What do we do in Homecoming Gathering?
- Not a typical conference
- No planned speakers, no teaching sessions, no human pre-set agenda.
- A time of worship and waiting on the Lord
- A call of the Father to His children to come home.
- Not the initiative of any one ministry but leaders meeting from different places, different streams for years united in the same heart: to see the glory of God manifested among the Chinese church.
Is it a waste of time?
- Glory won’t come by human programs
- Waiting is a lost art in the Church – instead we are busy doing.
- But we are supposed to be modeling ourselves after Jesus, only doing what He saw the Father doing, saying what He heard the Father saying (John 5:19, John 14:24)
- We must give up our own rights, lay down our own agendas/plans and give Holy Spirit the freedom to rule in our midst.
What is listening to God’s heart?
- There are two ways we can hear – through our mind or spirit
- If we use our minds, then we will not be able to hear the impossible – only what is rational
- God is the God of the impossible – David and Goliath, Joshua and Jericho
- God’s spirit functions by discernment – our spirit witnesses if something is God or not
- We must live by the spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14) and renew our minds (Romans 12:1-2) and bring them in subjection to the spirit.
What is Corporate Listening and Corporate Discernment?
- Each of us sees only in part (1 Cor 13:9) that is why there is safety and wisdom in a multitude of counsel (Prov 11:14/15:22).
- We want to live like the Early Church – seek the Lord together until we can say “it seems right to the Holy Spirit and us.
What are we looking for?
- Not prolong visitation of God like a revival
- But for us to become a dwelling place of God
- We long for the glory of God like King David – Psalm 132 – to become the resting place of God
- Like Moses said to the Lord- if your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t send us from here.
Why is worship so important in the gathering?
- Worship helps us enter the presence of God together so we can hear the Lord more clearly.
- We don’t set times for the worship – we worship until the Holy Spirit releases us.
- We love to see different expressions of worship in the gathering – not just singing but dancing before the Lord.
Why Unity is important?
- Only recorded prayer of Jesus – John 17 – he prayed for unity of the body and said this is a key for the world knowing Jesus and His love for them
- Unity is a spiritual principle
- Unity is not doing things together – for e.g. evangelism meetings when all the churches support
- Our unity is not in doing the same things or saying the same things, it’s having the same heart
- This heart is total and complete submission and obedience to the Head, Jesus Christ, in every area of our lives.
- God is pleased when the brothers and sisters are walking together in harmony and unity of heart and spirit. (Psalm 133)
- God is a father – he likes the kids walking in harmony with each other and obedience to Him
What is the price of the conference fee?
- The price is free as we would like as many brothers and sisters who received the calling to come to be able to come.
- Of course, the cost for such a large scale conference is not free. The cost for the conference (venue, logistics,etc. …) this year is over $1M US.
- Therefore, we encourage anyone who are able to donate to help out together. Here is the how you can help
I am not a church leader or pastor, should I attend?
- This gathering is for all brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. This is open and not restricted to leaders only.
- In fact, God is pleased if people of different gifts and different background to come together to seek Him in unity (Acts 13:1-3).
What is the denomination background of Homecoming Gathering?
- This gathering is for brothers and sisters in any denomination who believe Jesus Christ is our only savior.
- This is open and not restricted to one denomination only.
- In fact, God is pleased to see His people of different background to come together to seek Him in unity (Acts 13:1-3)
Can I attend only part of the conference?
- We welcome you to attend the whole gathering, but it is ok for you to attend part of it according to your availability.
I cannot speak English or Chinese, will there be translation?
- The official language of this gathering is Mandarin and English.
- We are collecting the language requirements from participants in the registration process.
- If there are considerable needs for translations for certain languages, we will try our best to arrange simultaneous translation to cater the need. But at this point we cannot guarantee that there will be translations other than Mandarin and English during the gathering.