Together

A long time ago, I promised some of my thoughts on the church. I mentioned that during our time in France, God had stripped away many of the things I saw as important. I still want to keep that promise, but it's a big task that I want to do right.

Until then, here's the last paragraph of a paper I just submitted for a seminar at Southern (edited a little for this blog). I had to write a description of the characteristics of the early church as recorded in Acts. Maybe this paragraph will give you something of an idea of what God has taught me. Just in case, the key word is together...

"The twenty-first century church has much to learn from the first-century church, and the book of Acts is rich with characteristics of the first believers who carried out the Great Commission. The earliest churches were made up of baptized believers from every walk of life who worshiped and prayed together, broke bread together, shared of all things together, learned together from the teaching and preaching of the apostles, and sent out missionaries together from among their own, all in the power of the Holy Spirit. Their life as a community identified by their devotion to Christ and to one another became the mark that set them apart from the world around them."