The New Testament Church described in Acts 2:42-47 is a great example of how the Church today should be functioning. We can learn a lot about community and operating as one body based on this passage of Scripture. These believers were meeting together consistently, sharing meals, praying together, taking care of each other, providing for each other’s financial needs, worshiping together, studying the Word together, and simply supporting each other. They took community very seriously! Does the Church today operate that way? Do we take community that seriously? Or do we view attending church each week as simply another task to check off our calendar or to-do list? Instead of viewing attending church as a weekly time commitment or event to attend, what if we viewed church as an ongoing relationship with our fellow churchgoers that we want to maintain while growing in our relationship with God? What if Church became more than just a weekly event and became a way of life for us, like it was for those in Acts 2? What if this could be said of us: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…. 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” (Acts 2:42,46 NIV)? As we are finishing this time of Prayer and Fasting, let’s take the truths we’ve studied these past two weeks and start living them out. Let’s be like the New Testament Church. This might mean joining a small group, spending time studying the Word and praying for a few friends, finding an area to serve at the church, getting involved in church-led community events, dropping off a meal for a friend who could need a little extra encouragement right now, or inviting a group of believers over to share a meal and fellowship together. Whatever option you choose, let’s start to make church more of a relationship and less of an item on our to-do list. 

Are you living in community with other believers? If not, what steps can you take this week to focus on your relationship with others? Write them in your journal and then take a step to start curating that community.