Life of the Apostolic: Acts 2 Communities

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

 

In Acts chapter 2, the disciples were gathered together in the upper room in prayer, when the Holy Spirit visited them in power. They were sent out into the streets and began to prophesy in the tongues of many languages and preach with apostolic authority. Three-thousand souls were saved that day.

What happened next is that the believers continued in the apostles’ doctrine. They had fellowship together in meals and taking communion. They consistently met together for prayer, worship, and times of teaching. They were actively in each other’s lives—even to the point of selling their possessions and giving to the ones of their body who were in need.

The reality of the Lord visiting with His Spirit in corporate times of prayer and fasting cannot be separated from the day-to-day life of a community of believers who live together, pray together, eat together, and play together.

This is not to say that everyone needs to go live in a commune (as many young people in our generation tend to lean), but we need a restoration of both aspects of the community we see in the book of Acts—corporate prayer and fasting in unity AND a community running together in their daily lives.

An Acts 2 community of believers would see one week, someone has no groceries. So, they would give money to that person to buy food. The next week, the person who had no groceries is suddenly blessed with a large financial donation, and they give to another friend had their car break down.

Of course, there are negative ditches that people fall into on both sides of this road. Sometimes, people do not have proper boundaries and allow others to take advantage of their generous spirit, and sometimes people can develop co-dependent relationships “sharing their possessions,” because they need inner-healing. Other times, a person may become dependent on the labor of others and not work for themselves. However, there is a healthy, godly way of having this type of giving in a community, and God is going to teach His church how to do it.

God designed the Body of Christ to give financially to one another and help support each other in times of need. Also, He designed the Body of Christ to have fellowship, constantly meeting together and being involved one another’s lives. We must realize that the idea of corporate prayer and corporate outpouring absolutely cannot be separated from loving and caring for the needs of individuals in the body and the mutual involvement of believers in the lives of those in their community.