Many people today understand the church as a building. This is not a biblical understanding of the church. The word “church” comes from the Greek word ekklesia which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones.” The root meaning of “church” is not that of a building, but of people.

The church is the body of Christ, of which He is the head. Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” The body of Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) until Christ’s return.

The church is not a building or a denomination. According to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ — all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation (John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

Early Church

Lifestyle

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42 NASB)

Participatory meetings

“What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” (1 Cor. 14:26 NASB; see also Colossians 3:16, Heb. 10:24-25)

Meeting in homes

“Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house.” 1 Cor. 16:19

Romans 16:5 –  Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

Acts 20:20 – how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house

Colossians 4:15 – Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea, and Nymphas and the church that is in his[a] house.

Philemon 1:2- to the beloved[a] Apphia, Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:

Networking through Apostles

“After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” (Acts 15:36)

Occasional Large Group Meetings

“I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20 [NASB])

Jesus model – Christ Our Cornerstone

Ephesians 2:19-22   Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. ” For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:20 [NIV])

Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith – our role model

Churches need to develop elders and deacons who serve the members as overseers, not a ruling hierarchy by being examples (patterns and models of Christian living) to the flock (the congregation). And then when the Chief Shepherd is revealed, we will win the conqueror’s crown of glory

Churches need to become “an assembly” of “called-out ones” one that is not that of a building, but of people. Church buildings today tend to lock Christians away from meaningful contact with their communities. Far from promoting the faith by being “visible” they mark the places for unbelievers to avoid! (Try inviting one in!)

Jesus’ ministry seems to be about 40% in homes, 40% in informal gatherings in the open country or city courtyards, and maybe 20% in synagogues.

Going through Mark’s Gospel we find Jesus:

• Healing Peter’s mother-in-law at the family residence (Mark 1:29).
• Healing a paralytic via a hole in some poor soul’s roof (Mark 2:10)
• Saving a bunch of crooked tax collectors at Levi’s place (Mark 2:15)
• Getting mobbed and nearly “certified” over a meal (Mark 3:20)
• Healing a 12-year-old girl in her bedroom (Mark 5:42)
• Telling the disciples to do home—based evangelism (Mark 6:10)
• Having his lunch interrupted by accusing Pharisees (Mark 7:2)
• Delivering a Greek girl from demons in a home in Tyre (Mark 7:24).
• Teaching the disciples humility in a Capernaum house (Mark 9:32).
• Giving revolutionary teaching on marriage in a home (Mark 10:10)
• Preparing for his last week at Lazarus’ villa in Bethany (Mark 11:1)
• Being anointed by a sinful woman at Simons dwelling (Mark 14:3)
• Instituting breaking of bread in a Jerusalem home (Mark 14:14).
• Enjoying a post resurrection meal at a disciple’s place (Mark 16:12).
• Reuniting with the eleven in their locked-up home (Mark 16:14).
• Returning at last to his Father’s House (Mark 16:19).

The synagogue should not be seen as the forerunner of church life. Rather than being a model for the early church, synagogues were the hub of corrupt practice where Jesus confronted the religious establishment with true spiritual vitality. In the Gospel according to Mark we find Jesus:

• Upsetting the service expelling demons from a member (Mark 1:26).
• Chasing more demons from the Galilean synagogues (Mark 1:39).
• Having a contract put out on him for a Sabbath healing (Mark 3:1).
• Surviving a death attempt in Nazareth (Mark 6:2, see also Luke).
• Condemning the pride inherent in synagogue worship (Mark 12:39).
• Warning disciples they would be flogged in synagogues (Mark 13:9).

These facts should at least bring into question our love of special buildings, formal seating, organized meetings and even the sacrosanct regular Sunday meetings.

Summary

In Cochin and Ooty, I am making efforts to have a good mixture of both the large group meetings as well as the home meetings. The group meetings consists of disciples.  The disciples  hold weekly meetings at home, asking them to invite those in their circles, to have a meal and to share the Gospel. The home meetings are often people who barely know Jesus, with the majority being those who do not come, or would not come, to the weekly gathering of disciples.

This is not the same as “cell groups”. Cell groups mainly involve re-gathering of those who gather in the Sunday worship.

I initiated this in January 2010. We have at least two families coming to home meetings who do not feel that they are ready to come to the gathering of disciples. Though I am not present in these meetings, I answer questions that they could not find answers to, I help out in the word of God when needed, and pray. If there are issues that need personal prayer, then I go to their homes and pray, and when the Lord follows through with the miracles, those families then come for the weekly meetings of the disciples. They in turn start home meetings of their own to reach out to their circle of influence when they are ready.

I am learning as I go along. I am hoping to develop and exemplify

1. Sincerity – What you see is what you get, no hype.
2. Friendship – True friendship and brotherly bonds are developed.
3. Discipleship – Paul said “imitate me” 1 Corinthians 4:16 & 1 Corinthians 11:1 He could say this because people really knew him – not by attending his seminars, but because he lived and exercised his ministry in and around people’s homes. Loving attitudes are observed and copied, problems are visible and can be gently taught into. It helps explain why hospitality is a non-negotiable qualification for church leadership in Scriptures.
4. Mission – Gospel is unfettered, Brother Yun, in his astounding account of the Chinese Underground Church contends: “God has not only refined us in the fire of affliction for the past thirty years, He has also refined our methods. For example, we’re totally committed to planting groups of local believers who meet in homes. We have no desire to build a church building anywhere! This allows the gospel to spread rapidly, is harder for the authorities to detect, and allow us to channel resources directly into gospel ministry.”
5. Stewardship – In a related point, we need to question how much of kingdom money is eaten up by church building and maintenance. The physical needs of the worldwide church are immense, as is the need to fund mission to unreached people groups. Yet the scandalous fact is 90 percent of Christian money is spent on the world’s richest 10 percent (USA, Western Europe and Australasia). This money is split between buildings and staff. Many new churches have tired of the inconvenience of setting up in hired halls and spending vast amounts on edifices.
6. Locality - Imagine if we could seek out people in our neighborhoods. Imagine those groups meeting regularly and committing to serve and reach the people they live among. Imagine groups like these meeting with others for a monthly celebration, for envisioning, teaching and encouragement. It is a trend worth encouraging surely, and more reminiscent of New Testament method than the remote central church model we’re stuck with now.
7. An atmosphere where newcomers are welcome: There is a perceived problem here. Some people feel that newcomers would be loath to visit a meeting a house. Our experience has shown that, as long as a person has been befriended beforehand, he will quickly feel relaxed in a home meeting.

