Home Church Reports 4

“So, I am not the Church, and neither are you. But WE are. No single individual can constitute a church. There must be at least two.”
~ Pastor WD Favour on Understanding The Church.

Here’s the 4th edition of our 2010 home church reports.
All the pastors appear so excited to share stories from their home churches this week.
It was so much fun. ENJOY!

The Nixon’s Home Church
McMurray, PA, USA

  “After our beginning time of fellowship and refreshments, I had a few of the guys lead us in worship with their musical talents.  They did such a great job …  it was oh so sweet singing our praises to the Lord.  We then spent time together sharing all the things on our hearts and lifted them up in prayer.

One prayer request was from a teen, Rachel, who is helping to start a student led Bible study in her high school, a public school.  How exiting!  There are many regulations and hoops to jump through to make that happen.  It is an answer to prayer in and of itself that she was able to get it approved. The study will be starting soon so please keep Rachel and this Bible study in your prayers.

This week, we read Matthew 25:31-46, focusing on verses 35 and 40.  The needs of Haiti were discussed and how we could help.  I then presented a simple project for our home church to get involved with that was well received.  We are filling 5 gallon construction buckets with hygiene products that will be donated to Brother Foundation here in Pittsburgh.  We are filling them with baby wipes and wet ones, toothbrushes, toothpaste, non-liquid soap, combs, brushes, and washcloths.  Several folks took buckets committing to fill them and have them returned by February 18th.  Others will help by donating whatever individual products they can.

After a closing song of Amazing Grace, we continued to fellowship by celebrating Sarah’s birthday.  What a blessing it was to be together!”

~ Shileen Nixon

Home church C
Maryland, Enugu, Nigeria

  “It was another beautiful sunny late afternoon, and as soon as everyone came in, we said the opening prayers and sang worship songs. Most of our members weren’t present at the meeting and we decided to find out why after the meeting and possibly visit them if necessary.

Our discussion this week was more interactive than usual and centered on how we can make our home church really be a home for our members. We looked at the elements that make a home and how we can incorporate it into our home church. We agreed to seriously cultivate these elements – care and concern for each other, tolerance, praying together, and strong inter-personal relationships (to be reviewed again next week).

I asked for prayer points and we had quite a lot. I’m really looking forward to the testimonies, and I promise to let you know once they happen. Closing prayers were said and that marked the end of another wonderful day of fellowshipping with God’s people.”

~ Dr. Chidinma Njoku, Home Church Pastor

Home Church A
New Haven, Enugu, Nigeria

“As always, we started by welcoming one another, and inquiring as to each other’s general welfare. Then we prayed for about five minutes to usher in the Holy Spirit, and fix our hearts on the lord.

The interactive bible study session that followed was awesome.  The subject of our discussion was ‘Self Control’ and we referred to Jeremiah 35: 4-8 and James 6-13.  We learnt that self knowledge is critical to self control as you cannot control what you do not know. In the end, we agreed that self control required discipline and grace.

The most exciting aspect of our meeting was when we all shared from our personal experiences to show how tough it is to control self.

It was a very exciting and interesting discussion and fellowship, to say the least.”

~ Udoka Enujeko, Home Church Leader

Home Church B
Ogui Rd. Enugu, Nigeria

  “Our Home Church began with a brief worship session. We then delved into a discussion on ‘Understanding the Times’. Our text was from Nehemiah 8:9-12, where the people mourned because they did not understand the words that were declared to them. However, when they were taught and they understood, they rejoiced.  There are seasons for everything – seasons of sowing, reaping, carrying out specific instructions of God, and so on. When we do the right thing at the wrong time, it almost amounts to doing nothing. We looked at Habakkuk 2:3 and agreed that though the appointed time may tarry, ‘what is yours will never be denied you.’

I was specifically delighted by a comment made by one of our first timers. He thanked God that he was in our midst and said, ‘I feel like I belong.’ This is awesome because it points to the fact that we are becoming more knit together as a family.”

~ Pastor Anuli Mbakwe, Home Church Pastor

Home Church D
Agbani Rd. Enugu, Nigeria

“Our home church always starts with an air of excitement . This week, we began with an intimate worship session.

The topic of our discussion was ‘Know What You Want’ and our study text was Proverbs 4:23; 16:1, 3,9,33; 25:2. We learnt that we have to train our minds, grow our spirits,  and enhance the ability to delve into the depths of our minds and extract the deposits of God in there. Contributions came that ‘life will be vague in those areas where our minds are vague,’ and ‘the vastness of God belongs to those who have precision –who have discovered what they truly want.’

This week’s meeting was much fun as Pastor Sharon D-Favour and the kids visited! There were lots of laughter as we had  refreshments, with the kids displaying their childlikeness, reminding us of Christ’s recommendations for making heaven.  It was all fun as we rehearsed and had motherly exhortations from Pastor Sharon.  Next week, we’ll be discussing ‘The Integrity of Thought.’”

~ Pastor Sopuru Akandu, Home Church Pastor

As you can see, our home churches are getting more interesting and exciting.

Thanks for reading this weeks report, and may God bless you.
Please share your comments, and have a glorious weekend!