Home Ekklesia Gatherings

Sons to Glory! · 01-14-2021, 12:26 PM

I've been intrigued lately by the house church idea. Of course, WL promoted this as the way going forward in the 1990s. But, often it seems the free flow of the Spirit was curtailed with the exclusive focus on Lee's ministry in many of these gatherings. Some who were really enjoying a very lively and fresh experience of the Lord in the home gatherings, like Henry Hon, were eventually given the ol' LC boot. Why? Because they wouldn't come under the exclusive control of the LSM ministry. (some in these gatherings were actually not from the LC, and therefore knew little about it)

In these days, many are seeking a pure way to gather that is not focused on any ministry. Focusing on a ministry is often a precursor for division, as people start to be measured by some agreement with the ministry or other standard. Our only focus, of course, should be Christ alone. And the recent situation with the virus thing has caused many large churches to shutdown or discontinue many regular, organized gatherings. Therefore, it seems there may be a lot more of the house-to-house fellowship now and/or in the near future.

So I'm curious - is anybody out there gathering from house to house now? And if so, what is your experience? Other general thoughts about this type of gathering is certainly welcome too.

Sons to Glory! · 01-17-2021, 07:45 AM

Actually, just reread this initial post and realized the time WL first introduced the home meetings was in the 1980s, not the 1990s.

countmeworthy · 01-17-2021, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Actually, just reread this initial post and realized the time WL first introduced the home meetings was in the 1980s, not the 1990s.

Uhh... I left around 1978/79 and we had already started home meetings in San Diego. We met at the main meeting hall once a month. The home meetings were ok..but I did not like that we were assigned where to meet. I felt I could only fellowship with those in my area.

I do prefer home meetings/bible studies over “going to church”. But once in a while large gatherings can be beneficial imho.

Many who have left the LC now attend a denomination or nondenominational church. I myself immersed myself in a charismatic/ word of faith church. While I grew in faith, after 6yrs of being a loyal attendee, tithing and donating etc.. the Holy Spirit of God began showing me things that kept raising red flag after red flag. (I even posted here on this forum at the beginning of my attendance my “positive” experience of attending “church”.)

I have been attending a small bible study for a few years now composed of people of some who go to church (different denominations ) and some who don’t go to church (like me).

Because of covid, we rarely meet anymore but do stay in touch. I am content and at peace with my personal bible studies, prayer life and my spiritual walk with the Lord.

Hope everyone is doing well.
...Carol

Awoken · 01-17-2021, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countmeworthy

Many who have left the LC now attend a denomination or nondenominational church. I myself immersed myself in a charismatic/ word of faith church. While I grew in faith, after 6yrs of being a loyal attendee, tithing and donating etc.. the Holy Spirit of God began showing me things that kept raising red flag after red flag. (I even posted here on this forum at the beginning of my attendance my “positive” experience of attending “church”.)

Good on you Carol. I watched some videos on the charismatic/Word of Faith stuff, definitely some red flags there.

Like you, I have left the LC and I'm currently praying for the Lord to link my wife and I up with a group of believers in our area. Home meetings would be great, breaking bread together, just having a church in a house... but I don't know what the Lord will do so we're trying to stay open to His leading.

One thing a brother shared with me recently via a Zoom home meeting (not LC, we attended with some others in a different state) that I really appreciated is that with a lot of groups you see that they have stressed one aspect or another of the Trinity way too much while leaving the others as kind of a second thought, and that may have resulted in some serious issues. For example in modern/"mainstream" Christianity there is a huge focus on the Son and being redeemed, but where is the fear of God and trembling we should have in front of the Father? Where is the respect for God the Father's holy nature and absolute power and authority? Or in the charismatic movement (of which I'd say the LC is a part), there is a lot of (over)-emphasis on the Spirit, to the point that it starts going in weird directions because people aren't being like the Bereans and seriously examining their ideas and practices against the measuring stick of the Scriptures.

Anyway, I also feel like we should all remember even this is "church". Christians dialoguing with Christians openly and in spirit/following the Spirit, even just via text online, is still church. And if anyone here is looking for a home church or Christians to meet with in their locality/area and needs prayer, please send me a message, I'd love if we could pray with/for each other. I agree with Sons to Glory that house churches... I mean, during this pandemic, it just kind of makes sense. In the Local Churches such a huge deal was made out of "taking the ground", but I don't know why my wife and I can't just break bread on a Sunday and have a home church time (if we don't have others to meet with yet, which would be better) or join others via Zoom and do the same. Jesus didn't exactly lay out a huge bunch of rules regarding how to do the Lord's Supper, it was just "do this in remembrance of Me"...

