The Church that Jesus Died for - Living in Fellowship Everyday

Acts 2:42

Community is life-giving and essential to following Christ. Our actions and words best reflect our love for Jesus in the context of community fellowship.

The church that Jesus died for (like The Early Church) is devoted to the teaching and learning of the Word of God, to the daily fellowship of believers, to the breaking of bread (in remembrance of why He died for us) and to prayers.

1. Devoted to the apostles' teaching - They were persistent or active listeners and learners of the Word of God. It was the message that brought them into fellowship.
2. Devoted to the Fellowship (Koinonia) - They shared, received and gave together in the Trinitarian fellowship. We are united by our common share in the grace of God. Christian fellowship is primarily a relationship rather than an activity. As a result, the Christian community fosters love (Col. 3:13-14), and is life-giving (Rom. 12:4-5).
3. Devoted to the breaking of bread - This refers to the partaking of the communion that Christ instituted during Passover. It tells us the focus of the apostles' teaching: the cross.
4. Devoted to prayers - They gathered daily to pray together in corporate prayer, putting the needs of others before their own.

• Verse 47 tells us the result of such devotion: the growth of the church both in spiritual and numerical sense.
  
• The community of faith in Jerusalem lives a multifaceted witness, one not restricted to a single place or mode, which manifested itself in houses and in the temple.
• Community exists not for its own sake, but to care for its most vulnerable members and to be a means by which God extends salvation to others.
• It can be hard for some of us to commit to community, especially if we are guarded or prefer solitude. But community is God's desire for us - and a sign of mature faith, because at the end of the day, when we grow in our relationship with others, we're growing in our relationship with Him.

Join us in our English service of the International Congregation in Yangon!