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| “They devoted themselves to… prayer.” |
| —Acts 2:42d |
In the course of four previous blog posts, I have explored the interesting and challenging phenomenon that occurs when some people move from church to church in an attempt to find a church that they believe will genuinely fit their ideal of what a church should be. When you ask these wandering ones what elements they believe will provide the genuineness they seek, you will frequently find that most people have a hard time defining exactly what qualities the perfect church would possess.
Most believers will embrace the Scriptural concept that a genuine church is not comprised of a building, nor an institution. Rather, a genuine church is made up of a group of like-minded believers who gather together in unity and focus.
In these blog posts, I’m trying to answer the question: “How does a group of believers form a genuine, Christ-honoring, life-supporting, question-answering church?” I’m very certain that I have found an appropriate definition by looking at the very beginning of the New Testament church.
Dr. Luke records four elements that comprised the early church in Acts 2:42:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
In the last three posts, I suggested that the believers striving to create a genuine church need to start their quest by laying a super-strong foundation of the Apostles’ teaching, through a study of and devotion to God’s written Word. Then, they need to work diligently to create a milieu in which heartfelt, soul-refreshing fellowship will occur. Next, they need to be devoted to the breaking of bread: the Lord’s Supper, the Sacrament of Holy Communion, or the Celebration of the Eucharist. Finally, Dr. Luke asserts that believers in the early church devote themselves to prayer.
Prayer has great power. Matthew Henry, a Presbyterian who ministered in the late 1600s and early 1700s in Wales, wrote:
“When God intends great mercy for His people, He first of all sets them to praying.”
Does your church make much of prayer? I’m not talking about a various prayers in the Worship Service, including the pastoral prayer, nor simply pausing to bless the food at mealtimes. I’m talking about heartfelt, intense, deeply hand-of-God-moving, protracted times of intense corporate and personal prayer.
In the quest for finding a genuine church—or in renewing your present church—keep these four critical elements in the forefront of your thinking. Some “How-Tos” will emerge in the next blog post.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, August 3, 2015