Sons to Glory! · 01-17-2021, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by countmeworthy

Uhh... I left around 1978/79 and we had already started home meetings in San Diego. We met at the main meeting hall once a month. The home meetings were ok..but I did not like that we were assigned where to meet. I felt I could only fellowship with those in my area.

...Carol

Wow - you were "assigned where to meet!" I think the hallmark of the LC home meetings were a lot of control. Although I get the idea in some localities that control was not as strong. But eventually, LSM can't seem to help but come in with a heavy hand . . . One of the key characteristics of the genuine home ekklesia is the freedom from any ministry and oneness with all believers. Once man's regulations and control comes in, I think the Lord takes a back seat and then things start to get divisive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Awoken

Anyway, I also feel like we should all remember even this is "church". Christians dialoguing with Christians openly and in spirit/following the Spirit, even just via text online, is still church. And if anyone here is looking for a home church or Christians to meet with in their locality/area and needs prayer, please send me a message, I'd love if we could pray with/for each other. I agree with Sons to Glory that house churches... I mean, during this pandemic, it just kind of makes sense. In the Local Churches such a huge deal was made out of "taking the ground", but I don't know why my wife and I can't just break bread on a Sunday and have a home church time (if we don't have others to meet with yet, which would be better) or join others via Zoom and do the same. Jesus didn't exactly lay out a huge bunch of rules regarding how to do the Lord's Supper, it was just "do this in remembrance of Me"...

I haven't actually been practicing the house ekklesia in Scottsdale. Our gatherings are pretty small any way, and it is quite open . . . like a family really. Plus I meet with a handful of brothers for intimate fellowship and prayer weekly (and maybe go out to dinner), and a little larger group of us of around 15 meet for fellowship and breakfast weekly. I also frequently do church maintenance on Saturday with a different handful of believers, and the fellowship and singing beforehand is always sweet. Much of this is centered around our church property buildings, but I sorta feel like we have a taste of the home church idea already. (and we also get over to one another's homes from time to time) I know we could move into a total house-to-house mode without much effort, if the need arose.

And I completely agree with you that there aren't a bunch of rules for doing this! No reason you can't just break bread and remember what He has done for us - the simpler the better I think.

Sons to Glory! · 01-25-2021, 12:05 PM

I was invited to a Zoom meeting by Henry Hon last week, which I was not able to attend, but am now watching a recording of it. On it about 20 participated, who consisted of ex-LC leaders and members, and people who've had nothing to do with the LC. In this meeting, everyone shared about their experience with home ekklesia - just gathering with other believers apart from any ministry. Many wonderful stories about how awesome the fellowship and oneness is, when the gatherings are 100% centered around Christ and not any particular teachings or practices!

One brother shared how the cross must be at work in us, in these gatherings, in order to enjoy real fellowship in oneness with those adhering to various teachings or practices! As I've fellowshipped with different Christians who participate in various ministries, this has definitely been my experience too . . . I have to drop my preferences to enjoy genuine fellowship.

Another one (an ex-LC leader; I don't know if I'm at liberty to give his name) shared how he found a group of Christians in Missouri, who had just come together in a simple way to share Christ with one another. They were not part of any other group or ministry, and simply accepted anyone who was a believer. Their fellowship thrived and grew. Then someone started meeting with them who was a seminary graduate. This one told the group, "You have one thing missing - a pastor!" So this one started pastoring the group. Before long, this thriving fellowship generally disintegrated.

Henry shared how a prominent minister recently said in a video that home gatherings must exclude those who are lukewarm (I saw that video too). Henry said that this is an exclusionary "rule" that cannot be found in scripture. If we start "discerning" who is lukewarm or not, then we start adhering to a teaching that leads to division. (and who is to judge if someone else is lukewarm or not?) I agree with this.

Anyway, it was quite an enjoyable Zoom meeting to watch, and I hope I can participate in the next one. If Henry thinks it's okay, I'll post the link to it on here. (but because of some sensitivity to ex-LCers present in the video, he might think it isn't a good idea)

Sons to Glory! · 02-09-2021, 12:51 PM

For anyone interested, the Zoom meeting I mentioned in the last post is on the One Body Life website here: Zoom Meeting sharing about Ekklesia & home gatherings

JorgeP · 07-14-2021, 04:35 AM

Greetings brethren,

because this matter of the church in the house is of great importance to me, let me share my experience in the ekklesia. You can also check in the post I did sharing my story and experience and you will see that much of it, I would say almost all of it was within the wonderful environment of the ekklesia. As a new convert I had the blessing of going into house to house church meetings, so I can share from the point of view of a new convert until today.

