Gathering
At Ipswich International Church we are made up of 30-40 nationalities of various ages, backgrounds and life stages.
We understand that church is not the building but the people. The Bible makes it clear in Genesis 1 v 27 that God created humanity in his image both male and female. As a result of this we firmly believe that every person has value to the Father and each other. We, therefore, seek to value all people recognising their journey even if they have not yet become a follower of Christ.
As a community of faith we have been called by God to live as family. By this we mean that we seek to be a family where all who come – whether members or visitors, which ever background, feel like they can belong.
We are seeking to create environments where deep relationships can be developed so that we become a true Radical Community impacted by the Love of God and of one another.
Living as a family comes with it’s joys and it’s challenges and the bibles does not hide that reality. However, we are encouraged by the example of the early chruch that this is doable despite the obvious difficulties. They gathered together to celebrate in the temple and also spent time together building relationships in homes.
Our biblical basis for Gathering is Acts 2:42-47;
"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity— all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."
Acts 2:42-47 (New Living Translation)
From the passage we can se that as a faith community the early church ate together, prayed together, read the Bible together, broke bread together and had fun together.
As we seek to develop the sense of true extended family we recognise that this comes out of relationship – and doing the things that the early church did.
So, at IIC we gather together as an entire family on a Sunday. This is a great aspect of celebrating our diversity as each person brings our uniqueness to the entire family in our gathered times of worship.
However, we know it is not possible to develop the depth of relationship and sense of extended family in this environment alone. Therefore, we also gather together in homes through what we call Cell Groups. At IIC, we encourage everyone to join a cell, where we can foster this level of community. This is not just another meeting, but a place where we can grow in relationship with God, with one another and invite others who don’t yet know Jesus into our extended family.
This is an invitation to develop strong bonds and do life together – it is a place where we do the one another’s of scripture – love one another, pray for one another, encourage one another, build one another up.
The Bible tells us in Psalm 68 v 6 that God the Father ‘puts the lonely in families.’ As we seek to develop a family friendly mentality – we desire to see people added to our extended family.
All of this we do through gathering as church family both in the small and big spaces.