Weekly Blog - 10 February 2024 - Church Life

Church life

As Christians we are not called to serve God in isolation, but together with others as part of the global church, and as a member of a local church. Christianity is a team sport. It is done in community with others. We are all called to be in a local church with all its joys and sometimes frustrations. This week in Arise’s weekly blog we have a look at some of the things we can learn from the early churches in the Bible to inform what our church life together in our local churches should look like today (Arise Manifesto, pg 58 – 60).

The book of Acts and the letters of Paul, James, Peter and John have much to teach us about the way Christians in the early church lived their wider corporate church life together. All the early Christians met together regularly with other Christians. They were all active members of a local church. Thus, we hear how in the early church in Jerusalem “all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade” (Acts 5: 12) and later, in other towns and cities, the local believers would regularly “come together as a church” (1 Cor 11: 18).

They practiced one adult baptism, which tended to be very informal and occurred immediately when someone came to faith. As the Ethiopian eunuch said when Philip had led him to faith, “‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptised?’ And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptised him” (Acts 8: 36 – 38). They regularly celebrated communion together (again often more informally than we do today) as a key way of remembering Jesus’ amazing death and resurrection for us all, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11: 26).

They worshipped together, as Paul urged the Ephesians “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord” (Eph 5: 18 – 19), and were also encouraged to “confess your sins to each other” (James 5: 16). They taught and discipled each other, all participating in the church service. The letter to the Colossians says “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Col 3: 16), for – the letter to the Romans explains – “you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another” (Roms 15: 14). In particular, they encouraged each other. In Macedonia Paul “travelled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people” (Acts 20: 2).

They were taught to respect and obey their church leaders. In 1 Thessalonians we are encouraged “to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love” (1 Thess 5: 12 – 13). They tried not to be a stumbling block to others, abstaining from particular practices if other Christians found them offensive. Thus, Paul tells us “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died” (Roms 14: 15).

Similarly to the Israelites in the Old Testament, the early Christians lent money to each other without charging interest, and eventually cancelled any loans that could not be repaid. As God had instructed, “Do not charge a fellow Israelite interest, whether on money or food or anything else” (Deut 23: 19). Jesus and his disciples, and the first church in Jerusalem, went even further than this, holding all things together in common, as we hear “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had” (Acts 4: 32). Later in the New Testament, we find this wasn’t always practiced, but nevertheless, the global Christian family showed extraordinary generosity to each other, meeting each other’s needs as they arose. We hear that when the prophet Agabus “through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world … The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea” (Acts 11: 28 – 29). Therefore, we don’t all need to live in communes (although some may well be called to this), but when we become Christians we immediately enter a global Christian family, and should share and give to one another as there is need, just as we should with our biological family. Thus, Paul tells us “Share with the Lord’s people who are in need” (Roms 12: 13) and James says “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (James 2: 15 – 16)

Of course we should also be radically generous with those beyond that Christian family as well. As individual Christians, and together with others as part of our local church-life together, we should all be involved in tackling poverty, for as James says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). We should also all be involved in evangelism, as Jesus instructed, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28: 19 – 20). We should also be involved in tackling social injustice, for “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? … if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” (Isa 58: 6 – 10). Finally, we should all also be involved in caring for God’s amazing creation, for “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen 2: 15). One of the reason’s Arise exists is to help support local churches in this mission of transforming the world around us through evangelism, discipleship, fighting social injustice, eliminating poverty and restoring the environment. Arise does this through its vision, campaigns and local church groups.

Conclusion

So, in summary, as Christians being an active part of our local church is a huge part of our faith, and this means …

Attending a local church weekly and being an active member
Receiving one adult baptism as soon as possible after we become Christians
Regularly taking communion, and also doing this more informally when we eat together
Worshipping with other Christians in church
Teaching, encouraging and discipling each other, and all participating in church services
Respecting and obeying our leaders
Confessing our sins to each other
Not being a stumbling block to others
Lending to each other without charging interest
Holding all things in common with other Christians
Together engaging in evangelism
Together speaking out on issues of social injustice
Together tackling poverty
And together caring for God’s creation

Find out more

Find out more about how God is at work in the world, and the role we all have to play in that work, in the Arise Manifesto. This report is Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.

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