Scripture Reading:

Acts 2:46: Praising God and having grace with all the people. and the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved.

Building Up the Home Meetings in Every Believer’s Home Being a Brand New Thing, a Creative Act of God, and Something That He Ordained

Building up the home meetings in every believer’s home is the first and foremost thing in our new beginning. This is not a matter of choice. As long as a person is a believer, he is our brother in the Lord, even if he is the weakest, coldest, and most indifferent, backslidden person. Therefore, we must make every effort to build up a meeting in his home. I said from the beginning that the small group is the foundation for the building up of the church, and that such a small group must be built upon the foundation of the home meetings. The scriptural basis for the small groups and the home meetings is the expression from house to house in Acts 2:46 and 5:42. One and a half years ago I pointed out emphatically that on the day of Pentecost, as soon as the church was raised up on the earth, it began to meet from house to house. That was an unprecedented move; it was something that Judaism had never done before. It was not an idea that Peter inherited from the Jewish religion. Rather, it was a brand new thing, a creative act of God, and something that He ordained. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, ch. 17)

Every Home Can Be Opened to Be a Place for Meeting

Christianity has fallen prey to the wiles of Satan; it has completely overlooked the homes. In Christianity only the big meetings are cared for without any thought of the home meetings. A person in Christianity finds no vessel to hold his experience together. There is no vessel to uphold the testimony and no vessel to keep and maintain the truth. Consider Romans 16. Without a doubt, during the time of the apostles, the church was built up in the believers’ homes. We know that the book of Romans is a book dealing specifically with the spiritual life in Christ and the spiritual living in the church. At the end of this book, one entire chapter is devoted to Paul’s greeting of the saints. From his greetings, we can see that quite a number of homes were opened to the church. This shows that the church life at the time of the apostles had a very strong home atmosphere. Under Satan’s influence, Christianity has completely annihilated this spiritual atmosphere of the homes.

This is the reason that we must endeavor with all the energy, strength, and time that the Lord has given us to recover the proper atmosphere of the homes. The first thing we must do is to make every saint’s home a place for meeting. At the present moment, many saints are burdened to open up their homes. This is a great step forward, yet we cannot be satisfied with this initial step. We must not only open up the homes of those who are burdened, but we must also bring the meetings to the homes of those who are not burdened. We hope that every home can be opened to become a place for meeting. Each opened home means one more place for meeting. The smallest places of meeting in a church are the homes of every brother and sister in that church.

Once the Church Is Built Up in the Homes, the Homes Will Be Transformed

We need to realize that the way the Lord is taking is to build up His church in the believers’ homes. Once the church is built up in the homes, the homes will be transformed. The husbands and the wives might have been arguing couples, but once they have meetings in their homes, they will stop their arguing. The children will also be preserved from drifting with the current of the age. As a result, the family will become proper and normal. If possible, we should compile some material to teach the brothers and sisters how they should build up their own homes. For example, we should have something to teach them how to behave as parents, children, husbands, and wives. This is scriptural. A book as spiritual as Ephesians contains teachings on being proper husbands, wives, children, parents, slaves, and masters. In the past we were somewhat negligent in this matter. All the brothers and sisters devoted their attention to the big meetings and neglected the building up of the homes. In the coming days we hope that we can compile some messages on the building up of the homes so that every saint’s home would be a proper home. Once that happens, we can invite our relatives to the home meetings, and they will see the situation in our homes and will be touched to receive the Lord’s salvation.

Once We Build Up the Church in the Believers’ Homes, We Will Be Able to Spread the Gospel through the Homes

Once we build up the church in the believers’ homes, we will be able to spread the gospel through the homes. All the churches that do a good job with the homes will not need to have big gospel meetings; the gospel will spread spontaneously. The home is the place that touches man’s heart. It pierces and digs deep into man’s very soul, even his very spirit. This does not mean that we cannot have big gospel meetings, but we need such meetings only a few times a year. The main emphasis with such meetings is in reaping, not sowing. The crucial thing is to build up the church in the homes and to spread the gospel through the homes. At the same time, we need to encourage the brothers and sisters to group two or three families together into small groups. In the small groups they should fellowship together and render spiritual help, nourishment, and care to one another. Then in the larger church meetings there should be the teaching of Truth Lessons. Such teaching is mainly for everyone to learn the truth. If we build up the church in such a well-coordinated way, the Lord will greatly bless us. (Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way, ch. 12)

Affording Opportunities for Each Member to Function in the Meeting

We must also afford opportunities for each member to function in the meeting (1 Cor. 14:26). We must set up the home meetings in such a way that every attendant, even a young child, has an equal opportunity to function. Even a young girl can call a hymn or a young boy can start the singing. (The God-ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy, ch. 12)