Advent - Day 15


Church – Acts 2:42-47
Sunday, December 14

“Church” means different things to different people. It is a building, a place of worship, an address. It can be used to indicate not only where we are going, but what we will do when we get there. If I say, “I’m going to church,” you will have some understanding of what happens there. There is both a visible church and an invisible Church. Visibly it is the building and/or the group of people who belong there and is spelled with a lower case “c”. The invisible Church is the Body of Christ—all of those around the world who profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, always spelled using the upper case “C”. There are different ways to worship, different architectural styles, different musical preferences, different denominations within the Christian faith, but always a common denominator: belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Saviour.

Those who were a part of the early church in Jerusalem would not have defined “church” as we do today. It was not a place because there was no common building and to say in public “I’m going to church,” could have been dangerous. Yet, that early church provided a pattern for all the churches which have followed. Simply put, they paid attention to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer, always sharing their possessions with others.

Questions to consider: Compare your “church experience” with that of the early Christians. How does it compare? Is there something that needs improving?