On September 5 Ed Silvoso, joined by Bill Johnson, Mike Bickle, Matteo Calisi, and a host of other Christian leaders, launched the Ekklesia Everywhere Movement on a Youtube video “God’s Ekklesia” (https://youtu.be/hODefMQrU_M).
The Ekklesia Everywhere Movement believes that God wants to turn the Coronavirus lockdown around by expanding the Church out of its four walls and into the homes and or workplaces of believers. All you need are two or three, according to Mathew 18:20, and Jesus will be there with them. Just as the persecution of the Church in Jerusalem spread the Church all over the world (Acts 8:1-4), so the lockdown of the Churches has sent believers back into their neighborhoods to spread the gospel.
As we have been praying through the 40 day Jewish repentance season of Teshuvah this year we have been keying off of Joshua 8:19, which admonishes us to take our cities and light the fire of revival. The Ekklesia Everywhere Movement provides a way to take our cities one neighborhood at a time. So invite your neighbors over and watch the Kingdom of God advance. You can sign up at Ekklesiaeverywhere.com or on Facebook at Ekklesia Everywhere.
For some, Church (or a prayer meeting or a bible study) at home is an uncomfortable idea. No preacher. No Priest. No Eucharist. No Choir. No Sunday School. Just you and your family alone with God. Sure, your church may be live streaming, or you could watch a TV Preacher. But could you be missing something?
Like us locked out of our churches today, most ancient Jews could not worship at the Temple every week. So on every Sabbath the family celebrated at home, staying connected to God and each other. They also celebrated the Passover meal, the Seder, at home, passing their faith from generation to generation. Then, at the end of the sacred cycle of feasts, the family lived in booths together to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. At the Temple the Priests stood between God and Man, picturing the saving work of our High Priest Jesus, but God wanted to meet with His people face to face in their homes.
All the more so after Jesus came. The Temple veil was torn and God poured out His Spirit. Now we are temples of the Holy Spirit, called to live in God’s presence. The early Church met in homes (Acts 2:46), and God wants to be invited into our homes as He was in ancient Israel and in the early Church.
So this Sunday invite God to your house. Gather the family and open with prayer. Then sing praise and worship songs, with or without instruments or praise tracks, because God inhabits the praises of His people. Let your last song be very soft and loving, and then let a holy hush come in so you can hear from God. Someone should be prepared with a scripture and a short word of edification. Join hands in a circle and have everyone pray to the Lord, from youngest to oldest, and close with a song of thanksgiving.
By all means feel free to participate in a live streamed service or TV Church. And when Churches reopen after the Coronavirus plague passes remember the admonition not to forsake gathering together.
But maybe, just maybe, you will miss God’s presence and invite Him back to your home every week.
“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” Mathew 18:20