Jesus said in Matthew 18:20 . . . where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them (NIV).
So what is the smallest number of believers needed to be the church? According to Jesus, the smallest expression of church involves two – two followers who gather together in the name of Jesus, there he is with them.
We all know that Jesus called twelve disciples to follow him. However, did you ever notice that when he sent them off together, he sent them two by two?
Mark 6:7 And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits.
In fact, whenever Jesus sent any of his disciples to do anything significant, he sent them two by two.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
Luke 19:29-30a As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you . . .
Luke 22:8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”
You can see from Scripture, that Jesus put special effort into teaching his followers the importance of partnering in twos. Even after Jesus was crucified Peter and John continued to work together (Acts 3:1; 4:1,13) And then there was Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas and Paul and Timothy as well.
But what is even more amazing, as we look even throughout the Old Testament, God was working through his servants two by two as well. Here are just a few examples:
Moses and Aaron; Deborah and Barak; Ruth and Naomi; David and Nathan; Esther and Mordecai and Jeremiah and Baruch to name just a few.
In Matthew 18:19 Jesus says, “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.
What should we learn from these things? Could it be that “two” is the simplest form of church? Could it be that church as we know it is preventing us from experiencing church as God wants it? We will be exploring these questions in the days and weeks ahead.