Return to 1st Century Church

Return to 1^st Century Church

There is a lot of talk these days of a return to the church as it was in the beginning. What? – even if that means conversion, baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit all on the same day? Why ever not?

I think that in today’s church, we have so placed things into little boxes that suit our arrangements that we can no longer even imagine allowing Holy Spirit freedom and room to move beyond the time constraints we put on our meetings. In short, Sundays are a bit rushed and tight on time. Everything is timed down to the nearest minute and woe betide he who overstays his allotted time on the microphone. This is to allow people who want to do so, to set their meal in motion at a time conducive to escaping from church in time to fit in with their own tight schedules. I want to ask them if they really have time for God on Sundays?

If we want 1^st century church, then we have to adopt some 1^st century attitudes and some 1^st century values.

If we continue to restrain Holy Spirit, how can we expect Him to move in our meetings? When you last saw a Holy Spirit encounter in your meeting, did He move for four minutes, in accordance with your schedule, and then stop – at the same time apologising for almost, possibly holding up those with other things needing to be done? I don’t think so. If we really want a return to first century church, then we are also going to have to rethink a few things other than timing.

The baptismal tank needs to be ready every service – full and not freezing. In the first century, folk were saved, baptised in water and in the Holy Spirit – all on the same day! Imagine that happening today with “no proper teaching or mentoring”?  Almost unthinkable isn’t it?

Because people who receive an infilling of the Holy Spirit are prone to being “slain in the Spirit”, or falling over, so catchers need to be ready to spring into action as new converts are also baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Despite all of this, good teachers and trainers and mentors will be needed - on standby of course and in good home groups. One of the most joyful ‘problems’ of new believers is that they are hungry for almost anything of God, so a home group is a must.

Even so, deliverance ministry may be needed – also on standby – as nearly all who come to salvation bring various amounts of ‘baggage’ with them. The baggage includes unwanted visitors of course and these need to be thrown out as soon as possible.

Ready and prepared house or home group leaders will be needed to help ensure none of the new guys fall through the cracks. We have seen far too many new Christians fall away again because of the lack of nurturing from their new home church. Many churches still do not have any nurturing program in place. This beggars a question or two about ‘making disciples’ – if nothing else.

There’s more to 1^st century church than meets the immediate eye, so I suppose we should be careful what we ask God for, lest we actually get it and are left completely unprepared.

Just a thought – that’s all.