These events happened a mere few years after the Great Commission and the Ascension. The earliest church is the gold standard. Let’s see what we can learn from them in two passages, Acts 2:43-47 and 4:23-31.
I chose those two passages because they show the church gathered together, in action. This post is not a dry, academic disquisition.
Here are sixteen signs of a healthy church.
The NIV is used here. If would like to see many other translations, please click on biblegateway.com.
Scriptures
Luke writes this report about the earliest Christians. Context: the wonderful sermon right after Pentecost and three thousand Jews got saved.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2: 42-47)
in an even longer passage, Luke also reports this gathering of the earliest church. The context: a lame man over forty years old got healed, and Peter and John preached a powerful sermon about Jesus and how the chief priests and elders unjustly crucified him. The Sanhedrin, the highest court and council in Judaism and based in Jerusalem, arrested and interrogated them. Peter replied, to them after he was once again filled with the Spirit in 4:8, and he had been filled at Pentecost, too. He testified before them with great conviction. Then the two apostles just got released.
Luke now writes:
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one. [Ps. 2:1-2]
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:23-31)
Sixteen Characteristics of a Healthy Church
Based on these two long passages, watch for these sixteen qualities in your local church.
(1) Apostolic teaching. Devotion to apostolic teaching in the Gospel, Acts and the epistles and even the Revelation, when it is taught properly and in balance.
It should be pointed out, however, that when Paul instructed Timothy and Titus in his epistles to them, he told him to appoint elders, not apostles or prophets. When he summoned church leaders from Ephesus to meet with him near the city of Miletus, he sought for elders, not apostles or prophets (Acts 20:13-38). During Paul’s and Barnabas’s first missionary journey (Acts 13-14), they appointed elders in each church (Acts 14:23). In no place in the Roman provinces and the churches he planted there did he appoint apostles. In 2 Corinthians he denied the authority of the super-apostles who tried to take over (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11).
So, this situation in Jerusalem, where the twelve apostles led, is unique. But there were Christian elders in the city as well (Acts 15). It seems the apostolic teaching is gaining ground and turning into Scripture, so that is why the earliest Christians devoted themselves to it (2:42).
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(2) Regular meetings. The earliest Christians met regularly, in fellowship (2:42, 46). They did not meet only on Saturday or Sunday. They also met in the temple daily. In today’s busy world, it may be impractical for the whole church to meet together daily. But the earliest church’s devotion to gathering regularly is admirable, and we can draw some lessons from this practice, at least. I note that in some revivals people do gather daily, and the Jerusalem church was experiencing revival. May God send a revival to the global church!
(3) Large communal meals and communion. The healthy early church enjoyed communal meals together that ended in communion. However, the communal meals may not be feasible in the modern church at every meeting. At that time in Jerusalem the needs were great, and people needed to eat (Acts 6). But the church should regularly take communion together, the breaking of bread and drinking the fruit of the vine, like grape juice (2:42).
(4) House churches and communal meals and communion. The healthy earliest church also met in houses and shared common meals as a kind of potluck (2:46). The house meeting ended with regular communion. As for the potluck, it may be too much to do this every week in a modern society. But potlucks are always fun, but the house leaders and people can decide how often communal meals are done.
(5) Regular community prayer (2:42; 4:24-28). They prayed out loud, in a group. The earliest church did not do quiet prayers all the time in community (see also 1 Cor. 11:5 and women praying and prophesying in the assembly). In their prayer, they acknowledged God as sovereign and the Creator (4:24). Good theology.
(6) Honoring Scripture as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The earliest church depended on the Old Testament and considered it inspired by the Holy Spirit (4:25). They narrowed their focus on the verses about the Messiah, so Jesus is called the Anointed One (4:26). Therefore, it would be wrong to unhitch the Old Testament from the New, as at least one pastor today says we should do. The apostles would have spoken a firm no. Consider Jesus who gave a lengthy Bible study and opened the minds of the disciples to understand the flow of salvation threaded through the Old Testament and accomplished now in Jesus (Luke 24:25-27, 44-45). He too would tell postmodern pastors who ignore the Old Testament–no!
(7) Trust in God’s plan about the crucifixion. The church acknowledged that God had a plan which entailed the crucifixion of his Son. No, God did not directly cause the unjust crucifixion, but he orchestrated circumstances so that the Sanhedrin, Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel would carry out the plan, motivated by their own evil hearts. The earliest church trusted in God and his sovereignty and saw the ultimate benefit of his Son’s death, that is, salvation and redemption.
