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About Us |
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Ephesians 2: 14 For Christ himself has made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. 15 By his death he ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new person from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. 17 He has brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and to us Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us, both Jews and Gentiles, may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. 19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family. 20 We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
The Dwelling Place Houses of Prayer is part of the growing house church movement. Our vision is to be an apostolic network of house churches and healing rooms in our region that will affect and effect change in our province, nation and the nations of the earth. We believe the Scriptures teach that we, that is individual believers are the dwelling places of God's Spirit in us. This is not only an individual reality, where each believer demonstrates the indwelling Christ in their lives and in their callings and ministries, but it demonstrates itself fully in what the New Testament calls "body" life. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians proclaims Christ as the head of the church, as the head of the Bride, which is the "Body of Christ" as being the fullness of all that God is, at work in the church and in the world. We express this collective reality in being a House of Prayer, which biblically means a house, or a gathering of people committed to prayer or communion with God. The term "house" also reinforces the belief and practice of the early church which met and encountered the Living Presence of Christ amongst themselves in house fellowships. As one man has stated, the Christian faith began as a living room movement! We seek to see the church restored to her primitive dynamism and full bodied fellowship and ministry, and this is why we meet from house to house and follow the apostles teaching and the breaking of bread together (Acts. 2:42; Acts 20:20).
You may contact us at: Mail: The Dwelling Place - C/O Samuel & Lori Buick - 316 Unit G Bluevale Street North - Waterloo - Ontario - N2J 4G3 - Ph.
519-747-0822
To rest, dwell and live in the Living Presence of Christ, in whom we live, exist and have our being (Acts 17:28), and to be agents of His love, grace, mercy and compassion to those within the Body of Christ and those who have not yet entered into the Kingdom of God. To model and live out the radical primitive Christianity that is recorded in the Book of Acts. As in the Book of Acts, we will reach out to our "Jerusalem", this region in which we live, and plant house churches throughout our region, and with the guidance, vision and empowerment of the Holy Spirit we shall reach out to our province, nation and the nations of the earth.
John Donne, English poet and pastor, once said, "No man is an island." No truer words could be expressed in describing our journey of faith. Where we are at the present time is the sum total of all our experiences along life's journey. All the good, all the trials, all the adversity, all the people we have known along the way have contributed in making and shaping us as people, and particularly our expression together as the body of Christ in the earth. We can no more deny any of our experiences than deny our own existence. As a body of believers many of us have journeyed through some very arduous and challenging places. We have experienced much of what contemporary evangelical Christianity has to offer. We are thankful for all that we have enjoyed, encountered, endured and persevered through. The various expressions of Christianity have combined to make us who we now are as the people of God, and we know that we will continue to be changed as God leads us by His Spirit to where He has planned and purposed. Most of us had been around the mountain several times. We have been a part of many expressions of Christianity. Many have been a blessing to us, and some have been a great challenge. We are openly thankful for what God has done and continues to do in the Evangelical movement, Charismatic movement, Vineyard movement, and the renewal through Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. These movements continue to bless the Body of Christ at large and we in particular have been the beneficiaries of their ministries. Our recent experiences in God and in His Church have shown us that there is much more to church life than any one individual can understand. Our corporate journey together has brought us to this new place in God. Most of our corporate reality as the "body of Christ" had become very frustrating with what the average Christian would describe as "church". Church never measured up to what we had read about in the Scriptures, and our experience testified that either God would do it again as in the Book of Acts, or it just wasn't worth even trying. As those who have partaken in the renewal say, "There has to be more!" We knew that there just had to be more to what we call "body life." We began informal gatherings in October of 1999 and met in a home in Kitchener. The first year was a major time of transition. We had between a dozen to eighteen people on a Friday evening. Several families offered their homes over the year. There was much grace and mercy extended during this time. The love of the brethren became not only a goal but a way of life. We began Sunday meetings in a home on 7 February, 2000. That lasted until December 2000. During a time of praying and fasting the Lord revealed that we had been meeting and should keep meeting on Fridays. I had initiated Sunday gatherings out of a personal want and need without consulting with the Lord. God blessed our gatherings and much healing took place during our times of worship and fellowship. I sensed the Lord saying that we had to go back to only meeting on Fridays, and when it was time, He would initiate the desire and need for any other meetings. In January 2001, we sensed a settling in our hearts. We were at peace with ourselves and our decision to let the Lord guide us and direct us. We knew God was doing something new among us. As soon as this settled in our hearts, the dynamic of Fridays intensified and the tangible Living Presence of Christ manifested in gatherings as the Holy Spirit touched people, brought healing, peace, forgiveness, restoration, and began imparting and releasing gifts in people. One of the most beautiful fruit of our Friday gatherings has been the rebirth or renewal of our calling and destiny as individuals and as a house church. We know God has brought us together to be His people in this place and hour, and we are full of joy and gladness that in his mercy He has chosen to draw near to us and manifest His Presence in our midst in order that we may be transformed and empowered to do His will. One of our greatest desires has always to see the duplication and multiplication of that which we have tasted, the goodness of God in the Holy Place and the fruit of being His Dwelling Place. We have longed to see and do that which the Lord desires through church planting. In June of 2001, we were blessed with an apostolic visit from Robert Fitts who has been involved in planting house churches for over 11 years. He came and ministered to us and taught us one of many means to plant and how to prepare people for ministry and church planting. This was a Godsend and answer to prayer. Now we have one of many tools for the duplication and multiplication of house churches. Our vision has enlarged to establish house church networks in regions across our nation and the nations of the earth. We thank God that when He leads and directs, and gives His plans and purposes, He not only gives revelation when needed, but what He births He also sustains. This is the Lord's thing, and not ours. We simply want to see His Kingdom established in the lives and homes of people throughout the earth. It is exciting to be His Dwelling Place! |
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