We have various kinds of meetings, each with a different goal so not all our meetings are the same. The goal of the Lord's Table meeting is, first of all, to remember, thank, and praise the Lord for all that He is and has done for us. Secondly (in sequence, not importance) it is to worship and praise the Father who is the unseen source of all that is good and who sent the Son to be our Saviour. We do not encourage the saints (by which we mean believers in Christ, not a special class of believers) to bring unbelievers to that meeting.
Since the primary goal of the Lord's table is related to praise and worship instead of things like prayer or teaching (which are primary in other meetings) then the question becomes, "What kind of worship does God desire?" This is one of the most profound issues in the relationship of man with God. John 4:24 says that the Father seeks worship in spirit and reality but what does that mean? This relates to our view of man as well as of God.
We believe that a person is a living soul with a body outwardly to contact the physical world and a spirit inwardly to contact the spiritual world. So the spirit of man within him (Zech. 12:1) enables man to touch and experience the Lord. We believe that worship in spirit is not primarily a mental exercise because the mind is a part of the soul, not the spirit. Our spirit, the innermost part of our being, is where Christ dwells. Of course, His physical presence is at the right hand of the Father in the heavens but He also dwells in the spirits of His believers as the Spirit. So the Bible tells us that the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45); that the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17); that Christ dwells in us (2 Cor. 13:5); and that the Lord can be with our Spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). In fact, the spirit of a regenerated believer is mingled with the Spirit of the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). As regenerated believers the Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16).
Christ also said that He is the reality (John 14:6). Thus we understand that real worship is Christ in our spirit worshipping Christ in the heavens with Christ as the reality. It is from Christ, through Christ, and unto Christ. We also feel that true worship springs out of our experience and enjoyment of Christ. If Christ is real and exciting to us then we feel that our worship should express our enjoyment and excitement. This is similar to the picture in the Old Testament where God's people worshipped Him through offering sacrifices to Him. With most of the sacrifices only a small part of the sacrifice was actually burned on the altar. The rest was for the enjoyment of the worshippers. Thus their worship was in their coming together to feast before the Lord.
When we are declaring the word of God, lines from hymns, etc. with repetition and even shouting we find that this helps us to get past our thoughts and feelings to touch the Lord in spirit. This is not much different in nature than a healthy practice of speaking in tongues in that both involve the exercise of the spirit. The difference is that speaking in tongues does not involve the mind (1 Cor. 14:14) but declaring the Lord's salvation and our responses to it helps us to set our mind on the spirit (Rom. 8:6).
Another characteristic of the Lord's Table meeting is that no one prepares a topic or direction for the meeting. We are trying to let the Spirit lead and to worship according to His leading. The way this happens (if we are successful) is that as some begin to pray or sing certain points in the prayer or song cause a response in others' spirit. Then the next one speaks, calls a song, etc. according to the anointing in his or her spirit. As each follows the Spirit in this way there should be a common thread in the meeting from beginning to end without anyone directing its flow. If someone would begin to do something that was a serious disturbance to the meeting then one of the elders or other mature saints would intervene. Otherwise, we feel it is better in the Lord's Table meeting for the mature saints to simply participate with all the rest in the praise and worship. This is very different from a meeting designated for preaching or teaching where someone is obviously setting the direction according to what the Lord has impressed upon him to share with the rest.
We agree that a believer needs to spend time with the Lord in which he or she quiets down so that the Lord can speak to the heart. We very much encourage a practice of spending times with the Lord praying and musing over His Word. Without a deep personal relationship with the Lord a Christian's spiritual life is only outward and shallow. But in the Lord's Table meeting we encourage all the believers to actively participate in expressing their enjoyment of the Lord. By the time everyone participates it can become quite repetitious but we believe that God likes to hear all our voices even if many of us are repeating what someone else has just spoken.