LIVING STONES FELLOWSHIP
"You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
-1 Peter 2:4
About Living Stones Fellowship
Started in 2020
Started in 2020: The fellowship first gathered in the fall of 2020 in what was intended to be a temporary assembly of like-minded believers during Covid-related modification of church life. After only a few months of gathering, worshiping, and praying together, it became clear that a unique community had formed and we believed that God intended this temporary gathering to be a new local expression of His Church. In the first few months of 2021, the core group of families met several times to discuss how to transition from a “purpose for gathering” to a “gathering with a purpose.” The structure and model of this community has emerged from those meeting, but it is still being shaped as we prayerfully submit ourselves to God’s word and direction.
How We Function
As we began exploring how the various metaphors of church life described in the bible have been implemented in recent years, the passage in 1 Peter 2:4 was particularly instrumental: “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Scripture teaches us that every believer can play a significant, though often different, role in building up the body. Therefore, two early decisions influenced the form and function of our fellowship: 1) we decided that the practical and spiritual roles would the shared responsibility of each committed member/family; we do not have a pastor or any paid individuals managing our fellowship and 2) we decided that our weekly Sunday meetings would include the entire family (i.e., adults and children together) for our worship and teaching. Additionally, it was also our desire to facilitate the participation of the reading of scripture, corporate prayer, and personal testimonies- all of which are featured prominently in our Sunday morning meetings.
How this works
Borrowing from the “spiritual house” metaphor, we have organized the committed families into four “walls” which are designated by directions (East, West, North, South). Each wall is organized by three core family units who are responsible to organize each wall’s respective roles and meet regularly with the core families of every wall to pray and seek God’s direction for the whole community. The primary responsibilities of the Sunday morning meetings rotate weekly between the four walls, allowing us to share the blessing and responsibility of serving one another. This means you will notice different people welcoming you in the door, giving announcements, praying, leading worship and presenting the communion. This allows for every person to get involved to the level of their maturity and capabilities. Naturally, there is a range of abilities and maturities within our community; we are not all polished and trained. However, this allows us to extend grace to one another as we are growing in faith and maturity. There are lots of other practical things that the hosting wall does that you might not see; like gathering early for prayer, tidying up the meeting spaces before and after the meeting, bringing the morning snack and cleaning the bathroom. [Note: While the teaching/message is also a shared ministry, it is independent of the wall structure and includes teachers from within the fellowship, guest speakers, missionaries and occasional video presentations].
Tending the Wall: A Focus on Maturing in the Faith
Maturing in the faith is a dynamic process that requires input from others (i.e., discipleship), but such relationships are often difficult to start and maintain. Therefore, the other primary reason for building “walls” is to facilitate intentional interactions that allow for the maturing of individuals and families. The foundational families in each wall have taken the responsibility to ensure these interactions take place, but discipleship and maturing will be encouraged for everyone, at every level of their spiritual walk. Since hosting on Sunday requires discussions about spiritual ministries, this is often the beginning of such interactions. Other activities might include group cookouts/potlucks, families hosting each other for meals, one-on-one discipling, etc.
Beyond Sundays
Our Sunday meetings are an important and vital part of our faith community (including monthly potlucks), but there are many other opportunities to build up one another and the community including regular and periodic events such as:
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Bible Memory Club for Kids-
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Monthly Mens-Boys meeting: A chance for Fathers and Sons to gather for a spiritual discussion, fellowship and fun activity.
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Monthly Ladies-Girls meeting: A chance for women and maturing young ladies to get together for spiritual encouragement, fellowship and refreshments.
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Serving the needy in Our Community: Living Stones Fellowship is partnering with local ministries to regularly offer help to needy individuals and families in our community. This includes the opportunity to prepare, serve, or deliver meals; often allowing time for conversation with those that need encouragement and to hear the good news concerning the hope found in Jesus.
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Serving in the Mission Field: God is opening doors for our small faith community to minister to the needy in other countries including Honduras and Myanmar (Burma). Individuals and families will be encouraged to stretch their faith by participating in these or other overseas missions.
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Special Meetings: Our community has other opportunities for special gatherings including evenings of worship, invitations to special teaching events, an annual Passover seder, Father-Son camping weekend, and Riverside Family Camp.