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Georgia House Churches

North East Atlanta, Georgia (Tucker)

We have made a conscious effort to seek to follow the traditions
of the original apostles
in our church practice (see www.NTRF.org). Thus, even though we are quite "traditional"
in the New Testament sense, what we do is rather unconventional by contemporary standards. Anyhow, the following will give you a good idea of what to expect. Our hope is that you will feel comfortable and encouraged when meeting with us.

We meet in the morning, in NE Atlanta, near the Perimeter.
For location and directions, please call:
Steve & Sandra 770-493-3623
Ed & Linda 770-401-1867 or 678-254-3970

1. Following the pattern of the New Testament, the church comes together regularly on the first day of each week. This is known in Scripture as the Lord’s Day, the day Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave. We do not, however, see it as any type of sabbath day. Every day is a holy day under the New Covenant (Heb 4, Col 2:16 - 17, Ga 4:8 - 11).

2. The doors of the host’s home open at 10 a.m. and the singing starts promptly one half hour later. Thus you can see that there is a thirty minute window for folks to come in, get settled, visit, get coffee, etc. Please try to park on the same side of the street on which the home is located. This will make it less likely that our cars will choke up the neighborhood street.

3. Our dress code is casual and comfortable. Nobody wears a tie. Ladies wear anything from comfortable dresses to pants to modest shorts. Children usually end up playing outside after the meeting and therefore wear play clothes and shoes. Getting dirty is not uncommon for the kids.

4. The meeting itself is spontaneous and participatory (no bulletin!) per 1 Corinthians 14:25ff. Nothing is pre-planned except the starting time of the first song (10:30 a.m.). Sometimes we sing a lot, sometimes not much at all. On one Sunday three brothers may teach, while on other weeks no one will teach. Sometimes we pray a long time, sometimes very little. Any of the brothers may participate verbally, but everything said must be designed to edify the whole church (14:26). Only one person at a time is allowed to address the assembly, and everything is to be done in a fitting and orderly way. All teaching and prophecies are liable to public cross examination and judgment. Further, there is no moderator nor emcee per se. In fact, unless there is a problem to correct, you would not even know who our leaders are. Ladies do not speak out or pray publicly in the 1 Corinthians 14 phase of the meeting (look up 1 Corinthians 14:33-35 and you’ll see what this is based on). In contrast, they do speak quite a bit during the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper (more on this below).

5. Inquiring minds will want to know that most of us hold to the doctrines of grace, new covenant theology (www.ids.org), biblical inerrancy (www.churchcouncil.org), and the Danver’s statement on biblical manhood and womanhood (www.cbmw.org). You can find out more about New Testament church life at www.ntrf.org. We also are decidedly in alignment with historic Christian theology. Our elder’s favorite statement of faith is the First London (Baptist) Confession of 1644.

6. The children stay with us in the meeting, though if a really young child gets noisy one of his parents will take him out until he calms down. If you have young children you may wish to bring along something to keep them happy, such as a drawing pad and crayons or quiet toys. The kids usually sit on the floor next to their parents. We believe it is the parent’s job, not the church’s, to teach their children about Jesus. Thus, we purposely have no Sunday school nor children’s church.

7. The Lord’s Supper is an integral part of our gathering. Actually, it is the main reason we come together each week. We eat it as a full meal per 1 Corinthians 11b. It is potluck with everyone bringing something to share with the rest. We believe it is to be a true meal to typify the wedding banquet of the Lamb. It’s a great time of fellowship and encouragement and very much like a wedding party rather than a funeral. In the middle of all the food you will notice the one cup (plastic jug, actually) and the one loaf, representing the body and blood of our Lord. We believe it was originally designed to remind Jesus of His promise to return and partake of the meal again with His people. All believers are free to partake of the bread and the fruit of the vine as they go through the food line. There is not an official ending time. Just leave after you have dined and enjoyed sufficient fellowship!

8. In short, we believe that the patterns for church life evident in the New Testament are not merely descriptive, but are actually prescriptive (2Th 2:15, 1Co 11:2). Thus, we believe in home-based and sized fellowships, elder led rather than elder ruled churches, the ministry of itinerant workers, interactive meetings, and that the Lord’s Supper and the Agape Feast are synonymous weekly events. You may find it helpful to read through 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 and 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 before coming.

9. For us, true church life occurs every day, as we see each other during the week, all week long. To facilitate this, we place a high priority on living as close together as is practical. So, the Lord’s Day activities described above are just the icing on the cake. To evaluate us based solely on what you observe in a Sunday meeting would be an incomplete analysis!

10. In a perfect situation, church is to be about community, not commuting. To fellowship with the saints only on Sundays is to do yourself a disservice. If you don’t live on our side of town, we would like to help you eventually start (or find) a church in your own neighborhood, once you get the vision for New Testament church life. In the mean time, come advance the Kingdom with us!

In sum, our churches are committed to meeting and living out as simple as possible a reading and understanding of what the New Testament church gave us for a pattern. We know we don’t have it all figured out yet. We are a work in progress! We tend to take issues one at a time and attempt to come to a biblically based consensus before moving on. Everybody counts and ideally nobody gets run over or discounted. This means we sometimes move pretty slow, but with a high degree of peace and unity. For that we have been blessed and are grateful.

See you on the Lord’s Day!

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