I’m fascinated by the second chapter of Acts. On that first Christian Pentecost, Peter and the whole apostolic gang were hiding out. Then suddenly they were filled with God’s own Spirit.
They left their bunker and joined the crowd at the great Jewish festival in Jerusalem and began to bear witness to Christ.
Peter preached his first sermon. As a sermon maybe it wasn’t so great. But God’s Spirit was there, so the impact was amazing.
By the sheer grace of God, by unprecedented miracle, 3000 people come to new faith and join the church in a single day.
Instant megachurch.
The really great thing is not the flashy stuff: 3000 converts, speaking in tongues, and the experiment in sharing all their possessions.
The fascinating and amazing thing is what the new community of faith actually did on an ongoing basis.
Acts gives us the first authoritative description of what defined their life:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42 NRSV)
This is when the Church was in a bubbling ferment of discovery.
It was long before the Nicene Creed soberly described the Church as “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic” or the Protestant reformers defined its marks as the faithful preaching and hearing of the Word, and the faithful administration of the sacraments.
It is worth considering the four little terms used in Acts for our own churches today.
- You may be starting an innovative new worshipping community.
- Maybe you are trying to fan the flames of renewal in a church that has been around the block a few times.
Either way, you need to pursue priorities that will lead to thriving.
And in the second chapter of Acts, thriving is what happened when
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42 NRSV)
They did these things day after day, week after week.
And what was the result?
…day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47 NRSV)
That sounds pretty good to me. Rather than adding a member now and then, people were coming alongside these early followers of the Way of Jesus every single day.
Somehow life shaped around
the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (Acts 2:42 NRSV)
was really appealing. This community was doing things that took them deeper and deeper into the new life that started when Christ rose from the grave.
Just four things:
- the apostles’ teaching
- fellowship
- the breaking of bread
- prayers
Sounds like a simple agenda.
Of course “simple” doesn’t mean “easy.” These early Christians were seriously engaged. They “devoted” themselves to these things. They pursued these priorities every single day.
What would that look like in your Christian community?
Over the next few weeks I thought I’d take each one in turn and think about it. I hope you’ll help me out by joining the conversation in the comments.
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Which of these four priorities is your Christian community best at? How do you live it?
Which one is the biggest struggle?
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You can work on three of them at the same time (apostles’ teaching, fellowship, and prayer) if you and your small group work through my little book Love Your Bible: Finding Your Way to the Presence of God with a 12th Century Monk. Click the button below and I’ll send you a free copy. (Small group leader’s guide coming soon…)
Jennifer says
August 11, 2015 at 5:16 PMThis is a good “thinker” piece. I feel like a lot of us don’t even believe something like this is possible anymore… the 3,000 or the adding to the numbers daily. Yet even as I think that, I know that it is happening in churches only blocks from my own. So I’m not sure why it is so daunting to hope for it. I like your 4 points. It’s simple. And easy to say… “hey… don’t know what ministry to start? how about you just try this instead…..”
Gary Neal Hansen says
August 12, 2015 at 11:25 AMThanks so much Jennifer. Great to hear from you.
I think churches would have a much better go of it if they aimed/hoped/prayed/strove for the daily addition bit by bit than the 3000 at a time. Then they could nurture leaders, create helpful structures like small groups, and grow — rather than, as it were, exploding, which sounds dangerous.
And going that way with those four priorities might be worth a try…
Fr. Dustin says
August 12, 2015 at 8:08 AMI look forward to hearing what you have to say about each of these items.
I think you’re absolutely right that these items are key, but that it’s not easy.
For example, the first one, the Apostle’s Teaching: what exactly is that? It seems that Christianity, as a whole can’t agree on some basic principles: does sin lead to death, or does death lead to sin? No matter, this isn’t new. Paul and the Jerusalem Church argued over how one becomes a Christian, and then, even whey they decided to agree, Paul still complained that Peter and the others did stick to the agreement.
The second one, fellowship: does this include “communion” in the breaking of bread – the third one? If so, this touches on a lot of denominational issues and the Eucharistic table! It raises questions not only of “are we in communion with that church over there,” but also questions of “are we in communion with the saints who came before us”?
Anyway, because of the complexity that these issues can bring, I’m eager to see how you deal with them! 🙂
Gary Neal Hansen says
August 12, 2015 at 11:26 AMThanks, Fr. Dustin. Can’t promise to resolve any of those connundrums, especially in little blog posts, but I’m eager to explore each one, hopefully with conversation to follow.
Fr. Dustin says
August 13, 2015 at 9:56 AMMay be, if you solve all these conundrums, you’ve have another book to publish 😉
Susan Honeycutt says
October 18, 2015 at 7:31 PMLooking forward to this series and some thoughts about Fr.’s questions. I’ve wondered myself if the apostles teachings were what they learned from Jesus, or if due to the infilling of the Holy Spirit they continued learning about the work and life of Jesus and how it fit into or drew out of the old testament. And fellowship – is that linked to “food”, Eucharistic or not?, or is it the true heart to heart honesty wherein we reveal our walk with God and include even the raw honesty of our failings and struggles? Wow, lots of territory here in just those 4 things and one verse. Hope you are planning on diving deep – even if it is over the course of a few “short” blogs.
Gary Neal Hansen says
October 19, 2015 at 2:17 PMThanks Susan! The resto of this mini-series is out there on the blog (click “Community for Mission” or search on “helping Christian Communities Thrive”).