What is our Breaking of Bread meeting like?
We seek to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In accordance with the Lord’s commands in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we have a meeting where multiple men are allowed to speak (1 Cor 14:26). They don’t have to be ordained, or pastors, or elders, merely genuine followers of Jesus who accurately seek to build up the body of Christ through such things as: Bible reading, prayer, and hymns. It is a spontaneous meeting. There is no printed program or assignment of who speaks or pre-selection of hymns. We seek to be Spirit led. In obedience to the Lord’s command, ladies are silent, except when all are singing the hymns (1 Corinthians 14: 33-37; 1 Timothy 2:11-14). Yet the women’s submission is important, as they teach a lesson to the angels (1 Cor 11:10), the women symbolizing the church as being the submissive bride of Christ.
The focal point of the first hour is the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, in particular things related to His redemptive work in saving us from our sins. Meditations given by the men focus on this (1 Cor 11:24-26; Luke 22:19) . We share in eating and drinking symbols of the Lord’s broken body (bread) and His shed blood (grape juice). Any genuine believer not involved in sin is welcome to share with us.
A man is to make the meeting edifying by: coming prepared (by daily Bible study and prayer), coming holy (living a pure life without unrepented sin), focusing on the Lord and scripture, keeping silent when another is talking, saving questions and potentially divisive subjects for a later time, and limiting their words to 1 to 15 minutes so other brothers have an opportunity to speak.