How often to pray for other believers? What do we pray for other believers?

For a long while now, I have felt somewhat inadequate in my prayers for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want the family of God to be blessed and strengthened and helped… but what should I actually be asking God for when praying for them? I end up asking God to “bless them” and “help them,” especially when I don’t have any other specific needs I know about for these individuals whom God has placed in my sphere of influence. Of course there is great truth in “The Holy Spirit making intercession for (through) us, with groanings that cannot be uttered,” however, Jesus also instructed his followers to ask, and ask specifically.

I have also noticed this deficiency when praying together with my two young boys for a variety of other children (we take turns praying for the different children we know) – and that has proved the most challenging. How can I teach my own boys how to properly pray for others when I myself lack the right words? As it turns out, the scriptures have more than enough information on this subject within the epistles alone to give the believer the right direction they need when praying for the saints…

First of all, the most common greeting and prayer that the New Testament writers made known to their audience is that “grace and peace” would be given to them continually. Grace from God to help them at all times. Peace to keep their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This request is mentioned so often and so consistently, that listing these verses would be pointless and repetitive. May the reader understand that this prayer, being so consistent in the epistles, might be the most important and most potent prayer we can pray for others in the body of Christ. Grace and peace continually.

Having that said, I have broken down the following scriptures into two categories:

1. Prayers for the Saints Everywhere

2. Prayers for the Apostolic Church Planters

The meat of this study is simply listing these excerpts below for the parousal of the reader. From simply reading through these verses from the epistles, a clear pattern becomes evident in their prayer requests for the saints. All excerpts below are from the NLT version of the Bible for simplicity of theme in this study. I have underlined what I have noticed are some common themes in these passages especially worth noticing.

Prayers for the Saints Everywhere:

Romans – So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1 - Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

Asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.

I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.

Colossians 1 – We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you.

We ask God to give you a complete understanding of what he wants to do in your lives, We ask him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and you will continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, you will learn to know God better and better.

We also pray that you will be strengthened with his glorious power so that you will have all the patience and endurance you need.

Epaphras, from your city, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident of the whole will of God. I can assure you that he has agonized for you and also for the Christians in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Galatians 1 – Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. I always pray for you, and I make my requests with a heart full of joy

I pray that your love for each other will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in your knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until Christ returns.

1 Corinthians – I can never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians – We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly.

As we talk to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and your continual anticipation of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.

May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

2 Thessalonians – We keep on praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you.

And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds.

May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ.

Prayers for the Apostolic Church Planters:

Romans – Join me in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the Christians there will be willing to accept the donation I am bringing them. Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a happy heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.

2 Thessalonians – I ask you to pray for us. Pray first that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be saved from wicked and evil people, for not everyone believes in the Lord.

One brief observation to start, before summarizing a few of the main themes in these passages. It is telling to note that all the prayer requests the writers mentioned were for the spiritual well being of the saints. No prayer requests are mentioned in any of these passages for the physical or material blessing of the saints. This is not to suggest that they never prayed for these things, or that these things were unimportant in the lives of the saints – however one thing seems certain notwithstanding: if the material well-being of the saints was not mentioned once in any of the prayers listed in these passages, then it probably should not be the primary focus of our prayers for God’s people today, and it is not the main purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught about money and material possessions of course, but with the common theme of how unimportant these carnal concerns were in the light of God’s everlasting kingdom they were entering. The cry of the New Testament writers was solely for the spiritual health and growth of the saints of God everywhere.

Unceasing prayers offered: On the question of how often the New Testament leaders fathers prayed for the saints, it is clear that the writers strove unceasingly in prayer for the saints and churches they knew of. This they specifically stated in at least 5 different letters. Therefore first and foremost, consistent and continual prayers were offered up for the saints of God. This, it seems, was a foundational part of the apostles ministry to the churches. As they labored for the sake of the many churches they had planted, teaching and admonishing them to continue in the Lord, it was from a solid foundation of countless tears and prayers for them.

Giving thanks for the saints: It also is worth noting that thanking God for the wonderful work he had done and was doing in the churches and the saints is consistently recorded. Even when the writer had no immediate hand in planting a church, it is stated that he gave continual thanks to God for them when he heard about them.

That God would give them understanding: This is the most often repeated theme among all the verses listed above.

