Day 1 | Local – Definition

Read Acts 2

Being an active part of a local church is central to following Jesus. It takes more than just Acts 2 to prove this point, but in this passage, we see everything which defines a Christian done, not in isolation, but in community. Prayer? All together in one place. Receiving the Holy Spirit? All together in one place. Teaching the gospel? Baptism? Giving? You get the idea. Believers gathered together to follow Jesus together.

But let’s be honest, life in the first century looked a lot different than our lives today. Of course they had to do these things in community back then! They were 1400 years out from the printing press, much more from high-speed internet access and pocket supercomputers with three integrated cameras. But now? We can catch a sermon on YouTube, put an emoji in the livestream chat, and maybe even give a few dollars—all with headphones in at our garage gym before clocking into our work-from-home job. Isn’t that just as good? We’re doing all the same things! We’re even doing them with more efficiency, that all-glorious modern virtue. We don’t have to get dressed, we can fast-forward through the announcements, and we don’t even have to bother with getting out of the parking lot!

Of course, I’m being facetious with all this. God designed His Church to be a local gathering of Believers to pray, worship, teach, and give. When He created humanity, He didn’t call it good until there was more than one person (see Genesis 2). If God doesn’t call isolation good, why should we? If God calls community good, why should we avoid it? We’ll talk about the application of these principles tomorrow, but for now, focus on the truth God has created us to worship Him in a community of fellow worshippers.

Pray, giving thanks for the privilege of being in a community of other Christ-followers.