COLLECTIVE ACTION

1
COLLECTIVE ACTION

• In order for a local church to fully realize its
  potential in functioning as a collective unit,
  its members need to understand the principles of
  collective action.
• Contrary to the thinking of many, local churches
  in the first century were more than mere
  assemblies of saints.

2
COLLECTIVE ACTION

• DEFINITION OF TERMS
• ELEMENTS OF COLLECTIVE ACTION
• COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH
• CLOSING OBSERVATIONS

3
DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Collective Of or derived from a number of
  persons taken or acting together
• Collective Unit A number of persons taken or
  acting together
• Collective Action The end result of a number
  of personsacting together

4
ELEMENTS OF COLLECTIVE ACTION

• A number of persons to act together
• Agreement as to what is to be done
• Common oversight
• A pooling of resources and/or abilities

5

• A number of persons to act together
• For in fact the body is not one member but many.
  (1 Cor. 1214)
• Then those who gladly received his word were
  baptized and that day about three thousand souls
  were added to them. And they continued
  steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
  fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in
  prayers. (Acts 241-42)

6

• Agreement as to what is to be done
• Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?
  (Amos 33)

7

• Common oversight
• Let all things be done decently and in order. (1
  Cor. 1440)
• From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for
  the elders of the church.... Therefore take heed
  to yourselves and to all the flock, among which
  the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to
  shepherd the church of God which He purchased
  with His own blood. (Acts 2017,28)

8

• Common oversight
• The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a
  fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of
  Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that
  will be revealed Shepherd the flock of God which
  is among you, serving as overseers, not by
  compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain
  but eagerly nor as being lords over those
  entrusted to you, but being examples to the
  flock. (1 Peter 51-3)

9

• A pooling of resources
• On the first day of the week let each one of you
  lay something aside, storing up as he may
  prosper, that there be no collections when I
  come. (1 Cor. 162)

10

• A pooling of abilities
• And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some
  prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
  teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the
  work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of
  Christ, till we all come to the unity of the
  faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
  a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of
  the fullness of Christ that we should no longer
  be children, tossed to and fro and carried about
  with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of
  men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful
  plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may
  grow up in all things into Him who is the
  headChristfrom whom the whole body, joined and
  knit...

11

• together by what every joint supplies, according
  to the effective working by which every part does
  its share, causes growth of the body for the
  edifying of itself in love. (Eph. 411-16)
• Having then gifts differing according to the
  grace that is given to us, let us use them if
  prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our
  faith or ministry, let us use it in our
  ministering he who teaches, in teaching he who
  exhorts, in exhortation he who gives, with
  liberality he who leads, with diligence he who
  shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Rom. 126-8)

12
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is to be done by all saints in an
  assembly
• 1. Singing

13

• ...speaking to one another in psalms and hymns
  and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in
  your heart to the Lord. (Eph. 519)
• Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
  wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in
  psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
  with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Col. 316)

14
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is to be done by all saints in an
  assembly
• 1. Singing
• 2. Eating Lords Supper

15

• Now on the first day of the week, when the
  disciples came together to break bread, Paul,
  ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and
  continued his message until midnight. (Acts 207)
  
• Now in giving these instructions I do not praise
  you, since you come together not for the better
  but for the worse. For first of all, when you
  come together as a church, I hear that there are
  divisions among you, and in part I believe it.
  For there must also be factions among you, that
  those who are approved may be recognized among
  you. Therefore when you come together in one
  place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper.

16

• For in eating, each one takes his own supper
  ahead of others and one is hungry and another is
  drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and
  drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and
  shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to
  you? Shall I praise you in this? I do not praise
  you.
• For I received from the Lord that which I also
  delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same
  night in which He was betrayed took bread and
  when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,
  Take, eat this is My body which is broken for
  you do this in remembrance of Me. In the same
  manner He also took the cup after supper, saying,
  This cup is the...

17

• ...new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as
  you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often
  as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
  proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.
• Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this
  cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be
  guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let
  a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the
  bread and drink of the cup. (1 Cor. 1117-28)

18
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is to be done by all saints in an
  assembly
• 1. Singing
• 2. Eating Lords Supper
• 3. Giving

19

• On the first day of the week let each one of you
  lay something aside, storing up as he may
  prosper, that there be no collections when I
  come. (1 Cor. 162)
• But this I say He who sows sparingly will also
  reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will
  also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he
  purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of
  necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. (2
  Cor. 96,7)

20
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is to be done by all saints in an
  assembly
• 1. Singing
• 2. Eating Lords Supper
• 3. Giving
• 4. Praying