Prayers were that they would understand:

- the wonderful future he has promised to those he called & what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people.

- the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him

- what God wanted to do in their lives – the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ.

- what really matters

The end result of understanding these different truths is also mentioned:

- so that they might grow in their knowledge of God

- so that the way they lived would always honor and please the Lord, and they would continually do good, kind things for others. All the while, they would learn to know God better and better

- so that they would then live pure and blameless lives

For me, this verifies the idea that all that Christ has provided for His saints is fully at their disposal from the moment of their new birth into the kingdom of God. Unlimited power, wisdom, grace, peace, help from the Father – all these things and a host of others had been given to the believer from day one. The growing and maturing process in the Lord subsequent to initial faith in Christ consisted primarily in understanding more and more what they already possessed! We as believers today already have the powers and wisdom and character of the world to come, but only in the very modest measures that we can understand and handle. It would seem that the work of the enemy then, would be primarily focused on hindering our understanding of the great kingdom power and life we have in Christ.

This could be compared to the son of a great king. If he has no understanding of the royal blood flowing through his veins, then he might be found living as a pauper in the ghettos of the city. However, when he realizes who he is – what royal bloodline flows through his veins, what royal seal hangs upon his finger, the great authority in the name he bears – he will soon move into the castle with the king, begin exercising his royal authority, begin seeking justice for the weak and powerless with confidence, and begin driving out the enemy from his lands without fear.

What would happen if we truly understood what we have at our disposal! If only we would understand the reality of the eternal life we have been given! If only we would truly grasp the unlimited power we have through the Holy Spirit! If only we would begin to understand what God’s ultimate maturing work is aimed at – in each of our lives and hearts. We would begin exercising our God-given authority with confidence and soundness of mind, and resting at all times in the patient work He is doing in us.

Make them holy & complete: Another common theme was the perfection (completeness) of the saints. That God would make them worthy of the wonderful life he’d given them, make them holy in every way, that they would live pure and blameless lives, that the way they would live would always honor and please the Lord, and that they would do good kind things for others. The maturity of character (holiness) and a completeness of good works (love) of each saint seems to be the major end purpose of the gospel of God for his people while they are on this earth – and the NT writers seemed to verify this, always praying that the churches and the saints would eventually become complete in all that they were lacking, as they grew in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Other specific prayers are mentioned in these passages which may be just as important to take note of when praying for the saints, but for now I have only taken the time to cover the major patterns in these verses. I pray that this brief study may give the saints of God everywhere the right tools for what to pray and how to pray for other brothers and sisters! May the people of God labor in prayer for all people, especially for the saints of God everywhere!

—With a lot of love, Sean Hyatt (Aurora)

This article is by a guest contributor, Greg. I met Greg at a gathering of house church leaders in Loveland who were getting together to discuss forming a network. I heard Greg’s story and wanted to share this story with you all.

Two years ago, had you met me, I was busy. Busy doing what good Christians do. My wife & I had our two wonderful sons in an organized church, and we were working to “further the Kingdom.” You could tell how much we loved God, because we never said “No.” Andrea was the Vacation Bible School director, a Sunday school teacher, and was helping run a program for teenage girls based on the Proverbs 31 woman. I was co-leading the Men’s Ministry, serving as an usher/greeter, teaching Sunday school, and mentoring.

Just prior to that time, we had finally gotten to a place financially that we could build our dream home. That included getting out of the city and moving to the country. Over three years at that home we plodded along, and life seemed right, but we were detached. Fortunately the Holy Spirit isn’t lazy.

In January 2006, I went on my first mission trip to Juarez, Mexico. While there, I saw how little those people have, but how happy they are. If you’ve not been to a place where people struggle for their daily bread, you may not realize your own blessings. I was cut to the core as I realized that my family was not living beyond its means, but beyond its needs. We could be doing so much more with our time and resources. During that mission trip, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. I was changed. I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm to follow Him anywhere.

If you could meet my wife, you’d see the compassion of Christ. She loves everyone, and seeks to make a physical impact for those in need with love, resources, or money. She has shown this time and time again. She had been telling me that the Holy Spirit was pressing on her heart to change our lives, even to sell our home. I had not heard His whispers, and therefore was not convinced. I was too wrapped up on living in silence, living with antelope and deer wandering our property, and with the separation from society.

