New SI Feature: Find Fellowship Section

Dear Saints,

This has been a burden personally of mine for many years to see many of the brothers and sisters not only on this website better connected together. I have personally been in many house churches and simply homes of families of believers that cannot find good local fellowship in their area at any church.

So we have started a section on the website to allow networking to happen more and for like-minded believers to meet weekly for fellowship under the Lordship of Christ. The reason we have labelled this "house churches" is that were 2 or 3+ more believers are gathering in the Name of Christ, that is essentially the church in the new testament. We thank God for larger assemblies of believers but many do not feel free to meet on their own. But God does accept this.

You can read more here: https://www.sermonindex.net/fellowships/

The Lord has given me the name: "Gospel Fellowships" as a name for these meetings but that naming convention is not required to be kept for the groups. It is just a way to associate what God is doing in these groups and those that join them. We believe this will be much bigger than just SermonIndex, so we have decided not to call them "SermonIndex fellowships" etc!

We are co-laboring with other ministries and brothers and sisters to see this be a networking tool not just for some here on SI but across other ministries also.

May God unite and join His body in these days that Jesus Christ may be glorified and the church strengthened.

You can read more of this vision and network here and get involved: https://www.sermonindex.net/fellowships/

Dear Brother Rich,

I will try and be in contact with you tonight and call.

Awesome brother, this is going to be strategic as we move forward..............bro Frank

This is good. Some brothers and sisters in Christ and I have been meeting for 3 years strong in different places each week. Mostly in a house though. I have spoken with another member and we are going to begin praying about it. May the Lord use this for His glory.

Thank would be great dear brother, I believe there are many pre-existing house church groups that have been meeting but are not connected with other like-minded believers across North America, may this be one means God uses to connect some of them in a like faith!

If I can be of any help let me know and it might be great to talk with you or one of the brothers on the phone to have fellowship at some point.

but I wonder if as you develope this, is there a way to better conceal the meeting places of the brethren yet at the same time accomplish the goal? Just something we should all commit to prayer and see how the Lord would have this to move forward.

Dear Brother, that is a great point. We are just listing the phone number and email of a brother and sister that want to represent an area or a home church. Sometimes one of those brothers could represent multiple home churches in his area that he is in fellowship with and will connect people accordingly. We are NOT going to list any addresses or a list of addresses to anyone. I believe in this way it is the best method to connect brothers and sisters.

Is there any plans for starting house churches in the UK also?

Dear Sister, At this point our burden is specifically North America. I really cannot imagine it being beyond that at this point. From my knowledge there are quite a few networks of home churches in the UK, whether their spiritual tempature is high I cannot say.

I preached in a home church meeting in Wales a few years ago.

I hope many are able to view the new fellowship finder page: https://www.sermonindex.net/fellowships/

As you can notice we are starting to slowly list fellowships and small groups of brothers and sisters, once we finish the Guiding Principles booklet we will be able to add more fellowships that fully agree with the principles in the booklet.

But we are adding some fellowships already that I know have the same burden and vision. Simply we do not want to encourage the meeting of home churches that are anti-church buildings that that is the reason they meet, or anti-leadership or anti other things. We want groups to meet that realize yes it is more wise and biblical to meet in houses but more imporantly they have a burden to grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ, have Him as the head of their meeting and be disciplined in prayer, bible reading, and other important areas.

We do also want to encourage the meeting of home fellowships that are growing, evangelizing and passionate to bring the lost to Jesus Christ.

I'm just saying that I hope it doesn't become too "organized." Let it be just what is stated above-- simply a means of networking. A means by which believers might be able to find a local home fellowship. If it becomes much more than that... sadly it will end up becoming just another organized denomination.

We fully agree brother, We simply want to lay out basic principles to ensure the fellowships that connect together are of like-mind, biblical and growing in the Lord. We do not endorse or want to connect with "all" of the current house churches in North America for there is a great lukewarmness in many of them just as in denominational churches.

I agree fully that we are not to control but to give resources, helps and encouraging the networking together as the Holy Spirit leads. This is key every step must be led of the Spirit. thank you for your encouragement and prayers for this.

Dear Brother,

yes lets connect it would be great to have a time of fellowship.

I had a chance to read through the "Guiding Principles" booklet. I found it to be very well written and generalized in statements of faith. I feel my group will be very welcoming to the idea. We will meet this Saturday as normal, and I will bring it up then. I am going on mission soon, so I will be out of touch for the next two or three weeks or so. I will be back on here within a month and should have a proposal for the moderators. This is a wonderful website and I feel God has used it for my sanctification. He will be glorified through this resource!

That sounds wonderful brother.

On another note. If you are a pastor of an established denominational church one idea is to organize your church into small meetings that could allowed to be interdenominational during the week and these could be listed as Gospel Fellowships. I have been strongly encouraging pastors to do this for over 5 years now. If you are interested in this please send me an email: sermonindex@gmail.com and your phone number.