The Road Back to Remarkable

There are discussions all the time about how the church needs to return to its roots. Some declare they are striving to be an 'Acts church'. Which simply means they're striving to replicate the energy, excitement and behavior of the earliest churches as described in the Biblical book of Acts.

The truth is, to be an Acts church a couple of things would have to happen. First, you'd have to return to communal living. Read the book. Everyone sold what they had, pooled all their resources and worked diligently to see that all members of the church were taken care of. While there were some communes in the 1960's and '70's that pulled this off for a time, I'm not aware of any churches that are accomplishing that today. The only exception is the ministry of Jesus People USA based in Chicago. They truly live as a community and if you want to know what that looks like, check it out.

The other thing the church in Acts had going for it was that it was remarkable. By that I mean it was operating so out of the mainstream of the culture that it caused people to remark about it. Not only to remark, but to attack it, persecute it and fear the changes it brought to the human experience. Over time it seemed that the culture adapted to having Christians around. But I'm wondering if it's more true that the church adapted itself to the culture. In truth it was probably a little bit of both.

For whatever reason, eventually the church became unremarkable. Governments co-opted religion to accomplish their purposes. Churches went along to get along. Christianity became one of the respected world religions. Along the way the church was the flash point for amazing art, architecture, music, drama and other cultural expressions. Nevertheless, it still became unremarkable.

The question that occurred to me this morning is, how do we get back on the road to remarkable as a church? What will it take for the Christian church to shake the foundations of the culture as it once did? It is happening in other countries, but what about here in the United States. One answer that came to me is that we truly return to living as Jesus did. We uncompromisingly serve. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, speak truth to power, address injustice, care for widows and orphans. What if the church reclaimed hospitals (a hospital named after Christ wasn't originally a for profit enterprise!) as places of mercy and compassion for the sick and dying. What if churches opened exemplary schools that returned education to a foundation of Biblically based values.

Those are some initial thoughts. I'd love to hear how you would put the church back on the road to remarkable. Share examples of remarkable ministries if you have them. Always love to see examples of radically effective ministries.