Written by By Jason Bentley, Lead Pastor, HighPoint Church, on Tuesday, 02 October 2007

Views 627

Favoured 44

The book of Acts is a favorite among believers in the Apostolic movement. The reason for our delight in the exploits of the early church is not a mystery. The book of Acts documents some of the most exciting, inspirational miracles and church growth in the entire Bible. When we read of healings, great outpourings of the Holy Spirit, and mass conversions, it provokes a yearning, optimistic faith within us. Visions of similar things happening in our church or in our country, fuels our drive to do as much as we can for the kingdom of God.

The bottom line remains that we hope to experience the book of Acts in the 21st century. Therefore, we invest a tremendous amount of time into studying, researching, theorizing, and speculating as to why the first century church was so successful. Various sermons, bible studies, and conferences elucidate a host of causes. We promote that the secret to book of Acts revival is everything from prayer to small groups. However, I think the name of this New Testament documentary shares the most revealing insight. We are reading the acts of the apostles. The book of Acts experiences are the result of the actions, activities, and proactive contributions of the Apostles.

This is significant because there is a fundamental difference between the action oriented impact of the apostles described in the book of Acts and the reaction oriented response of the church in the 21st century. The acts of the apostles were not reactions to the wickedness of the world culture. They didn’t pray for the sick and preach the gospel because Roman people went to coliseums to watch gladiators. They didn’t increase their evangelistic efforts as a reaction to the Caesar promoting pagan practices. Performing miracles were not a response to men or women attending brothels. They were not a church that waited on the politics of the world or the politics of an organization to decide what they would do. That would be reactive. Instead, they just did what was necessary to fulfill the impulse of the divine directive.

At the time, the apostles were creative and on the cutting edge. They implemented different methods and approaches to reach the lost. It was not a problem for them to proactively analyze their religious customs and traditions so they could be effective. They did things never done before. They went places never visited before. They actively shaped their world and their culture.
The church today is an entirely different story. We do not act. We react. When you act, you are making an original contribution. You are the producer of the stimulus. However, when you react, you are responding to the stimuli.

If we were like the apostles, we would not wait for an event or an issue to provoke us into action. We would not wait for strip clubs moving into our community to have prayer walks. We would not wait for the church to die or lose membership before we started analyzing traditional customs and practices. We would not wait to see what an organization decides before we embrace methods of reaching our cities. We would not wait on the legislative branch of our government to hand down anti Christian laws before we unite and engage.

Reactions shape our message. Some of us are just waiting on the next bad movie to come out of Hollywood so we can have something to write or preach against.

Reactions shape our burden. Should the aggressive outreach of the Mormons and Muslims dictate the pace of our evangelistic endeavors?

Reactions shape our methods. It seems that many churches only care about creative originality or improving operational performance when it’s an attempt to keep up with the church across town.

Finally, a hallmark of the apostolic movement is no longer creativity. We are no longer on the cutting edge, engaging, acting, shaping. Our ministries wait for a secular or religious source to create the methods and tools to enhance our impact. I look forward to the day when Apostolic churches are hosting workshops, conferences, and continuing education for the people in the world and surrounding Christian communities.

It is time for the acts of the 21st century church. Not a response or a retort to some outcome but culture shaping, world impacting acts. To act means to do, not wait for a cause and then do. Do things for God because you are anointed to do it. Do things for God because he told you to go into all nations and preach the gospel. Engage. Go. Act!

Last update: Tuesday, 02 October 2007

Published in : NCO Blogs, Guest Blogs

Users' Comments (3)

Add a comment