Walking Together in the Gospel of the Kingdom
In Acts 2, three thousand people became followers of Jesus. These Christians “…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42) The believers made it their purpose to walk together with other Christians as they grew in living out the Gospel, shared meals and the Lord’s Supper, and prayed to God. As they lived out the Gospel of the Kingdom together, more and more people became Christians and joined their fellowship (Acts 2:47). Believers at New City South practice these same things together in small groups called House Churches. The vision for House Churches is “Walking Together in the Gospel of the Kingdom”.
“Walking together…”
Followers of Jesus are on a journey. On this journey, we have traveling companions, because we cannot walk the Christian life on our own. The Bible itself is written to groups of believers, rather than just individual believers. In House Churches, followers of Jesus journey together. These smaller gatherings are places for building friendships, celebration, nurturing one another, receiving care, having conversations, and rest.
Relationships are broken by individualism, tribes and ethnicity, social class, and ultimately sin. House Churches offer community, intentional relationship, inter-dependence, mutual care and obligation to one another. In a House Church a believer can say, “These are my people, and we are committed to one another”.
“…in the Gospel of the Kingdom”
Through Jesus, God has established His reign of justice, mercy, righteousness, forgiveness, reconciliation and love. Christians walk together as citizens of God’s Kingdom. We are bonded together under God’s reign!
House Churches have a Kingdom focus. We worship and pray to Jesus the King together and nurture one another in the Gospel. We discuss God’s Word, seeking to believe His promises, apply His truth to our lives, wrestle with hard questions, and be shaped by the Holy Spirit. We live out reconciliation across racial, tribal, and social class barriers, since Jesus broke down the barrier of sin to reconcile us to God. We encourage each other in good deeds and learn to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We move beyond personal preferences we have for the group in order to pursue the righteousness, peace and joy of God’s kingdom. We open the fellowship to newcomers, because Jesus welcomed us when we were strangers.
Conclusion
Our personal relationship with God can be measured by our love and care for one another (1 John 3:16-20). We do not accept cultural models that seek every person’s move towards complete independence, nor models that offer community based only on life-stage, race, or wealth. God’s intention is to move us toward relationships of healthy inter-dependence (1 Corinthians 12:21ff). We need one another for growth in understanding and experience of God and to fulfill our responsibility to love others as we love ourselves. House Churches are places of fellowship, love, increased knowledge of God and mutual care. House Churches are the primary place where you can get involved and build deep, caring relationships.
Other Scriptures for reflection: Matthew 6:33, Ephesians 2:19, Hebrews 10:24-25, John 6:37-39, Romans 14:15&17, Colossians 1:13, 1 Corinthians 12:18-27.
To join a Community Group …
Contact royh@ncfstl.org