The Infant Church by Ps Michael Podhaczky

If you were asked to highlight some things that the infant church (mentioned in the book of Acts), held as foundational, what would you say? Now there could be various lists outlining things that we all think that are important. So, what follows is not exhaustive, or the only way of answering this question. But we can learn a lot about the infant church by trying to answer the above question.

In his brief article, “6 Crucial Small Group Lessons from the Early Church,” Scott Boren outlines some things that the early church held as essential to their existence.[1] Some of these are found in Acts 2:42-46, 5:42, 20:20. These can be seen in the following précis of from his article. These are followed by a question of application for us today.

1.    They ate together: Question for us today: How might a common meal transform our small group meetings?

2.    They experienced repetition of contact: Question for us today: In our culture that has a limited repetition of contact, how can we build it into our lives?

3.    Their church experience was public: Question for us today: How can we let outsiders see our life with God and with one another so that our lives are a witness?

4.    They experienced a lot of failures: Question for us today: How do we create space for people to deal with reality instead of trying to get beyond reality and attain some kind of higher-plain of spirituality?

5.    They expected to meet with God when they gathered: Question for us today: How can we slow down and make room so that we can train our ears to hear God as we meet?

6.    They were team-based: Question for us today: How do we develop more of a team-based culture within our groups?

How do we do as a local church based on these questions? What can we do to better live as the infant church as found in the book of Acts?

Pause in His presence for a moment and think this over…

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[1] Boren, Scott. “6 Crucial Small Group Lessons from the Early Church.” https://www.smallgroupchurches.com/6-small-group-lessons-from-the-early-church/ (5^th August 2019).