Will the real church speak up…

Regardless of how many times I read it, the story of the church’s beginnings in Acts always leaves me sighing with a twinge of regret. The dependence on each other, the willingness to sacrifice and share with one another, the focus on the word and the body and the intensity of faith make me long to be a part of a church that isn’t shackled by scheduling conflicts and competing demands; where our zeal cannot be contained and our faith is front and center. It's not that I don't love the church I'm a part of, but I know we can be more.

I’m sure there were some who were complacent and half-hearted. (It’s not long before we read of Ananias and Sapphira.) But in Acts we see a church that could not be contained by geography or coercion. When threatened, they spoke (“For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” 5:20). When attacked, they went (“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” 8:4). And it grew. Despite the persecution, despite the demands, despite the cost. People were drawn to Christ and to his church with reckless abandon.

And I wonder what it would take….