What would a first century Acts 2:42 church look like today? Perhaps the evolution of the church 2000 years later straying far from the prescription we were given is ok, but perhaps it isn’t! Here are some things that might change should we take a mindset to return to the Acts like church.

• Create a Christ as the only King – kingdom Jesus culture.
• Reduce the world in the church. The church should have the mindset of an “alien to this world” outpost and be undefiled or protected from the world. (Most embassies have locked gates and are selective about who may enter their courts.)
• Encourage a Love God and Love others environment. Be agents of peace.
• Promote ALL-IN Kingdom Discipleship first and foremost.
• Offer less “sermon type messages” from a singular or main “preacher” (too many people end up with an inclination towards a person, not Jesus.) This is “give me a king” ideology, which is opposite of what we should be looking for or desiring, and has the tendency to create a CEO “power over” approach not the “power under” method that Jesus modeled to us.
• Be ok with small numbers and intimacy (but have a plan to respond to growth).
• Consider the fact that most first century churches were less than 70 and split or planted a new church when they grew past that number.
• Everyone needs to think as a shepherd: 1,3,12,70 – continual steps within a journey.
• Family and fellowship (communion) based – driven Lifestyle.
• More regular testimony in life, living, and assembly.
• More spirit led meetings – but also not chaos driven assemblies (guidelines clearly established and communicated – shepherded)
• Shepherded by those that fit the biblical qualification of elders (mature believers who have proven fruit), and if you don’t have anyone that meet the description, you don’t have them until you do, they come as a representation of the body as those that are recognized (not voted or elected by one or a few) as bearing fruit and modeling maturity in Christ.
• Learned Women and Men should be encouraged to teach, those that have not been discipled and gifted in teaching (4-14 year of dedicated study and have been commissioned) should remain more silent (in terms of teaching) in assembly unless giving testimony and participatory worship as they are shepherded.
• Continual Teaching more than preaching directive of discipleship.
• More circular engagement, less rows (possibly tables to encourage study -not simply listening) -Mix up the elements each week to appeal to diversity and learning styles and change the meeting locations regularly and take field trips to teach like Jesus did – know and minister in your area.
• Less Business CEO atmosphere, more organic worship & servant led atmosphere which is consistently described by the -washing of feet- (Less leaders from the top, more leaders from the bottom -servant humility mindset) Christoformity
• More of a sacred orthodox approach, & less of an evangelical “American” event-oriented approach
• We shouldn’t compete or desire to be like the world, let them desire to be like you (as the image of Jesus).
• Less cracker-grape juice communion and more festival feasts interaction which was the intent of communion in scripture.
• More transparency in the messages, less hierarchy speak in ways that build unity, not promote division.
• Stress continued commitment to discipleship over one-time salvific thinking. The pre-eminent call of Jesus was to make disciples, salvation was a small part of what Jesus commanded and we have often made it out to be the main thrust of the gospel. Communicate a better gospel message.
• Emphasize more sharing of broader gifts of the body in the midst of the body not a few people leading from the front.
• Continual encouragement of the body from those that teach and shepherd the rest of the shepherds (often called elders). This is often forgotten or seldom exercised in churches today and was the main staple of shepherding in the first churches.
• Create mentor / shepherd based groups with accountability models (strategic checkups with how the body is tracking). Care about what is happening in the flock and actively pursue them, let your actions communicate your heart for the flock.
• Smaller family group models seeking to find your “tribe” (encouraging families to experiment with others to find your people). Work to create intimate life groups that have similar vision and interests.
• Encourage families and couples to be counselled and provide Biblical availability to meet with a “coach” -We need people to take responsibility for checkups with the flock (intentional calendar and scheduling meetings). Coaching to be less like the world and more like Jesus should be a regular and steady interaction that each person receives from shepherds and peer accountability.
• Encourage these smaller families to “lead” the bigger assembly together different weeks (week 1 group 1, week 2 group 2 etc) Shepherds shepherd everyone else to a better place, intentional coaching through messages, testimony, and other gift sharing should be a staple of a Jesus Community.
• Less money to staffing and overhead and more towards helping neighbors and building community to help the body of Christ (purposeful cultures in Christ eventually should all be giving the majority of their time to Jesus, not just the pastoral staff). When more people begin to share the service, less will need to be paid. In the first century church pastors weren’t paid, I don’t think the evolution of paying them is wrong, but our mindset is off.
