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The Practice of the Group Meetings
Verses:
Acts 2:46 And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and simplicity of heart. 1 Cor. 16:19 The churches of Asia greet you, Aquila and Prisca greet you much in the Lord, with the church, which is in their house.
Ministry Portion:
I am very burdened for the church in Anaheim concerning the practice of the group meetings. In 1984 when I went to Taiwan, the first thing I touched was the group meetings. In my ministry regarding this matter I said that we can forget the heavens and the earth, but we must not forsake the group meetings. I also told all the churches that the church life depends eighty percent upon the group meetings.
The group meetings as a part of the God-ordained way are clearly unveiled in the New Testament. The church came into existence on the day of Pentecost. According to Acts 2:46, the newly saved believers immediately began to meet in their homes. Acts 2:46 uses the phrase from house to house. According to the Greek, this phrase means that the believers met by houses, taking the house as the basic unit for their meeting. This implies that wherever there was a home of a believer, there was a meeting. The number of homes was the same as the number of the believers’ meetings. Thus, the New Testament indicates that each one of us should have a meeting in our home. Of course, these home meetings should not be just with our own family; they should also include others. Paul’s Epistles indicate that in some localities the church met in a home (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2).
The New Testament also shows us that in addition to having the group meetings in homes, the entire church should also come together in one place (1 Cor. 14:23). These two kinds of meetings—the group meetings in the homes and the meetings in which the whole church comes together in one place—are like the two wings of an airplane. With only one wing on one side, an airplane cannot fly. The group meetings in the homes are one “wing,” and the coming together of the whole church is the other. However, we need to see that the group meetings are more basic. Without the group meetings it is difficult to have the increase of the church. Without the members brought in through the group meetings, we could not have the coming together of the whole church. Although the church in Anaheim has been in existence since 1974, the number in the English-speaking meeting on the Lord’s Day is approximately one hundred fifty. This number is too small. The lack of increase among us is due mainly to the shortage of the group meetings in the saints’ homes. (Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, ch. 2)
The church in Zamboanga 