Around end 1999, God told Cecilia to prepare to leave her church and through many incidents, clear guidance and the blessing of her elders, she left in December 2006 to, like Abraham, go where she knows not.
2Tim2-2.com was formed to sell Cecilia’s books and tapes and as the Ministry developed, with Gods guidance, ETW was then formed as a Society in May 2007. The Jewish aspects of the Scriptures soon became an emphasis of ETW and soon, God led us to start the Torah service in January 2008 and the Friday Shabbat Prayer in July 2008. And in line with the way God has been leading, the ETW Ekklesia (ETWE) was approved by the ETW Committee to be one of the ministries of ETW on January 18, 2009.
In the meantime, God had already brought together a group of people whom He called out of their churches to form the core of ETWE. God also gave us others who still have viable ministries in their own churches but whose hearts and minds are set on the same purposes as ETWE. God gave them to us as an expression of the Universal, Undivided Body of Christ, which is comprised of all true born-again believers, Jew and Gentile. We believe that God has chosen to use the Ekklesia to express His Glory and to be His Body to reach out to a lost world and thus are open to all who love our Messiah Yeshua in accordance with the Holy Bible.
Keeping the Sabbath
Since we believe God’s Fourth Commandment to “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy” is not rescinded, and Isaiah 66:22-23 speaks of worshipping God on the Sabbath in the Millennium, and since we want to have a VISIBLE testimony to our obedience to this Commandment, ETWE meets on Saturday evening.
Membership
We believe that God has raised up ETWE to be a micro picture of what the church should be today and that is why great care is exercised to see that all things are done in accordance with Scripture. EVERY ASPECT MUST PASS THE TEST OF SCRIPTURE or else it will be thrown out. There are, of course, other churches who also minister as God intends, but ETWE has more freedom to follow the Scriptures because we are new and small and just beginning and there are no church or denominational traditions to follow, unless God tells us so.
We believe that every born-again believer is part of the Universal Glorious Body of Christ and this is also reflected in the membership where some have been called out of our own churches to join ETWE while others join us but have not been called out of their own churches by God because they still have viable roles. We acknowledge this and regard other church memberships to be no barrier to fellowshipping with ETWE because it is regarded as fellowshipping with the larger Body of Christ. But we are clear that they should never violate any of God’s commandments in order to join ETWE, ETW Bible classes or its other activities. Neither should their giving to their own churches diminish in order to give toward ETW or ETWE. They should always give to promote the kingdom of God and in obedience to God’s laws of giving.
ETWE is to be a place where the church is what the church should be as described in the Bible. In fact, those of us in the Friday Shabbat prayer experience the Body Life, the openness, the fellowship of being ONE IN CHRIST. It is like a microcosm of what the larger body should be. We believe it is God’s grace given to us so that we know what we are to aim towards in terms of Body Life, Accountability and Fellowship in the larger Body.
ETWE then becomes a place where members are strengthened, encouraged and taught, and where accountability for one’s walk in Christ is encouraged. Thus having been strengthened in the Lord, these members can then go back to their own churches to do likewise.
We welcome every true believer in Christ who has the same heart for our Lord and the same mind (as stated in the ETWE Statement of Faith and the ETWE Seven Pillars and Support of the Truth) and are committed to growing and equipping all believers so that they can be used by God to strengthen, bless and equip their own church members.