Devoted to Community

Last week we kicked of our series called ‘Devoted’. Over the next 4 weeks we are looking at a passage in Acts 2 that talks about the growth of the early Christians and the early church – and which contains some really important truths us as a local Canberra church today. It gives us some insight into how, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, the early church experienced such incredible growth. It tells us here that:
 
Acts 2:42
“they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
 
The message last week considered the first part of this passage – their devotion to the apostles’ teaching. This second part in the ‘Devoted’ series is focused on the next part– being devoted to fellowship. The Message paraphrase uses the words ‘life together’ as a way of describing this approach to community.
 
I’d suggest that we live in a society that doesn’t really value ‘life together’.
 
20 years or so ago, a local church near where I lived decided that they would try a new approach. Their church was located on a reasonably main arterial road into the city where lots of people worked. Each day thousands of people would drive past their church, often on fairly long and boring commutes through traffic to get to work. So the church decided that they would offer a ‘drive-through’ church. On a Monday morning, you could swing off the main road, up the driveway, grab a cassette of the Sunday sermon and a coffee and then drive back down into the traffic, without ever getting out of the car.
 
I think unfortunately many Christians have adopted a ‘drive through Christian’ mentality. Church involvement has become a “show your face, but don’t stop the car activity”.  For some it has become an activity that is all about grabbing the sermon but not engaging with others. Many Christians, quickly fall into the pattern of attending church when it suits, or when they don’t have anything better on – and in the process they deny themselves the richness of being connected to a community where ‘life together’ happens.
 
So how do we have an Acts 2:42 perspective? How do we live lives where we are devoted to life together?
 
Listen to the message to as we explore the importance of being connected with a vibrant church community.
 
God Bless,
Ps. Simon
simon@horizonchurch.org.au