At this point, we have answered the question of what we are doing wrong in today’s church. I want to start to focus on what we can do to make it right, in a very specific sense. So I cast around for examples of successful churches and I realized the best example was right before my eyes – the first church, found in Acts.
In this church, there was no building. Scripture (the limited canon that existed at the time) was taught in very small groups that met in people’s homes. I imagine the groups did not hold their membership very long, because as they grew, people had to leave so as not to draw attention. The people that left started their own groups, which then grew and multiplied again into even more groups. Church members did not claim any possessions of their own. They gave freely and generously to those in need, whether the needy person was a member of the church or not. They went to any sick person they could find and gave them God’s healing in the spiritual and the physical sense.
Can you see this type of thing happening in our society? It’s a huge stretch for us to put a tenth of our earnings into the offering plate – can you imagine the reaction if the pastor suddenly asked you to give up all your money and possessions? What if he stood up one week and said the church would be disbanded into small groups which were never permitted to have more than five members?
Would that church work today?
-Diana C.
