In our first lesson on service, we shared about how to meet. The first meeting we should come to is the Lord's table meeting. Before we fellowship about the Lord's table meeting, we need to see the two categories of meetings in the Bible.
First, there are the ministry meetings. The ministry means the work. The meetings for the work are for three basic purposes: preaching the gospel, giving a report of God's work, and reading the apostles' writing (the Scripture).
The work meetings, the ministry meetings, are for preaching the gospel. Acts 2 shows the first preaching of the gospel conducted by Peter at the very beginning of the church life (vv. 6, 14). That was not a meeting of the church, but a meeting for the work, a ministry meeting, to preach the gospel.
The ministry meetings are also for giving a report of God's work. After Paul took his first evangelical trip, he came back to Antioch, from where he was sent, and called a meeting to give the saints a report concerning God's work among the Gentiles (Acts 14:26-27). That was not a meeting of the church. It was a meeting of the ministry.
The ministry meetings are also for reading the apostles' writing (the Scripture). This is shown in Acts 15:30-31. After the conference in Jerusalem, the apostles and elders made a decision to write something. Then some went out to gather the saints together and read this writing to them. This gathering was not a meeting of the church, but a meeting of the ministry. At that time they were listening to the writing of the apostles. Eventually, the apostles' writings became the Scripture. This implies that a ministry meeting may be for the purpose of reading and studying the Scripture.
In the New Testament there are mainly three things carried out in the ministry meetings: preaching the gospel, giving a report of God's work, and studying and ministering the Word. When we come together to listen to the ministry of the Word, that is not a church meeting but a ministry meeting.