The Home Ekklesia | Part D

The King James Version (KJV) is mostly used in these lessons. Click here to access the KJV online.

The ekklesia has the obligation to perform certain ordinances besides ordaining elders and deacons, generally through these officers, if they exist in the gathering. They include:

• The ministry of the Word. (Revelation 1:3)
• Baptism by immersion of those giving witness of their faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. (Romans 6:4) NOTE: In a small group, truth seekers can baptize each other without the process of ordination.
• The washing of feet at the beginning of the communion service. (John 13:14)
• The Master's supper of unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice. (1Corinthians 11:23-33)
• Blessing of children. (Matthew 19:14)
• Prayer for the sick. (James 5:14)

Ekklesia means the group of those called out, and is never used in reference to a building. They are called out of the synagogues of Satan, which are the established faiths of the world. The ekklesia includes people with specific spiritual gifts to benefit those around them. These are discussed in detail in 1 Corinthians 12-14. The list of such gifts is given in 1 Cor 12:28.

"And Yahuwah hath set some in the ekklesia, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." (1 Cor 12:28)

Failure to establish a home ekklesia is justified by lack of means, both economic and personal. We have already seen that it is enough that there is one person available who is old enough to read from the Bible. Even if no literate person can be found, an ekklesia can be gathered around the Word that is known from memory. And if no one is present who can repeat a Bible text by heart, then silence together is golden, and the voice can always be lifted in prayer and petition to Yahuwah.

"Poverty need not shut us out from showing hospitality. We are to impart what we have. There are those who struggle for a livelihood and who have great difficulty in making their income meet their necessities; but they love . . . [Yahushua] in the person of His saints and are ready to show hospitality to believers and unbelievers, trying to make their visits profitable. At the family board and the family altar the guests are made welcome. The season of prayer makes its impression on those who receive entertainment, and even one visit may mean the saving of a soul from death. For this work . . . [Yahuwah] makes a reckoning, saying: 'I will repay.'"--Adventist Home, p. 451.

The role of the man and the woman in the home worship carries over from the daily practice to the Sabbath gathering as well.

"Before leaving the house for labor, all the family should be called together; and the father, or the mother in the father's absence, should plead fervently with . . . [Yahuwah] to keep them through the day. Come in humility, with a heart full of tenderness, and with a sense of the temptations and dangers before yourselves and your children; by faith bind them upon the altar, entreating for them the care of . . . [Yahuwah]. Ministering angels will guard children who are thus dedicated to . . . [Yahuwah]."--Child Guidance, p. 519.

It was mainly the influence of the Seventh-day Baptists that turned the early believers towards establishing institutions. The institutions founded in the latter part of the 1800s were modeled after the Baptists, with boards, associations, and conferences. These, though perhaps not wrong in themselves, were eventually abused through over-dependence on organization, so that the early, proper home ekklesia principles were lost.

We do not need a new organization, nor do we need to participate in the institutions engaged in apostasy. The home ekklesia that was established in Eden, affirmed in the Gospel, and maintained by commandment-keeping believers through out history.
 

WLC Source: https://www.worldslastchance.com/practical-godliness/the-home-ekklesia.html