Since pastor’s seminar is coming up, I want to share a tip about house church meeting. When I was a shepherd, I did not serve desert right after dinner. After dinner, the setting is somewhat unorganized trying to clean up and doing the dishes. As soon as things clean up, if desert is served, it is another busy situation where some work to prepare desert and some are busy eating, etc. In this situation, it is difficult to calm down to start the house church program.
In the house church procedure, there are times to be serious and there are times to be relaxed. For example, it is good to be free and casual during dinner and sharing, but it is more fitting to be orderly during praise, bible study and prayer. Therefore, it is good idea to have fruits ready when the meal is prepared, but do not serve them after meal. Instead, encourage all members to get together to be organized and sing worship songs to start program.
The order of house church should be; dinner, sing praises, (Of course, these days, we have time for children before worship songs.) bible study, and announcement of church events. After that, take a break and serve desert. The reason for this timing is that the announcement has two parts with two different shades; church announcement and house church announcement.
There are two reasons to announce church events. One is to remember that house church does not exist by itself, but a part of bigger unit, the local church. The other is as the announcements are made, those who do not attend church may be curious about church activity and this could be a chance to encourage them to participate. Therefore, instead of simply announcing there will be the Jesus accept meeting next week, shepherd should explain the meaning of the meeting and how it can affect individuals and use it as a chance to encourage them to participate depends on the spiritual state of members.
After the announcement for church activities, the next should be the announcement for house church. During this time, many events of members should be mentioned along with birthdays and other events to celebrate such as promotion or children getting award, etc. If desert is served during this time, it will be a time of rest as well as a chance to build rapport which is a good foundation to move into sharing.
The time of sharing followed by prayer, commitment for evangelism and mission challenge will be a great flow for house church. In other words, the time starts with joyful meal, time with children, worship, bible study and church announcement (this part should be sincere.) Then, house church announcement will brighten up the group with some laughter which is followed by sharing, prayer, resolution for evangelism, mission challenge and close with dedication.
When church worship service is organized in natural rhythm like flowing water, we receive more blessings. Just like that, if we invest more time and thoughts in the order to find flow, we can receive greater blessings from it. If shepherds and members are one in making this environment, new VIP can adjust more easily to your house church.
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