We both had friends recommend we read the book “Organic Church” by Neil Cole. As we read, these ideas seemed to jive with what we were hearing from the Lord. “Instead of bringing people to church so that we can bring them to Christ, let’s bring Christ to people where they live.” “We are as foolish as the farmer who builds a barn and then stands in the doorway calling all the crops to come in and make themselves at home.”

We had been longing for true closeness with other believers, longing for relationships with non-believers. Can’t you love a non-believer without an agenda to get them to church? Are there really people out there just as excited about Jesus as we are? How can so many people keep Him & His salvation to themselves? We also started to have thoughts that to be honest were not easy to swallow. Was it right to leave the organized church? Didn’t that make us backsliders who were open to Satan’s advances? What would people say? We had both been in the church since our childhood. Could we really leave everything we’d known (& loved) about church and follow God wherever He led? What would this new “church” look like?

We prayed like we have never prayed before. We felt the Holy Spirit tell us to move. Move from our dream home back into society. Move from our church home to follow Him wherever He would lead. But…but, it would be such a burden. We just got here. Financially it would be foolishness. And what about the peace we’d found there? What about our friends at church? Would anyone even understand? But prayer and submittal leads to a clearer view. And that’s what we found. We both heard it. It was time to sell the house, and find the community with God’s children that we left behind. It was not an easy decision. It’s hard to pray for His will when you know it might not be your will.

Following our decisions, we received much criticism. Then the waiting……..didn’t He put us on this path? We set the price on our home way below appraisal, but just enough to break even. But it wouldn’t sell. Two realtors and 11 months passed, and we prayed….a lot. Even though I knew God sometimes asks for our patience while He develops us for what is to come, I was impatient. What I didn’t realize was how invaluable that time truly was. Andrea & I grew closer spiritually. One of our sons decided to give his life to Jesus. Our home became a more loving place where God’s instruction was a way of life instead of an hour-long ritual once a week.

When an offer did come in on the house that we could accept, we were excited & all of sudden worried. Now was the test, are we following God, will we even hear Him? Will we choose His path even if it doesn’t fit our comfort zone? We had three weeks to find a place to live. For some this may sound pressed for time, but do-able. But remember, we were driven by where God wants to build His church not just a home. All of our prayers for the past year would be for nothing if we didn’t wait to hear His voice in this one big decision. Over the next two weeks, we feverishly looked for a home. We did not want to limit God, but we did have a couple things we could not negotiate on. My job requires that my home be within 15 miles of central Fort Collins, so we opened up to all surrounding areas. We did not limit our search beyond some specific rooms & price and we looked everyday. Nothing seemed right. Even what my wife and I felt led to were different. God, how can we be sure it’s Your voice if we’re hearing it differently? We went on prayer walks through the most likely neighborhoods, but the whisper wasn’t there.

We found ourselves sitting on a Sunday evening, just one week before our closing without a home to move to. Andrea had loosely looked into rental properties but now stated she would find one for us to move into. Again, I asked God if that was what He wanted. I felt the urge to drive around one more time. I loaded my tired family into the car and we set out praying for the Holy Spirit’s direction…..no destination, just praying.

There was nowhere new. We had seen all the neighborhoods and all the houses. As the sun dipped below the mountains, we turned down a street we had been on before. We actually looked at a house there when our realtor told us to open ourselves up to a higher priced house. I had refused to compromise then, believing God put us on a path to save money for His work. Then we saw a “For Sale” sign, six houses down. How had we missed it? “That is what I want,” I told my wife. She explained that it would definitely be out of our price range. So we sat in front of the house, longing just to know where we’d be going, exhausted, just ready to do God’s work wherever that would be…..now we would settle for just knowing, God, even if it’s not where we want. The flyer said the home was way above our top price, but everything else was perfect. We went home and prayed. “Lord, You lead. We’ll follow wherever You lead. Our lives are Yours; do with them as You will.”

The next morning, I told my wife to call the realtor and tell her that we wanted that house in our price range. The realtor laughed at us & said “It’s not possible. They’ve already lowered their price almost $100K.” We told her just to call and ask. A few minutes later, we got a frantic call from our realtor saying “They’re taking your offer if you can put it in writing by noon. So we better go look at the house & see if you even like it.” (Seems funny making an offer on a home we’ve never walked through, but we knew it was from God.) And as we walked through the house, we both sensed approval, a peace that this was where He designed for us to be all along. And strange, it felt right to both of us even though through this whole process we’d been looking for different things.

