A True Hope House Church Worship Experience ...

It can be any day of the week, but at present our main worship meeting is on Sundays beginning at around 4:30 pm. Upon arrival there is a time of general discussion and fellowship and there is a relaxed atmosphere ... by relaxed I do not mean a "party" atmosphere but it is happy and even festive in ways. After all, we are gathering to worship the One Who loves us the most and we are anxious to share with one another the things that God has done in our lives during the past few days!

We open with prayers of thanksgiving and praise. After all, our Father has brought us through another week and shown Himself loving and strong on our behalf all week long!

We continue the praise portion of our worship with song and Scripture!

Currently, we have no musicians in our Alma house, so we take advantage of a truly fantastic video music DVD series offered by Integrity Music that is called iWorship Videos. In fact, every house in our network has the option of being supplied with these DVD's at no charge if this is the way they wish to include music and song in their praise services. We conclude our musical praise at around 4:55 in order to connect with the "Network" at 5 pm.

We move into the Scripture Sharing and Praise Reports once we have connected with all the homes in the Network at about 5:00 pm.

God's Goodness ... 
This is for some, the most important portion of our gathering. As we hear from each other the things that we have seen God do in our lives, the things that have gone unexpectedly well or even unexpectedly wrong - yet with God's Hand at work, we are encouraged in our walks of faith! Whether an answer to specific prayers or unexpected divine intervention or just a "smooth week" with few or no problems -- everyone, from the youngest 4 year old to the oldest at 70 something, usually have something to specifically give God praise about, something to "report about", something to give more evidence on regarding the love of God and His Son Christ Jesus our Lord! There is no rush, there is no sense of impatience as we wait for one then another to share with the rest of us!

During this time also, we share "Significant Scripture" that has come to light in our Bible reading through the week. Sometimes it may be in direct relation to the praise report he/she is giving while at other times it may be just a word of comfort, encouragement or understanding that God speaks to someone through His Word. Whether many or few, regardless of the time it takes, we are always so encouraged by one another's experiences and insights with God.

This then leads us into the Sunday Scripture Study. It may be a single sermon, it may be a sermon series or it may be a study series which lasts for several weeks. (Currently we are in a "theme" if you will which is on "Building Fellowships" which so far has been primarily about building our fellowship with God as our Father ... for that fellowship influences and impacts every other fellowship we each have in our lives!)

• Our Sabbath Service* sermon is not usually an interactive exercise, but more instructive in format. However, our Second Service or Mid-week Service most usually IS interactive with members sharing insights and understandings or questions and concerns related to the subject matter of the study. 

As we conclude the Scripture Service, the ministry leader usually does ask for any questions or comments on the message, because we don't want anyone walking away being unclear about some point that was given or some Truth that was emphasized.

Our meetings are always concluded with a time for "Prayer Needs". These are reserved, typically, for the end of the service for this reason: We need to pray in faith and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, so before we pray for needs, we first need our faith fueled!

Finally, upon the conclusion of the Worship portion of our Gatherings, we of course disconnect from the Network but we are not finished yet!

Now comes the Fellowship portion of our Gathering! Each House in the Network (who has more than just the household members in attendance) then has a fellowship dinner followed by time for some R&R - games, visiting, movies, etc.! The Fellowship Dinner is totally free of charge to the members if it is hosted by the House Leader, or it may be Pot Luck. Every House Leader chooses what is best for their group.

• After dinner, some may choose to stay and play family games or watch a family movie, while other choose to just visit and enjoy being in the midst of God's children! 
• The Ministers and Leaders are just as involved in the R&R as everyone else! (This is the best way to hold to the True Hope Leadership principles of horizontal leadership, not vertical.) Why should ministers separate themselves from having fun? What better way to become genuinely acquainted with Ministers and Leaders than by relaxed interaction? 

Finally, at some point, the gathering is over for this day. It may have been a Gathering of 2 hours or it may have lasted for 4 or more hours! It is concluded when the last member has left and only the family remains. There is never any pressure due to the time of day or the lateness of the hour. No one is required to stay if they need to do other things while at the same time, no one is required to leave at any given time! But when we have concluded, to use an old phrase, we know and feel like "we have had church!"

BUT WHAT ABOUT ... ?

In the above narrative, you may have noticed a few things missing or different than takes place in a typical temple church gathering.

First of all, we looked for and put into practice Biblical patterns and examples for our Gatherings. And, we have found that the Biblical pattern of activities is by far the most rewarding in our worship gatherings. "Let all things be done decently and in order".

• The Offering ...

We do not need to interrupt the praise and worship to remind people to give their tithes and offerings ... yet 100% of our regular members tithe, and give offerings when needed!
We have a "Collection Box" into which each member places his/her tithes. Our example for this is found in Mark 12.
- - Sometime during the Gathering, each member places his/her tithe and/or offering into the box which keeps it more
a personal act of worship than a formal showing of their obedience to a ritual!

We deal with the members on their tithes/offerings this way: We teach our new members about the Lord's tithe and about offerings and once they have learned, why should we feel like we need to remind them each week? We shouldn't and we don't!

