When did church become so different?

When you look at the western church today what do you see? Well, I don’t know about you but this is what I see both personally and when trying to look at it from a non-church-attendee’s point of view.

1. A building
2. Services on a Sunday
3. House groups - attended by about
10-20percent of attendees
4. The odd prayer meeting
5. Some social action
6. A cluster of peripheral groups
7. Occasional meals together
8. Some youth work

Now this isn’t, of course, the whole picture. Churches differ but the majority would have something of the list above about them. So then I look at the early church, a church started by Jesus and build upon Peter and I see.

1. Devotion to the apostles teaching
2. Devotion to the fellowship
3. Devotion to prayer
4. Devotion to the breaking of bread
5. All believers were together
6. All believers had everything in common
7. Together they met the needs of the fellowship
8. They met together every day
9. They met in public
10. They met in each others homes
11. They ate together
12. They praised God
13. They enjoyed the favour of all the people

And the result… The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

When you look at the two lists they are poles apart. So it begs the question when did the church change so much? To my mind the 13 points of the early church should be our basis for church today. After all it certainly worked as the Lord added to their number EVERY DAY! When was the last time we had even two consecutive days when the Lord added to our church those who were being saved? (don’t stop and try and work it out - you’ll be there far too long). We can look at the list and find some things that we are doing - I guess praising God would be the obvious one. However, I’d also guess that the first 9 are pretty far from what most churches are doing today. The word devotion would defeat most of our churches in the first four items, Yes, we pray as churches but could we honestly say that as a church we are devoted to prayer? In reality most of us pay prayer a bit of lip service and wonder why we don’t get answers.

When you look at that second list, don’t you just pray that we could capture something of that list in our lives and in our churches? Just think for a minute what it would feel like to be a part of such a church? Just think what it would feel like and how encouraging it would be to have people added to your church everyday not just once in a blue moon? To be apart of something that is vibrant and moving and united and encompassing and driven must be a wonderful feeling. The church has changed from a movement to a stop. When did the idea that a church had to be housed in a grand building separating it from the rest of the community come from?

When I look through the early church list something in my spirit yearns to get back to that. Do you feel the same? I’ve thought of a few ways that I might start - though most of the ideas I have hinge on finding likeminded people (it’s pretty hard doing church on my own). I’d love to find a couple or couples (or families) where we could meet each week and have a meal together and talk about Godly stuff. Where we can build such a depth of relationship that prayer, sharing, devotion to one another, praising God and learning from each other becomes natural, becomes the norm. I believe that God would use such a gathering powerfully. I’d challenge you to have a think about how you could implement an early church ideal in your life. I’d love to hear your ideas and any progress you make.