How do you reach out to those in your community.
Do you invite them to join you?
Are you selective about who you invite or do you invite all?
What do you do if you outgrow your meeting place?
I'd like to preface my answers with a few thoughts regarding the Body of Christ.
1. God is not refining the current church system. So His people should not seek to refine the current church system. Just like Jesus did not come to refine the system established by the religious leaders of His day, we, too, must be of a different vision than what typically passes as "church" today.
2. Many of God's people are currently in the church system. This is also consistent with Jesus's time. But, there are many who have been permitted to be a part of the system who are not part of Christ. They were permitted membership because of their influence or money.
3. Because Sunday boxes (buildings where Christian things occur on Sundays) are part of the system so we typically avoid those places although we certainly may go where the Lord sends us, including to those buildings.
4. We call our group a "household" of believers. Thus, most teaching is done between those who are mature to those who are learning. It's literally like a family: wherein the older (with more wisdom) teach the younger.
There are more points but this is a start.
To your questions;
How do you reach out to those in your community?
We teach that the primary mission field is where the Lord has placed you: work, family, groups, clubs, etc. And that one's ministry is to put on display the love and character of the Father in those spaces. We have small business owners in our group who are faithful to the Lord and, consequently, are master-stewards of their resources and customers. They will error on the side of God's character (generosity, kindness, fairness, love) when dealing with people. This has cause a few to ask "Why are you different?" Having an answer always ready, most connections are made this way.
Do you invite them to join you?
Sometimes. It is the responsibility of the one to whom they are connected to teach them the basic foundations of trusting in the Lord. If they are a believer (or if they come to the Lord through repentance) the work of sanctification continues through that primary connection. Then, if they continue to walk with the Lord, they might be invited to the larger group meetings. However, the larger group meetings are not where most of the "work" is done. We meet in fellowship in a large group from time to time but we connect to each other nearly daily and more so if we are an elder watching over the souls of others.
Are you selective about who you invite or do you invite all?
I think I explained this above. The primary qualification is the must have the Spirit of God in them so, they might come from various backgrounds or church experiences. Everyone, however, is known very well by someone in the group. We don't permit strangers into our household. We might have meals with people we don't know, but they are not invited to our group gatherings.
What do you do if you outgrow your meeting place?
We have no issue with renting a building or space when a larger space is needed. For example, we are gathering the whole household (in four states) to our place in the Summer. We will either rent a large meeting tent (because we have the room on our property and our property is gorgeous) or a meeting room at a nearby hotel.
The question about children came up...
It's the responsibility of father and mothers to know their children in the Lord. Parents are encouraged to teach their children the precepts of scripture and mostly to display God's character to them as they raise them. Children are welcome to sit with the adults (some do) during our meetings but the young ones often play close by.
One of the traditions of the current church system is to divide the family (men, women, children) into teaching groups. No, men and women, who have the Spirit of God in them, are the priests of God Most High, the lord Jesus Christ. Their primary ministry is to their children so we encourage and teach this by example and Biblical study.
That's all I got to say about that for now.
Blessings
