PURPOSE

The purpose of The Gathering is to first, worship God and to be a House of Prayer. To bring every Believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. To equip every Believer to do the Work of the Ministry. To be obedient to the Great Commission of going into All the World. The Gathering is to be a “sending” church, not just a “spending” church. To be obedient to the Apostolic command of feeding the poor and bring the “homeless” into the House. And to reach out to a lost and dying world.

WHAT THE CHURCH SHOULD LOOK LIKE

 

1. The church should be a house of prayer and worship. worship and prayer being inseparable.

Mat 21:13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,"

1 Chr 16:29 Give to the LORD the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!

 

2. The church should be a “school” where the people could be equipped to do the work of the ministry.

 

Eph 4:11-13 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

 

3. Worship should be long and not limited. Worship being the number one “job” of the Christian. Worship should last until we reach the throne room. It is the anointing that breaks the yoke. Not people.

 

Psa 99:5 Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His footstool; He is holy.

Isa 10:27 And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

 

4. We should be developing and equipping the next generation for ministry. The Spirit is in the youngest Believer as much as in the oldest Believer.

1 Sam 2:18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod.

Luke 18:17 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

 

5. The church should be prophetic. The prophetic church is the “Overcoming Church”. We should teach people to hear God’s voice and follow it.

 

Rev 3:7-8 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens": "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.

John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words(rhema) abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

 

6. The church should also care for the less fortunate by feeding and clothing the poor and those in need. Assistance should not be dependent upon membership to the church and financial status.

 

Isa 58:6-7 "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
 

James 1:27 External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world. (AMP)

 

7. Leadership is one of sacrifice and service, not of exaltation.

 

1 Pet 5:1-3 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;

Acts 15:35 Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

 

9. The church should also send out as many people as possible to plant other churches. We are supposed to be raising up leaders.

 

Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Rom 10:14-15 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

 

10. The church should be highly missions oriented. Not with just the local community, but also trans-global. Sending as many people as possible to all the nations of the world.

 

Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

 

TYPES OF WORSHIP

 

The “Team” concept should be applied in regards to worship, where “Team” members are consistent on the worship “Team” with out rotating members. Multiple worship “Teams” should be developed in order to fit different styles of worship, and though an individual may participate on more than one team, the anointing shall not be sacrificed in order to have everyone involved in a rotating method.

 

WAYS TO TRAIN LEADERS

 

Although the church should be a school, training should not be limited to church time only. The dedication of those chosen for leadership will be evident by their willingness to give extra time to training. If they cannot make the time, they probably should not be considered for leadership. Leadership is a sacrifice of love and service. Not one of exaltation. There should be weekly or bi-weekly training for anyone that desires to be in ministry. It is my personal belief that this “Leadership” training will aid the person to be a success in their personal life as well.

They should also be trained in the Gifts of the Holy Spirit so as to effectively know how to Minister to the Body. Training should also include traveling to seminars and conferences where they could receive training from others in the Body of Christ. There should also be itinerant ministers invited to the church so as to equip the entire Body for ministry. Finally, the most important aspect of training is mentoring, or discipleship, in other words, just spending time with them and teaching them what you know. Training should not only include “Bible”, but should also be geared to all areas of life such as family and marriage. The church should not pry into details of people’s lives, but it should be giving a good solid Biblical example for others to follow.

In my opinion, one of the most inerrant statements is that of someone being a “Low Maintenance Christian”. I believe that there is no such thing as a low maintenance Christian. Some just require less maintenance than others and very often it is the Leadership of the church that requires the most maintenance due to the attacks of the enemy against them. Although Jesus ministered to the multitudes He spent most of His time ministering to the twelve. I believe this should be the true Biblical example of ministry and leadership. More can be accomplished if the pastor gives himself more to those in Leadership with him. “Several” can accomplish more than “One”. If the Leadership is cared for and ministered to they will be more able to handle the needs of the rest of the church. Leadership’s personal needs are all too often overlooked and they therefore fall by the wayside tired and burned out. I believe that most of the training and ministry should be given to those in Leadership.

With the new understanding of the need to make Christian Education more available, I desire to develop a local Bible College. Several major institutions now offer “Satellite” schools to the local congregation.

 

CHILDREN'S MINISTRY

 

Children’s ministry will not take a back seat to the older people’s ministry. It is important to equip the younger Believers at an early age as possible. The spirit in them is just as much God as in the older Believer. Children should not just be spending time playing, they should be trained in the Word as well as in worship and prayer and dance and in any other ministry that all Believers should be trained in.

 

SMALL GROUPS

 

Although the corporate style of fellowship is important, small groups are just important as the whole church getting together. The true Biblical example of the First Century Church was that the Believers met daily in people’s homes to break bread and worship God and pray as well as study of the Word. The small group should also be the main “hands on” training ground for ministry. Types of small groups: Women- for the older to teach the younger, prophetic- to help train people to hear God’s voice, intercessory- to help give a covering to the church and body, men- as iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another, teen- a place for the younger people to fellowship and worship God as they desire. Leadership should as have and maintain their own small group so as to strengthen unity among Leadership and so as to aid the development and growth of each individual Leadership personnel.

 

MISSIONS

 

Missions is one of the most important areas of the church. We are not called to build bigger storehouses and sit back and get our blessing, but we are called to go into all the world. We should be constantly be equipping and sending out as many people as possible to all the nations.

I believe that short term missions is a life changing experience, not just for those called to full time ministry, but to every member of the Body. I believe the church should constantly be developing and sending out short term missions teams. Although sending finances to missionaries is necessary, just sending money removes the concept of “Go Ye!” that Jesus commanded in the Great Commission.

 

FEEDING THE POOR

 

Although it may be nice to send money somewhere to feed the poor, the mandate in Isaiah 58 is not fully completed until the poor are brought into the house. After the mandate of feeding the poor is met, the church will move into God’s full will and blessing.