Home fellowship,1Cor 14 style meetings

We are Christians that purpose to follow the word of God in both it’s directions and example. This is how it’s done:

In the New Testament, we read of all regulatory church meetings in homes. (Acts 20:20, Rom. 16:3, 1Cor. 16:19 there are more)This continued for three hundred years, not for the lack of ability to get an official building, but for the lack of such a need. Buildings create an unnecessary expense and serve to hinder the body in open participation. Whereas a home is a familiar family setting where all brethren are on equal ground regardless of status. It also limits the size so that no one can be lost in the crowd. The goal is that each member learns and grows into a fully discipled qualified elder. (1Tim. 3:1-13)We meet today for the same reason that the early church met, for the breaking of bread in the lord’s supper(taken as a full meal) which develops into the open participatory meeting of 1Cor. 14:26-40

Typically, as people arrive they help prepare for the meal, snack on a few appetizers, and strike up conversations of things profitable. Once all have arrived we take our seats, one brother (usually the host) will stand, bless the food and break the one loaf to be partaken of by all, thus the meal begins. Discussions and encouragement continues through the meal as well as news of Christ’s working through his people. Once all have finished eating the discussions are postponed and the one cup is passed coupled with song and usually prayer. The singing continues as the table is cleared and all share in the cleanup. This moves us into the 1Cor 14 meeting. Where each brother is expected to bring fourth what the lord has been teaching him and his family that week.

Each one respectful to the other waits for a break to interject or conclusion to move on. After a couple hours or so if the weather is fair we would all go for a walk through the woods or down to the creek. If we met nearer the city we would walk to the park. Either way our conversations would continue and the children would play and run as we went, as their parents kept a careful eye. Once our destination had been reached our conversations and their play continued. We would mosey back to the house just in time to prepare supper. The food is blessed and we continue in conversation, song, and prayer as the spirit leads just as had been before. Until one by one families leave realizing that bed time has long since passed. We would typically arrive at 10:30 AM and not leave till midnight.

There is of course a good deal of freedom in this type of meeting, most meet eat talk and leave all in the space of three hours or so. This is simply to give you a picture of what the home church is like. You’ll not find a doctrinal statement nor a denominational label. Such things are divisive.A plurality of qualified elders and the open format guard against false doctrine and wolves among the flock.Children are well trained to quietly play and listen near or in sight of their parents. They glean from the same spiritual food as the adults. Their main guidance is the responsibility of their parents. This continues until 16 or 17 as they take the reigns of adulthood; though they are encouraged to participate more around age 13 as maturity permits.

We of the house church have come to the conviction that we are to follow scripture in both direction and example. If you have not been so convicted, so be it, the Lord has no doubt worked through the institutional church through the centuries and He still works today. But just as we see when Moses struck the rock the second time, God may bless though we choose to do things our own way ignoring His directions. As for me and my house, Our desire is His design.

My Family
(Husband speaking)

Bible college conclusions

“Freely ye have received, freely give.”

As I have prayed and sought after the Lord’s will and direction in my life, He has seen fit to lay on my heart a teaching from His word. I see today somewhat of a hypocrisy among the brethren; and apparently not one the least bit aware of it. We preach about faith and trusting in God in all things. We preach consistency in the believer as ordered by the nature of God (1 Peter 1:15-16 / Hebrews 13:8) and against having double standards. We speak of fulfilling the role to which God has called you, yet there is something that seems to be hindering us.
A thing of a similar sort was last seen in 19th century England (as far as I’ve heard). In many small churches, and large as well, the preacher’s salary came from pew rentals; you would actually pay a fee and buy your seat in church, with the more costly seats being nearest the preacher. Can you find something scripturally wrong with this? One young preacher did and forthwith abolished this practice in his small church, totally cutting off his entire salary and livelihood. What followed was one of the roughest years of his ministry, as only the poor continued to support him and the rich left the church entirely. But for those who know the rest of George Muller’s story, you’ll remember that by acting in faith and taking an unwavering stance on God’s Word he allowed the Lord to work through him in many powerful ways. Through it all, the Lord met his every need.
I hear constantly things like, “We are not to be like the world,” “Trust in God to meet your needs,” “It is not the pastor’s job alone to witness,” and so on. Yet as I have fervently desired to be equipped to the service for which the Lord has been preparing me and I seek out Bible colleges, I find more and more the entire premise to be in violation of many key principles and in direct violation of Scripture. If I am wrong, I need to be corrected, but what I have found is as follows.