First of all I can testify before the Lord that the house church meetings are the best thing I have been able to experience corporately. It is simply wonderful. First of all because the Bible clearly reveals it in 1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5; Philemon. 2; Col. 4:15 that the brethren met as the house church. The freedom we have as believers to meet by the houses is wonderful. We can all attend, we can all participate, we can all speak, we can all function, we can all serve. The house meetings are so profitable, practical, useful and edifying that in a short time the meeting that began in mid-2010 in Cabudare, Venezuela, (I started attending in late 2012), reached a point where we were actively meeting several times a week and then to a spectacular climate where we met almost every day.

The Word, the Spirit, the person of Christ as the center of the meeting, the freedom to praise according to the revelation we have of Him according to His Word, the prayers, the spiritual songs, the practical coordination, the brotherly love, the practical service to one another, the relationships in practical and human life. Simply wonderful. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a way to really live in harmony as brothers. Certainly harmony is produced by Christ within us because He is the harmonious one, plus the house meetings produce and give the freedom to be able to live Christ corporately together with His humanity among the brethren.

The physical sphere is important and crucial for the Lord. It is so important that one day God became man, with a physical body. He lived a human life, congregating in the houses. The blessed almighty and eternal God became man, with a physical body and congregated in the houses (The house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the house of Matthew, the house of Sachaeus, the house of Simon, and others) He also visited people in the houses to save them, heal them, preach to them, minister to them, deliver them. He also sent His disciple two by two and from house to house to announce the kingdom of God. He went through death and resurrection and resurrected, He still has a physical body and we see this clearly at the end of John's gospel.

Another aspect that I could enjoy in the house meetings is the enjoyment that we can have of the brethren in their humanity. Because we are men with humanity and a physical body, we have the need to meet physically. I really do not change this for a virtual online life, because I am not a robot or a machine, I need to congregate physically with my brothers. I really miss the house meetings. I hope that the Lord will give me here soon a group of brothers willing to practice the ekklesia by the houses and re-experience the wonderful corporate life that the Lord presents in His Word and experience in practice the brotherly love, the fellowship of eternal life among the brothers and live what the Lord has prepared for us for eternity, to live together with Him in harmony forever.

01-14-2021, 12:26 PM	#1
Sons to Glory! Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 2,617	Home Ekklesia Gatherings I've been intrigued lately by the house church idea. Of course, WL promoted this as the way going forward in the 1990s. But, often it seems the free flow of the Spirit was curtailed with the exclusive focus on Lee's ministry in many of these gatherings. Some who were really enjoying a very lively and fresh experience of the Lord in the home gatherings, like Henry Hon, were eventually given the ol' LC boot. Why? Because they wouldn't come under the exclusive control of the LSM ministry. (some in these gatherings were actually not from the LC, and therefore knew little about it) In these days, many are seeking a pure way to gather that is not focused on any ministry. Focusing on a ministry is often a precursor for division, as people start to be measured by some agreement with the ministry or other standard. Our only focus, of course, should be Christ alone. And the recent situation with the virus thing has caused many large churches to shutdown or discontinue many regular, organized gatherings. Therefore, it seems there may be a lot more of the house-to-house fellowship now and/or in the near future. So I'm curious - is anybody out there gathering from house to house now? And if so, what is your experience? Other general thoughts about this type of gathering is certainly welcome too. __________________ LC Berkeley 70s; LC Columbus OH 80s; An Ekklesia in Scottsdale 98-now Praise the Lord - HE'S GOT THIS! Last edited by Sons to Glory!; 01-14-2021 at 05:53 PM.

01-17-2021, 07:45 AM	#2
Sons to Glory! Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 2,617	Re: Home Ekklesia Gatherings Actually, just reread this initial post and realized the time WL first introduced the home meetings was in the 1980s, not the 1990s. __________________ LC Berkeley 70s; LC Columbus OH 80s; An Ekklesia in Scottsdale 98-now Praise the Lord - HE'S GOT THIS!

