The Skill of Gathering

“when you come together as a church…”

The Gathering is an essential tool and regular part of life as a body. It’s a time when the body listens to Christ as its head, when the Holy Spirit animates the parts of the body through spiritual gifts, when people minister to one another, pray for one another, and share their lives with one another, so that the body can be united, healthy and whole.

The three passages we use most frequently to understand the purpose and the practice of the Gathering are -

1 Corinthians 14:26 – “Well, my brothers and sisters, let’s summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.“

Hebrews 10:24-25 – “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.“

1 Corinthians 12:24-27 – “So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.“

We must never confuse the Gathering with the church. Gathering does not equal church but as Paul says repeatedly in 1 Corinthians the Gathering is when the church comes together. Church is the relational network, the body that lives life in a state of continual unity, love and interdependence. The Gathering is the regular meeting time used as a tool to assist the church in the development of its common life.

And like any tool you can be skilled at using it or poor at using it. In order for body churches to mature body members must become skilled at the Gathering. We have a long way to go in understanding how to use this essential tool but here are a few things we’ve picked up thus far.

1. Set the tone – Everyone comes to the gathering with preconceived ideas regarding it purpose. They also come with a variety of past experiences and often mistake the gathering for a Bible study, a support group, a social opportunity or some other familiar event and, therefore, we must be persistent in setting the correct tone in order to free the body to build itself up properly. Some elements critical to the tone of the gathering are -

• Acknowledging the headship of Christ
• Inviting the active movement of the Holy Spirit
• Encouraging Spirit led participation
• Creating an open atmosphere of vulnerability
• Remember the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that founds our common life.

The real trick to setting the tone is to do it in such a way that offers the leadership necessary to keep the Gathering on track without being so heavy handed that other members of the body grow passive in their participation.

2. Keeping the tone

Once the tone of listening the Holy Spirit and following his leading is set there will be numerous distractions that will attempt to derail the gathering. Coming together under the headship of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in an atmosphere of love and mutual submission is the most dangerous thing our enemy could allow to go on unchecked. He will use a variety of tactics including

• Tiredness
• Crying children
• Endless rambling
• Jokes
• Insensitive comments

However, a body can become skilled enough at the gathering to identify a distraction and work together to immediately bring the meeting back on track. The freedom, love and unity that can be achieved at the gathering is powerful enough to change lives for eternity so a disciplined body that can remain for even an hour under the Spirit’s guidance can and will transform the cultures of the world.

3. Continuing the Tone

Being in submission to the Holy Spirit does not begin and end at the Gathering. If it is not carried on throughout the week not only will our life together be dis-empowered but the Gathering itself will be far less fruitful. The Spirit inspired atmosphere during the Gathering must permeate our lives and invigorate our own Spirit led walks.

In addition, the Holy Spirit often reveals thing to you during the gathering that are the very Word of God to you. It may be about another person in the group or it could be about you. When a Word comes to you it is critical to obey whether it involves -

• Serving another member of the Body
• Setting up a meeting to encourage and exhort someone in the Body
• Start something new that you are not currently doing
• Stop a practice God is calling you to give up

Being Spirit led throughout the week also allows you to come the Gathering prepared to give the Body what God has given you. Every week ever active member of the Body should seek to discover if God is calling you to bring something to the Body to use your gift to build it up. This could be

• A song
• A teaching
• A Word from the Lord
• A Word of encouragement
• A prophecy
• An act of service
• An act of hospitality
• An act of administration

We need to all understand and accept the learning curve involved with growing in our skill at the Gathering. The better we become at using this skill the more equipped we will be to plant, edify and reproduce Body Churches and expand the boundaries of the Kingdom of God.