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Meeting Sunday mornings Steve &
Sandra Atkerson 770-493-3623 email: nt_restoration_foundation@juno.com Web address: www.ntrf.org We have made
a conscious effort to seek
to follow the traditions of the original apostles in our church
practice (see
www.NTRF.org). Thus, even though we are
quite “traditional” in the New Testament sense, what we do is rather
unconventional by contemporary standards.
Anyhow, the following will give you a good idea of what to
expect. Our hope is that you will feel
comfortable
and encouraged when meeting with us. We meet in
the morning, in Steve &
Sandra Atkerson 770-493-3623 Keith &
Arietta Watson 770-493-4569 1.
Following the pattern of the New Testament,
the church comes together regularly on the first day of each week. This is known in Scripture as the Lord’s Day,
the day Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave.
We do not, however, see it as any type of
sabbath day. Every day is a holy day
under the New Covenant (Heb 4, 2. The
doors of the host’s home open at 10 a.m.
and the singing starts promptly one half hour later.
Thus you can see that there is a 30 minute
window for folks to come in, get settled, visit, get coffee, etc. Please try to park on the same side of the
street on which the home is located.
This will make it less likely that our cars will choke up
the
neighborhood street. 3. Our
dress code is casual and comfortable. Nobody
wears a tie. Ladies wear anything from
comfortable dresses
to pants to modest shorts. Children
usually end up playing outside after the meeting and therefore wear
play
clothes and shoes. Getting dirty is not
uncommon for the kids. 4.
The meeting itself is spontaneous and
interactive (no bulletin!) per 1 Corinthians 14:25ff.
Nothing is pre-planned except the starting
time of the first song (10:30 a.m.).
Sometimes we sing a lot, sometimes not much at all. On one Sunday three brothers may teach,
while on other weeks no one will teach.
Sometimes we pray a long time, sometimes very little. All the brothers can participate verbally,
but everything said must be designed to edify the whole church (14:26). Only one person at a time is allowed to
address the assembly, and everything is to be done in a fitting and
orderly
way. All teaching and prophecies are
liable to public cross examination and judgment. Further,
there is no moderator nor emcee per
se. In fact, unless there is a problem
to correct, you will not even know who our leaders are.
Ladies do not speak out or pray publicly in
the 1 Corinthians 14 meeting (look up 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and you’ll
see
what this is based on). In contrast,
they do speak quite a bit during the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper
(more on
this below). 5.
Inquiring minds will want to know that most
of us hold to the doctrines of grace, new covenant theology
(www.ids.org),
biblical inerrancy (www.churchcouncil.org), and the Danver’s statement
on
biblical manhood and womanhood (www.cbmw.org).
You can find out more about New Testament church life at
www.ntrf.org. We also are decidedly in
alignment with historic
Christian theology, as expressed for instance in the Nicene Creed. Our elder’s favorite statement of faith is
the First London (Baptist) Confession of 1644. 6. The
children stay with us in the meeting,
though if a really young child gets noisy one of his parents will take
him out
until he calms down. If you have young
children you may wish to bring along something to keep them happy, such
as a
drawing pad and crayons or quiet toys.
The kids usually sit on the floor next to their parents. We believe it is the parent’s job, not the
church’s, to teach their children about Jesus.
Thus, we purposely have no Sunday school nor children’s
church. 7. The
Lord’s Supper is an integral part of our
gathering. Actually, it is the main
reason we come together each week. We
eat it as a full meal per 1 Corinthians 11b.
It is potluck with everyone bringing something to share
with the
rest. We believe it is to be a true meal
to typify the wedding banquet of the Lamb.
It’s a great time of fellowship and encouragement and very
much like a
wedding party rather than a funeral. In
the middle of all the food you will notice the one cup (plastic jug,
actually)
and the one loaf, representing the body and blood of our Lord. We believe it was originally designed to
remind
Jesus of His promise to return and partake of the meal again with His
people. All believers are free to
partake of the bread and the fruit of the vine as they go through the
food
line. There is not an official ending
time. Just leave after you have
dined
and enjoyed sufficient fellowship! 8. In short, we believe that the patterns for
church life evident in the New Testament are not merely descriptive,
but are
actually prescriptive (2Th 2:15, 1Co 11:2).
Thus, we believe in home-based and sized fellowships,
elder led rather
than elder ruled churches, the ministry of itinerant workers,
interactive
meetings, and that the Lord’s Supper and the Agape Feast are synonymous
weekly
events. You may find it helpful to read
through 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 before coming. 9. For
us, true church “life” occurs every day,
as we see each other during the week, all week long.
To facilitate this, we place a high priority
on living as close together as is practical.
So, the Lord’s Day activities described above are just the
icing on the
cake. To evaluate us based solely on
what you observe in a Sunday meeting would be an incomplete analysis! 10. In a perfect
situation, church is to be about
community, not commuting. To
fellowship
with the saints only on Sundays is to do yourself a disservice. If you don’t live on our side of town, we
would like to help you eventually start (or find) a church in your own
neighborhood, once you get the vision for New Testament church life. In the mean time, come advance the Kingdom
with us!
In sum, our
churches are committed to meeting
and living out as simple as possible a reading and understanding of
what the
New Testament church gave us for a pattern.
We know we don’t have it all figured out yet.
We are a work in progress! We
tend to take issues one at a time and
attempt to come to a biblically based consensus before moving on. Everybody counts and ideally nobody gets run
over or discounted. This means we sometimes move pretty slow, but with
a high
degree of peace and unity. For that we
have been blessed and are grateful. See you on
the Lord’s Day! |