There are many reasons for the existence of a local assembly called the ecclesia [church], such as worshipping and fellowship, but the reason for the gathering of the saints has somehow become lost in the haze of religion, tradition and man’s perceptions and doctrines. These days, it seems we are trying to save the people in the Church, which is strange since the Church is supposed to be the living priesthood of saints.
Where the saints gather, that is where the church is, since the church is the Body of Christ; thus, every individual who is reborn in the Spirit (John 3). Church is not the building, or the programme, but a living and breathing holy priesthood of saints where two or more are gathered in the Presence of the Almighty. And amid such a gathering, one will most likely be the ‘lost’, thus those who are searching for an answer to their spiritual woes. But the church gathers not for the lost, but they gather to edify, encourage, uplift, empower and equip each other unto service. And naturally, elders will be most likely present, or shepherds called to guard against the wolves of deceit or the distortion of Truth.
These days, the Church has become an institution of religious programmes, where the saints who are the holy priesthood play little part in such a gathering, while those in leadership – such a structure being false by design and intent – try to save the lost instead of properly equipping the saints. Teaching ultimately functions where the saints gather, and such teaching and prophecy and the gifts of the Spirit should flow among all believers for all believers are the Body of the Lord.
Ultimately, preaching is for the lost, not for the saints, for the saints are supposed to be ‘saved’ and ‘redeemed’ otherwise they are not the church or the Bride. We preach the Gospel, and the ones who need to hear the truth of the Gospel are not the saved but the lost. Where the saints gather, there we should be exhorting and equipping in the power of the Holy Spirit, all the while equipped to preach. We are not here to teach the lost but to evangelize so that they can come into the fold of the believers to be equipped and to be disciples. Teaching is for the redeemed, as part of equipping and empowering for service.
Discipleship is about being equipped, mentored, and empowered, while the process of being saved is being led to Jesus [thus the preaching of the Gospel). These days, we are preaching to the saved and teaching to the lost, instead of equipping the saints to preach to the lost! The saints assemble to be equipped (perfected) for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4). This is the genius of apostolic Christianity, but it is rarely taking place in the churches today. God’s purpose is to train and equip His people, led primarily by the Holy Spirit and supported by those called unto such an office such as teachers or prophets. When believers are well-fed and well-taught in the whole counsel of God, then the body (the local assembly) will be healthy, the life of Christ will be manifested, and God will be glorified.
The main purpose of the local assembly (such as house churches), therefore, is for the saints, not for sinners. The local assembly, according to God’s pattern, is to be primarily an edification centre (1 Corinthians 14:26), not an evangelistic centre; a soul-building station (Acts 20:28, 32), not a soul-winning station. It is a place thus for inspiration to go soul-winning.
Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All powers is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever! have commanded you: Matthew 28:12, 16-20a. We are to fellowship to inspire and instil in us the importance of going soul-winning. Most people will never want to have a conversation with God on the streets, but we can take the message where they are lost. Mark 2 says: “15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The primary purpose of the local assembly remains to build up the believers in the most holy faith and to equip them for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12). And such work is to GO into the world, as Jesus did in Mark 2, to declare the Good News of the Kingdom to the sinners, to the spiritually sick and unhealthy. We are thus admonished to FOLLOW Jesus and to GO, but it is within the environment of fellowship of believers that we are strengthened and empowered to FOLLOW and to GO.
Jesus thus did not start the church as a place of evangelism. The evangelistic church is not in the Bible. The soul-winning church is. The New Testament church was a soul-winning institution where all of the members won people to Jesus. It says in “Acts 5:42 and daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
The entire point of discipleship is to train and equip believers for the work of ministry, so that they can preach the Good News in homes, on the streets and in the marketplace. The entire point is also for some to start home churches and initiate the fellowship of believers for the sake of continued edification, upliftment and continued empowerment. This is the crux of Acts 2 when the believers continued to meet, and Ephesians 4 which speaks of the pastors, prophets, teachers, evangelists and apostles equipping the saints for the work of ministry.
Some people believe that the New Testament church won the lost in the church and house-to-house soul winning. That is half true. They did go house-to-house soul-winning. The temple, however, was not the church, nor did they have a church in the temple. The temple was the location of the big gala occasion when they had their feasts and when all of the people would gather in Jerusalem. The temple was also the place where they conducted their daily business. It was like a city business district. This was not talking about witnessing in church, but about witnessing in public places as well as in people’s homes.
It says in “Acts 8:1, 4: On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria … therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.” We also read in “Mark 16:15: They witnessed everywhere. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Jesus gave the Great Commission on several occasions. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts all give different phrasings of the Great Commission. That does not mean that Jesus spoke it only one time, and that each of them gave it in their own words. They each quoted Jesus. He did not just give it once. One of those times was quoted in Mark. It is not talking about standing behind a pulpit and preaching. It is not directed to a congregation. It is directed to every creature to GO into the world to become soul winners. And those who are won to the Kingdom then need to be discipled to become soul winners. Thus, the gathering of the believers, be it in houses, small groups or in the traditional church on a Sunday, is the prime platform to raise disciples and equip soul winners.