2 Corinthians 9:10 - 12(KJV) 10Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 11Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.12For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
Titus 1:5(KJV) 5For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: (Read whole book.)
It is the responsibility of the church and the elders therein to equip the saints for service.

Matthew 23:8(KJV) 8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Do not seek the titles recognized by the world. We are to be set apart from the world. Yet many Bible colleges promote accreditation and titles such as BA, BS, PhD, etc. If a man should seek a worldly title through the study of God, his purpose is unworthy.

Matthew 10:8(KJV) 8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. (In context)
Romans 12:1(KJV) 1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
No minister of the Gospel should be paid for the administration of his duties. The Lord will provide the every need of a faithful servant. Every sinner saved by grace must be raised up and discipled fully. Every man should be in continual pursuit of christlike character resulting in the qualifications of eldership. The goal of raising children is to raise an adult able to raise a child to be an adult. A convert is to be fully discipled insomuch as they will then be able to fully disciple a convert. Such a life and devotion requires total sacrifice, submission, and dependence on God.


James 2:1 - 5, 9(KJV) 1My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.2For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?9But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
There is no faith or God dependence involved in compulsory giving. If anything, (especially in this case, tuition) that would be respecting the rich man and casting away the poor. Such is sinful!
while i have heard that some bible collages will allow you to sit in on classes without paying for the coarse you'll never receive credit nor recognition for having taken it. beside the fact that this situation is only available to those of us that live near a bible collage with plenty of time on your hands. but for those like me whose time is nearly exhausted securing provision barely sufficient for my family's needs, such situations are simply not available.

My Family
(Husband speaking)

View of Scripture

My original post in 2010 was a simple regurgitated script I learned from a church in California that read,
"The Bible is the infallible, inspired, inerrant word of the living God. It is our rule of living, standard of conduct and final authority in all things." I have learned somewhat since then...

My view of scripture 2015

The cannon

            The Bible is not a book; it is a collection of written works authored by men of God concerning their witness of God’s action or instruction in their lives. What we call the Old Testament was compiled and officiated just over two centuries before Christ, and these are the “scriptures” so often referred to in the New Testament. Jesus never spoke against this collection nor did He suggest that there might be more. He did, however, vehemently oppose the rabbinical tradition passed down from the same period. The Apocrypha, though accompanying this collection, was never considered scripture.

            The books selected for the New Testament represent those that met an exclusive and stringent criteria, hotly debated in ecumenical councils with a great deal of meditative prayer; patterned after the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35). Many of the texts that failed the test are available for reexamination today. We also have historians of the day, like Eusebeus, discussing the debate and reasons for exclusions. While I questioned the inclusion of Revelation for a time, in the end I believe they made the right decision on the cannon of 66 books. The criteria were that a New Testament text must have apostolic authority or sanction with the intent or effect of common circulation among the early church. If a text was widely popular though lacking clear apostolic authority, it had to be ensured to have no conflicts or contradictions with the balance of proven apostolic and Old Testament texts.

Textual reliability

            How do we reconcile textual variances within the Word of God?... Divine preservation of corrupted perfection. God created a perfect environment on paradise earth, but He entrusted that paradise to man. The earth today is a scarred and distorted shadow of what was originally created, yet, despite the effects of sin, the earth is clearly designed that life may thrive. In the same way God gave His perfect word to man, and would continue to do so if only we would listen. Man composed that which God taught so that the spiritually deaf may receive the word of God through their physical eyes. Then generation after generation did their best to preserve that which was passed down to them. Through it all, while discrepancies and typos are evident God has preserved His word that it inerrantly leads us to Him. In both cases, His preservation has been so effectual that we were not only meant to survive, but all together thrive, both physically and spiritually. As to the reliability of the 28,000 handwritten manuscripts dating to within one century of the autograph, while there are no two identical, no variance has affected the core of any text. A variance is usually in word order or spelling differences, occasionally a copyist would miss a line if it started the same as the line before it, or one might accidentally include a note written on the master text in the body of the passage. When all manuscripts are compiled, most discrepancies are easily spotted, while the more difficult have no effect on any major doctrine. Furthermore, even if we lacked any and all manuscripts, nearly the whole of the New Testament could be reproduced from the citations of the early and latter church fathers. That’s astounding preservation!