There are so many circumstances, events, and details that we could share to express how we KNOW without a doubt that only God could orchestrate such an elaborate plan with every single detail pointing to Him. But that is not the point of this posting.

Where are we now? We are closer to the Lord than ever. We love, worship, and serve as a family. Our home church is simply my family and my single brother. God has led people into our lives and we have invited them to be a part of our worship. We have also invited them to just be a part of our lives. No more seclusion. No one has taken us up on our invitation to come to our church, but I am now patient. This is not our group to build; it is His. As we think back over this journey, the hardest part was stepping out of the boat, trusting that we wouldn’t fall as long as we had our eyes on Him. It hasn’t been easy. But not everything in His plan is easy. We have been tested. Our resolve hasn’t always been so strong. There have been times we long for the organized church. There have been times when my wife and I hear His voice saying different things. How do you continue your journey when times aren’t so easy and the excitement is wavering…..you just pray and know that He is God.

Stapleton is a growing neighborhood in Denver, built on the former site of our airport. As you walk through the open air malls, there are young trees in the middle of large circles of soil. Three metal stakes surround the base, and strands from each stake connect to the diminutive trunk. Though the tree is young and no more than 8 feet tall, it is obvious what Stapleton intends for these saplings to become. Tall, strong trees providing shade in the summer, and beauty throughout the year.

Imagine now this same setting…a large circle of soil, three metal stakes, three strands…connected to a seedling about one foot tall. A bit odd you might say? Not only that, but the seedling would either be ripped out of the ground or choked to death. These growing organisms benefit from support that is designed for their stage in the life cycle of a tree.

In our church network, Ancient Paths Church, we have begun to multiply churches into several neighborhoods in Denver. As we grow, our need for support also has grown. We have begun a monthly leadership meeting for house church leaders and shepherds to share God stories, encourage one another, share church family needs, and share lessons learned. With almost a half dozen churches in existence or starting soon, there were about 15 people in the room. This monthly meeting will be essential for us to stay connected, encouraged, and focused.

In Colorado at large, we have begun to gather together from across the state to accomplish similar goals. Previous posts here on this website talk about the blessing it has been to share our challenges, blessings, and lessons learned. in the past months, opportunities have also begun to arise for training through several of the church networks. It has seemed good to the Spirit and to many of us involved in leading networks to begin praying about how we can grow churches, disciples, and leaders tall and strong.

All of this has happened….quite organically. As the need has arisen, the Head of the church has placed it upon the heart of individuals to exercise their gifts for the benefit of the church.

It is far too easy too look for hard and fast models. “If you want a healthy church network have 1 local leadership meeting each month with 3 leaders from each church, 6 community gatherings per year, attend 2 national conferences, read 8 books…” Too many of us have experienced the fruitlessness of building a house in vain, where the Lord has not been the builder. It is also seductive when experiencing growth to take too much credit for that growth. It is true that the skilled gardener deserves her due, but also the One who provided the sun, rain, seed, soil, and fertilizer.

Are you looking for wisdom in how to grow your church sapling into a tall, strong tree? The Lord knows better than any other the condition of the soil and those seeds that grow best. He knows the gifts His Spirit has given to the members of the body, and following His lead will provide the best context for those gifts to thrive.

Pray for wisdom to know what supports your community needs. If you don’t see those supports available, perhaps you are the one to begin praying for them, and initiate offering them to others!

Do you have training opportunities or support ideas gained from your church networks? Leave a comment to this post and share how God is working.

I recently posted this on my personal blog and thought it would be good to share here. ~Rose Starr

Some of you may know that we are a part of a house church network. Desi, my husband is a pastor/house church coach/mentor here in Denver. We have had a very interesting journey these past 4+ years in this lovely city. We came out as inner city missionaries to start a traditional church. After meeting in our home weekly for awhile (doing house church but not calling it that!) we ended up being given a large donation from an anonymous donor and began renting a small chapel. Although we had a sizable core group, we didn’t grow. We moved to another location and again did not grow. I struggled with not enjoying Sundays at all. It was so much work to haul tub after tub of stuff only to go through these church motions and then have to clean up again. We moved to another location and started meeting on Sunday nights. Again, no growth…people left instead! It was discouraging. We felt like we were wasting God’s resources and after much prayer and about 6 months at that location we went back to Sunday mornings at a house.

