiritual
things.
In vs. 27 & 29 we are told that a person’s contribution should be limited to two
or three times. This more specifically relates to the bringing of prophecy but
we have already seen that there is some underlying principle here, which can be
readily applied to all of our contributions in a church gathering. I am only
suggesting the application of the principle not necessarily the figure of two or
three, but it should be obvious to all, including the one continually speaking
when someone is taking the floor too often. This is a temptation as much to
seasoned believers as to the less mature. Some less mature believers may
‘rush-in’ wherever there is a space. A more mature person may try to ‘step-in’
in order to fill an awkward silence. Thankfully, being perfect at it is not what
it is all about - He knows that we are but dust! Seeking to please God from a
pure heart and motive is far more important.
For the occasions when an individual, or even the whole meeting could be heading
more directly ‘off-course’ we have (hopefully) some mature God-given leadership.
This whole topic is inextricably linked with our earlier considerations of
‘Authority in the churches’. The elders have many functions in a local church
and these responsibilities are by no means limited solely to the times of
gathering together. However, in the context of the meetings part of the role of
the elders is to act as ‘overseers’. When necessary, they must direct, redirect,
correct, instruct, etc. yet remain as a part of the meeting and not the focus.
This place is given exclusively to God. Christ must be pre-eminent in all
things. A church meeting where the Holy Spirit is the author of all said and
done will always leave us with the imprint of Christ on our hearts and minds,
not that of any man. Let every elder beware of the danger of falling into the
sin of Diotrophes - “... who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them ...” (3
Jn. 9).
Final considerations
As well as the various general contributions to a meeting there is, of course, a
place for teaching and preaching by those whom God has gifted for this task.
There is nothing in the New Testament saying that this is the job of just one
person in a church. For many good reasons, it is much more profitable for the
growth of the assembly if this ministry has as many genuinely gifted
participants as possible. It is the elders’ responsibility before God as to whom
they ‘allow’ or ‘disallow’ to teach in the church.
It would be too large a task to try to elucidate on every fine point on the
subject of the ‘KOINONIA’ principle of meeting. We are dealing with the movings
of the Holy Spirit and we cannot dictate exactly where or how the ‘Wind’ blows.
All that has been touched upon above is consistently encouraged throughout the
New Testament and is ultimately intended to be a platform for the ‘Voice of God’
in our midst.
WHAT SIZE SHOULD A CHURCH BE?
We know that the church in Jerusalem rapidly grew into the thousands and was
still referred to as one church. No wonder there started to arise some
logistical problems! But the church at Jerusalem was not representative of the
norm as churches began to spread across the world – see ‘Appendix 2’. Before we
seek to tackle the question of growth in a church what about a minimum number
necessary to form a church. This has already been dealt with in the section
entitled ‘What is the purpose of the churches’. In summary of what was touched
upon there: Jesus said: “... where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mat. 18:20). To have Jesus in the midst
is surely sufficient to minimally constitute a church. The churches of Galatia
were called churches before there was any development of elders in them. We have
already seen that it is not essential to have any ‘office’ filled in order to be
considered a church. I do not say that we only want churches as small in number
as two or three people, nor would we want the churches to remain undeveloped and
not reach a stage where there is a need for elders. I am merely starting with an
absolute minimum that would still allow for some sort of expression of a church
in extreme circumstances.
What about a maximum? We cannot be too precise in seeking to answer this
question but there are two restraining factors on the size a church can grow to
if the New Testament pattern is to be followed:
Where a church meets. As we have already seen, the Christian meeting place for
God’s New Covenant people is in houses. I don’t know the exact dimensions of an
average house in the days of the early Church, or if the believers used some
courtyard area of the house, but this clearly implies some kind of restriction
on the size a church could grow to
How a church meets. We have also seen that the regular assembly meeting involves
the participation of everyone present, or at least there must be the potential
for this to happen. This would not be logistically possible with too large a
number of people, or even audibly possible with too large a building.
The New Testament shows us much about the early churches but we are not given a
specific example of a church’s numerical development after that of Jerusalem.
