JUNCTIONS GATHERINGS
JUNCTIONS GATHERING
The Message
A ‘junction’ has the possibility to bring a change of direction in your life journey, or it could have a sign of encouragement for you to keep going straight ahead, or it may just be a safe place to rest and fill up the tank on the great adventure.
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We are trusting for God’s direction, inspiration, and transformation in our lives as we meet with one another at different Junctions.
God meets with us at the junctions of our hearts, and we meet together at the junctions of our ‘Huddles, Homes, and Halls’.
WE GATHER...
We gather regularly at different junctions as local church families because we value the 'gathering' of His people. We gather out of self-devotion and disciplines from the stewardship and influence of the Spirit in our individual, and family life.
We gather for our humbling, remembering, encouraging, hearing, learning and celebrating... it’s a time to express our dependency, thankfulness, love, prayers and praise.
We ‘gather to give’ more than we ‘gather to get'. Those who are growing under the Kings Dominion, will naturally become members of the body that actively play their part in the family.
AS FAMILY...
His Word speaks of His church as a bride, a branch, a building, His house, an olive tree, a temple, a fruitful field, a holy priesthood, a pillar of Truth and a family. As we keep growing in health, we contribute to the health of the family, and in turn, contribute to the health of the church. This affects our community, city, country, and our world for His Majesty.
A family has loving oversight, leading towards a sure purpose, and a clear vision. We are brothers and sisters (who do, and sometimes don't get along). We get sick at times, and need special care. It’s o.k. not to be o.k. But let’s keep lifting our eyes to the Healer to make us whole. We celebrate and encourage each other’s victories, helping and serving one another with enthusiasm. We love the ‘one another’ ministries, so we ‘play our part’ in adding health to the family.
If we don't stay open to the 'one another’s', we get self-sufficient, and independent, and eventually start to say to the rest of the body, "I don't need you". This would be an unhelpful heart to have when serving, encouraging, and edifying one another.
Healthy family keeps you from being passive, getting weird, and over emphasizing fine sounding philosophies. Family has a marvelous and messy way of shaping you for His call and His purposes. We celebrate with all the generations together as much as possible, so that the next generation can hear our faith being declared as we pray, minister and sing together. Welcome to family!
IN HUDDLES...
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We get together in ‘huddles’, while God meets with us in our ‘hearts’.
We encourage every Christian to be intentional towards a discipleship culture while using whatever healthy discipleship tools are available, establishing strong foundations in one another’s lives.
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A 'huddle' is an intentional regular weekly connection with a few friends to learn together about The Creator. Nobody has 'arrived'. We are all learning. We shape and sharpen one another as disciples and apprentices, with intentional humility.
Any huddle can make use of different tools like Bible doctrines, DBS(discovery bible study), book reviews, alpha courses, a teaching series ...etc. You can get together as fellowship or prayer groups, home groups, mens groups, ladies groups, missional outreaches ...etc.
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IN HOMES...
We get together in ‘homes’, while God meets with us in our ‘hearts’.
Philemon 1:2 ...and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier,
and the church in your house:
Romans 16:5 ...Greet also the church in their house...
1Corinthians 16:19 ...The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca,
together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord..
Colossians 4:15 ...Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea,
and to Nympha and the church in her house.
Acts 8:3 ...But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house,
he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
The churches in homes activate us in the Kingdom, develop relational discipleship journeys, and encourage us to play our part.
& IN HALLS...
We get together in ‘halls’, while God meets with us in our ‘hearts’.
Between scripture and church history, we see that the church would meet in homes, the temple, synagogues, law courts, and even build their own buildings. Because of the simplicity of how we meet, we don’t get too amazed by ministers, meetings, ministries, movements and monuments...
but we certainly want to remain Amazed by Grace.
Prayer, Thanksgiving, Communion, The Word, Fellowship, and Oversight. These are the simplest ingredient for when the church meets in homes or halls. We encourage our home churches to stay connected and meet with other home churches in halls to keep us healthy.
ACTIVEIN THE
CO-MISSION &THE
CO-MMAND...
There is a ‘CO’- in the MISSION and a ‘CO’- in the MANDATE to the church.
FAITH is HIS GREAT CO-MISSION...
LOVE is HIS GREAT CO-MMAND...
We are meant to grow in this TOGETHER, and do this together as FAMILY. His comission and command places value on the ‘CO’ of the church family, encouraging interdependence,
keeping us from passivity, isolation, and self sufficiency.
Let’s be fruitful in these 4 main co-missions and co-mandates.
His Majesty... Our Maturing... The Message... & Mercy...
ADVANCING THE KINGDOM...
The Kingdom is the ‘rule’ or ‘reign’ of the King over me (the Kings-Dominion).
The Church is the ‘realm’ or ‘people’ that the King is to ‘rule’ over.
Between the kingdom and the church, we are encouraged to seek the kingdom first...
as they are not synonymous.
The kingdom is the 'rule of Jesus over me' ...and the church are 'the called out ones' (who live under His rule). So we are all learning, on a daily basis, to submit our wills, and our kingdoms, to His will, and His Kingdom. We keep laying down our lives as we learn to walk in The Spirit, to be led by The Spirit, to keep in step with The Spirit, being continuously filled by The Spirit, bearing the fruit of The Spirit, living in the new Way of The Spirit. We learn to be under His authority, to see His Kingdom come, to see His will being done in and through our lives while developing obedience.
There is a war going on here. It is a war for our obedience.
We are AWARE of the war, ACTIVE in the world, and ADVANCING in the Kingdom.
TOGETHER AS
THE CHURCH.
The church are ‘the called out ones who belong to God’. We are not asked to build the church, or to seek it first in our lives. He builds the church... We make disciples, and seek His Kingdom first. As disciples, we seek first a growing obedience under the Kings rule. If we are truly under His rule, we would naturally love what He loves.
We develop a self-devotion to a local church family where we can play our part in the ‘new way of The Spirit’. There are no “have-to’s” in the New Testament, but there is a Spirit-stewardship of our talents, our time, our opportunities, and our treasure,
This is how we add health to the universal church body. (Rom 7:6)
The gathering is not primarily for those who are 'lost' and 'seeking'... although they are certainly welcome! The gathering is primarily for the church...'the called out ones who belong to God'.