The comments below were a response by April Sellers on the Arkadelphia Simple Church Network site (www.arkadelphiahousechurch.com) to my post on listening to the Lord in meetings.
We don't often talk about teaching in house church. Within simple churches, we most commonly learn from the Word in the context of an interactive Bible study where everybody participates and is learning from the Word together. But 1 Corinthians 14:26 does talk about teaching. So how do we handle it within the simple church context if the Lord gives us a "teaching"?
I thought that April's comments were a very interesting example of the "teaching" mentioned in this verse, and a great example of following the Holy Spirit.
"I recently read this great, short article by Felicity Dale on how to hear God in the context of a gathering. The article is really short, but I’ll summarize it anyway. If we really want to let Jesus be the head of His church, we have to let Him lead the meetings. The way to do this in a meeting is to listen to the Holy Spirit, fully engage in the meetings and share the spontaneous thoughts, songs, scriptures, etc. that God gives you. Don’t try to force it by thinking, “Hmm…what kind of song or scripture would go best with this?” Just share what God gives you.
For example, at our meeting last Sunday, I (April) brought a teaching that God have given me earlier in the week. As I was sharing this teaching, different people would speak up and share scriptures, insight, convictions and experiences that the Lord brought to mind from the teaching I was sharing or from something else that someone said. We had a really great time as we learned from and encouraged each other. I wasn’t worried that we “strayed” from what I had brought to teach. Actually, I hoped that would happen. I hoped that God would take what I had brought and weave it together with what everyone else had shared. God did weave it together, and he built us together, as a church, in the process. As I’m writing this, I’m reminded of this scripture:
When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1st Corinthians 14:26)"