4. Form One Group
Romans 16:5
Meeting Place
When you have been working the first three steps of this plan you will need to start getting people together that have a strong desire to follow Christ. You should have seen them come to an understanding of Salvation in the “National Bible Reading Campaign” that occurred over the last three months and now you will begin to “Form One Group” from those who desire to know Christ and serve him. Of course this is done in the context of the church. You literally will be starting a church at this point. Not one that you currently think of but the New Testament kind of church. This will be more of an emerging church that the Holy Spirit is bringing together. You have personally witnessed to them on the street and put them up under the authority of Scripture. You saw them move from respect for God the Father to surrendering to Jesus Christ in the first couple of months. They now see their need to keep growing in Christ as they look forward to the joys of heaven. Now is the most difficult part…..leave a church behind.
This could take a year or two but this is what separates those who understand how many lost people exist verses those that just want to start a Bible Study group. The church of the Living God will not move through Bible Study groups the “Church” is God’s tool to reach this rebellious world. We will strive to start a group that loves Jesus and others (not just the Bible) and also one that connects leader to other leaders, forming a “Cell Church.” The next step is “Form One Group.”
We use four Bible Studies for this purpose, “I’ve Been Born Again, Now What?” and then we look at Galatians, Romans and John written by Charles Brock. After this we would enter into a book by book , chapter by chapter, study of the New Testament. This will launch a group that is not dependent on materials other then the Bible. We also begin to look for and work with leaders introducing them to the Kingdom Doctrinal Track (KDT) and a book called the 2nd Reformation.
The KDT will help them better understand the Gospel and how the Old Testament can be used to teach faith. Our main object at this time is to keep them moving and also reinforce the Biblical truths that are needed for the foundation to the development of the Church. This of course is that we are saved by grace and not some sort of “hidden mixture” of human effort, human wisdom or human rules and grace. They will also learn the importance of living a pure life in light of study on the Lord’s return. Where did the early church meet? Was it in huge expensive buildings? Did they have a highly organized service that was a slave to the clock with every minute of Sunday Morning perfectly planned and arraigned? Asking a simple question, “Where did the early church meet?” Might be the best place to begin this new “radical” approach to restoring the Christianity of the New Testament? That is why our foundational verse which is found in this step, “Form One Group” is critical to our desire of building the Kingdom here all the while reaching our city for Christ.
Where does the Church meet in this verse?
Romans 16:5, “Please give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.” Where did the church meet according to this verse?
The writers of the New Testament were very comfortable with this concept of church, how far we have come from this fresh, intimate environment that was so effective it turned the world upside down. May God forgive us and help us to put the Church, His Church back where it belongs out in the world that it is trying to reach! In the homes of believers!
Romans 16:23 “Gaius says hello to you. I am his guest, and the church meets here in his home. Erastus the city treasure sends you his greetings and so does Quartus, a Christian Brother.”
Acts 2:46 “They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity”
Acts 5:42 “And every day, in the Temple and in their homes, they continued to teach and preach this message. “The Messiah you are looking for is Jesus.”
Acts 8:3 Saul was going everywhere to devastate the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and woman to throw them into jail.
Acts 12:12 After a little thought, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer.
1 Corinthians 16:19 The churches here in the province of Asia greet you heartily in the Lord, along with Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings.
Colossians 4:15 Please give my greetings to our Christian brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and those who meet in her house.
Phiemon 1:1b-2 It is written to Philemon, our much loved co-worker, and to our sister Apphia and to Archippus, a fellow soldier of the cross, I am also writing to the church that meets in your house.
1 Corinthians 11:1-34 We understand from this passage that “one house” was chosen as a meeting place for all the believers to meet. This was also called the church. So it appears one house above all others was chosen for the purpose of taking the Lord’s Supper.
Church
Discussion: By today’s standards can a group who meets in a house really be considered a church? Is the church a building or a group of Born Again believers? Why don’t we take the Lord’s supper and baptism’s in homes any more? If the church met in their homes in the New Testament then why do we cross ourselves when we go in front of a building? Why do we say things like, “When you build a building I will come to church”? What did Jesus really mean when he spoke to the Samaritan lady (John 4:19-24)?
Form One Group
For those who are in a big hurry to accomplish the step of “forming one group” slow down. You will find that Jesus took three and half years to prepare the soil for His first church plant. Meeting people in the village or city will take a long time and winning their trust even longer. Many people in a village may let “you” into their house but won’t let each other into their house! So when you find a place to start meeting you may find that they don’t want to be with each other at all. This is the power of the church in my opinion. But we are called to be ministers of reconciliation. To God and to man, so be prepared for this step to require great patience on your part (2 Cor 5:20-21).
