Anytime any two individual believers come together in a place (or in contact via any media) you have church.  And the best place to have church is in the warmth and comfort of our living rooms! ~ Pastor WD Favour on Understanding The Church

Enjoy this week’s home church reports!

Home Church B
Ogui Rd. Enugu, Nigeria
[Photo clip: Discussion session]

“ We commenced with a worship session led by one of our members. At 4.35pm, our interactive session on the subject, ‘The Intangibles,’ began.

We discussed ‘intangibles’ as things whose values are difficult to describe, understand, or measure. They are x-factors which are apparently silent but have the potential to change lives. Such intangibles include happiness, wisdom, courage, etc.  We agreed that in order to draw the blessings of GOD into our lives, we must appreciate the values of the intangibles, and that we often fail because of inadequate valuation of the intangibles.

We looked at a very powerful example of an ‘intangible’ – God, the pursuit of Whom is essential to the peace and happiness of man. We encouraged each other to learn to appreciate the values of the intangibles as they translate into desirable tangibles.

At the end of the discussion, everyone had an inspiring story to tell about God’s goodness in their lives.  Afterwards, we had refreshments and rehearsed for our presentation on Sunday. It’s a drama on the need for family. Coincidentally, this is our week of celebration, so Family Gathering on Sunday is going to be a blast. We invite you to come and be a part of it. Have a lovely week!” ~ Pastor Anuli Mbakwe

Home Church C
Maryland, Enugu, Nigeria
[Photo clip: There’s usually lots of ‘yummies’ in our home churches]

“Our meeting started with greetings and chatting among ourselves,  followed by opening prayer and worship songs.  Then everyone was asked to recount their experiences with respect to last week’s assignment on ‘giving’. 

Ikenna said, “I try to impact people all the time, especially those I’m meeting for the very first time.” Interestingly one of our members, Kennedy, who was not present during the last meeting and didn’t know of the assignment, told us of 3 encounters he had during the week where he was able to help some people who couldn’t pay back – so it was nice knowing we were already practicing ‘giving’ before the assignment was given.  Marvellous, Pastor WD Favour’s daughter, also told her story of sharing her snacks with classmates who didn’t have any.

After this, I shared a message around the subjects of Pleasing God, Gratitude, and The Gift that keeps on giving, from Galatians 5:25,Ephesians 5:15-17, Psalms 50:23, John 3:16, and Genesis 1:28. My main point was that our principal duty is to please God through gratitude, and giving.

After the teaching, we rehearsed for our Sunday’s presentation; the theme of the presentation is “The Gift That Keeps on Giving”. We had refreshments (shown in photo) before closing prayers and dismissal.” ~ Dr. Chidimma Njoku

The Nixon’s Home Church
McMurray, PA, USA
Photo Clip: Sweet time of fun and laughter]

“After our opening time of worship, Don excitedly shared about a new prayer focus group for the state of Pennsylvania called the Spiritual Congress along with other national prayer groups.  Don also shared about the installation he attended for Patricia McCullough as judge for the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. A very interesting piece of information Don shared from Patricia’s installation was the discussions he heard about prophecy concerning Pittsburgh. The word continues to be spoken that revival for the nation will begin in Pittsburgh. We heard a similar prophecy about a year ago. Exciting!

From there our discussion began with the reading of Matthew 16:24, 25. We explored two questions:
1. What would it look like to you to lose yourself?
2. Have you or have you seen someone totally identify themselves with another person?

We then jumped into John 15:1-17 with a lively discussion around what it means to be attached to the vine. The branches are totally attached to the vine and seen as a whole plant. The way we say goodbye to self is to totally identify ourselves with the person of Christ like the branch is attached to the vine. That way we will bear fruit, much fruit, fruit that will last. If we don’t have to worry about ourselves, then we are free to meet the needs of others.

There was much excitement in the room as Don became passionate and quite animated. It was such a sweet time of fun and laughter. It is very much a blessing that we can come together in the name of the Lord to rejoice and have fun and laugh. It is good!

We ended our time together with sweet prayer and fellowship.” ~ Shileen Nixon

 Home Church A
New Haven, Enugu
[Photo Clip: After fellowship]

 “As always, our fellowship started with worship, followed by intercessory prayers.  Then we welcomed one another and moved on to our interactive Bible study session which was on the subject of praise – ‘The power of praise’.  We reflected on the following texts: Isaiah 12, Deuteronomy 10:21, Judges 5:2, Isaiah 42:10, Isaiah 38:19, Ephesians 1:6, and Habakkuk 3:3.  We understood that praise touches the heart of God, and is a mode of spiritual warfare.  We also learnt that nothing beats praise as an accelerator of miracles, noting that true testimonies are released by the power of praise.
We concluded with prayers.” ~ Udoka Enujeko

Our home churches are getting more exciting by the day.  I noticed that the meetings seem to revolve around the bible study interactive sessions.  Why is that?  I’ll figure that out soon.  There’s so much fun, but there seems to be lots of scriptures!  I’m still observing the dynamics and learning from the process as it continues to evolve, and my reporting format might soon be changing as I intend to zero in on the perception of individual experiences of these meetings.  Also, it might no longer be possible to present all home churches per week (we may be adding two home churches soon from Nashville, TN, and Tampa, FL!!).

In other to help me prepare future home church reports, I’ll like you to let me know what  kinds of information you’ll love to read from all the various home churches.