HOW TO ESTABLISH CHURCHES
Dan Hubbell
1.
Desire to seek the Lord
with your whole heart.
2.
Be willing to lay down all
traditions.
3.
The Word of God must be
the guiding plumbline for everything
that the church is and does.
4.
Experience brokenness and
refining.
5.
Be willing to apply the
equipping ministry of II Timothy 2:2 “And the things thou hast heard of
me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able
to teach others also.”
6.
Understand fully what
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build
my Church.”
7.
The presence and
preeminence of Christ as the Head of His Body is absolute as stated in Ephesians
1:22-23.
8.
The early believers
understood church to be an ekklesia, called out ones.
9.
Church in its simplest
form is best understood by the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 18:20,
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them.”
10.
Fellowship and unity must
always be in Jesus as declared in I John 1:3.
11.
Believers did not
“join” the church but rather God added them according to Acts 2:47.
The number of believers grew by addition. The apostles preached the
“Word” i.e. in Solomon’s porch, synagogues, streets, houses or anywhere
else they could get a hearing.(Acts 5:42) Scattered believers went everywhere
preaching the word.(Acts 8:4)
12.
Witnessing was primarily
relational: one person telling another about
the Lord. When Zacchaeus,
Matthew, Jailer, etc. committed themselves to the Lord they invited friends and
family to meet
Jesus. Anyone from that gathering who made a commitment, invited
their friends and family to their house to meet Jesus. (Luke 19:2-10; Matthew
9:9-13;Acts 16:32-34)
13.
The churches grew by
multiplication. (Acts 9:37)
14.
Purity, holiness and the
fear of God was maintained by Biblical church discipline according to Matt.18:15-17.
15.
Churches were established
in different ways in the New Testament:
a.
In a city/town in which no
church existed, a church was often begun by scattered believers witnessing to
the unsaved and then those new converts along with the scattered believers would
become the nucleus of any newly established work.
In a city/town where scattered believers were already in residence, a
church would be composed of those new believers and later their converts.
b.
A city/town where no
church existed, one was also begun by
traveling and itinerant apostles, prophets and evangelists who witnessed to the
lost and from new converts would establish a church.
A city/town where believers were already in residence, the apostles,
prophets and evangelists would build the foundation of the church by teaching,
training and equipping the existing group of believers, always being careful not
to build upon another person’s foundation.
16.
These foundational leaders
were primarily itinerant apostles, prophets and evangelists who were used of the
Lord to begin new work, teach, equip and train believers, then move on to begin
new work, yet often maintain a ministry of encouragement by letters and visits.
17.
Continuing and ongoing
church leadership consisted of a plurality of Pastor-teachers (an
interchangeable term for elders and bishops) whose primary task was to be older,
mature shepherds, teachers, guides, overseers, who equipped believers to do the
work of ministry. These leaders were recognized in time and set apart from among
those within
the local church to serve.
18.
Deacons, who were servants
of the church, were set apart as special needs for service would arise in order
to give the equipping leaders more time for prayer and the Word.
19.
Leaders in the churches
were not salaried but were “tentmakers”. However, some itinerant workers did
receive a combination of financial assistance from the church and/or
individuals.
20.
Giving in the early church
was described in such terms as “giving as God prospers, freely, cheerfully,
simplicity, liberally and according to ability”.
Money was collected for special needs and given by churches collectively
as well as by individual believers directly to those who had need, i.e. “those
who ministered the word, itinerant
laborers, widows, other saints and all others who had need”.
21.
New leaders were trained
and equipped by walking with mature leaders who set a good example within the
church life, often by apprenticeship relations like Paul
and Timothy.
22.
Each city/town had one
singular church even though the believers may
have met in different locations such as from house to house or hosted by one
house on a regular basis. Acts 2:1-2,46, 5:42, 8;3,12:12, 16:40,
17:5, 18:7, 19:9(school/hall), 20:20(publicly), 28:30(hired house); Rom.
16:3-5,10,23; I Cor.16:19; Col.4:15; II Tim.1:16, 4:19; Philemon
2 The plural usage of the word
“churches” was used only in reference to
more than one church located in larger geographical areas such as in Judea or
Achaia. Acts 9:31 and 11:22.
23.
The church was known both
as “gathered” and “scattered”.
a.
The “gathering” was
when the believers assembled together and focused upon magnifying Jesus and
edifying one another. In their
gatherings they experienced both the “bowing in reverence at Jesus’ feet”
and “ministering to and edifying others” as “their reasonable service”.
b.
The “scattering” took
place when the believers left the “gathering” and continued “being
church” by sharing and ministering Jesus “as they went” to their homes,
businesses, recreation, neighboring towns and “unto the uttermost parts”.
24.
New Testament Churches
held in common Biblical similarities and yet expressed differently their
individualities, i.e. Jerusalem was not Antioch.
25.
Their common teachings
were known as “apostles’ doctrine” which was Jesus!
26.
In the early churches,
balance in all their teachings was meticulously held. For every teaching there
was a balanced teaching, i.e. heaven/hell, faith/
works, good/evil, angels/demons, give/receive, servant/master, etc.
27.
The size of the various
house gatherings within the city/town was guided by the Holy Spirit in which He
seemed to limit the number by the capacity of the house in which they met and by
safeguarding relational ministries.
When the number of believers in various house gatherings of a city/town
became too large they multiplied and began meeting in another house all the
while maintaining the unity of the body as a singular church of the city/town.
28.
On special occasions
and/or spontaneous occurrences, the house gatherings would meet together as the
whole church of the city/town in borrowed settings such as Solomon’s Porch in
Jerusalem.
29.
The church of the
city/town was called or known by the name of the city/town in which it was
located i.e. “church at Antioch” or by the name of the hosts of the
house in which they met i.e. Philemon’s house.
Followers of Jesus were referred to as being “of that Way”,
believers, disciples and Christians.
30.
The church structure and
ministry was as a body and family with Christ as the Head and Bridegroom of the
Bride. Every believer ministered in
their particular supernatural giftings of the Spirit for the glory of Christ,
edification of the whole Body and
in Biblical order.
31.
The church of a city/town
related to another city/town church in an inter-dependent relationship by their
fellowship in Christ and by the traveling believers, apostles, prophets and
evangelists.
32.
The believers and churches
recognized and maintained a relationship to the whole Body of Christ.
33.
The believers recognized
that the Church was “in the world but not of the world” as an outpost of
“called out ones” to “occupy till He comes”, expand and advance the
Kingdom of God on earth looking toward His Kingdom being triumphant and reigning
on earth as it is in heaven.
34.
The church was spiritually
prepared and properly responded to any
persecution that came either from individuals, government or established
religion. Luke 6:27-28
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