And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
This verse contains the most complete, yet succinct description of what a New Testament church is about. The verse can be divided into six descriptions of what kind of place the church is to be. Let’s consider the first of six.
1. The Church is a place for believers. In the previous verse (v.41) we read that “those who gladly received his [Peter’s] word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” Those who gladly received Peter’s word received Christ and the Gospel, for that was what Peter preached. (v.42) begins, “and they,” followed by what “they” did. Who are the “they”? They were those who received Christ and the Gospel. They were believers.
The church is a place for believers. The Church welcomes non-believers (who will hear the message of Christ and the Gospel and hopefully be saved), but the Church is for believers. The membership of the Church must be made up, as best as can be determined, of believers. This informs and directs what the Church does, as will be seen in the subsequent five descriptions of a New Testament church. This is important so the Church doesn’t get sidetracked away, from what God’s Word says the Church is to be, into being what non-believers want it to be.
The Church is to be about the Word, fellowship, sacraments, and prayer—not entertainment, and/or secondary social endeavors.
What about evangelism? Christ’s command was for believers to go out into the world for evangelism (Matthew 28:18-20), not for non-believers to come into the church for evangelism. Individual believers sometimes like the idea of the Church being a place for evangelism so they don’t have to evangelize.
When the Church begins to cater to non-believers instead of to believers, or when believers leave evangelism up to the Church instead of sharing the Gospel with family and friends, the Church is missing the importance of the first of six marks of the Church.
Next time: The Church is a place of commitment…