• ONE EXCEPTION - - When we are made aware of a person/family in need, we do take time to request for our members to give a "Care Offering". This announcement is usually made during the Praise Reports, while we are testifying of God's interaction in our lives. Yet even then, we just announce it and leave it to the people when to or if they are going to give to meet the need. 

• Announcements ...Isn't that what fliers, Email and telephones are for?

The Schedule ...

Why do we start so late in the day? Because the Sabbath was made for man ... it is to be a day of rest from the regular rush and hustle routine of the other days of the week! Yet, think about how it is for most typical, temple type church congregations on a Sunday and you must agree that it is anything BUT restful! Let's look at a typical Sunday schedule ...

• You must get up as early if not earlier on Sundays in order to get the entire family to Sunday School which usually starts during the 9:00 am hour. (Say, what time do most folks have to be at work or school?)
  So, you get the entire family up, which is more frustrating on Sundays since they all stayed up way late on Saturday night! 
• You must "get dressed for Church" ... you are expected to wear clothes that are at least as nice as your WORK DAY attire, and if you are a Blue Collar person, you must BUY clothes especially for the Sabbath!  
• You will spend about 3 hours at Sunday Morning Services and then you go back home, get the entire family into a change of clothes (so you all don't mess up their special Sunday clothes), then you have to rush around to get lunch cooked, eaten, the dishes and kitchen cleaned up. 
• By this time it is around 2:30 - 3:00 pm. Have you enjoyed your restful Sabbath so far? It isn't over yet you know! But you do have time to take a short nap. 
• 4:30 - - Time to start getting ready for church again! So you have to round up your family, argue about it being time to turn off the television, time to quit playing and enjoying the "day of rest".  
• 5:00 now time is really pressing, you have just under an hour to get RE-dressed and get your kids RE-dressed and hurry off to church again! 
• 6:00 and church is starting again. Sunday night services are not so rigid as the A.M. services since everyone does not have to get home in time for lunch ... so the services are longer but more enjoyable. 
• 8:00 and Sunday Church is finally all done for the day ... and you have been going strong for some 12 -14 hours!  
• You have worked as hard or harder on the Sabbath than all the rest of the week! 

This is why we begin in the afternoon! It gives families better than half of the day to "rest" from the rush and routine of the other days of their week!

This is why we have a Fellowship Dinner, to give the families "rest" from having to rush around to fix dinner for their families after church services.

In other words, "Church" is not a stressful activity but one of "rest from stress", which is what Jesus meant when He said that the Sabbath was created for man in Mark 2:27!

And as far as the Gathering itself, there is only one time requirement which is the appointed time to make the Network Connections via the internet. Other than that, and once that this has occurred, there is no other "schedule" to keep!

The Minister leading the Gathering is expected to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit** in all matters pertaining to the PRESENT Gathering! Although every Sabbath Gathering is similar, none of them are exact duplicates of a previous one and no one Gathering can set a rigid routine for any future Gatherings!

We follow a pattern not a routine!  For instance, there have been times when nearly everyone has had a significant Scripture to share ... and they all have had an opportunity to do so! There have also been times when few have had a significant Scripture to share ... but the Ministry Leader does not insist that everyone have one every single meeting! Nor does the Gathering Leader try to rush those who are sharing in order to fit everyone into a scheduled limitation!

"How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification ...
... Let all things be done decently and in order." (1 Cor. 14:26)

There is not even a time limit on the length of a sermon! Because we conclude with a fellowship dinner, there is no rush to get to a restaurant, no need to hurry home, no reason to put restraints upon the Holy Spirit or His Messengers!

SPECIAL NOTES:

*Sabbath = One's day of worship. It may be any day of the week due to the person's work schedule, but is a day which the person designates to be his/her spiritual day of rest and worship. See: Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-9; Romans 14:5

 **In some House Church gatherings, they claim to have no human leader but everything is left to the Holy Spirit. This is not Biblically correct and in fact, if a Gathering is led by the Holy Spirit, He will invariably raise up a leader for the group because all throughout Scripture, God has used chosen people to lead the group of Believers. Examples: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Deborah,
See: Romans 13:1-4; 2 Timothy 4; Titus 1:1-9; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:1-4

For the initial Internet House Church Network this is currently held on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm. Of course for others it may be some other day of the week, depending upon which day is their Sabbath Service conducted.

The purpose for the Mid-week Service is primarily Bible Study.  This service is kept as close to one hour as possible and is not preceded by song and Scripture sharing ... but we DO share Praise Reports as on Sabbath Service. Again, one of the Biblically correct reasons for gathering together is encouragement! A good message may produce enthusiasm but saints sharing with one another their personal experiences of God's interaction in their lives is what generates strong encouragement!

Mid-week Services are much shorter in duration and less activities are included so that the focus can be primarily on the Bible study, which is intended to be very interactive between Teacher and members and among members!

While the Teacher will bring out key information, the members are encouraged to share how the Scriptures studied apply to them individually and specifically. The primary goal of the Mid-week Service is not to amass great amounts of information but rather to help members gain a personal UNDERSTANDING of the Scriptures studied, the applicable Word of God rather than the academic Word of God