Last updated 16-August-2005. [Thompson & Auer]
Our practices follow from our fundamental principles. After searching the Scriptures carefully, examining each passage in Acts and the epistles that has any reference to the meeting and activities of the early church, we've adopted the following primary practices as a local church. (It is not the purpose of this document to exhaustively explain all valid practices, or identify invalid practices, based on the above principles. We recognize that there may be other valid applications of the principles stated above that differ from these):
1. One Regular Meeting - Although there is the notable exception of the early church in Jerusalem during the formation of the church, it seems that the normative pattern of the early church in Scripture and historical documents indicate that they had one regular meeting each week held on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7, Acts 20:7, Hebrews 10:23-25). It also seems that they came together for four primary activities, the Christians' necessary spiritual diet (Acts 2:42--apostolic doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayers). Other meetings were seemingly irregular as needed: to pray brothers out of jail, to hear a missionary report, etc. We plan to only have one regular meeting each week.
Because of busy schedules that make it difficult for families to maintain regular family worship, we generally avoid scheduling church activities that would encroach on family time by pulling members of the family in different directions (age and gender specific meetings). Therefore, we ordinarily organize church meetings and activities that include all ages. We do not want things that may be good but are optional to pull the members away from what is excellent and essential (family worship).
We attempt to model that meeting based on what we see as examples in passages of Scripture such as Acts 2:42; 20:7; Eph. 5:19; 1 Tim. 2:8ff; 1 Cor. 14:12-26ff, etc., and believe that the practices described in Scripture are primarily transcultural. The major implications for us are as follows:
a. Preeminence of Breaking of Bread - Of the four primary activities, the preeminent purpose for the regular meeting seemed to be remembering the Lord Jesus Christ in the breaking of bread--they met "to (purpose) break bread" (Acts 20:7; cf. 1 Cor. 11:20). Therefore, almost every meeting includes remembering the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ through sharing the Lord's Supper.
b. Men's Leadership Role In the Church - 1 Cor. 14 is the clearest description of the meeting of the church, revealing that each brother came prepared to participate vocally (church isn't a spectator sport)(1 Tim 2:8-11). God's purpose here seems to be to maintain proper roles of leadership and followership by men and women in directing the corporate worship. While scripture clearly teaches that women are to be silent during the assembly time, women are certainly encouraged to actively participate vocally in singing, fellowship, or other activities that do not exercise authority over men.
c. Age-Integrated - This is not meant to imply that a child is never allowed to leave a parent's side, but rather that we encourage the family to stay together during the activities of the church. This practice is widely known as family integrated worship. Additionally, we want younger generations to benefit from the wisdom of older generations, and vice versa. We encourage our leadership to set the example by engaging in fellowship with believers from other generations. Titus 2:1-7
d. New Testament Worship Practice - Each man is free and encouraged to bring worship (what Christ is "worth" to him) through a hymn or spiritual song, prayer, Scripture, Word of Instruction, etc. for the edification of the saints through the praise of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:19; 1 Tim. 2:8ff; 1 Cor. 14:26ff). Teachers bring more systematic teaching of the Scriptures (Titus 1:9, 2 Tim 4:1-2) which includes interaction with the men so they will be better able to answer their wives and children's questions at home (1 Cor. 14:35; Acts 20:11). Fellowship is also part of the worship service.
2. Music - We are told to "speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with [our hearts] to the Lord" (Eph. 5:19, Col 3:15-17). Although instruments are not explicitly mentioned in the New Testament, they are prominent in the Old Testament, especially in Psalms. We use the piano in our assembly meeting and sing traditional hymns.
3. One Anothers - Scripture commands us to be devoted to one another, love one another, accept one another, admonish one another, encourage one another, serve one another, bear one another's burdens, etc.(Rom 12:10, 13:8, 15:7, 15:14; 1 Thes 5:11; Gal 5:13, 6:2, etc.). During the week, we therefore encourage each family to be in close association with the others through various means such as phone, email and personal association in order to follow these commands. Various resources are shared. Otherwise, we are not really a connected, caring family, just "Sunday Christians." We practice and promote separation from defiling influences (1 Cor. 15:33; 2 Tim. 2:22, 1 Pet 2:11) and encourage our families to hold each other accountable to the call to holiness (Mark 12:28-31, 1 Peter 2:1-10), while being mindful of our own condition (Gal 6:1, 1 Pet 3:15).
