Salt Lake City is known worldwide as the headquarters
and capitol of Mormonism. It seemed imperative to some Christian brothers
that before the Lord returned He should have a church established here as
a golden lampstand
for His testimony and as the pillar and base of the
truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
In 1986 a small group of believers began to meet as the church here
in Salt Lake City. Over 100 guests from the local churches
in many other localities joined us during that time for a special conference.
On a weekend which the Mormons “sanctified” for their general conference, this
small group of believers met to celebrate the Lord’s table (
1 Corinthians 10:21)
, thus to declare the Lord’s death
with its power and effectiveness, to declare His resurrection
through which we were born with His life, and to declare our oneness
with all believers as the basis for our meeting as the church here.
Our meeting that day was not hidden. We rented a community
facility for the conference we held that weekend. On the morning
of the Lord’s Day, when it was time for the meeting to begin, the worker
responsible for opening the building still had not arrived. In the face of
this attempt by the Lord’s enemy to frustrate this meeting, we gathered on
the large lawn outside of the building and partook of the Lord’s table
under an open sky for all to see.
From that time, there has been a
definite testimony for the Lord established among us. The enemy’s
stronghold in this place has been shaken, and the Lord’s testimony as a
small lampstand is shining.
We have seen some among us sent by the
Lord to serve Him in other places. Some of us have gone to a number of
other cities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico as well as Taiwan and Russia.
One of our sisters served the Lord in Moscow, Russia for over
two years.
In the mid 1990’s we began a series of semi-annual
blending conferences with nearby churches such as Boise and Lyman, WY. Once
a year we travel to Boise for a weekend to enjoy the Lord together. Six months
later, they join us for a similar time. These gatherings have done very much to
nourish and sustain us. Similarly, we participate in a semiannual time of
training to be constituted with the truth from the Word.
In 1998 we purchased a house which we are using for our
meeting hall. We have remodeled the garage area to accommodate our larger
meetings, including our blending conferences with Boise and Lyman. The
various rooms in the hall are useful for childcare, book sales, and a business
office, as well as our periodic dinners. The Lord has provided graciously
for our needs in this area and will, we trust, continue to provide when we
outgrow this facility.
Though our numbers have been small over the years (about
30 meeting as of July 2002), the nature of this testimony has remained
the same in quality as in all of the local churches. Those who have
visited us over the years have consistently praised the Lord for His
presence and His life among us. We attribute this testimony to the Lord’s
keeping us, by His mercy, in oneness with the other members of His Body.
We feel that this testimony is also due to our closely following the
teaching and fellowship of the apostles (Acts 2:42)
, especially as the Bible has been opened to us through the ministry of
Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.