21

• So, when he had considered this, he came to the
  house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname
  was Mark, where many were gathered together
  praying. (Acts 1212)
• But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and
  singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were
  listening to them. (Acts 1625)
• When we had come to the end of those days, we
  departed and went on our way and they all
  accompanied us, with wives and children, till we
  were out of the city. And we knelt down on the
  shore and prayed. (Acts 215)

22
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is to be done by all saints in an
  assembly
• 1. Singing
• 2. Eating Lords Supper
• 3. Giving
• 4. Praying
• 5. Studying Gods word

23

• And they continued steadfastly in the apostles
  doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of
  bread, and in prayers. (Acts 242)
• These were more fair-minded than those in
  Thessalonica, in that they received the word with
  all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily
  to find out whether these things were so. (Acts
  1711)

24
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done by all in an assembly
• 1. Singing
• 2. Eating Lords Supper
• 3. Giving
• 4. Praying
• 5. Studying Gods word

25
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through a representative
• Praying - through the one who leads in prayer

26

• What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the
  spirit, and I will also pray with the
  understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I
  will also sing with the understanding. Otherwise,
  if you bless with the spirit, how will he who
  occupies the place of the uninformed say Amen
  at your giving of thanks, since he does not
  understand what you say? For you indeed give
  thanks well, but the other is not edified. (1
  Cor. 1415-17)

27
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through a representative
• Praying - through the one who leads in prayer
• Preaching/Teaching - through the preacher, and/or
  class teachers

28

• And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some
  prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and
  teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the
  work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of
  Christ, (Eph. 411-12)
• Now on the first day of the week, when the
  disciples came together to break bread, Paul,
  ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and
  continued his message until midnight. (Acts 207)

29
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through a representative
• Praying - through the one who leads in prayer
• Preaching/Teaching - through the local preacher
  and class teachers
• Delivering an impenitent sinner to Satan
  through the one who makes the announcement

30

• It is actually reported that there is sexual
  immorality among you, and such sexual immorality
  as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a
  man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up,
  and have not rather mourned, that he who has done
  this deed might be taken away from among you. For
  I indeed, as absent in body but present in
  spirit, have already judged (as though I were
  present) him who has so done this deed. In the
  name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are
  gathered together, along with my spirit, with the
  power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a
  one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
  that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
  Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. 51-5)

31
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through expenditures
• Paying for facilities and/or utilities

32

• And let us consider one another in order to stir
  up love and good works, not forsaking the
  assembling of ourselves together, as is the
  manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so
  much the more as you see the Day approaching.
  (Heb. 1024-25)

33
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through expenditures
• Paying for facilities and/or utilities
• Supporting local preacher and/or distant preacher

34

• Even so the Lord has commanded that those who
  preach the gospel should live from the gospel. (1
  Cor. 914)
• I robbed other churches, taking wages from them
  to minister to you. And when I was present with
  you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for
  what I lacked the brethren who came from
  Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept
  myself from being burdensome to you, and so I
  will keep myself. (2 Cor. 118-9)

35
COLLECTIVE ACTION OF A CHURCH

• That which is done through expenditures
• Paying for facilities and/or utilities
• Supporting preacher
• Helping needy saints

36

• Now all who believed were together, and had all
  things in common, and sold their possessions and
  goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had
  need. (Acts 244-45)

37

• Now the multitude of those who believed were of
  one heart and one soul neither did anyone say
  that any of the things he possessed was his own,
  but they had all things in common. And with great
  power the apostles gave witness to the
  resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace
  was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among
  them who lacked for all who were possessors of
  lands or houses sold them, and brought the
  proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid
  them at the apostles' feet and they distributed
  to each as anyone had need. (Acts 432-35)

38
COLLECTIVE ACTION

• CLOSING OBSERVATIONS
• Whether to use the singular or plural form of
  verbs and pronouns with collective nouns depends
  on the meaning intended.
• When the collective noun means the group taken as
  a whole, it takes a singular form of the verb or
  pronoun.

39

• If any believing man or woman has widows, let
  them relieve them, and do not let the church be
  burdened, that it may relieve those who are
  really widows. (1 Tim. 516)

40
COLLECTIVE ACTION

• CLOSING OBSERVATIONS
• Whether to use the singular or plural form of
  verbs and pronouns with collective nouns depends
  on the meaning intended.
• When the collective noun means the group taken as
  a whole, it takes a singular form of the verb or
  pronoun.
• When it means the individuals of the group, it
  takes the plural verb or pronoun.

41

• Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that
  time a great persecution arose against the church
  which was at Jerusalem and they were all
  scattered throughout the regions of Judea and
  Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 81)
• As for Saul, he made havoc of the church,
  entering every house, and dragging off men and
  women, committing them to prison. Therefore those
  who were scattered went everywhere preaching the
  word. (Acts 83-4)