The Power of Agreement

Have you ever said to yourself, “I wish I knew then what I know now?” I sure have! One thing that I learned a few years ago is the power of agreement using Jesus’ model of Ekklesia.

My wife and I have owned a business for over 20 years. During much of that time, we did our best to agree on how to run the business. We would pray, seek insight from the Holy Spirit, seek wise counsel, discuss various options and then make what we believed were wise decisions. In the past few years, we have switched to using Jesus’s model of Ekklesia in our business. We have experienced a profound shift.

There are many examples of Ekklesia in action that I could share, but for this article, I want to give you two examples. The first is how my wife and I use Ekklesia in our business. The second example is a spiritual cleansing exercise we have done in homes and businesses.

First, I’d like to give you a quick overview of the Biblical meaning of the word Ekklesia. Ed Silvoso does a great job thoroughly explaining the concept in his book, “Ekklesia: Rediscovering God’s Instrument for Global Transformation.” He writes:

The Genesis of the Ekklesia at the time of Jesus’ birth and all through His life on earth, there were three main institutions in Israel: the Temple, the synagogue and the ekklesia. It is usually assumed that all three were religious bodies, but only the Temple and the synagogue fit that description. The ekklesia was not religious at all, since it was first developed as a ruling assembly of citizens in the Grecian democracy to govern its city-states. It consisted of men eighteen years or older who had completed two years of military service; in essence, people substantially committed to their city-state. In a broader sense, ekklesia also came to mean an assembly of citizens duly convened.

When the more hierarchical Romans replaced the Greeks in the imperial scene, the Romans assimilated the concept. Consequently, the general public in Jesus’ day understood ekklesia to mean both the secular institution and the governmental system it represented.

Bible scholars most often translate the Greek word “ekklesia” into the English word “church”. There really is not a good English word that fully captures the meaning of ekklesia. Knowing the history and cultural context is vital to gain a proper understanding.

For example, in Acts 19, a complaint was brought by the local union of silversmiths to the ekklesia in Ephesus regarding the dealings of Paul, Gaius and Aristarchus. The word ekklesia in that verse is translated as “assembly” in most translations. The same word is translated as “church” in other verses in the New Testament. Silvoso says, “Here ekklesia refers to the crowd twice, and a third time to the court itself, showing that the term was employed to describe a body of people assembled to conduct governmental business.”

Silvoso makes the point that Jesus did not say, “I will build My Temple” or “I will build My synagogue.” The Temple and the synagogues were the two premier Jewish religious institutions of the day. Jesus did say, “I will build my Ekklesia.” He honored the temple and honored synagogues; however, it is vital we understand Jesus’ model for discipling the nations and bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.

Silvoso writes, “The Temple and the synagogue were static institutions that functioned in buildings that members had to go to on specified occasions, whereas the Ekklesia was a building-less mobile people movement designed to operate 24/7 in the marketplace for the purpose of having an impact on everybody and everything.”

What gives an assembly authority? In Athens, depending on the scope of a particular decision, the Ekklesia needed 6000 people to have an authorized assembly or what we call today a “quorum”. Silvoso continues, “The Greek and Roman versions of the ekklesia appeared in different forms and sizes, all of which are relevant to the subject at hand. But one format is especially notable: the Conventus Civium Romanorum, or Conventus for short. According to Sir William Ramsay, when a group of Roman citizens as small as two or three gathered anywhere in the world, it constituted the conventus as a local expression of Rome. Even though geography separated them from the capital of the empire and the emperor, their coming together as fellow citizens automatically brought the power and presence of Rome into their midst. This was indeed the Roman ekklesia in a microcosm.”

The bottom line to all this is that the Ekklesia has authority to bind and release. I read in a book of antiquity a few years ago that a specific phrase existed in Roman occupied territories. The phrase went something like this, “Where two or three Roman citizens agree on a matter it is as if the emperor is there in their midst.” Jesus built upon this cultural understanding when He said, “Where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matthew 18:20). Jesus has made His authority available to His Ekklesia in the same manner as conventus did for the emperor, but in a much greater capacity! Jesus said, “whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18).

My dear friend John Jackson adds another dimension in his book “Grace Ambassador: Bringing Heaven to Earth”:

Let’s start by defining Church as either the oikos (Greek for a small, extended household of faith) or the ekklesia (Greek for an assembly of citizens). The original use of ekklesia within Roman culture described a gathering of Roman citizens with the authority of their citizenship in the Empire). In the book of Acts, we read about the Church gathered (“Temple courts”) and the Church distributed (“house to house” or in the marketplace). In both cases, when the Church is gathered and when the Church is distributed, she manifests the grace of the presence of God just as Jesus promised (see Matthew 18:20). The Scripture is clear that the Church gathered, and the Church scattered are both the ekklesia.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we follow His ways. We are both the Oikos and the Ekklesia. We are family and we are to bring Heaven to Earth by using the authority Jesus has entrusted to us. We are not limited to buildings or organizations. Those are wonderful and have their place, but more importantly we are to make disciples in all spheres of society.

My wife and I have used the authority of Ekklesia in our business for the past few years. We have seen noticeable results! I won’t go into all the details as this article would be too long, but we have implemented making strategic business decisions to bind and loose according to the spiritual authority that Jesus has given us. We do this prayerfully and with wisdom and revelation. Our sense of unity, purpose, clarity, and effectiveness has increased dramatically compared to what we did before. Before we understood the concept of Ekklesia, we would work together, research different options, and do essentially the same process, but we left off the step of declaring with authority what it means to bring Heaven to Earth in our business. This sounds like a subtle distinction, but it is significant, and the results are clear. In other words, we simply added spiritual declarations of agreement as an Ekklesia to sound business practices. The results are profound with greater peace, clarity, and financial results. We believe Jehovah Jireh is our provider and it is His will to give provision that follows His vision.

Another example of how we have used the authority of Ekklesia is with spiritually cleansing our home, others’ homes and even businesses. For example, we were invited to help a family spiritually cleanse their home. The children regularly had nightmares, were scared in certain areas of the home and even the father sensed a dark presence in the walk-in closet of the master bedroom.

We assembled a small team and invited the parents to join us as we prayerfully walked through the home and listened to the Holy Spirit. We each took notes regarding what we sensed without talking to one another. After about 15 minutes, we gathered and shared our notes. The impressions the team had of what was causing the spiritual darkness in the home were amazingly similar! We sensed that someone in the home prior to this family living there was depressed to the point of considering suicide. There were some items in the home that the team all confirmed had darkness on them. One impression was received by several people that went back to the Gold Rush era that someone may have been tortured at the site where the home was built, resulting in the evil presence felt in that area of the home. The team and the family prayed cleansing prayers and anointed the doors with oil. The family removed the objects that had darkness attached to them. Then, we praised Jesus and released blessings over the home. We checked in with the family a week later and the dad told us the kids were no longer having nightmares, the dark presence in the closet was gone, their whole house felt much better and there was a sense of peace that hadn’t been there before. We have heard similar reports from business owners and others who have done this process.

So, how about you? Are you exercising your authority with others in the Body of Christ as an Ekklesia? I encourage you to study the topic and do as the Holy Spirit leads you. We pray that Heaven invades Earth as the Oikos and Ekklesia of Jesus Christ moves with authority, unity, power, and love.