Solomon wrote, “The heavens, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built.”8 Yet for a time, God chose to set his presence in a physical place. But when Jesus died the temple curtain was violently ripped into two.

The temple is now replaced by groups of believers being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. The Bible could not be clearer, “The Lord of heaven and earth. . . does not live in temples built by hands.  Instead as Peter explains you, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house. One of the most dominant New Testament pictures used to describe the church is that of a “household,” God’s household.

Scriptural language is replete with the language of family, “brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, devotion, love, help, care..eating… .” It figures that the most natural setting for this “household” is—you’ve guessed it—a house! And it was easy to see how the sense of family, and sharing of life and discipleship by example happened naturally in this most informal of environments.

After all, we all meet at  “The Father’s House”.

Prayer is not a somber serious event that one does in formal clothing, but it is for me my communication with my father in heaven who is God. I do this both in known languages and in unknown tongues. It gets me access to and makes available to my life the very power that created heaven and earth.

“He will call upon me, and I will answer him… and show him my salvation” (Ps 91:15,16). The time we spend with the Lord in prayer can release the most dynamic, history-changing power this world has ever shown.

The Bible describes many different operations of prayer, but in this lesson we are going to look at prayer as an individual first. Our prayer as a Body together can only be as strong as our personal time with the Lord.

A. THE SECRET PLACE

“But when you pray, go into your most private room, and closing the door, pray to your Father who is secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you in the open” (Matt 6:6 amp).

We have been invited into intimate prayer by none other than the Lord Himself. This kind of “secret” prayer presupposes and ensures:

1. The Right Motives (Matt 6:5)
2. A Right Relationship With God As Father (Luke 11:11-13)
3. A Real Trust In The Lord (Ps 55:16,17)
4. A dispensing Of False Fronts (Mark 7:6,7)

As we express our feelings and burdens in conversation with God, it can be in the form of adoration (Ps 34:1-4), confession (1 Jn 1:9), request (Matt 7:7), or thanksgiving (Eph 5:4-20.

B. FIVE COMMANDS RELATED TO PRAYER

1. Watch And Pray Always

“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (luke 21:36). See also Mark 13:35-37).

2. Pray Lest You Fall Into Temptation
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matt 26:41).

3. Pray for Workers
“He told them. ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. As the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”‘ (Luke 10:2).

4. Pray For Those In authority
‘I urge, then, first of all that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim 2:1,2).

5. Pray For Your Enemies
“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28)

C. WHEN TO PRAY

The Bible gives many examples of people who prayed (1 Chr 4:10). Many of the heroes of faith can be observed to have had regular times of the day set aside specifically for prayer, often three set periods a day – at morning, noon and evening.

“As for me, I will call upon “God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning and noon, will I pray and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Ps 55:16,17 kjv). See also Daniel 6:10.

The best example of a daily pattern of regular, whole-hearted prayer – prayer that avoided meaningless religious ritual – can be found in the Lord Jesus Himself:

1. Early In the Morning (Mark 1:35)
2. All Night (Luke 6:12)
3. Before Each Meal (Mark 6:41)

D. WHAT TO PRAY

1. For Ourselves
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain,’ And God granted his request” (1 Chr 4:10).

2. For One Another
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other …(Jas 5:16).

3. For The Ministries In The Body Of Christ
“Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honoured just as it was with you” (2 Ths 3:1).

4. For The Sick And Distraught
“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray… is any one of you sick? He should call for the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up … pray for each other so that you may be healed…” (Jas 5:14-16).

5. For Those Ensnared By Sin
“If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life..” (1 Jn 5:16).

E. HELP IN PRAYER

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Rom 8:26).

Part of the Holy Spirit’s purpose is to teach us (Luke 12:12), guide us in prayer (Rom 8:27), and to help us in our faith (Eph 3:16, 17).

The Holy Spirit will sometimes anoint a believer’s prayer in a special way, and this is called “praying in the Holy spirit” (Jude 20; Eph 6:18).

To help us in prayer, the Holy spirit has also provided a special gift to the believer:

The Gift of Tongues – speaking in another language to the Lord in prayer. See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11).

“… the prayer of the upright is his delight … He heareth the prayer of the righteous” (Prov 15:8,29 kjv).

F. YOKEFELLOW

Two joining together in prayer provides some very real advantages: “Again I say unto you. That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt 18:19 kjv).

G. THE CHURCH PRAYING

If there is tremendous power when two people pray, what about the whole assembly of God’s people? See Acts 4:24.

Today God is calling His people to prayer! The Church’s mission is to change individual lives, families, communities, cities and nations through prayer!

MY COMMITMENT

Through this study I realize the wonderful opportunities of prayer – not only in my relationship with God, but also the supernatural results that follow. I commit myself to make prayer always a priority in my life.