Jesus said in Matthew to teach all nations. That word in Matthew is the Greek word “ethnos” which means ethnics or races. Mark 16:15 says, to go into the entire world. The word “kosmos” is the word arrangement. When Jesus started the church, he started a soul-winning church. Soul winning was the fruit of the church and the result of the church. In the first century, the local churches were soul-winning churches. They were scattered abroad everywhere with everybody preaching or soul winning. The Bible says that every nation under Heaven was represented at Pentecost and every man heard the Gospel. Many people were doing the soul-winning. Peter’s first sermon touched the lives of 3000 people! Yes, Peter and the rest of the disciples left the Upper Room, after being equipped and filled by the Holy Spirit to now win souls for the Kingdom.
But again, they did not forsake meetings and gatherings, for the sake of being edified and to remain accountable to each other. Indeed, a soul-winning church is where the people go out and win the lost and bring them back in to be equipped. An evangelistic church is where you invite sinners to come and the preacher tries to get them saved through his preaching. There is nothing wrong with that except the people go unfed. If the main thrust of the local assembly is to reach the lost, then evangelism will be unduly stressed and given priority and the edification and equipping of believers will not be given its proper place. If God’s Word is properly taught, the unsaved who are in attendance will certainly hear the gospel, and the believers who need to be taught will not be neglected.
It is about bringing the gospel to the unsaved (Mark 16:15; 2 Corinthians 5:20). All believers are to be gospel preachers, not just the pastor on Sunday morning or Sunday evening. This is after all the intention of the Great Commission. Our gospel emphasis should be every day of the week, as we go into the world seeking the lost to win. But the hours that we spend with God’s people should be rich times of being built up in the Word of God so that we can be more effective witnesses for Christ at work, at home or at school.
Ephesians 4: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: The word perfecting means maturing. God gave apostles for the maturing of the saints. God gave prophets for the maturing of the saints. God gave evangelists for the maturing of the saints. God gave teachers for the maturing of the saints.
All these ‘offices’ were given for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. Every saint is commanded to do the work of the ministry. Every Christian is commanded to be a soul-winner. It is even the evangelist’s job to mature the Christians so they will better do the work of the ministry. Jesus said in “Matthew 9:37: Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” Still today the labourers – those winning the souls – are few because we have not been preoccupied with making disciples or with equipping people to gather in the harvest. Labourers are few because the ‘army’ of soul winners has not been activated or mobilised. We have a massive army sitting in the pews over the weekend, or even attending home churches or small groups in the week, but they have not been properly trained or equipped! A lack of true, real and proper discipleship has resulted in such a grievous ‘lack’, for indeed the soul winners must take the Gospel to the people, and the people must be discipled and then be supported by a shepherd, and then also be fully equipped and empowered for service.
For many years, evangelists were men who travelled across the country and preached revival meetings. In truth, evangelists were also given for the perfecting or maturing of the saints, so the saints could do the work of the ministry. The apostles in the New Testament were not just soul winners, but they taught, exhorted, rebuked, and perfected them so that the saints could do the work of the ministry. One of the primary goals of the assembly of saints is therefore for people to become Christ-like and not merely saved (Colossians 1:28; Ephesians 4:13-15). The heart of the Lord is with the lost, but it is also with having a relationship with His people. It doesn’t help we try to save the lost by the saints themselves as undernourished, spiritually sick, and ineffective witnesses for Christ.
Remember, the saints are called to the work of the ministry. In most churches today the pastor bears the great bulk of the ministry load along with perhaps a few others. The great majority are content to sit in the pews, hear a nice message and perhaps come back on the following Sunday. The genius of New Testament Christianity was that the saints (the believers) were to be fully equipped and well-trained to go forth every day of the week and do the work of the ministry. Instead of one man or a few people trying to bear the burden, God intended to have a whole army of believers going forth trained and well-equipped to serve the Lord at work, at school, at home, in town or the local neighbourhoods.
The assembly of the saints are thus for maturing. The Body of Christ is the local New Testament church. God has given us the assembly of saints [church], so that every time someone tries to deceive us with a false doctrine, we will not fall prey to the error. God has given us the church for us to become mature. He wants us to grow up. That is what it is all about. We are called to come together and pray and encourage each other to mature. The assembly of the saints is there to help us to grow up.
Let us return unto the purpose of the assembly of the saints so that we can equip, encourage, edify and support each other to win the lost. After all, we are called to tell the world about Jesus and share the Gospel, but then again, we must make sure we share the right Gospel, and share the truth of Jesus and not spread more lies and deceptions. Discipleship in the truest form is vital, so that we remain in truth, in the Word and the Spirit, for the sake of winning souls, no matter the cost and no matter the challenges.
The House Church Blueprint was Written by Riaan Engelbrecht
