Signs of Life

As I prepare for the Vision day tomorrow I have been reading some of the Church’s reports and trying to discern what would be helpful and what scriptures give insight. One of the passages of scripture that comes to mind is Acts 2:42-47 which highlights the key aspects of the life of the early Church and perhaps these keys might prove to be equally useful for us today.

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

They ‘devoted themselves’ ! Wow! now that is dedication to following Jesus!

The key elements they devoted themselves to were:

• Teaching – Bible Study and other useful stuff associated with Christian life and ministry?
• Fellowship – deeper than friendship
• Breaking Bread together – Remembering the centrality of Jesus Death and Resurrection to our Christian faith
• Prayer

Looking further into the passage we find that the apostles were able to fulfill the words of Jesus (John 14:12) .

Also note their common life, how they took care of each others needs, looking out for one another and not just their own family. They also had a healthy attitude towards possessions and used them for the good of the Church.

They met daily in the temple for prayer and worship, they ate together in each others homes, giving thanks and praising God. This was a different sort of community and in our world today that is so fractured and isolated such unity in community is like a stream flowing in the desert. People were joining them daily and I wonder if something not to dissimilar might be the effect of a church that operates like it today?

We may not be able to replicate the exact pattern of life of the early church but perhaps we can learn some principles and begin to put them into action in our Church today, principles such as regular weekly fellowship and Bible study groups that pray and share meals together. The common name used for such groups is ‘Cell’ and some churches that use this approach are often fast growing and effective Churches with the cell groups developing and taking responsibility for their own mission, guided by the Holy Spirit. Maybe this is one way forward for churches today.