COMMUNITY IN THE CHURCH OF ACTS Penge Baptist Church 27th June 2010

The New Testament purposes Evangelism Worship Discipleship Ministry Community

Why community? Can’t be a lone ranger Christian John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

The 3:16 of community John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” 1 John 3:16 “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” Acts 2:41-42 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship…”

The church of Acts together “the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” “everyone was filled with awe” “ate together, with glad and sincere hearts praising God” “all the believers were together and had everything in common” “the twelve gathered all the disciples together….this proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen…” (Acts 6:2,5) “All the believers were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32)

The crowd and the couple A church community is a unified group of Jesus’ followers with deep relational commitments to one another.

The “one another” phrases encourage one another and build each other up belong to one another accept one another honour one another live in agreement with one another pray for one another admonish one another have mutual concern for one another carry one another’s burdens forgive one another serve one another in love spur one another to love and good deeds

Two venues in Acts “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, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people.”

A coal out of the fire

Community and the purposes Ministry ->Community ->Ministry Evangelism ->Community ->Evangelism Discipleship->Community ->Discipleship Worship ->Community->Worship

A world desperate for community

The counter-cultural church Instead of having, sharing. Instead of rights, responsibilities. Not a rule centred life as in contract, but a people centred life in commitment (covenant) with one another, living a life of community.

The Penge community

Small groups

Mutual commitments To protect the unity of our church by acting in love towards other members, by refusing to gossip and by respecting the leadership. To share the responsibility of our church by praying for the church, by jointly seeking the will of God for the church, by inviting non-Christians to attend and by warmly welcoming those who visit.

To support the ministry of our church by discovering gifts and talents and using them, by growing as disciples of Jesus and by developing a servant heart. To support the testimony of our church by attending consistently, by living a Godly life, and by giving regularly (of our time, talents and finances). Could be informal agreement and guidance of new members or formal agreement (covenant) of the whole church to be renewed annually

Vision of a prevailing church “A unified community of ethnically diverse, spiritually gifted men and women. loving and serving one another in humility, availability and submission, thereby presenting the world with a compelling case for trusting Jesus Christ as their saviour”.