In order to maintain the purity of the church, we follow the steps of restoration/discipline outlined in Matthew 18:15-18 (and directed by the elders) when necessary, always respecting the authority structure of the family unit and keeping within the proper jurisdiction. (Prov 28:13; Matt 5:23-24; 1 Cor 5:1-8; 11ff esp. vs 3; Gal 6:1-5; Eph 5:25-27).
4. Ministry to Widows & Fatherless - As a church, we seek ways to support widows and the fatherless (1Tim 5:3-16, James 1:27, Deut 14:28-29, 24:19-22, Psalm 82:3). For example, if a godly woman without a husband desires to be a keeper at home and train up their children at home, we will work with them to determine a reasonable standard of living that we can support. This may include becoming part of another family's household temporarily or various other means determined on a case-by-case basis. We do not believe support of the woman is the job of the government. However, the church is not expected to support widows or fatherless who are not supported by their own Christian families or who do not lead godly lives. We also encourage widows to be industrious from their home as we see in the case of Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and the godly woman described in Proverbs 31 among others, but do not necessarily expect them to be self-sufficient.
5. Outreach - We are commanded to sacrificially use our gifts to practice hospitality (Rom 12:1-21, 1 Pet 4:7-10, Heb 13:1-3, 3 John 5-8, 1 Tim 3:2, Titus 1:7-8, 1 Tim 5:9-10) and to do good works (Eph 2:10, 1 Tim 2:10, 1 Tim 6:17-18), fulfilling the Great Commission (Mark 16:15, Matt 28:19-20) as we train up our children (Deut. 6:7, Deut 32:45-47, Eph 6:4, Prov 22:6, etc.). The primary way we encourage the body of believers to accomplish this is by ministering together as a family to open our homes and do good works together (which may or may not be outside the home and can often include a family business/ministry). Teaching is not just in word, but also by example. We must keep our behavior excellent as we go into the world (1 Pet 2:12, 3:15). Although there are certainly times that evangelism and "missions work" are done without one's family, we encourage these activities to be done as a family as a general rule. We will also use our financial and material resources to help meet the needs of those in the ministry of the advancement of the gospel (Phil 4:10-16) or brothers outside of our assembly in need (1 Cor 16:1-4).
6. Church-Based Leadership Training - We train leaders in the context of the local church to minister to the local church via a discipleship model and leading by example (John 13:15, 1 John 2:6, Acts 20:18-35, Phil 3:17, Heb 6:11-12) being tested by the local church as faithful men (2 Tim 2:2).
7. Church Planting - The format and size of a local church must not restrict its ability to function as a spiritual family, sharing our common life. (The only clear exception to a "limited size assembly" in Scripture is in Jerusalem at Pentecost and shortly thereafter when the Holy Spirit was first poured out and the Apostles were all present in one place... after they were scattered we see no indication of large regular assemblies). A church that is too big for people to deeply know one another well will have a difficult time functioning as a family. A large assembly cannot encourage interactive discussions and sharing by all men in worship. Based on our practices of worship and discipleship and the call for deep relationship within a local body, we believe corporate growth can be an enemy of personal growth. Although it is not clear how many families per assembly there might be, we suspect that the maximum size is greater than 10 families but significantly less than 30. Therefore, we will strive to spawn other similar assemblies as the size of our assembly grows and leaders are developed.
8. Like-minded Interdependence - Our assembly exercises interdependence and mutual accountability and fellowship with other like-minded believers and assemblies.
Notes
“Many of the ideas in the initial draft of this document were based on an e-mail from John Thompson describing the principles of "Connecticut River Christian Assembly" and discussions that followed with John. Since then this document has been influenced by many and assembled by Ken Auer as the basis of the principles at Southwest Wake Christian Assembly. The elders of Greenville Christian Assembly have substantially modified this document.”
