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