Meetings

Our meeting structure is much more similar to what we find recorded in Acts and other places in scripture than the typical church service in our modern day. The first Christian congregations often met in relatively small groups in someone’s home where they would do things such as have a meal together, pray, read scripture, and discuss its contents. This is our model as well. While we don’t criticize or reject a more formal and typical church structure, our goals and structure are simply different approaches to gathering together as believers and growing the Kingdom of God.

For our meetings, we read scripture, commentaries, and have some discussion. We choose a book of the Bible, start at the beginning, and work our way through relatively slowly. The goal is to follow a small group and bible study format. We read commentaries mostly from the first few hundred years of Christendom, aiming for as chronologically close to the original message as possible. We also look at Hebrew culture from the time for context. Many of us come from a wide variety of backgrounds so what we try to do is focus on these early and foundational aspects then discuss more modern interpretations and takes openly and respectfully. There are things we all agree on and things we don’t. Some things are salvation issues and some are not. We want to be clear and firm with the former and open and inquisitive with the latter.

There is an area for kids to play or they are welcome to join, especially older kids. Beyond the weekly meetings, we are focusing our efforts and resources on building out ministries through a parallel society approach. More on these can be found under Ministries and Philosophy. For those that choose to donate time, money, or other resources through The Agora, it will mostly be directed to these ministries and outreach programs.

Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to come join us. While we’d love to hear from you first, all are welcome to come unannounced as well, provided you know when and where to come.