42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42–47, New International Version)
Theme: The Local Church
Context
There are many reasons why people associate with local churches. Ideally the reasons align with Scripture, but unfortunately that is not always the case. In fact, it is easy to be led by tradition, relationships or convenience instead of the Bible. Over the next three days we will examine passages of Scripture about the church and attempt to extract the key activities of the local church that are evident in the passages. The primary objective is to illuminate activities that we should be expecting and engaging in as we involve ourselves in a local church.
Bible Study Passage
Our first passage is from Acts 2:42-47 (provided above). It provides a window into the activities of the church shortly after the day of Pentecost.
Please prayerfully read the passage above and consider the question below.
Question:
What are key activities of the church exhibited in the passage that you believe should be evident in today’s local church?
Sharing your thoughts could be a big help to someone else. Please submit a comment.
March 2, 2022 at 5:36 am
A wonderful and relevant theme in these times. The koinonia, the rich and genuine fellowship, amongst the believers was most evident. A caring and sharing to build His kingdom was the motivation.
March 2, 2022 at 7:10 am
Hello! Happy to join the study again this year.
First of all, the faith and belief of the church is very important to consider in choosing a local church. Believing in the savior Jesus Christ should be evident. Worshipping God in spirit and in truth . Having fellowship with other members and focusing on His word is of course very important.
The scripture above clearly stated all those things I mentioned. It was also evident that in the last three verses the emphasis was more on the fellowship, growth of members not only in numbers but more so in their faith as they meet together regularly, praising and worshiping God. Being saved with the blood of Jesus Christ is an evidence of true faith. A church should have s leader filled with the Holy Spirit and able to communicate , and reach out to all members with no partiality in treating the family of God.
March 2, 2022 at 7:44 am
Teaching, fellowship, and breaking of bread should still be evident in today’s local church. Almost everything in the passages should be occurring in our lives.
March 2, 2022 at 7:53 am
The local church should have the warmth of welcome and fellowship for all who enter. Worshipping the Lord, remembering the huge sacrifice He made for us and our slavation by sharing in the Communion ( the breaking of bread). Sharing with one another not necessarily financiallybut in their loss of loved ones, their joy in a new born and praying for one another. Teaching the scriptures to encourage growth in our walk and as Aurora said to have a “Spirit filled leader”. To be a family with and in God.
March 2, 2022 at 10:15 am
Devotion to learning: this will increase our knowledge of God‘s character and how it should impact our character. Eating together: this definitely needs to be evident. There is something about having a meal together that binds us together. Praise is probably the highest on my list. There is some thing about corporate praise that convicts and strengthens the body of Christ.
March 2, 2022 at 10:35 am
…devoted themselves to…
– learning from sound teaching
– costly fellowship (others-oriented)
– breaking of bread together
– prayer (corporate, not just personal)
…the sense here is overwhelmingly corporate, so…
How?
– allowing the one, uniting Holy Spirit to reign in our lives
– in the fear of the one Lord, knowing that He is who He says He is
– praising the one God, with thankful hearts, especially corporately
March 2, 2022 at 6:49 pm
What stood out for me is how they took care of the material needs of believers. This is in stark contrast to my observations where some churches focus on community outreach – charitable works in the community but appear to neglect the needs of believers.
March 2, 2022 at 7:28 pm
The importance of the Local church for the building up and equipping of the saints is essential to Fulfill God’s command to us – The Great commission- “Go Ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father and of The Son, and of The Holy Ghost.”..
the local Church is where God places us so we can learn from The Teaching of sound doctrine by the leaders.
The fellowship pf the body of Christ, in the Local Church strengthens believers individually and corporately
Corporate Prayer is one of imperatives to keep a healthy local church abiding in God’s will;
The observance of the memory of Jesus death and resurrection , through breaking of bread, to remind us of the price he paid for us to receive eternal Life and to walk in the newness of the resurrected Life He gave us.
To live in unity as one body in Christ, doing His will .
Sharing God’s blessings with those in need.
Always giving praise to Our God and saviour as He performs miracles and awesome wonders in our midst through us, His people .
Preaching the gospel without ceasing so God may add to the Local Church and advance His kingdom through us and in us..
March 2, 2022 at 8:17 pm
Many of the activities identified are Disciplines that we will consider in more detail over the next few weeks (e.g., prayer, fellowship, worship, service and stewardship). I look forward to your ongoing contributions as we dig deeper into these topics and review their relevance to the local church.
March 3, 2022 at 1:38 pm
In the fellowship and sharing, the church “space” was marked by non-judgement, unconditional positive regard and what I call “pure love”. How wonderful it would be if this was the consistent experience within the church today. The change begins with me.