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When Two or Three are Gathered Together

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DavidS

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Jesus said that if as few as "two or three" Christians are gathered together in His name, He is present.
In one sense, He is always present as He indwells, through the Holy Spirit, in every true Christian, but when as few as two Christians come together, He is present in an even greater sense in that a group of Christians gathered in His Name is a manifestation of His corporate body. He is, in a sense, physically present through His corporate body. Furthermore, because all Christians are united in the Holy Spirit, when even two Christians come together in prayer and worship, there is a sense in which the entire church of Christians (both alive and in the Father's nearer presence) are also present through the unity of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Head!
As an aside, I suggest that "church" be taken as a collective noun - a swarm of bees, a murder of ravens and a church of Christians! A "church of Christians" is a gathering of born-again believers to worship God through Jesus. Thinking in this way helps us avoid the tendency to think of "The Church" as either an organisation or a building.
 
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partinobodycular

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DavidS said:
Jesus said that if as few as "two or three" Christians are gathered together in His name, He is present.
In one sense, He is always present as He indwells, through the Holy Spirit, in every true Christian, but when as few as two Christians come together, He is present in an even greater sense in that a group of Christians gathered in His Name is a manifestation of His corporate body. He is, in a sense, physically present through His corporate body. Furthermore, because all Christians are united in the Holy Spirit, when even two Christians come together in prayer and worship, there is a sense in which the entire church of Christians (both alive and in the Father's nearer presence) are also present through the unity of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Head!
As an aside, I suggest that "church" be taken as a collective noun - a swarm of bees, a murder of ravens and a church of Christians! A "church of Christians" is a gathering of born-again believers to worship God through Jesus. Thinking in this way helps us avoid the tendency to think of "The Church" as either an organisation or a building.
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As one who spends a great deal of my time alone I find this claim of God's presence to run contrary to my experience. I find that my greatest communion with God comes when I'm alone, and that the larger the group is, the greater the pretense of God's presence, but what they claim as God's presence is simply self-validation and often does more to lead people away from God than to lead them to Him.
 
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eleos1954

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DavidS said:
Jesus said that if as few as "two or three" Christians are gathered together in His name, He is present.
In one sense, He is always present as He indwells, through the Holy Spirit, in every true Christian, but when as few as two Christians come together, He is present in an even greater sense in that a group of Christians gathered in His Name is a manifestation of His corporate body. He is, in a sense, physically present through His corporate body. Furthermore, because all Christians are united in the Holy Spirit, when even two Christians come together in prayer and worship, there is a sense in which the entire church of Christians (both alive and in the Father's nearer presence) are also present through the unity of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Head!
As an aside, I suggest that "church" be taken as a collective noun - a swarm of bees, a murder of ravens and a church of Christians! A "church of Christians" is a gathering of born-again believers to worship God through Jesus. Thinking in this way helps us avoid the tendency to think of "The Church" as either an organisation or a building.
Click to expand...
It provides a way for encouragement for like minded people. Strength in numbers (so to speak)
 
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DavidS

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eleos1954 said:
It provides a way for encouragement for like minded people. Strength in numbers (so to speak)
Click to expand...
The Swdish minister Kjell Sjoberg noted that there is more power in the prayers of a praying group of Christians than in a single Christian praying. In his own words "When the Church prays as one, heaven responds with fire". Note though, that this is when the Church "prays as one". I believe that this is because when a group of Christians are all inwardly convicted concerning what to pray, it is really Jesus who is praying through (we might dare to say "as") the group.
This does not mean that some people find individual approaches to God beneficial. But maybe such people (and, I confess, I tend this way myself) might be associated with (what are for them) the "wrong" groups. For instance, I would be a Quaker if there were some Christ-centred Friends in my area!
 
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