40 Hours For 1 Hour
It might be an epidemic. The backwards notion that administrative work overrides community interaction confuses me. We love the security of meetings. We subconsciously want more of them because our lies haunt us. The outside should know the honor of knowing what we know. However, most (if not all) times we interact with Kingdom-work is when there is a catchy event name and the entire congregation knows about it. Baffled by our organized tactics I’m finding myself observing our American ways. The convenience of the Gospel is notary among average Christian living. And average Christian living doesn’t really exist in the pages I flip through in the New Testament. Would Paul be excited about a group of disciples putting majority of their energy into a one-hour worship service? Is this really where the majority of life-change happens?
I have fallen victim to this disease.
Do we really love our buildings that much? 40 hours for 1 hour a week. I guess we’d be meeting in fields if we decided to test our motives. 40 hours a week inside the community? Imagine the eliminated overhead fees, budget constraints, and word made flesh. To compress the administrative work that haunts us and actually be the hands and feet of God. Questions like: “How many people attended last night?” or “How can we get more people here?” would probably fade away because we’d have better things to worry about. It might be the road less traveled.
It just might be worth trying.
It seems every time a sermon that is centered upon community the passage of Acts 2:42-47 is spoken of. Our remedy for this type of community has become a one-night a week small group. Our shared bread has been forsaken. Word made flesh is actually Biblical obesity. If we’re really honest – can we really compare our communities with the one found in Acts 2?
They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.
Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.
They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved. (Acts 2:42-47, The Message)
