What Does it Look Like?
I have never started a thread here, but I'm very interested in visiting a group of one of yours, if that's allowed. There are no organic churches in my area that I know of. I am just curious to find out what a meeting looks like.
Bonnie K. so graciously sent me four books written by Frank Viola, and I have read through the first one, called Pagan Christianity? It was a hard read for me because I was not raised in a church and didn't know what a lot of terms meant. But, it opened my eyes to how churches became what they are today. And, I learned that in Jesus' day, the church was not a building, but a body of believers called His church.
I am now reading the second book called Reimagining the Church Meeting. When I got to page 69, I read about a house church that Viola had planted. He told how it was conducted and how each member had something to share. It sounded like they were "in one accord," having learned together how to grow in their faith. It whetted my appetite to learn more, and so I was just wondering if a few of you could share with me what your meetings look like. What would I see if I visited one? Are they all like the one Frank shared? Do they meet only once a week? And, what was it about the miracle that they all seemed to be thinking about the same thing and shared that in one way or another? How did that happen? Is that really unusual in a group?
One thing Frank said on page 70, was that no one was leading or facilitating either (no human being that is). So, is it possible that God was actually leading the meeting and speaking to each member? That is really amazing.
I'm sorry I have so many questions, but I wonder, where do the children go? Do they come along? And what about a new Christian? Are there certain groups that accomodate them? And, how does one get started? Does Frank plant each one and work with them, or at least someone? I am so wanting to learn more about this. Thanx for any responses. Bonnie L.
Bonnie K. so graciously sent me four books written by Frank Viola, and I have read through the first one, called Pagan Christianity? It was a hard read for me because I was not raised in a church and didn't know what a lot of terms meant. But, it opened my eyes to how churches became what they are today. And, I learned that in Jesus' day, the church was not a building, but a body of believers called His church.
I am now reading the second book called Reimagining the Church Meeting. When I got to page 69, I read about a house church that Viola had planted. He told how it was conducted and how each member had something to share. It sounded like they were "in one accord," having learned together how to grow in their faith. It whetted my appetite to learn more, and so I was just wondering if a few of you could share with me what your meetings look like. What would I see if I visited one? Are they all like the one Frank shared? Do they meet only once a week? And, what was it about the miracle that they all seemed to be thinking about the same thing and shared that in one way or another? How did that happen? Is that really unusual in a group?
One thing Frank said on page 70, was that no one was leading or facilitating either (no human being that is). So, is it possible that God was actually leading the meeting and speaking to each member? That is really amazing.
I'm sorry I have so many questions, but I wonder, where do the children go? Do they come along? And what about a new Christian? Are there certain groups that accomodate them? And, how does one get started? Does Frank plant each one and work with them, or at least someone? I am so wanting to learn more about this. Thanx for any responses. Bonnie L.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by nannie on -
Hello Bonnie,
I am curious to see the answers to your questions.
But I'll give you a synopsis of our gathering of believers,, it's very simple; a few people sitting in our living room chatting and trusting God to lead us.
We all know and trust that what happens as we sit together is being directed by our Lord.
There is no order on who does what or says what. We have fun together and talk about our life and what happened in the past week, then someone brings up a topic that's on their mind and a discussion starts, the word of God comes out either from memory, the Bible or someone's cell phone.
Frank did not start our group. One or two people in the group have read his books.
We have 7 people, there happen to be no children in this group and I don't know how it would go with them, but we would figure it out! One young couple would like to have a child.. and in fact lost a baby last year. The rest of us are older, grandparents so a baby/child would have plenty of people around to hold and love it.
New Christians would be just fine in our group as all we do is sit and talk about faith in Christ and what it's like to live in this world as a believer. It would be an excellent place for a newbie!
We don't all think about the same thing at the same time.
We don't always agree, but if we don't then it's time to talk it out.
We have not gone through a serious disagreement however.
We've had some serious sinful habits to deal with and confront ... the men with the men.. women with women due to the nature of the sin.. it just seemed right.
We don't sing together,, none of us has felt comfortable singing.. it's just not us! Maybe we will one day.
Pray.. we do this on occasion, not mandated, not expected, only as a person has a compulsion to do so.. we want to be lead along by the power of the spirit.
We laugh!
We have a dog in the room.. and she's become a part of the group. She's not the best behaved dog either!
