This Assembly Of Believers

“Among the symbols with which the liturgy deals, none is more important than this assembly of believers.” This claim made in the 1970s forces the local church to consider those within its congregation, and recognise the gifts and challenges of difference within the church community. In 'This Assembly of Believers' Bryan Cones seeks to take seriously the pastoral context of a congregation, recognising the physical ability, gender and sexuality of those who make up the congregation. Starting each chapter with their lived experience, Cones poses important questions of the liturgy in light of these experiences before realigning the liturgy to demonstrate the positive theological significance of the marginalised within the congregation.

The purpose of God is to establish Christ—and not just the personal Christ but also the corporate Christ, which is the Church: “as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is the Christ” (1 Cor. 12.12 Darby). The work of the Holy Spirit in these past two thousand years has been centered on building this body of Christ. We will fail God in seeing His purpose and fail the Holy Spirit in cooperating with His work if we are not “holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God” (Col. 2.19). The body of Christ is not only most spiritual but also most practical. It is an earthly testimony as well as a heavenly body. All its spiritual principles must be and can be practiced in a local assembly. Here in these pages, therefore, we shall find that Watchman Nee shares with us the practical aspects of the assembly life. He touches on such practical matters as authority in the church, ministry in the church, church fellowship, church meetings, and the boundary of a local assembly. It is important for the reader to remember that this volume emphasizes only the practical side of the Church, and hence concentrates on the life of the local assembly. There is another side of the Church—that of the spiritual principles inherent in the Church universal—which is not the subject of this book. To maintain the right balance and to obtain the whole concept of the Church, both the principle and the practice, both the universal and the local, must be received and kept. For it must never be forgotten that a new wine-skin is for containing the new wine; and therefore the first without the second is meaningless. May the Head of the Church find himself expressed corporately among His people.

Many churches are switching to the multisite or multiservice models to manage crowded sanctuaries due to growing attendance. This solution seems sensible in the short term, but too often churches adopt this model without taking into consideration what the Bible says about it. Illuminating the importance of physical togetherness as a way to protect the gospel, this book argues that maintaining a single assembly best embodies the unity the church possesses in Jesus Christ. Jonathan Leeman considers a series of biblical, theological, and pastoral arguments that ask us to stop and examine intuitions or assumptions about what a church is. He reorients our minds to a biblical definition of church, offering examples of churches that have thrived with a single service at a single site and compelling alternatives for those looking to solve the complications that come with a growing church.

Includes the Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar, a rite to use in a sacred place that has been desecrated, and a ritual for a church that is being closed.

"This book, which in my opinion is Moltmann's best, can be recommended on the basis that it contains challenging and creative insights that can be used by the discriminating reader in the service of church renewal Moltmann represents the theology of liberation at its best, and those who wish to know more about this theology would do well to study this creative and searching theologian." --Donald G. Bloesch Christianity Today "Moltmann is perhaps unsurpassed among his contemporaries in keenness of insight and rhetorical power." --Daniel L. Migliore, Theology Today "Moltmann presents a stirring vision which every Christian community could well ponder With a missionary emphasis, he seeks to help the reader face the question of the church's identity in the light of the contemporary political, economic, and social scene." --Religious Education

Publisher’s Introductory Back in the eighteen and early nineteen hundreds there were a group of men known as the Plymouth Brethren. These men had many writings and many of them were taken from Lectures given in many areas and at different times during this era. Some were given in different languages and then translated into English. I have taken many of these writings and messages and formatted them so they could be read on tablets and phones. In other words, they are in epub and mobi formats. I have set up indexes with headers and have enabled text to speech. I then run them through a checker to make sure the ebook format is without errors. In doing this I have produced a high quality product for a very low price. These are not just scanning of old writings but have been completely redone by hand. I started doing this for my own private use. I found there were others who wanted them also so after praying about it and contacting publishers who already got permission to use all these writings and lectures I too got permission via email. (which I have on file). I now have over 230 of these writings in ebook format on Amazon for the Kindle and on Google play for the Android OS. Hopefully this number will keep increasing as time goes on. Introductory Note The following pages are an endeavor to set forth, with some degree of fulness, the typical teachings of the Tabernacle. They embody therefore not only what it is hoped will be suggestive for more advanced students, but the elements, familiar to many, which are needed to give anything like a complete survey. Being in lecture form, there is more or less of the colloquial style, which it is hoped will make the book more easily read. The writer makes no apology for what may be called the devotional tone — how can we fail to be stirred with such a theme? Setting forth as it does the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Tabernacle occupies typically the centre of all doctrinal truth, as it did literally the centre of Israel's camp. It is necessary therefore that in anything like a full examination of its meaning there should be a full discussion of those great doctrines which it typifies. This will explain the good measure of detail in the treatment of those doctrines. In days when they are being so largely denied, this is surely not out of place. Thanks are due to Mr. John Bloore for his excellent illustrations of the tabernacle and its furniture; made especially for this work, and in which great care has been taken to follow the exact text of Scripture. [Omitted from this digital edition, it is hope that links will be made to good quality sketches.] That the Lord will bless this effort to set forth the glories of His beloved Son, is the prayer of the writer.