| Stage 1: Gathering
6. Stage 1: Gathering GOAL: Gather a group of 2 or 3 family units who realize that God desires them to form a church. PROJECT: Get a group of seekers or believers to meet and look into the Word to see God's plan for mankind (the church!). ACTIVITIES: The most important activity during this phase is evangelism. This evangelism, however, does not focus on gaining individual disciples, but rather on gathering a group of disciples into a loving, committed body--the church. The Church Planter may begin by winning a single person to Christ. But he emphasizes not only the person of Christ, but the corporate salvation to which the convert is called. Evangelism should include a focus on the Kingdom of God and the new life to which He calls us. Group or individual studies in Matthew (Cf. Chs. 1, 5-7, 12, 13, 16, 18, etc.) and Acts (Chs. 1-11) are helpful for this. We have developed some studies on Entering the Kingdom and Living in the Kingdom for training a convert to become a corporate disciple. They are available upon request. As soon as possible, a gathering meeting should be arranged where a new believer or a seeking unbeliever can bring his family and friends to hear about the good news. Thus the gospel can penetrate that person's social circle. It is best if this occurs on his "turf"--his house, or a relatives, or an interested friend--any place unbelievers will gather (Cf. Cornelius, Acts 10; Matthew, Mt.9; Zaccheus, Lk. 19). The gathering meeting usually lasts over a definite period of time, with a specified purpose for the "studies". For example, 6 studies in Matthew on the Kingdom of God, or 4 in Acts on the church, or a single meeting to see the Jesus film. New friends can come at any time, and people can of course stop coming. At the end of this specified period a new set of studies might be proposed,to help the group embrace God's purpose for them to become a church. At all costs, a new believer or seeker should not be extracted from his social circle into an already existing church until his circle has been evangelized. (The exception to this rule would be an alcoholic or drug user if his social circle would keep him entrapped.) Each new social circle represents a potential new house church; do not alienate the convert from his people. Only if he is alienated already, should he be shepherded into an already existing house church where he can develop new friends and relationships. But this should only happen after every effort has been made to reconcile him to his social circle. The goal of this gathering stage, once again, is for 2 or 3 family units to commit to follow Christ by committing themselves to become a church. Obviously then, the church itself is an important part of the evangelistic studies. These deal with Jesus and His body, the church (Cf. Acts 28:30f). There may be some individual discipling during this first stage, but the primary thrust is to penetrate the social circle. Therefore, a gathering meeting must be the goal of individual discipleship. We teach the seeker or new believer to explain the call of God to his Kingdom to his family and friends through his personal testimony (John 9) and Bible stories. The goal of the gathering meetings is to find 2 or 3 believers committed to becoming the church. As we move into the second stage of house church development, the group moves on to the Covenanting and Reproduction stages. It should keep having at least one gathering meeting in order to penetrate new social circles for the Kingdom. When all the social circles represented by those in the church have been exhausted, the church prays and plans to penetrate new ones. We teach and help every believer to penetrate his social circle for Christ and to take the responsibility for learning how to do it. It may be the only opportunity God ever gives those in that particular circle to hear the good news. Every single social circle represented in a house church presents a potential new house church. We call this Gathering stage the dating stage because we get to know each other and begin to bond to one another. Back |