Recently, at a Church Business Meeting, we voted to borrow $65,000 to replace the roof on the educational wing of our facility and replace the lights in Lee Chapel. Instead of launching into a financial campaign or amend the budget, we are asking our folks to give over and above the tithe to this endeavor. Simply designate on your offering envelope with the word Building, and it will go towards this project.

We have been in the book of the Acts for the last year and are quickly coming to the end of our journey in this study. Please consider the following:

The church in the book of Acts had…

No stained glass, no pews, no theater seats, no baptismal tank, no church building…
No hymn books, no piano, no organ, no choir, no praise band…
No Sunday School, no PowerPoint, no drama team, no video clips…
No bulletins, no Bibles in the home, no devotional books, no literature…
No ornate symbols or professional banners…
No credentialed pastors, no diplomas on the wall in the pastor’s study…
No gymnasiums or Family Life Centers…
No organized sports teams, no youth group, no youth pastor, no children’s pastor, no nursery… No denominational affiliation, no Bible Colleges, no seminaries…
No written by-laws, no tax-deductible giving receipts…
No racism…
No pictures of Spurgeon, Martin Luther King, or anybody else hanging in the foyer…
No sound tracks, no recording artists, no copyrighted music, no paid concerts…
No celebrity pastors…
No political rants.

Could you be comfortable in the early church where…

Prayer meetings happened every day?
Every leader had forsaken the Lord prior to Pentecost? Souls were saved daily?
Miracles were commonplace?
Services were unpredictable?
They had all things common?
Slaves and slave owners worshipped together?
Poor and rich sat side by side?
Diverse races and cultures of people were bound together by agape love?
Deacons served the people while the pastors studied and prayed?
Persecution was heavy at times?

Is it possible that much we consider essential to the faith is really just cultural preference and carnal prejudice? How many “churches” are more like cultural enclaves instead of communities? Enclaves are bound together by similar back- grounds, tastes, and likes. But the early church was knit together by supernatural love. Which do you prefer: the enclave or the community?

Devotedly yours, Bro. Tommy