House Church Talk - speaking, JL

[Travis Wales]

Greetings Bruce,

Thank you for the warm welcome.  Unfortunately, I am unable to participate
much in these type of discussions.  My time is fairly well spent in the day
to day / face to face walking out of what the Lord has called me to.  This
is both spent in the company and fellowship of the brethren and in the
interacting with many across this state (California).

As for answering your questions, it is basically fruitless for me to walk
through each point systematically without you being among us.  There is
some basic foundational information about the saints here and the community
here that you might find helpful.  First, Springville is a small town in the
foothills of the Sierra's.  There are only about 1000 people in the town of
Springville.  Also, when I said that there were 10 families walking together
here, that didn't include other families that gather with us weekly.  There
are times that 20 + families (Over 100 saints) gather together at our
gatherings on Sunday.  Anyway, I hope that gives you a little better picture
of the saints here and the community here.

Also when we are walking/engaging/exhorting/admonishing daily, we are not
all together in one place.  This is happening without any pre-determined
schedule or plan.  Different saints interact daily but rarely are all the
local saints in one place at one time.  It is definitely a distinctive
meeting that we would refer to the gathering as.

Overall, I am not here trying to persuade you concerning the things that the
Lord has/is doing here.  Also, I am not saying that we have it all figured
out.  I am simply sharing with you what the Lord is doing here.  May the
Lord bless you and keep you.

Blessings in the Almighty, Righteous, True, Loving, Gentle, and Good
Shepherd.

In HIM,
- Travis

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Woodford" <bwood4d at hotmail.com>
To: <House Church Talk  at housechurch.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2004 2:27 PM
Subject: Re: House Church Talk -  speaking, JL


> Hi Travis,
>
> It is indeed good to hear from you! Hope you'll join in on a regular basis
> and participate in some of the ongoing discussions here!
>
> Concerning your gatherings there in Springville, you wrote:"The saints
here
> are not burdened with legalism.  Their are many obvious diversities among
us
> that any and all visitors are able to percieve quickly. We walk in
different
> understandings of: aspects of the Lord's Supper, head coverings, the
> doctrines of grace, etc, etc, etc.  The saints here love the Lord
> individually and corporately.  Most of the saints among us here are in one
> another's homes daily.  We are exhorting one another day to day as we walk
> together daily.  That is one of the reasons why a weekly gathering that
the
> sisters remain silent in, is not a stifiling at all.  Because the sisters
> are constantly exercizing their gifts here, we are all mutually edified in
> our walks together around the Lord."
>
> I am trying to get an accurate understanding of how you all view the
church
> there in Springville. Would you mind seeking to answer some questions in
> that regard relative to I Cor14?
>
> -I am assuming that the sisters have complete liberty to participate
vocally
> in the daily gatherings, but simply remain silent during the weekly Sunday
> gathering (or part of it). Is that correct?
>
> -You mentioned that among the ten families which gather there are a
variety
> of understandings on such things as the Lord's Supper, headcoverings, the
> doctrines of grace etc.  I'm assuming that folks do not get upset with
each
> other if some sisters wear head coverings and others do not. Am I correct?
> What if two families out of the ten understood the "whole church" context
of
> I Cor 14 applied to community wide gatherings of the saints in Springville
> and thus those two wives felt they were at liberty to participate vocally
in
> your Sunday house church gatherings?  What would happen?
> Would they be permitted to function acording to their understanding of
> scripture?
>
> -Do you consider the daily times of exhorting one another in each others'
> homes to be times of assembling yourselves together as in Hebrews
10:24,25?
> Do you consider these times together as "church" or "church gatherings"?
>
> -We know that the early saints met daily to break bread and exhort one
> another (Acts 2:46 and Hebrews 3:13), but do you know of any scriptural
> evidence that they had a weekly gathering that was different in any
respect
> to those daily gatherings?
>
> -Are there times at your weekly events, when all ten families are
together,
> when the sisters do converse and are not silent?
>
> -Are there times, when all ten families are together and all but one
family
> are away from their own homes, when the sisters would be free to ask their
> husbands questions?
>
> -If an apostle (like Paul) were to write a letter (like I Corinthians) to
> the church of God at Springville, i.e. to all that were sanctified in
Christ
> Jesus, and then addressed the subject of "the whole church gathering
> together in one place", how many saints do you think the writer would have
> in mind?
>
> -Do  you think that the ten families in your house church would comprise
> "the whole church" that the writer had in mind?
>
> -If  ten families (a subset of the totality of believers in Springville)
> gathered together on Sunday comprises "the whole church", would not 2 or 3
> families (also a subset of the totality of believers in Springville)
> gathered together on a Tuesday evening also comprise "the whole church"??
>
> I guess, in short, I am asking ....how do you and the others with whom you
> gather determine what is a whole church gathering and what is not?  Is
this
> determination the basis on which you determine when the sisters are to be
> silent?
>
> I hope you can help me as I am having difficulty grasping how you relate I
> Cor 14:34 and 35 to the weekly gathering of ten families in Springville.
>
> Your brother in Christ,
> Bruce
>
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