Acts 2.42-47 Home Group Sermon

What is your vision of a healthy church? Is it to do with how well the building is maintained? The size and quality of the choir? The number of people that attend the services? The range of activities that take place through the church?

Or is it to do with the spiritual life of the church?

If you want a vision of what the church should be like, you cannot do any better than Acts 2:42-45, which provides an exiting insight into what the early church was like. One of the key features of this early church is that people as well as meeting together in larger groups in places like the temple, also met together in small groups, in one another’s homes, and this was one of the keys to the growth of that church. This has been described as the two winged church. For a bird to fly, it requires two wings, and likewise, for there to be a healthy church we need both larger gatherings such as this, when the whole church is gathered together, but we also need smaller gatherings such as home groups. If you look at churches that are growing today, you will discover that small groups play an absolutely crucial role in encouraging growth.

Why are small groups so crucial to growing a healthy church?

There are a number of advantages of meeting together in small groups:
o It is the place where relationships are built and nurtured.
o It allows us to go deeper in the study of the Bible, than is possible on a Sunday morning.
o It is the place where people can develop their own gifts and ministries in a safe and caring environment.
o It is a good place to invite friends and neighbours who may not yet be Christians, so they can get to know people in a more informal setting.

In studies on church attendance it has been discovered that 85% of those who joined a church where not likely to be there a year later. This raises a very important question, why are these people who are joining churches, leaving so quickly. The answer is that they did not make enough meaningful relationships in that time. Another survey discovered that 90% of new members would stay in church if they:
1) Made 4-8 close friendships within the church
2) They belong to a fellowship group
3) They can articulate their faith
The best way to develop these relationships is in the context of a small group, where you have the space and time to get to know people in an informal setting, where people can ask questions and explore what it means to be a Christian

If you look at the church in Acts, you discover that it was a Church built on relationships not structures

The church in Acts was dynamic and growing, it was a church full of vision and enthusiasm for Jesus Christ. It was a church built on relationships, with God, and with one another. It was a church that drew people into it, by it worship and its witness. It was a church that engaged in God’s mission.

Luke highlights four aspects of that early church’s life, four aspects of what makes a healthy church. It was a church committed to the study of the Bible, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Centrality of The Bible

The first feature of this church that Luke mentions is the devotion to the Apostles’ teaching (2:42). These were the people who had been with Jesus during his earthly ministry. And it was the teaching of the apostles that was later to form the New Testament. So the first mark of a healthy church is its commitment to studying God’s word. These first Christians were hungry to receive teaching about Jesus.

And a healthy church is one that takes the study of the Bible as of central importance. Because it is God’s word for us today. This is why we have sermons, to open up scripture and see what it has to say to us. But the advantage of having home groups is that we have the opportunity to go that bit deeper, to ask questions and debate what we’re studying, which is not always possible in church on a Sunday.

A Community Committed to Fellowship

The second feature of the early church was their commitment to one another. It wasn’t just a case of these Christians knowing one another well enough to say hello when they met on the street. It was a deep relationship built on love for God and love for one another. Luke tells us that many of these Christians shared things in common, giving to anyone in need (v45). The other feature of the life of that early church was how that fellowship continued throughout the week. Verse 46 says, ‘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.’ They didn’t just meet once a week in the temple, and then that was it for the week. They met EVERY day, and not only in the temple, but in one another’s homes, for fellowship, to enjoy meals with one another, and to worship together.

Only this week we have had politicians talking about the problem of social breakdown in our society, and the need for creating community. What people long for is a sense of belonging, of being part of a community where they are valued and cared for. It is much easier to create a sense of community in the context of the small group, than it is in a large gathering. It is within the small group that we can hopefully open up and be ourselves, to share our struggles as well as our joys, and to be supported by the group.

It is within the small group that we learn what it means to ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself..’ (Luke 10:27) In the context of a home group, it is the place where we learn to be vulnerable, where we learn to love others, and respect one another’s differences. It is the place where we learn to encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), and help each other in our Christian journey (Hebrews 10:24). It is also the place where we learn to carry each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), accept one another (Romans 5:17) and bear with each other (Colossians 3::13).

In 1992 George Gallup conducted research in America that discovered what peoples main spiritual needs were. They were:
1. To believe life is meaningful and has a purpose. 2. To have sense of community and deeper relationships. 3. To be appreciated and respected. 4. To be listened to--and heard. 5. To feel that one is growing in the faith. 6. To have practical help in developing a mature faith.
Being part of a small group, I believe helps us to enter into these deeper relationships, to feel appreciated and respected, to be listened to and heard, and to help us grow in our faith.

It was a worshipping church

The third feature of the church in Jerusalem was that it was a worshipping church. The life of the church was not only expressed in caring for one another, but also through their worshipping life. They worshipped together not only in the formality of the Temple, but also in small informal groups that met in one another’s homes.

Worshipping in small groups plays a very important role in our own spiritual growth and development. Because it is the place where we can develop our spiritual gifts, where we learn to lead worship, study the Bible and pray, in ways which is not possible in a larger gathering such as now. We’ll look at this subject in more detail next week. One of the things that comes out of this passage is that the worship in that early church was passionate and enthusiastic and central to all they did.

It was a Praying Church

The church in Jerusalem was also a praying church. Verse 42, ‘they devoted themselves to prayer’.

Prayer is the very heart beat of the Christian faith and the church, a healthy church MUST have at its heart a burden for prayer. Through prayer God reveals his will to us, and we are transformed by Him. Again, those churches that are growing in this country, are those churches that have recaptured a vision for prayer, and have discovered the power of prayer. And the benefit of being part of a small group, is that we can learn how to pray in the safety of that close environment, and to uphold each other in our prayers.

So to summarise so far, the early church in Jerusalem devoted themselves to studying the Bible, to fellowship, to worshipping together throughout the week, and through the prayers of the community.

What impact did this have on the church?

The Church Grew!

Verse 47, we read, ‘day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved’. The church grew, and grew, and grew and grew!!! If several people join our church over the course of a year, we tend to think we are doing rather well. But this church in Jerusalem was seeing new people come to faith every single day! This was a community of Christians that witnessed to people, and it was the dynamic life, and the quality of relationships, and focus upon worship of God, prayer and care for one another that led people to faith in Jesus Christ.

My prayer for the home groups is that we’ll see them as the key way of growing St Martin’s. I hope that if you are not already a member of a home group, you will seriously consider joining one in the autumn. And I hope that people will invite their non church going friends along to the home groups, or along to special social events that the home groups put on, so people can get to know Christians. 79% of people who join a church, do so because they received an invitation from a friend to come along. And if people join a home group, it can really help them on their spiritual journey, as they begin to study the Bible with other Christians, as they enjoy the fellowship and care that comes through being part of a small group, as they learn how to pray, and worship. And through this, we will start to see changed lives.

Next week I want to reflect more on this topic, and share with you a bit more of my vision for the home groups.