Excerpt from Carrying On the Mission of Jesus, a Bible study and Devotional
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INTRODUCTION
Do you ever wonder why today’s church is so different from the church we see in the book of Acts?
How did the early church do so much with so little, and we do so little with so much?
How did a dynamic Christian movement become a fixed Christian institution?
If you have ever asked these questions, or others like them, this is the start of a challenging, informative journey to lead you back to the heart of the early church. Every major Christian denomination has suffered ongoing membership decline over the last few decades, and there is no indication this trend will change anytime soon. It will get worse. The world of flannel boards, nuclear families going to Sunday school and worship each week, and the church holding a pre-eminent place in every local community are all gone. We have entered the twenty-first century and brought with us a form of church that continues to follow a failed trajectory.
The New Testament paints a compelling, exciting, dangerous picture of the church as God designed it to be. However, the reality that we experience on a regular basis seems a million miles removed. Think about it. The Bible shows us a vigorous gathering of men and women, committed to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, making a momentous difference in the world around them. Of course, they had problems. Almost all of the letters in the New Testament have instructions or rebuke (sometimes both) to different churches in the first-century world. Yet from what we know of history, these ragtag house churches spread the witness and example of Jesus from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. In doing so, many Christ-followers gave their lives for the sake of the gospel. The early church was Spirit-filled, lay-led, countercultural, always in trouble, and risky. Read More (PDF File)
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Do you ever wonder why today’s church is so different from the church we see in the book of Acts?
How did the early church do so much with so little, and we do so little with so much?
How did a dynamic Christian movement become a fixed Christian institution?
If you have ever asked these questions, or others like them, this is the start of a challenging, informative journey to lead you back to the heart of the early church. Every major Christian denomination has suffered ongoing membership decline over the last few decades, and there is no indication this trend will change anytime soon. It will get worse. The world of flannel boards, nuclear families going to Sunday school and worship each week, and the church holding a pre-eminent place in every local community are all gone. We have entered the twenty-first century and brought with us a form of church that continues to follow a failed trajectory.
The New Testament paints a compelling, exciting, dangerous picture of the church as God designed it to be. However, the reality that we experience on a regular basis seems a million miles removed. Think about it. The Bible shows us a vigorous gathering of men and women, committed to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, making a momentous difference in the world around them. Of course, they had problems. Almost all of the letters in the New Testament have instructions or rebuke (sometimes both) to different churches in the first-century world. Yet from what we know of history, these ragtag house churches spread the witness and example of Jesus from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. In doing so, many Christ-followers gave their lives for the sake of the gospel. The early church was Spirit-filled, lay-led, countercultural, always in trouble, and risky. Read More (PDF File)
Return to Product Information Page.