• The early church regularly sent “apostles” from established churches to create new Jesus cultures. This should be a regular plan of commissioning. Every church culture likely had established several other Jesus cultures as a result of their one. Churches lack this aspect of commissioning and planting today.
• Less and smaller buildings, encourage smaller more intimate gatherings, sharing of common smaller meeting spaces and homes which encourage planning of shared space together and shows better stewardship. Most churches today have one meeting in a multi-million dollar building with 1000 people. The early church has a much smaller home/meeting area that fit around 70 and was used nearly all week. The same 1000 people could meet in a less expensive building and spread out over 14 meetings having a more intimate assembly and spending far less money. But your culture has to teach Jesus over the worldly schedule to accomplish this. Most people today will not schedule their work around their Jesus life to make this happen. The method of the mindset isn’t in line with Jesus’ model of discipleship, and this is largely because we are bringing the ways and the people of the world into space that should only be sacred.
• We should attain to a more missional approach to the ongoing study of God’s word (a scope and sequence with strategic plan and direction of teaching) Everyone eventually should be in seminary style learning (4-14 years of intentional everyday training to become an all-in disciple and bring others to that place). We should exhibit a lifelong promotion of discipleship and purposefully plan and steward this kind of directive within the church assemblies.
• A better digital ministry strategy: Tracking cameras, online testimonials and stories to better communicate the story of what is happening in the Jesus culture, the world should know and desire to be a part of this. In First century they often met open air so people could see and hear the message and lifestyle. Today we can accomplish this through technology. Let the world watch well.
• Create a culture of deeper shepherding from the teachings: deeper study, deeper devotion, deeper prayer, deeper worship, deeper commitment to first century scriptural tenets of Christianity (Better allegiance to Jesus).
• Communicate in thought and action that relationships and people matter more than events. Invest your time in relationships not things that will pass. When you do plan events, plan and communicate well as if you are doing it directly for Jesus.
• Provide weekly training beyond the in-person experience: Offer deeper challenges every week through devotionals, books, or content and community that builds on the message (get away from the idea that a simple Sunday message is enough) and create regular diversity to appeal to different learning styles.
• Build a better digital Jesus community (shepherd spiritual maturity out of conflict, encourage tough questions, welcome sceptics and work through better answers.) We can do this very well today online in groups, but we also need to emphasize in person groups.
• We need to return to caring for the widows and needy. The government today does a far better job at this than the church does. This should be one of the things that the world knows the church for and sees the image of Christ through.
• Build a better plan for kids and teen teaching: Mentor programs that bridge the kids with other adults, train parents in biblical partnering with the church, include kids in all aspects of the regular group (including teaching and testimony). Think less programming and more life experiential training and education. In a Hebraic mind simply doing a task was selfish if you didn’t invite someone else to learn from you and share in the experience. You missed the spiritual blessing.
• Keep the body of believers as primarily the “BODY OF BELIEVERS” don’t water down the experience. Encourage individuals to build relationships to Jesus outside of the main sessions that are intended to develop deeper devotion to Christ, evangelism should primarily be done as part of life relationships not as an “event” or “show” -Keep it organic as a Jesus journey that is nurtured and cultivated.
• Keep the church assembly sacred (limit things that resemble acts of the world).
• Be set apart by immersive experiences to the body and the community (practice what we teach). The church should aid in administration and planning of strategic experiences as an identifier of the multi-faceted gifting of the body.
• Intentional communications strategy: Address communication gap internally with the people who are already a part of the church. Keep in communication but don’t delude or defile the worship through it.
• Think undefiled sacred, pre-planned, strategic, intentional, purposeful assembly… but at the same time build a culture of continual unending worship.
• Communication of a clear discipleship plan and path: What is the missional purpose of a disciple. This sounds simple but I doubt too many people would answer the question today in our churches similarly. Our mission should be known and continually communicated and lived out. Every person in your Jesus community should know the ultimate goal for everyone is all in discipleship.
• More organic sharing and worship throughout the week outside of planned assembly. All of Jesus culture should be shepherded, purposeful, and planned, but open to adjustment as the spirit leads. Everything (all work) should be approached as missional unto Jesus. Less work-toil within the world and more fellowship-joy within the body should be the goal.
• Pray and desire less worldly money and more spiritual blessings.