The Acts church

Acts 2:42-47 - They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.  All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (NIV). 

I have always loved this description of the early church. They are so excited by what has happened with Jesus rising from the dead and ascending to heaven, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the miracles and sermons of the disciples - seeing God's power. People want in. 

Thousands are saved when Peter preaches. Even though there are so many of them, there is a unity among them. I've always wondered if this is possible in today's church and I have mostly come up with reason for why it is not. But then things changed. I got diagnosed with cancer and as a family our world was overturned. I went from pouring a lot of energy into starting a business to having very little energy and being stuck in hospital. My husband had a heavy weight placed on him as he was looking after me, working full time and being a dad to kids who were in pain, all while dealing with his own pain. 

But our church stepped up in an amazing way. Not just our church but many friends, most of them Christians from previous work places and churches. We had only been at our current church, City on a Hill for under a year but that didn't matter. As expected we had people praying for us, but not so expectedly they stepped up practically. People came and cleaned our house (not just surface stuff but scrubbing bathrooms and kitchen), mowed our lawn, dug trenches as we have a flooding issue out the backyard, provided meals (either cooked by them or paid for by them), lifts were given to appointments, people visited me in hospital and at home. What blew my mind was I met people from church as they were delivering meals, people I didn't really know but who went out of their way for us. I was sent playlists to encourage me. Men reached out to my husband, giving him a safe space to talk, which is huge in our culture where men often don't have a listening ear. People worked from my home just so I wouldn't be alone. It was phenomenal. But it wasn't just for a week or two. It was for months. The age range was astounding too, from 18 years old to 60ish. 

It was an amazing witness to us as a family. My boys I think were surprised, I know I was. But other people noticed too. I talked about it with friends who made the comment that this is the way church should be, even though they didn't go to church. The part in the verse above "they gave to everyone who had need" was very true for us and I am thankful for it. 

From the example given to us, I know we can still be Acts 2 people. We can break bread together. We used to invite people over for dinner and I would put a lot of effort into what to cook. These days I don't have the energy to put on a lavish spread and having people over for dinner is usually buying a bbq chicken and bread rolls, but it is the eating together with glad and sincere hearts that matters. 

We can purposefully give to those in need in different ways. In this season giving for me is praying for others, listening to people talk about their lives, it's very different to how I used to think about giving to those in need. It is also making the effort to get to church. Last week someone said to me after our service, I really just wanted to stay in bed this morning and I thought of you, if you can make it, I have no excuse. I was giving her encouragement without realising it, following the example of Act 2 of meeting together. We can pray for signs and wonders, believing in faith in a God who can do these things. And we can share with others what it looks like to live in community in these days. 

People are looking for something different to the world's individual culture. Loneliness is rife in our world. I encourage you to pray about how you can contribute to your church being an Acts 2 church, how you can devote yourself to teaching and fellowship. I believe it is through this witness that revival can happen. I believe God uses the ordinary as much, if not more, than the extraordinary to draw people to Him. 

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