In part I of this post we shared the results of the survey about gathering in the name of Jesus Christ, in part II we shared some learning and research about what it means to gather in the name of Jesus means and does not mean. In this final Part III of this post series we share three sure indicators of a gathering in the name of Jesus Christ.

The three sure indicators that a gathering of Christians is in the name of Jesus Christ:

1. Christ speaks through everyone: Since Christ indwells Christians and since he is distributed among Christians (John 1:16) Christ can and desires to speak, through every one through his distributed gifts (see). We who have the spirit of God, and I believe this is every Christian, do not need to be taught by priest-like experts in our meetings like smart sheep teaching dumb sheep. (see )  Everyone is to teach or share or declare or reveal, everyone in an open face-to-face participatory meeting, everyone reveals Jesus Christ together one by one, in order. We seek him privately all week then come together to share and display and learn directly from him.
2. No one person has authority (see Mark 14), The only valid authority in a Jesus meeting is present as the indwelling spirit of God within everyone.   The role of the gifted elders or pastor in these meetings is to keep the meeting running and focused and to train and ensure that everyone functions, everyone learns to live and to function by the Spirit within. His role in the meeting is to ensure that order is maintained, that the meeting focus remains on Jesus Christ, that no one or few people dominate and take over the meeting.  This requires maturity and strength and sometimes courage and is best suited by those older in the faith.   The role of the gifted teacher is for special meetings with anointed teachings on certain topics to teach the body. The idea of licensed clergy, of professional preachers and idle laity I can’t find in scripture, from what I can tell clergy/laity was a creation of the Roman church around the 2nd to 4th century and has been handed down as tradition through the centuries.
3. The ONLY purpose and the ONLY biblical justification for Christians gathering routinely is for gathering around Jesus Christ.  For corporate seeking of him, for expressing, for displaying and for proclaiming Jesus Christ. Meeting in the name of Jesus Christ is not simply composed of people with a shared common affinity for Christ who gather to hang out, it is not about the members themselves or solving their problems. These types of meetings are not bad, they are not wrong, but they are special teaching meetings, not weekly gatherings in the name of Jesus Christ.

Examples:

• a catholic mass led by one priest teaching on the topic of Mary as the blessed virgin, aside the fact that everyone believes in Jesus Christ, is not a gathering in the name of Jesus Christ.
• a protestant meeting by hundreds of people who believe in Jesus Christ but the purpose of the meeting is a great teaching about making marriage work is not a gathering in the name of Jesus Christ.
• a meeting talking about the topic of the growing kingdom of God through evangelism taught by one or two experienced men to an idle audience, is not a gathering in the name of Jesus Christ. I say this because of the topic is not being Jesus Christ and by the idleness of the people in whom God dwells.

My point for writing this is that we should no longer be confused into thinking that all of our meetings are Jesus Christ meetings just because we say so or want it to be so. What happens in the meetings and not our good intentions define what type of meeting it is. Some of us have been attending church for years, heard hundreds of sermons, taught hundreds of sermons anointed of God, yet have never really attended a gathering in the name of Jesus Christ.

I want meetings where every Christian functions, where every Christian brings their spiritual gifts and insights as the spirit has distributed, we break for the week, seek him in pairs then gather and display him and exalt him and teach about him and pray to him and praise him and display him to one another and anyone who visits. 

I want meetings where the meeting flow is orchestrated by the presence of God himself, if he is present…can he not run things?  Can he not decide when we dismiss? when we pray? when we make offerings?  Yes he can, and I believe that he wants to.

I want Jesus meetings with pastors whose role is biblical not Greco-Roman… entertaining us with theological eloquence.  I want Jesus meetings where introverts and extroverts share and contribute equally simply because Jesus indwells them both.

IS this too good to be true? Does anyone else crave this?