A Church in Growth

Hello!
Welcome to my blog. Here, I will be posting thoughts, musings, devotions, sermonettes, and anything else that seems fitting. This is the first of (hopefully!) a long series of posts.

As I've been researching for our upcoming Bible study on Acts, I've been struck by the predicament of the early church. That is, how to go about the mission of the church in such a highly divided and divisive world?

"Now when these words came to their ears their hearts were troubled, and they said to Peter and the other Apostles, Brothers, what are we to do?" - Acts 2:37

In the earliest days of the Jesus Movement, believers sought to find a place for themselves in the world. Many believed that Christ would be returning immediately, and that the proper response was to hunker down, stay away from the sins of the world, and await Paradise. Many believed that the Way of Jesus fit perfectly into the classical Jewish tradition - that his teachings encapsulated the Law and the Prophets, and that the fullest expression of being Jewish was following Jesus. Many believed that Jesus - in his teachings, his death, and his resurrection - invalidated Jewish tradition, providing anybody and everybody with access to God regardless of ethnic history, circumcision, or liturgical tradition.

The stories of Acts play out this confusion. They show us much controversy and dispute about where the church should go, whom it should seek out, and how it should behave in community. The larger question at hand is always this: What does it mean to be church?

For Luke, writing Acts, the answer is deceptively simple: In all things, proclaim Christ. The apostles spread the Good News of Christ in a variety of ways.

• By unity and prayer - (Acts 2:42)
• By baptism, which publicly proclaims God's grace  - (Acts 8:12-13)
• By study and interpretation of Scripture - (Acts 6:26-35)
• By opening themselves and opening God up to the marginalized and those considered unclean - (Acts 10:45-48)
• By performing acts that brought life and wholeness - (Acts 3:2-8)
• By standing up to the authorities who would limit justice and love - (Acts 4:8-10)

The apostles gave many speeches and direct pleas trying to convince people of the Gospel. Still, some of their most visible and effective strategies were not words, but actions. Let us model them by proclaiming God in all that we do. As in the quote commonly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:

Preach the Gospel always; if necessary, use words.