[Jesus promised us:] "For where two or three gather together as my followers [in my name], I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20 NLT).
Why now?
We had planned to launch something like ToGather in 2021 for our international family, God's people who are part of missional communities, house churches, or those who cannot make it to a church gathering. The circumstances in early 2020 surrounding the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus, have challenged us to push up the release date and change some of our plans.
As public health officials urged us to avoid large crowds and taught us the importance of "social distancing," we felt the Spirit's nudge to launch ToGather earlier than we had initially planned. We covet your prayers, comments, and suggestions (see comments section below) as we begin what we hope will be a blessing to Jesus' people.
What is ToGather?
We hope that ToGather will be a tool to help home fellowships, house churches, small groups, missional communities, and those who cannot attend a gathering of other believers physically. We hope this simple tool will enable you to better structure and share in a time of worship, reflection, and encouragement with your family, friends, or a small group of believers.
While other believers may not necessarily be physically present, please know that you are participating with believers from all over the world in shared worship and are connected through the Holy Spirit. These brothers and sisters in Christ come from different time zones, yet have gathered to honor Jesus and deepen their commitment to carry out His mission in our world.
Each ToGather segment will be a combination of several different resources:
- A Short Video Message
Initially, this video message will be taken from Verse of the Day for that particular Sunday. We encourage you to share in discussion and prayer with other believers through the comments section on that site or share your comments, questions, and suggestions in the comment section below that week's ToGather segment. We believe that worship without fellowship and ministry is one dimensional. We reach up to God and worship vertically. However, as I have heard several friends say, if we don't reach out and make our worship three dimensional by including fellowship and ministry as our horizontal worship, we don't have a cross, only a stick. So, we hope you enter into fellowship and discussion with other believers! - A Communion Meditation Called "Beyond Bread and Wine"
This devotional thought will encourage you to take Communion in your home. Please don't skip this time. Communion in this way can be a very personal and intimate, a time of fellowship, love, encouragement, and remembrance for you and those who gather with you. - Songs for Worship, Praise, and Reflection
Several YouTube video songs that share in our theme for each Sunday's Verse of the Day message or our Communion thoughts will be included along with links to several other songs. - A Blessing from God's Word
We will conclude each week with a short scripture blessing from God's word. We will choose each blessing to fit the theme of the thoughts shared or to be especially relevant to what is happening in our world and Jesus' call for us to be on mission. - Scripture Graphics to Share
At the bottom of the segment, you will also find links to three Scripture graphics for you to save, share, and post on social media. These graphics will accentuate and highlight the other graphics chosen for this week. We know some people are blessed and love to share graphics that show their faith and offer others encouragement.
We pray that ToGather will be a blessing to you. We will let the Lord lead us and dictate to us how long we should continue this journey. If you are blessed, we hope that you will share this blessing with others.
Please know that the Heartlight.org and VerseoftheDay.com team thank God for you and are praying for you to share the light of Jesus with others.
Phil, Donna, Ben, Diane, John, Ed, and Ray
For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness," has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6 NLT)!
May God make His light in Jesus shine in your heart as you reflect that light to others!
