The Way is a Small Group Movement

The movement began as persecuted believers gathered secretly in homes.  They were eyewitnesses of Jesus himself and as the word spread those added had at least met an apostle who had firsthand seen Jesus.  Practicing faith under persecution adds a whole new level of believability to a testimony.  To risk one's life to propagate a lie is preposterous.  It is just not believable that the disciples might have stolen the body of Jesus and then proceeded to concoct a story of his raising from the dead and appearing to so many.  Then to drag that lie out until they were killed for it?  No, they saw what they saw.

The Way was meant to be small bands of believers gathering in houses.  Avoiding the spotlight, radically committed to one another, seeking the Holy Spirit empowering them daily.  They threw in their lots together: that is truly seeking first the Kingdom of God.  They shared meals and fellowship in the Word -the Holy Spirit was their teacher- they "had everything in common".

There was no Big Church, no professional trained ministry, the priesthood of believers was established when Jesus died and the curtain in the temple was torn in two.  No more middle-man was needed to approach God.  As Paul wrote later, we have a great high priest in Jesus who mediated for us once and for all.

No, this community of underground believers existed in a hostile environment.  We are the spiritual offspring of Messianic Jews, who stood to be cast out of their temples, beaten, stoned, killed in public as heretics - all quite legally.  False testimony arose over their beliefs- communion became cannibalism, love feasts became orgies, speaking in tongues became drunkenness, resurrection talk was considered insurrection.  Surely if there had been a written new testament it would have been labeled hate speech and it's followers considered terrorists and an insurrection threat both in Israel and Rome.

We see Christians today in the middle east decapitated by enemies of The Way.  We feel the boot and the hand closing around our necks even in the Land of the Free telling us what we can believe and what we can say and think about moral issues.  I believe we will soon learn whether or not we would have had the courage to exist as an underground group of radically committed believers meeting in homes, persecuted and hated by society.

For this reason, small bands of believers gathering in homes needs to become The Way again, across every land, we must become a tribe able to scatter without being destroyed.