We decided to pray and seek God and His will for our group which had grown and shrunk and grown again with people leaving and God bringing us together with another small group. Turns out we had the same vision and heart for the city as this other group who joined up with us before we moved to Sunday nights renting space at a local church. Desi and Bruce (his ministry partner) along with Carrie (another inner city missionary) began to meet/pray regularly and in earnest. I’m not sure how, but we heard of a large house church conference that would be in Denver that summer that was put on by House 2 House. We felt led to go and wouldn’t you know it, that was our start into house church gatherings. We had a lot of ‘traditional mindset’ to re-think as we searched the Scriptures to see what ‘church’ was really about. We discovered some simple and profound things: That were two or more are gathered in His name, He’s there and really that is church…the believers…we are His bride…the church is people and when we are together, we are doing church! Now this may be too liberal a definition for some folks, and that’s ok, but we love it!

Our group met on Sunday mornings at one house for about a year, getting used to being a part of something so different than most of us had been a part of. We began to minister to one another in beautiful ways. We used resources to give to the needy in our own group as well as in the city. We grew in friendship, love and life. We saw some leave and many more come. We joined up with large traditional churches for outreaches and VBS’ in the summer. We prayed that God would send laborers for the harvest and He did! Story after story of how He grew us and brought new people. I love it! Near the end of last year, we realized our core group was getting too large for the house we met in. We all began to pray and ask God to lead us, to move in our hearts and give us a desire to multiply in order to grow and continue to make disciples.

Since then, we have grown into a network of five house churches. One meets Sunday morning, two on Sunday nights (alternating between two houses), one Tuesday night and one Thursday night. Each church looks and feels a bit different, but each is active, alive, nurturing and growing. Desi and I are hosting every 2nd & 4th Sunday evening partnering with another couple who live about a mile from us who host the 1st and 3rd Sundays at their house. It’s nice to start off just every other week and share the hosting and cooking. At our Sunday evening gatherings we share a meal at 5:30 and have our gathering after the meal. Our first gathering was last Sunday. I felt led to have us do an activity I found in a book about Lent for kids. It was a family tree where we all drew/cut out a symbol with our name to represent our branch. We then wrote on leaves qualities that we saw in others that were a blessing and glued the leaves to their branches. It was a wonderful way to start off our gathering and include our 4 kids. We then moved into a time of sharing while we sipped tea and after a little while the kids retired to the basement for a movie. We adults continued to share and fellowship till almost 11pm!

Here’s our Family Tree

Our gatherings will be a bit ‘loose’ as we seek to listen to the Spirit’s leading. Our desire is to encourage spiritual gifts and give place and time for those gifts to be shared. We want to come together with something learned from the week that we can offer to each other. We desire transparency, honesty, respect, to honor one another and to grow in relationship with our father God. We will invite neighbors, friends and whomever God leads us to with no expectations other than to see what God has for us.

Our network will plan regular large gatherings, outings, trips, parties, outreaches, celebrations, ect…in order to stay connected with one another. Desi and I will host a game night once a month with the invite open to all the house churches and our neighbors. We are praying about various VBS’ put on the the various house church homes/neighborhoods for this summer to reach kids and neighbors with God’s love.

I wanted to share what we were doing and how blessed I am to be a part of something that has helped me grow in my spiritual walk more than ever before. I have been challenged to be an active participant in every meeting. To be open to different views, different people, different ways of interacting with God. We still have much to learn, will probably make mistakes, will start something- realize it doesn’t work- and change our plans, and that’s ok! I have so much to learn as a daughter, wife, mother, friend and neighbor. I am learning to be ok with the process, to enjoy the journey, to see events in my life as a small piece of a much larger picture, to see God’s hand of grace in every aspect of my daily life. It’s mind boggling really.

~Rose

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35

Jesus message was startlingly simple. Despite our attempts over the past 2,000 years to complicate and obfuscate his words, they remain revolutionary. These simple words from a middle eastern itinerant preacher slice through time to remind us of a powerful truth: the world will know we are His by our love for each other.

Simple…Powerful.

In the house church, or “simple church” movement, we carry this spirit of powerful simplicity into our ecclesiology (what church is).

