Church History

“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”  Acts 2: 46-47

I recently finished writing and editing a Bible study on the book of Acts for our denomination’s national women’s group (click on WMF on our header to learn more about them).  If you want to learn more about the early history of the Church, Acts is the place to start.

Acts is an accurate historical record;  even hostile critics have been unable to disprove the detailed political, geographical and cultural information given by Luke as he describes the spread of the Christianity.

It’s exciting reading.  The book includes not only history but travelogues, inspiring sermons and speeches, miracles and even a shipwreck. It falls into a literary genre common to the time:  a record of the great deeds of certain people or cities.  In Acts you will learn about more than 100 people who along with many others in the early church “turned the world upside down.”(Acts 17:6).

I encourage you to read through Acts this month as we think about the church.  What can we learn from the early followers of Christ?  How did they respond to and resolve the problems they encountered?  The daily lives of Christians and basic principles of ministry are set out in Acts and are still relevant to us today.

Let us know what you learn from these original believers.  We want to hear from you.