House Church Talk - Re: Belated input on Local Church thread

[Thomas Shou]

Dear saints, 

I wrote this (see below) a while back ago and still hold to this vision of the local church, one local expression of His Body in each city comprised of ALL believers there, those meeting at home and not. Yes, the term is NOT in the Scriptures, but examples abound everywhere! MOST importantly I have learned these years, is that the raising up of such a beautiful, singular expression of His church Body in each locale MUST be the work of His Spirit among his local children, and so must the gathering of those whom He has placed a vision/desire to just Be the church where they live. That said, the woeful truth and practice of most local believers where I am, incl my family : ( ... is that such a vision, conviction, boldness to BE the church where you are is a rare indeed....and those local, nearest to us, are NOT meeting with us : ( -- there's even a little chinese church bldg rt next door to us.....just yesterday my younger bro who goes to vineyard asked me when are you gonna break down
 and join the local vineyard.... the reality of what the Lord has done in the past is actually those quite afar have been more than willing to get in their cars and drive great distances to meet with us because they hunger for the spiritual food and reality and freedom among us! 

Bottom line, meeting this way is certainly NOT some form/wineskin we dare impose on God's children from outside; if His Spirit is not IN it -- working in the INSIDE invisibly and unseen in the hearts of those He gathers/builds together to Be His church, it is a lifeless/formulaic shell. See a LIVE example below of His work in villages in China! When His Spirit authors the work, no price is too high for the obedient.

-Thomas meeting as the Ekklesia in Palo Alto, CA

 

" I think when we talk about defining "locale" when meeting in our various homes as the one local church/expression of the Lord's Body in that locale, it is important that we don't become too legalistic about defining "locale", such as excluding others who are not in our specific locale or those who do not share the so-called "local(e) ground" vision or truth with us! How damaging this practice is! The vision and practice of meeting as local churches as we see in the NT should Always promote unity & love among ALL His people and we should Always make EVERY effort to keep the inherent unity of His Spirit in the bond of peace. ( Eph 4) If our practice is causing just the opposite among the Body - disunity, division, elitist/closed in-grown communities - then we must soberly re-examine our vision and practice before the Lord! 

That being said, I personally believe that just as we simply meet around our risen Lord in our homes and house2house as our local church life grows, I believe that we should be equally simple and uncomplicated in our faith about simply meeting from city to city, as the church in each city -- as we see clearly in the NT. The city unit should be our local boundary or "locale", as long as its possible. Why complicate the boundary of locality/locale practiced by the early saints? Even if the city is a huge metropolis like LA, SF, why can't we meet simply from house 2 house as hundreds of interrelated house meetings (NOT indep "house churches" - that would cause the Body to be even more divided faster than ever before!!! ) in that large city, like the large local churches in Jerusalem, Rome, Corinth, etc.

The exception to city as "locale" would be in rural areas like in PRC, where there may be no nearby cities per se, but villages, small towns, hamlets, etc. In those cases, all the redeemed could meet as the church in that town, village, etc. That seems to be such a natural work of the Sp among His Body wherever His people are gathered.

I will conclude with a story of how I met a young 3-self pastor/farmer (!) who secretly would go to visit a circuit of village churches in rural Yunnan each year, ministering to them. Once a month, these village churches would gather for a larger region-wide mtg celebration! All these local village churches were simply raised up by the work of native missionaries like himself or foreign missionaries many years earlier! I was excited to see a real indigenous Sp-led example of the local (village) church model there. It was such a natural or supernatural work of His Sp there! And these churches had no direct relationship with the "Little Flock" and Nee's teachings.....I Jn 2:27

HC saints, are there any of you out there whose HC has grown, meeting house2 house, and has a vision and desire to practice simply meeting as a city-wide local church there?? Love to hear your feedback and stories!"

-Brother Thomas


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