As my mentor in organic church, Neil Cole, used to say, complexity is not always good. As a certified techie and owner of a web design company, this is most certainly the case in my field. There are literally dozens of available technologies for every client we work with. We select the tool that not only has the features they need, but is simple enough for them to use effectively. Regardless of the features a tool possesses, if it is too complicated for our clients to operate it has become useless to them.

The same is true in how we do church. I recognize the usefulness and blessing of a variety of church styles and expressions. However, for too long we have required a particularly high level of complexity in our church expressions. It requires an almost “professional” class of highly trained Christians, which is neither biblically required nor practical.

“The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.”
Acts 4:13

Jesus disciples were anything but trained, professional, clergy. If we desire a worldwide movement of Christ, it will require lowering the bar of what it means to do church and raising the bar of what it means to be a disciple (from “Organic Church” by Neil Cole).

In closing…apologies for my incredibly cheesy article title. What can I say, I’m a cheesy guy

I originally wrote this for my personal blog back on July 2, 2007.  I thought it would be nice to share here.  ~Rose

As I sat at our house church gathering yesterday I looked around the room to see who had arrived. Close to 10 of our “regulars” were gone on vacation or for some other reason. People were chatting and enjoying fellowship. We sat in an oval in the Duell’s living room. Bruce & Karen were still on vacation, but their daughter Amy had offered to host since our kitchen was all torn up. I looked around and saw people varying in age from a few months to 88 years old, various skin colors, varying economic backgrounds and in different stages of their walks with God. To my left sat a young single mom and her baby girl, a single 40yr old woman who’s impact on our youth is such a blessing, another single mom of two teenagers who are away at their dad’s house all summer, her niece visiting from Arizona and next to her a junior in high school who’s home life leaves MUCH to be desired (to say the least). Next to her sat my husband and next to him a lady in her 60’s who used to be homeless- God has done amazing things in her life and she’s such a joy to talk to. Next was a single 24 year old who blesses all with his wonderful attitude and encouraging words, next to him another young adult just graduated from college and is mentoring a few of our high school girls. Next to her was another young single adult who shared a few beautiful songs with us, next to her an 88 year old originally from Scotland who has walked with God a long time and has wonderful words of wisdom and encouragement. To hear her talk about God and pray is simply beautiful. Her son sat next to her. He is recovering from heart surgery and lives with his mom who is such a help to him. He has an amazing story of how God redeemed him from a life of drugs and self-destruction. Next to him was a man in his 50’s who is single and one of the sweetest guys you’ll ever meet. He has an amazing ability to remember scriptures, addresses and phone numbers. He recalls scriptures that are blessings to us all.

We had a beautiful time of prayer, looked into a few chapters in Revelation, discussed what God was teaching us, asked questions, tried to answer them, encouraged one another, shared a few songs and had lunch together.

Last night Micah was over to watch a movie with Desi and I. Half way through the movie we paused it to answer a phone call. We started talking about our gathering earlier that morning and how much we loved it. Micah mentioned that as he looked around at all of us gathered there, he realized that if we all went to institutional churches we’d probably all go to different churches. It’s amazing to see how God has brought us together and over the past 9 months or so how close we have gotten. I am thankful for our differences in our lives and see the handiwork of our Creator in those differences. We are learning from and encouraging one another regularly. Just wanted to give you, my blog readers (and friends), a view into one of my favorite days of the week.
~Rose

October 20th is the date for the upcoming Denver Gathering of house churches! For this first gathering we will be joining a network of house churches in Golden, CO who have been holding these types of gatherings for many moons now. We have perhaps a dozen different house churches in different locations around Denver (and along the front range) who are planning on representing that we know of (probably many more than that).

The meeting is for networking, worship, sharing, and fellowship among all the house churches who would like to participate. Please invite ANY and ALL who would like to join us there!! A few details about the upcoming evening:

-Childcare will be provided for young children

-Anyone who can is invited to bring a dessert to share (desserts only this time to keep it simple, so eat dinner before you come)

-ANYONE who would like to help with worship during the gathering (if you play an instrument, or sing, or just like to pretend to do either one please come early at 4:30pm to practice. Anyone welcome!

