By Mic Thurber

Most folks don’t think about their health—until they lose it. It’s easy to think of good health as the absence of health problems. But we know better. Good health requires active choices and habits on our part. Good health isn’t an accident.

Church health is not an accident either. Healthy churches require proactive choices and habits to become vibrant and stay that way. While there is no biblical outline, description, or prescription for what constitutes a healthy church, it seems to me that Scripture does describe an environment in the church that received God’s blessing.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every- one was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs per- formed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42-47 NIV).

Four Foundational Factors

Of course, 2018 is a different time and place than first-century Palestine, but even so, there are principles we can glean from this passage that might be helpful:

They were devoted to the apostles’ teaching. They listened to those who had been with Jesus and knew Him firsthand. A lot of voices clamor for attention these days, including many who claim to be speaking the real truth, but who are really campaigning for acceptance of their version of truth. When churches listen to the wrong voices, they get off track theologically and health immediately suffers.

They were devoted to fellowship. They loved being together! They went out of their way to be together, and especially seemed to enjoy opening their homes to one another and eating together. They were unselfish and giving. They did more than just say they loved each other —they proved it by giving tangible gifts.

They were devoted to the breaking of bread together. Some only see an allusion here to a simple meal, but many see in these words a description of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper right in their homes. So precious was the celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that this special meal became a staple part of every meal. I see in this a special focus on the life, person, and work of Jesus. He was central to their way of life.

They were devoted to prayer. Prayer was as natural to them as breathing and, evidently, they were praying a lot. So important was it to them to stay close to the heart of God that they devoted themselves to these frequent conversations with the Almighty.

What I like most about this passage is the blessing found in the last sentence: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Because the early church was about the business of staying devoted to true teaching, fellowship, celebration of Jesus, and prayer, the Lord deemed it to be a safe place where He could bring new people.

Could it be that the Lord is willing to be our evangelist if we will model the healthy choices and habits of the early church? That could just turn our world upside down!

–Mic Thurber is ministerial director for the Mid-America Union Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. Reprinted with permission from OUTLOOK, June 2018.