(8) Servanthood. They called Jesus God’s holy servant (4:27), and also called themselves servants (4:29). This puts things in perspective. When Jesus was on earth, he was his Father’s servant and submitted himself to his Father. He was also the Lord. Now the church prayed that they, his servants, themselves, would also work signs and wonders (4:30).
44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:44-45)
(9) Generosity. The earliest church had no greed but were generous with each other when someone had a genuine need. Their grip on their possessions was light (see also 4:32-37). I urge people not to give to ministries in which the leaders take the money and buy luxury items with it and enrich themselves in gimmicky, unjust, unscriptural hyper-prosperity. The money should be used to meet the needs of the people.
Does Book of Acts Teach Modern Communism or Socialism?
Apostle Paul Traveled on Cargo Ships
(10) Joy and sincerity. The earliest church had sincerity and glad hearts (2:46). Paul wrote: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil. 4:4). Does your church produce joy or sourness because the main pastor is either encouraging and gentle (joy) or mean and oppressive (discouragement and gloom)? “Let your gentleness be evident to all” (Phil. 4:5). Gentleness is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). Pastors should not be oppressive. Joy is one of the fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22). Please, churches, be sure the people experience sincerity and gladness of heart. It begins with the pastors and elders.
(11) Praise. They praised God together, regularly (2:47). Praise is important, and today we have worship leaders. It is not known whether the earliest church had them, but according to the Psalms, songs and hymns do not violate scripture but fulfill it. Ancient Israel had worship leaders. Recall that the early church raised their voices together in prayer before God and called God the Creator (4:24). The church got a clear picture of who God was. This post is about those two passages in Acts, but I cannot resist planting this Scripture:
[…] Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 5:18-20)
(12) Church growth. This was caused and prompted by God (2:47). They did not depend on church growth consultants. Revival was happening, and that was enough.
(13) Favor and persecution. They enjoyed favor with the people (2: 47), and the outsiders were in awe of the signs and wonders (2:43). In contrast, the Jerusalem leaders persecuted the apostles (4:23, 27-29). The persecution was intense and menacing. The Sanhedrin ordered them not to speak the name of Jesus, but the apostles did not obey the order that denied God’s mission for them (see also 5:29).
(14) Signs and wonders. The people prayed for signs and wonders, which in Acts seems to have been limited to healings and deliverances and two resuscitations or raising from the dead (9:32-35; 20:7-10). In 2:43 the apostles worked the signs and wonders, but in 4:30 everyone worked them. So there is the democratization of the gifts of the Spirit.
Cessationism (the belief that the gifts in 1 Cor. 12:7-11 have ceased) is unscriptural and erroneous. It is a characteristic of an incomplete, unhealthy church.
God’s Signs and Wonders versus Satan’s Signs and Wonders
(15) Infilling of the Spirit. Everyone was filled with the Spirit (4:31). They were filled in Acts 2:1-4. Peter was refilled in 4:8, just before he delivered his powerful speech before the Sanhedrin. And now the church is filled yet another time. “Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 4:18). The imperative “be filled” is in the present tense, so there is a continuous infilling envisioned. We should regularly seek God to fill us often.
(16) Outreach. As God caused the growth (2:47), the church, particularly the apostles, ministered the good news or gospel to the people. They reached out to the lost, speaking the word boldly (4:31). God answered their prayer for boldness to speak his word (4:29).
Response
The earthquake was in the local church and supernatural, for the place where they were meeting was shaken (4:31). This was God’s way of saying that he endorsed their prayer and their desire for outreach. I cannot (nor can anyone else) guarantee this will happen every time the church meets and prays, even during a revival, but God in his sovereignty may do something that everyone can feel and see. Yet, don’t seek for this. Seek God.
One objection and reply: An objector may say that this list comes from two descriptive passages, not a prescriptive one (commands and principles). It is hard to find norms in historical accounts that merely describe what happened.
My reply is that we can learn many things from narratives, like the list of sixteen. We don’t need to depend only on prescriptive verses. Paul said the Old Testament, particularly the Torah, serves as example to us, particularly in a descriptive portion (1 Cor. 10:1-6). Also, Paul used the story about Abraham’s life and his faith that led to God declaring him righteous (Rom. 4:1-3; Gal. 3:7-9). His story was the source of Paul’s theology of justification and salvation by grace through faith.
I have to admit that the earliest church is a little intimidating. Will the church today experience even some items on the list? Only by God’s grace. Be patient with the church that is striving to have most or all of those sixteen items. Be as patient with God’s Son’s church as God and his Son are patient with the church.
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