-The forum will be a time of fellowshipping, a time of worshipping together, a time of sharing (different folks will be sharing their stories, or their visions for what God wants to do in Colorado)…

-WHERE will it be? *** Hillside Community Church, 103 N Ford St, Golden, CO, @6:00PM ***

I am convinced that this gathering will be a huge blessing to all in attendance, so please join us in prayer that the Lord’s will be done!

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Years of sitting in traditional church has not prepared us to do church in the manner described in the New Testament. We have been taught to come. To sit. To watch and listen to what others have prepared. (Someone described it as “sit, soak and sour”.) This is Spectator Church. And it is no way to train believers to be priests!

By contrast, the churches described in the Bible engaged in Participatory Church. This kind of church requires preparation on the part of all of it’s members. This is new. We haven’t been training in this.

Some retraining is in order. One of the best passages to help us do this is Heb. 10:24-25:

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”(NIV)

Here are a few notes to help understand the passage:

1. “Consider”: from katanoeo. noeo = to think + kata = an intensifier. To think deeply about, consider, contemplate, observe. Jesus uses the same word when he says, “Consider the ravens…consider the lillies.” (Lk. 12:24-27) This is work that we must do ahead of time. This is preparation done in prayer before we meet.

2. NIV says “Let us consider how …”. The Greek really says “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” We are to be observing and thinking deeply about the others in our Simple Church in order to be able to effectively “stir them up to love and good works”. Each one is unique. What works for one may not work for another. I must “think deeply” about each one.

3. “Let us consider how we may spur one another on“. “Spur on” comes from a root word that means “to make sharp” as with a sword. (Prov. 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”) Means “to stir up, incite, provoke, motivate”. Again, what motivates one will not motivate another. Every parent and every coach know this.

4. “Let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds” How do we know if our meeting has accomplished what God wanted? We know if people leave being highly motivated and spurred on to love (God and others) and to express that love in good works throughout the week. If this doesn’t happen then we have fallen short. This helps us understand 1 Cor. 14:26 – “Let everything be done for the strengthening (edification) of the church.”

Church prepares us for the rest of the week (24/7). And the rest of the week (24/7) is where we prepare for church.

I can describe my version of Simple Church in two words: eating and blessing. Both activities are designed to “spur one another to love and good deeds”. Both are designed to “strengthen/edify/encourage” the church.

1. Eating. The Lord’s Supper. Dinner with Jesus. “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad (implies “exuberant joy”) and sincere (implies an “uncluttered simplicity”) hearts.” (Acts 2:46). Church takes place around the dinner table. The meal is the time to talk about what God is doing in your life. It’s the time to remember Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:24)

*Tell how He blessed you in the last week.
*Tell what you are learning from His word.
*Tell how He used a brother or sister to encourage you.
*Tell about God sightings.
*Tell Holy Ghost stories.

*”Forget none of his benefits” Ps. 103:1-2

This is participatory church. This requires preparation. Thought and prayer ahead of time. This kind of sharing is what “spurs the church on to love and good deeds”. “And they overcame him (the accuser of the brethern) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” Rev. 12:11

2. Blessing. After dinner (or during dinner) spend time blessing one another. Speak to one another about their God given identity (who they are) and their destiny (what God has made them to do). Share how you see Jesus in their life. Strengthen one another.

*Husbands to wives. (In front of God and everyone!)
*Wives to husbands.
*Parents to children.
*Every believer to every other believer.

*Use passages of Scripture. (Col. 3:16)
*Use prayer.
*Use song. (Eph. 5:19)
*Use prophecy. (1 Cor. 14:3)
*Use the laying on of hands.

*All at the direction of the Spirit.

The goal? To spur/motivate one another to love and good deeds.

This requires preparation. katanoeo. Thinking deeply about each other. Listening to God on their behalf in order to bless/edify/encourage them. This is the stated New Testament purpose of church!

Very different from Spectator Church. We haven’t done it this way before! Retraining is in order. Leaders/parents: take the lead. Model how this is done week after week. Be patient with those who are learning a new way to do church. And when someone gets it right. When they actually prepare for church and come with a blessing from God or a blessing for another, then CELEBRATE! Make sure they know what it means to you and to your church.

And know that the Lord is delighted that you are doing church the way He intended it to be done. A family that blesses Him and each other.

John White
House Church Coach
Denver, CO

Every Christian a church planter.
Every home/family a church.
Every church building a training center.