Tuesday, October 04, 2011

8 Essential Characteristics Your Church Needs


If you want your church to have the impact of the early church, the book of Acts shows us 8 essential characteristics we need in our congregations --

Supernatural power (Acts 2:3-4) -- We don’t just talk about God; we experience Him. This is what makes the Church different from every other organization on the planet. We have the Holy Spirit. Microsoft doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. The United States government doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. The Red Cross doesn’t have the Holy Spirit. No other organization has the power of God in it. God promised His Spirit to help His Church.

Use everybody’s language (Acts 2:4) -- This passage isn’t about speaking in tongues. It’s about the gospel being communicated in real languages. People actually heard the early Christians speak in their own languages -- whether that was Farsi, Swahili, German, Greek, or whatever. God says from the very first day of the church that the Good News is for everyone. It’s not just for Jews. It’s amazing grace for every race. But the power of Acts isn’t just about the language of your country of origin. It’s also about languages spoken only in particular subcultures -- like mothers of preschoolers or people into hip-hop or accountants or truck drivers. God says in His Church, everyone’s language gets used. Are you helping your people use their “language” to reach people with the Good News? To read more, click here.

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