However, it should not be too difficult to arrive at some kind of logical
conclusion based upon the restricting factors already mentioned and upon the
principles on which life, especially spiritual life, is built. Both in the
natural and in the spiritual realm, we have come to learn that decrease is a
necessary process for increase - “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (Jn.
12:24). A church is intended to be an ever-developing organism. Like a healthy
cell in the developing human body, it grows, matures, and then – changes all the
laws and structures of nature in order to adapt to its new size? - No! When it
is fully ripe it divides itself into two healthy cells, which in turn, go on to
do the same. It would be absurd to take the approach that whenever the Lord
blesses a church in adding many souls that we then have to leave the New
Testament pattern in order to accommodate everyone!
I am told that this divide and grow principle is the practice of many churches
in Communist China. It is interesting to note that under persecution, churches
often revert to the simplicity of New Testament practices. I have not known this
to be the practice of any church that I have been personally acquainted with. On
the other hand, I have heard, sadly, many accounts of the dividing of
congregations that were painful, unwanted experiences. For this, we blame either
man or the devil, but have we considered that this could be God speaking to us
on this issue? If we were to divide ourselves sensitively, according to God’s
leading, then perhaps we might not need to be scattered like those at Babel. The
way of the flesh is always to build big and what we think is strong. The
spiritual way is always to hold everything with an open hand before God.
Whenever, however any knew assembly comes into being, it must be remembered
that, ultimately, it is a ‘planting of the Lord’. It is a new cell in The Body
(the Universal Body). It is not an extension of any other cell (local church).
Co-operation (fellowship) between the cells is wholesome and good, but we must
always obey the first law of The Body, which is; the Head controls all parts
directly. There is no delegation of this authority; one cell is not placed in
charge of another. Every assembly answers directly to God. They are all His
churches.
FELLOWSHIP
The Community of the Church
As we approach the end of this study, we must keep in mind one more vital aspect
of the principles of church life. Our ‘fellowship/communion’, one with another
should not exist, solely in church meetings. We see in the Bible that the people
of God shared their lives together in every way, both in things spiritual and
things temporal. To begin with, we will simply quote some Scripture that reveals
their attitude towards material possessions:
“And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their
possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.” (Acts
2:44,45).“And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one
soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was
his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them
all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things
that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was
made unto every man according as he had need.” (Acts 4:32-35). [Note: it was
those who were possessors of lands - plural, and houses - plural that sold these
in order to benefit others. It was not the case that everybody gave up his own
dwelling and lived in one large ‘commune’. However, the supply of one another’s
earthly needs was considered to be of the utmost importance.]“As we have
therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are
of the household of faith.” (Gal. 6:10).
Now let’s move on to see another vital element that is part practical but much
more a means of meeting spiritual need:
“Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold
grace of God.” (1 Pet. 4:9,10). “Distributing to the necessity of the saints;
given to hospitality.” (Rom. 12:13). “A Bishop must be ... a lover of
hospitality ...” (Tit. 1:8). “A Bishop then must be ... given to hospitality.”
(1 Tim. 3:2).
Throughout the Bible there is a persistent exhortation to continually open our
homes to one another. Every believer is exhorted to “use hospitality”. It is
further interesting to note that this is a vital qualification for elders. In
the above quote from 1Tim.3:2 the following verse says “...not given to wine...”
In this sense, “given” means addicted, cannot do without, an overwhelming urge.
This is the extent to which Christians should be “given” to hospitality.
When God first poured out His Spirit in Jerusalem, we are told that the
Christians met daily. Whether or not the churches always had a daily ‘meeting’
we shall not take up here (see appendix 2) but, perhaps it is more in the
context of regular hospitality that we can understand how the members of the
Church are encouraged to “...exhort one another daily...” (Heb 3:13) - written
some thirty or so years later. This most intimate sharing of our lives is an
absolutely vital part of the fellowship of the whole Church, not just our local
congregation. We must always remember that first and foremost we are members of
the worldwide family of God and never become exclusively ‘locked-in’ to our own
local situation. Provided that we do not turn this genuine hospitality into
religious formality, it is a very powerful means of the world seeing that we are
HIS CHURCH.
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