A church can quietly turn into a monument.
It happens the way it happens to any building that stops getting used for what it was built for. The work gets finished. The doors get locked. Somebody still cuts the grass. And a thing that was alive turns into a thing people drive past. Plenty of churches are monuments to what God used to do in them.
The church in Acts never stood still long enough for that.
Starting Sunday, November 8, we're spending three weeks with three churches from the book of Acts. Each one faced a different question about what to do with the people God had given them. None of them answered by holding on.
November 8 — Jerusalem: Make Disciples
Acts 2:42-47; 6:1, 7
The first church met in homes and ate together. Luke writes that "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Growth came so fast that the church had to reorganize twice within six chapters just to keep up with it. Pastor Roberto opens the series here, with a church that made disciples who went on to make disciples of their own.
November 15 — Antioch: Send Disciples
Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-4
In Antioch, in the middle of worship, the Holy Spirit spoke: "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Barnabas and Saul were the two strongest leaders the church had. The church prayed, then let them go. A multiplying church does not hold on to its best people.
November 22 — Ephesus: Multiply Disciples
Acts 19:8-10; 2 Timothy 2:2
Paul spent two years in Ephesus teaching every day in a lecture hall, and by the end of it all of Asia had heard the word. Years later, writing to Timothy, he put the method on paper: what you heard from me, entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. Paul to Timothy to reliable people to others, four generations in a single sentence. Every disciple Paul made was expected to turn around and become a multiplier.
Jerusalem teaches us to make disciples. Antioch teaches us to send them. Ephesus teaches us to multiply multipliers. Put the three together and you get the pattern of Acts: disciples become leaders, leaders start new communities, and new communities make new disciples. Then it goes around again.
Join us for worship on any of these three Sundays, in person or online at findnewhope.com.