What do you think?
Rate this book
Devoted: Six practices and principles of Christ’s 1st century community for the 21st century Church
Throughout this short book, a passage of Scripture, Acts 2:41-47, will be examined. These verses describe the primitive Early Church comprising of some of the first disciples made after Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension. As will be seen, this young, fledging Church’s procedures and practices were fairly simplistic. Initially there were no denominations, little structure and minimal governance compared to what we have today. This came later as the Church grew and experienced both internal and external challenges, thus needing to adapt appropriately to its circumstances, context and culture.
Initially, in Acts 2, we see a group of people who were committed and devoted to Christ and his Church – a group of people who experienced the blessing of God despite their fair share of battles and in a real sense, their words and works acted as a ‘magnet’ to the world and community around them. Luke tells us ‘they had favour with all the people’ (Acts 2:47). By their devotion to God and each other, despite persecution, they attracted many others to the faith. For example, we know that by Acts 4, another 2000 men at least had joined their ranks (v4), by Acts 5 they had ‘filled Jerusalem with their teaching’ (v28) and by Acts 17, some 20 years after the harvest of souls on the Day of Pentecost, ‘they had turned the world upside down’ (v6) or, should I say, the right way up!
The 1st century community were first and foremost devoted to Christ as Messiah and they showed this devotion to him through such practices under the Apostles’ teaching - adhering to sound and scriptural doctrineFellowshipsharing the ‘profits’ and the ‘losses’ with others in the ‘ship’Breaking Bread- remembering the Lord and respecting each otherPrayerconversing with God, privately and publicly
In addition, they were committed to other principles Generositygiving their time, talents and treasure to othersPraisesinging to a God who, himself, sings over us!
Each of these six principles are unpacked in turn and at the end of each chapter, there are questions to answer for individual study or to discuss in a group.
Initially, in Acts 2, we see a group of people who were committed and devoted to Christ and his Church – a group of people who experienced the blessing of God despite their fair share of battles and in a real sense, their words and works acted as a ‘magnet’ to the world and community around them. Luke tells us ‘they had favour with all the people’ (Acts 2:47). By their devotion to God and each other, despite persecution, they attracted many others to the faith. For example, we know that by Acts 4, another 2000 men at least had joined their ranks (v4), by Acts 5 they had ‘filled Jerusalem with their teaching’ (v28) and by Acts 17, some 20 years after the harvest of souls on the Day of Pentecost, ‘they had turned the world upside down’ (v6) or, should I say, the right way up!
The 1st century community were first and foremost devoted to Christ as Messiah and they showed this devotion to him through such practices under the Apostles’ teaching - adhering to sound and scriptural doctrineFellowshipsharing the ‘profits’ and the ‘losses’ with others in the ‘ship’Breaking Bread- remembering the Lord and respecting each otherPrayerconversing with God, privately and publicly
In addition, they were committed to other principles Generositygiving their time, talents and treasure to othersPraisesinging to a God who, himself, sings over us!
Each of these six principles are unpacked in turn and at the end of each chapter, there are questions to answer for individual study or to discuss in a group.
53 pages, Paperback
Published May 29, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.