House to House

And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”

Acts 5:42

Our house church is breaking up.

This might sound bad, but really it is good.  For the past two Sundays, a group of around 20 people have gathered in our somewhat small living room for worship and sharing together as a family.  Next Sunday, this group will be breaking up.  For one Sunday a month we will be meeting as two groups in two separate houses.

Our house church group yesterday.

Everton and Daiana and their kids live in the same neighborhood as a lot of Daiana's family.  Half of our group will be meeting with them.  Miguelina and her family live in a new neighborhood, somewhat close to Everton and Daiana.  This family and this neighborhood need a blessing.  Half of our group will be meeting there.

Everton sharing a song that he wrote.  Very talented.

Yesterday we shared from Luke 5:1-11 about how Jesus called his first disciples.  From these verses we learned what it means to be a disciple - be a follower of Jesus because of what he has done for you.  But, we don't keep this Jesus gift to ourselves.  Being a disciple also brings a responsibility - to be a fisher of men.  Of course every Christian knows that this is our responsibility, but HOW to do it often trips us up. Later on in Luke 5, we have the example of Matthew, the tax collector, who, when he met Jesus, immediately had a party in his house and invited all of his friends.  That is basically what we will be doing next Sunday.  There may not be a formal worship service - maybe just a prayer, maybe just some hugs and making friends.  Church is not what we DO on Sunday morning - it is WHO we are.

Kids' class in the dining room with teacher Ansley. 

We are so excited about this opportunity.  This is the kind of thing that we have been hoping and praying would happen for a long time.  Our group is a close-knit family.  But we can't keep the goodness to ourselves.  We are ready to share.

God's timing is always perfect.  Yesterday, our sister Leni didn't meet with us in our house.  She has been taking care of her sister who recently had back surgery.  Her sister, Iza, asked to have a worship in her home.  Since she lives close to Ellinton, Marcia and Cledi, another house church group in our family, Leni got in touch with them, and yesterday they all met at Leni's sister's house.  God placed a scripture on Leni's heart to share with the group.  Guess what it was:  Luke 5 - the exact same thing that our house church had read and studied here at our house.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Here is some pictures of the group at Iza's house yesterday.  You can read more about it on Leni's blog.(use the google translate tool at the top of the page.)

We are excited about what is happening here.  The family of God reaching out to bless others.  It may seem like a small thing, but this is how the yeast of the kingdom works.  We would love to have your prayers for these two new house church groups that will be meeting this Sunday.  Hopefully we'll have some pictures and good news to share next week!