A Disciple’s Journey

In my small group Sunday night we looked at Acts 2:42-47. Those early Christians were together daily. They broke bread together, did ministry together, and devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles on a daily basis. It even goes on to say that people all around them were attracted to these Jesus followers and that God was adding to their number daily.

I believe it was their unity and thier passion for ministry that attracted so many people. Actually that echoes what Jesus had already told us in John. He said that when people see Jesus followers loving each other and ministering to others then they will know that Jesus truly is the Son of God. When we love each other then others will know that we are Jesus’ disciples.

It hit me during our small group that the way we currently do church makes it very easy to fake love. It is so easy to merely show up on Sundays and maybe even Wednesdays and act like (fake) you love the other people that in the building with you. We have gotten so far away from Acts 2 Christianity. In Acts 2 church was a culture. It was a community. It was a way of life. Today church is an event. It is a country club. It is merely a part of our lives. I think that is why so many churches are still hesitant to experience small group ministry. It is real easy for me to fake love in a worship service composed of 600 people, but it is impossible to fake love in a room of 10-12 people. When you spend time with those 10 people… let me rephrase that… when you share in the lives of those 10 people it will become fairly obvious to the others whether you truly love them or not.

I’m not saying small group ministry is the only way to experience Acts Christianity. That is merely an example from my own context of ministry. This is not a post about small group ministry. I just wanted to think out loud about Acts 2 and the church today. Do you find it easy to fake love in our current Sunday to Sunday Christianity?