My approach

            The Bible was not divinely dictated in authorship, translation, or selection. The latter church fathers were prayerfully guided in their canonical discussions, all translators of the sacred texts past and present are gifted linguists whose work compels due consideration, and the authors, having learned from God and walking daily in His presence composed their works to the people of their day addressing the issues at hand with the express purpose of guiding them back to the abiding presence of that same divine Spirit. The Bible was never intended to be our guide; it is our map directing us to our Guide.

            The Bible is not absolutely necessary for our salvation or sanctification. If it were, then its authors and their predecessors would have no hope of either. We do not need to read correction daily, we need to walk in His presence constantly. Should we dispense with the scriptures then? Certainly not! Only realize that the point is to know Him and what He is doing, not just knowing about Him and what He has done. When we know well what He has done in the past we are the more able to recognize the moving of His Spirit in the present. But, rest assured, there will be no trivia challenge or memory verse recitation predicating our entrance into heaven. It’s about walking with Him in spirit and truth.

The interpretation and application of scripture

            The Bible is composed of a variety of writing types; history, poetry, prophecy, allegory, letters of exhortation, and law. In what manner should we understand scripture? That depends... History should be taken as true unless there is due cause to consider otherwise and in that case it is usually our understanding that is flawed because we have read traditional details into the report without realizing it. History comprises the main balance of scripture and is the preserved record of the eyewitnesses of their day. We can learn of God and how to walk with Him from the example of their lives. Poetry should be taken poetically, filled with word pictures and hyperbole. While poetry is woven around the events that inspired it, it is not usually meant to express historical data, but rather, convey the mood and emotion of the event and the effect on the author’s personal connectedness with God. Prophecy should always be read in the light of history, not assumed to have yet to be fulfilled. Sometimes a prophet would proclaim a divine warning, sometimes reveal secrets, and sometimes predict the future, at times with unmistakable directness, and at times in ambiguous word pictures. When it’s direct, you simply have to look for its fulfillment in the history since its authorship. When it’s a vision step one is grasping what the prophet saw, then maybe you can examine history for possible fulfillment. But, with a vision, we often miss crucial details skewing our understanding. Such as the word “like”, for example, when a prophet says he saw something that was “like” a bull, he did not see a bull, but, what he saw gave him the impression of a bull by its traits, characteristics, or emotional effect. And while it may boggle the western mind neither history nor prophecy is necessarily presented chronologically in scripture.

            Parables should be taken allegorically, focusing on the main point not examining the details of its fictional entourage. Apostolic letters are the direct application of universal Christian principles for the issues in the first century church and should be read with the purpose of grasping those principles. They should only be taken as direct when your situation parallels theirs. And the law, God’s direction for how to live before Him. From the law we learn of the divine sense of justice. While sacrifices and ordinances were fulfilled in Christ we can still draw our sense of right, wrong and responsibility from here. The point of the law has always been to reproduce the character of God into His followers. When the prophets exhort the people, they always point them back to the law. And when they pronounce judgment, it is always to a lesser degree than what the law prescribes. Mercy is not receiving your due consequence, grace is receiving an undue reward, and with God, grace and mercy are just. When we exhibit the likeness of God, our sense of justice is balanced by our desire to show mercy.

            The entirety of the Bible has always been meant to direct us to the presence of our Lord; as we are while in the flesh so we will be when freed from it, abiding in His presence or not. If we memorize every line and obey every letter but miss that point, we’ve missed it all!