The First Mega church (Acts 5.12-16)

The early church was a mega church. It was mega-admired, mega-respected, and mega-esteemed by its community. The early church enjoyed the favor of all the people. It was lauded as amazing and essential by its neighbors. The church had fantastic PR. It enjoyed a 100% approval rating.

How did the church get this universal admiration? It was mostly by being an awesome healing force for good in the community. When the church was around people got healed and lives got touched. The church created a place where there were no needy people. The church was a powerful force for community improvement.

So here’s the question: Are we seen as a dynamic force for good in Farmington? Are we mega-admired? Mega-respected? Are we seen as a awesome force for good?

Yes, to some extent. And, in fact, our church is working hard at becoming more outwardly focused. Our community garden, WOW ministry, Dollars for Scholars Scholarship, exercise class, racetrack ministry, and food cupboard are all ways we are trying to bring healing and wholeness to our local community.

These are great first steps, but to become truly mega-admired this is what we need to do:

1. We need to identify more community needs.
2. We need to get more of our people working outside the walls of the church.
3. We need to be rubbing shoulders with people who don’t know Jesus yet.

Here are a couple things to ponder:

1. What would your non-churched friends say about our church? What is our reputation?
2. What needs are there in the community we could address?
3. What would you need to adjust in your life to really get involved in the community?

Note: Mega-luno was the Greek word that described the amazing admiration the community had for the church in Acts 5. 13.

The Good News Community (Acts 2.42-47, 4.32-35)

If you were a part of the first century church you experienced a level of community unimagined in our 21st century world. These early believers spent every day together. They shared meals in each others homes. They experienced the kind of care that comes when friends sell their stuff to make sure you have everything you need. They worshiped together. They studied the scriptures together. They prayed together. They did all of life together.

Contrast this with what happens today. The average church member today will attend worship services about 30 Sundays a year. (2.5 Sundays a month) After those worship services they will chit chat with other believers in the foyer, but once they leave the building there will be little or no contact with their fellow believers. Many will never attend a small group, will never attend Adult Sunday School, and will never develop any close Christian friendships. They will spend years in church without ever learning the faith stories of other believers or learning their best Christian practices, or experiencing accountable relationships, and becoming aware of other's struggles or victories. The average church member today tries to grow his/her soul by investing about 30 hours of worship a year, doing it all alone out in the world with little help from anyone else.

Is it working? Are you becoming a thriving servant of Christ entirely on your own? I doubt it.

This modern ethic of rugged individualism is killing our faith. Isolated and alone, without encouragement or support, immersed daily in a culture antithetical to our spiritual vitality, we soon discover that we are not getting where we want to go. On our own our Bible ends up unread, our prayers go unsaid, and our soul goes unfed. And the Kingdom does not advance. Isolated Christians more often than not... fail.

It may be unrealistic to think we can recreate the intense community experienced in the early church in our frantic paced 21st century. But for our own spiritual health we need to head in that direction. To opt for anything else is to opt for spiritual failure.

What do you think?

What first step would you take to build a more Biblical community in the church?