{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Christ Covenant Church","title":"Covenant Life Groups","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2791,"description":" (Act 5:42) = Notice there are two different venues where the apostles met with the church for teaching and preaching: 1) “Temple” = larger venue (Act 5:12 – “Solomon’s Portico” = Court area outside the Temple): On the Lord’s Day, the entire church came together for corporate worship (~15k people), 2) “house to house” = smaller venue: During the week, church members wb divided into smaller groups and meet in different houses. Hence the reason the text says this was taking place “every day.” Every day of the week was devoted to some form of meeting. Either corporate worship or a community group. The large number of church members, the small size of the 1st century house and the fact that everyone relied on the apostle’s direct teaching (nothing had yet been written down), meant different community groups “every day” of the week just to get through all the people.\n \nHere then is the biblical basis for community groups: the practice of the early church: Temple court for church on Sundays - and every other day of the week, different community groups to accommodate all the people. This practice is also mentioned in (Act 2:46: Temple-church and community groups meeting in homes).\n \n(Act 2:42) = Most believe this verse is in reference to the community groups (esp. since as we saw, v46 mentions the breaking of bread being connected to the meeting in the home – versus as part of their Sunday worship – Act 20:7: this ML refers to the LT [“breaking of bread”: generic reference to hospitality: eating/enjoying food together]). As such, there are four things that are to be taking place in these community groups: 1) apostles’ teaching (or sermon), 2) fellowship (the word means “to share” as in share our lives w/each other), 3) breaking of bread (i.e. hospitality), 4) prayer.\n \nWhat then community groups/Covenant Life Groups will look like for us = Small groups of church family meeting mid-week in a host home to: 1) discuss questions related to the most recent sermon, 2) share...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/UXGjftzm8Yw--IISwUKe6A6-CX1YtARptisfLmFJFoI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS81Zjc4/MmNmNTMxZjNmOTgw/YjA1NWRhYmMxMTNl/YmE1Zi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}