OK, I'll go first then…

Being an Actsian church involves:
- people daily being added to the Kingdom
- people daily experiencing miraculous answer to need
- us, as disciples of Christ, walking in power. To be the garment that people reach out to touch – a conduit for God to work through.
- meeting people where they are at.

Tip of the iceberg.

going to the people. reaching out. communing together. BEING the church. we're talking about this, kind of, over at tony yorks place too.

oh cool! It's terribly remiss of me not to have visited Tony's blog yet…his comments on yours always make me laugh.

I'll have to have a look.

There's been a lot of talk about it lately, both on and off blogs. This is a good thing, but I don't want it to stop at talk !

i agree… action is always better than only our words! im with you, david

knowing Jesus and making Him known through our own stories of His grace, our actions, our words and our love for one another.

I was going to email you this news but thought I might leave you a comment here. Healing is part of Acts is it not. Definitely!!

Read this little story of a family in the Lockyer Valley, Qld. I miracle has just happened. All glory to God.

http://theolddairy.blogspot.com/2009/04/good-news...

Community. Going. DOING.

Just so that I can say I added to this conversation…

I would read the following passages to start:

Malachi Chapter 1
John Chapters 4 & 14
Acts Chapters 1 & 2 (especially 2 but don't miss out on studying Chapter 1 vs 8 in depth)
Revelations Chapters 2 & 3
Do a deep study of James 1:27

Whew.. that's alot of stuff !!

I would point out that the New Testament seems to be divided in this fashion:

Matthew through John (The Gospels of Christ)
Acts (The start of the Church)
Revelations Chapter 4 through 21 (The Victory of Christ)

Romans though Revelations chapter 3 (the church needing direction on how to conduct itself and how NOT to)

I don't think we should forget that last point when considering the early church. I would also point out to those who have not studied the word that church in the Greek was ecclesia which referred to a group of people called out for a purpose. It never meant a building or a specific denomination.

Ok.. that is all I can pump out of my poor head for tonight.

Blessings

As the church we need to learn to respond in love, even when we are attacked with cutting words to respond kindly and with love.

I can't give an example other than a post I read on a friend's blog, check it out:
http://jnella.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/96/

Thanks for this Cee. Healing is most certainly one of the most basic aspects of what an Acts-based church is in my view

Amen! So often we get caught up in how/what to do, when it's staring right at us all around; meet the needs of those around us, and in doing so we shine for Christ.

Not rocket science, but why do we struggle so much with this…?

So glad the "A" word – action – is making a good appearance here. It would be really sad for that very important aspect of Acts to be overlooked, huh!

The whole "faith without works is empty, works without faith is too" thing from James isn't it..

And, the book is called Acts, so without that action, it's mocking God methinks…

That is a lot of stuff, but it's great great stuff. Thank you so much Tony.

I've loved the discussion over on your blog too about religious boredom – here's the link for anyone who's not been over. Good good stuff.
http://30secondrule.wordpress.com/2009/04/13/reli...

I totally agree that we forget the guidelines given for how to act and not to act are exactly that – guidelines. If we get caught up in the suggestions and guidelines, and lose the real focus, then we become about religion and not relationship.

And we sure know that's not what God is about. As Paul said, all things are permissable, not all are beneficial. That's condemning religious attitudes right there, for religion is (usually) prescriptive…while relationship is about choice, free-will. Loving – which is precisely what God is all about.

Hey – thanks Zach! Thanks for your wise word, and for another resource for me to check out. I love that this has been the topic of so much discussion just this week following Easter.

As Tam said on Twitter…Easter seems to have been extra powerful this year, and the fact there is so much discussion on the basics of what we should be doing as a church to live out Christ's sacrifice and resurrection effectively is v.cool

So let's all get out there and DO

"Go to all the world, tell the gospel to everyone, and he who believes and is baptised WILL be saved"