We have a cup of coffee, tea, some ice water or hot chocolate.. then sit down in the living room and start talking.
We're in process and I think our gathering of believers is an experiment in growing up in Jesus Christ.. what's next is very much unknown.
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Permalink Reply by Bonnie on -
That really sounds awesome, nanny! It sounds like it wouldn't be that intense to start one at my home. I mean, you don't really have to prepare that way. And you just have to trust that the Holy Spirit would lead each of you. But the majority of the people I know are not Christians, so I'd have to start out with the few Christians I know. Seriously, I wouldn't mind doing that, except, being new at it myself, I would just have to trust in discernment to be at work in believing everything being said was not from the IC. I thing I will take it slower and learn more before I entertain that thought though.
Yeah, it would be great if I could go to a few first, but I have not found any in my area yet. Thanx for the response.
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Permalink Reply by nannie on
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bonnie,
some nights there are only 3 or 4 of us. the most we've had is 8.. If you have a couple of Christians who will meet with you at first then you could present your idea and desire to be together.
We have NO preparation!
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Permalink Reply by nannie on
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Our kids stopped by while I was typing my last comment so I had to stop.
Yes I do have prep... I make coffee and set out ice water and tea bags.
For our gathering (and that's what we call our time together the "Gathering") children could be in the room or in another room playing. The parents would be a bit distracted listening and wondering what they were doing.
Children would be welcome to be in the room with us but not taking over and being the center of attention.
What a wonderful experience for a child to grow up around people who meet for the sole purpose of talking about their Savior and worshipping Him.
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Permalink Reply by john cooper on -
I just would like to say i'm new to the organic church movement also
i can say it is so refreshing that God allows us to be free in expression of our worship
he gives us songs to sing about and to Him. We all in our family acknowledge that Christ is the bridegroom and we are the bride so he is the head or the husband of this marraige whose resposibility is to protect us and to teach us his ways
as a husband does to his wife here on earth or is supposed to.
our meetings start with a coming together and praying that jesus will come and direct the worship. in that direction
someone will have a song, someone will have a word from scripture that God has given through the Holy Spirit.
someone might testify about something that happened during the week. I think everyone should be able totestify if they have truly sought the Lord that week as he wants to show us that he is in control of all things in our life if we allow him to do so.
if everyone is truly seeking Christ on a daily basis their hearts will be so full that they will want to share his outpouring
hope you can find an organic church to plug into or learn how to start one
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Permalink Reply by Alice Blackwelder on
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Our gathering meets every other Saturday from 4pm to whenever. We begin every meeting with a meal. Everyone brings something to share. Its wonderful how we get together and the conversation flows around the dining room table. At some point in the late afternoon we make a phone call to a couple we know out in AZ who have no fellowship, and we conference call a time of sharing with them. As someone else shared, our conversation is sometimes the tool the Lord uses to guide us where He wants us to go. Our times together are sooooo different from one time to another. Sometimes we end up singing and worshipping; having wonderful prayer times, etc. and some weeks we spend the whole time around the table talking.
After a while we may go into the living room and talk more, or watch a DVD. Currently we are watching a teaching on end-times which is about 45 minutes long and then we have a REAL discussion. Most times the last person leaves around midnight! My husband and I love it! One couple drive 1 1/2 hours to get to our house. Others are close by.
We don't do anything differently than we would had we just invited these people over for dinner and to hangout. But because we are all on the same page (as far as really wanting to have the reality of relationship with God in our lives) Holy Spirit moves in, upon, and through us and we end up with a wonderfully new level of relationship with Him and each other every time. We sometimes have little kids present, and they just continue being little kids, playing in the floor or sitting on someone's lap, up and down, up and down, etc. I can assure you the early church believers did not send their children off somewhere so they could have "church".
Even when we were in the IC we kept our children with us. They would play quietly with small toys, look at books, color pictures, etc. but were always present. Even if their minds are not mature enough to understand all that is said, or happens, their spirit is able to receive it all and benefit from it. Should you have a parent who does not have, or know how to properly discipline their children, it is a wonderful opportunity to lovingly step in and give some instruction simply by doing (offering the child something to do, and encouraging them to share). I think you would be amazed at some of the things that have come out of the kids' mouths that were absolutely right on words from God. I love it when that happens.
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