01-25-2021, 12:05 PM	#6
Sons to Glory! Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 2,617	Re: Home Ekklesia Gatherings I was invited to a Zoom meeting by Henry Hon last week, which I was not able to attend, but am now watching a recording of it. On it about 20 participated, who consisted of ex-LC leaders and members, and people who've had nothing to do with the LC. In this meeting, everyone shared about their experience with home ekklesia - just gathering with other believers apart from any ministry. Many wonderful stories about how awesome the fellowship and oneness is, when the gatherings are 100% centered around Christ and not any particular teachings or practices! One brother shared how the cross must be at work in us, in these gatherings, in order to enjoy real fellowship in oneness with those adhering to various teachings or practices! As I've fellowshipped with different Christians who participate in various ministries, this has definitely been my experience too . . . I have to drop my preferences to enjoy genuine fellowship. Another one (an ex-LC leader; I don't know if I'm at liberty to give his name) shared how he found a group of Christians in Missouri, who had just come together in a simple way to share Christ with one another. They were not part of any other group or ministry, and simply accepted anyone who was a believer. Their fellowship thrived and grew. Then someone started meeting with them who was a seminary graduate. This one told the group, "You have one thing missing - a pastor!" So this one started pastoring the group. Before long, this thriving fellowship generally disintegrated. Henry shared how a prominent minister recently said in a video that home gatherings must exclude those who are lukewarm (I saw that video too). Henry said that this is an exclusionary "rule" that cannot be found in scripture. If we start "discerning" who is lukewarm or not, then we start adhering to a teaching that leads to division. (and who is to judge if someone else is lukewarm or not?) I agree with this. Anyway, it was quite an enjoyable Zoom meeting to watch, and I hope I can participate in the next one. If Henry thinks it's okay, I'll post the link to it on here. (but because of some sensitivity to ex-LCers present in the video, he might think it isn't a good idea) __________________ LC Berkeley 70s; LC Columbus OH 80s; An Ekklesia in Scottsdale 98-now Praise the Lord - HE'S GOT THIS!

02-09-2021, 12:51 PM	#7
Sons to Glory! Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Scottsdale, AZ Posts: 2,617	Re: Home Ekklesia Gatherings For anyone interested, the Zoom meeting I mentioned in the last post is on the One Body Life website here: Zoom Meeting sharing about Ekklesia & home gatherings __________________ LC Berkeley 70s; LC Columbus OH 80s; An Ekklesia in Scottsdale 98-now Praise the Lord - HE'S GOT THIS!

07-14-2021, 04:35 AM	#8
JorgeP Member Join Date: Apr 2021 Posts: 21	Re: Home Ekklesia Gatherings Greetings brethren, because this matter of the church in the house is of great importance to me, let me share my experience in the ekklesia. You can also check in the post I did sharing my story and experience and you will see that much of it, I would say almost all of it was within the wonderful environment of the ekklesia. As a new convert I had the blessing of going into house to house church meetings, so I can share from the point of view of a new convert until today. First of all I can testify before the Lord that the house church meetings are the best thing I have been able to experience corporately. It is simply wonderful. First of all because the Bible clearly reveals it in 1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5; Philemon. 2; Col. 4:15 that the brethren met as the house church. The freedom we have as believers to meet by the houses is wonderful. We can all attend, we can all participate, we can all speak, we can all function, we can all serve. The house meetings are so profitable, practical, useful and edifying that in a short time the meeting that began in mid-2010 in Cabudare, Venezuela, (I started attending in late 2012), reached a point where we were actively meeting several times a week and then to a spectacular climate where we met almost every day. The Word, the Spirit, the person of Christ as the center of the meeting, the freedom to praise according to the revelation we have of Him according to His Word, the prayers, the spiritual songs, the practical coordination, the brotherly love, the practical service to one another, the relationships in practical and human life. Simply wonderful. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a way to really live in harmony as brothers. Certainly harmony is produced by Christ within us because He is the harmonious one, plus the house meetings produce and give the freedom to be able to live Christ corporately together with His humanity among the brethren. The physical sphere is important and crucial for the Lord. It is so important that one day God became man, with a physical body. He lived a human life, congregating in the houses. The blessed almighty and eternal God became man, with a physical body and congregated in the houses (The house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the house of Matthew, the house of Sachaeus, the house of Simon, and others) He also visited people in the houses to save them, heal them, preach to them, minister to them, deliver them. He also sent His disciple two by two and from house to house to announce the kingdom of God. He went through death and resurrection and resurrected, He still has a physical body and we see this clearly at the end of John's gospel. Another aspect that I could enjoy in the house meetings is the enjoyment that we can have of the brethren in their humanity. Because we are men with humanity and a physical body, we have the need to meet physically. I really do not change this for a virtual online life, because I am not a robot or a machine, I need to congregate physically with my brothers. I really miss the house meetings. I hope that the Lord will give me here soon a group of brothers willing to practice the ekklesia by the houses and re-experience the wonderful corporate life that the Lord presents in His Word and experience in practice the brotherly love, the fellowship of eternal life among the brothers and live what the Lord has prepared for us for eternity, to live together with Him in harmony forever.