In studying the book of Acts, this is a list that has been compiled to describe the nature of the church as demonstrated by the early church.
This is what the church looked like:
- Its mission was done every day
- Its mission involved an intimate relationship with Jesus who instructed them in all their ways through the Holy Spirit
- The church saw beyond their immediate context as they sent aid to others in other locations
- Outsiders were actually afraid to join the church because they witnessed the miraculous power of God through them.
- They cared deeply for the poor and the marginalized of society
- Deliverance and exorcism ministry was a normal part of church outreach
- Prayer and intercession was constant, dominant, and unrelenting
- Signs and wonders were done constantly. Actually, like every day.
- The believers were so filled and impacted with the love of God that they relinquished their sense of material possessions and lavishly shared with each other.
Now the question of the hour is this:
Which of these describe the American church?