We will begin with a Bible Study called, “I have been Born Again, Now What?” You do not have to complete the entire lesson each time as this is just too much to ask of a family that has other things to do. You must be very sensitive to this transitional part of the church plant. I once was with a trainee who had the people stand when he prayed, brought hymnals from the church for them to sing! Thank God he didn’t pass the offering plate! This is not a church yet and should not be treated as such. Let it grow! God allows us to plant and water but only HE can make it grow (1 Cor 3:6-9). Be patient and watch the Lord do His wonderful work. This is not a time to display your great ability to pray and advertise your particular set of doctrinal beliefs. Keep pointing them to Jesus and away from empty religion. This is also not a time to pick them apart for the things they have in their house nor their nasty habit of smoking. Just as it takes time for Christians to learn not to judge non-Christians it take non-Christians a while to stop sinning. The more they understand true repentance the more they begin to count the cost. The Word of God simply won’t return void!
The next three books written by Charles Brock: Galatians-From Law to Grace, Romans- The Road to Righteousness and John- Behold The Lamb can take up to three years to finish. Take your time and develop a great foundation in this group you are leading that hopefully will become part of this growing Kingdom Building Church. They will become part of the church of the Living God “knowing” (not wondering if) they were saved by Grace. They will know that the righteousness they have is from Jesus Christ and not from some human effort. They will finally ultimately have a true saving relationship with our Lord Jesus. It will be obvious to them and to others that they have been delivered from “empty religion” that has never saved anyone. They will then begin to make some serious changes in their lives as they learn to obey the Scripture (2 Corinthians 10:1-8 must be followed if we want a strong group that knows more then just survival but also thrives by leading others to Christ and also expecting people, over time to begin obeying Christ. Those that don’t follow Christ need to be removed from the group.
Remember our Objective-“Win One City” to Christ
2 Kings 19:29 Study this passage very carefully. You will see that over three years you can expect only that which “grows by itself” the first year. Then the second year you may eat what “springs up from that which grew by itself”. But finally in the third year you will “plant crops and harvest” them. This is a very profound passage and one that you will understand better after three years of working towards your first church plant. Be patient always and also be persistent in that which you do for the Lord. You will see a harvest if you keep your eyes on Jesus at all times during this process (Hebrews 12:2).
Inductive Method
After the KDT has been taught and the groups have passed through their studies they will learn how to keep their groups moving through a very well known inductive study method. The steps are observation, interpretation, application discussion, more application and accountability. This should also include a Bible reading plan for the community you are trying to reach. This would solve the Hebrews 5:11-14 problem all by itself. Many would be in Christ no longer on the “milk” of the Word!
Bible Study Approach:
I. Observation (What does the passage say?)
Who is involved?
What happened?
What Ideas are expressed?
What are the results?
What is the purpose?
Where did this take place?
When did it take place?
How did it happen?
Why are things accomplished?
II. Interpretation (What does the passage mean?)
What did it mean to the original audience?
What does it mean now?
What is the main idea?
How does this passage relate to the rest of the chapter/book?
What other Scripture passages might shed light on this one?
III. Application (What should I do?)
Teaching: what we should know.
Rebuking: what we should avoid doing or stop doing.
Correcting: what we should do differently.
Training in Righteousness: what we should begin or continue doing.
A variant of this could also be used:
- Is there a sin for me to avoid?
- Is there a promise for me to claim?
- Is there a praise to give?
- Is there a prayer to pray?
- Is there an example for me to follow?
- Is there a command for me to obey?
- Is there knowledge for me to learn?
IV. Discussion (To encourage everyone to engage the Scripture)
What did you like about the passage?
What did you not like about the passage?
What did you not understand about the passage?
What will you take with you or remember about the passage?
What was the main idea of the passage?
What should you do as a result of knowing this passage?
V. Developing an application plan (instilling obedience)
Decide what is to be applied from the Bible study.
Agree on when the members will obey.
Discover when it will be difficult to obey.
Discuss where they will be when they obey.
Discuss to whom they will teach what they have learned.
Discuss when and to whom they will report their progress-and then pray about it.
Summary
This step requires a group that wants to dig deep and begin their search for righteousness. This is the most fascinating part of the entire process as you will be watching people’s lives change from week to week as they mature in their understanding of Scripture. They will now have hope. This is what we came to bring to them in the first place. We won’t stop here though as this group needs to continue to reach out also. We still have two more steps.”make one leader” and “repeat one time.” We have much work to do but it is a glorious day when this new group starts to see their part in God’s plan and begin to exercise their new privileges’ as children of God. This of course is equipping new believers, holding each other accountable, developing leaders, doing evangelism and experiencing community. We look for to Christ for the power, we want to enjoy His presence and fulfill His purposes in our lives. They belong to Him and Him only! You will be so excited the day that you have brought your first group to this point. It is incredible and gives you an entirely different view of Grace that simply can’t be learned from studying about it, you must experience it. This is a plan that is caught not taught!
