I have been reading SimChurch by Doug Estes and I read this paragraph that I just had to share with everyone, especially since I have grown so weary over the years of all this talk that we need to “get back to the church of the Book of Acts” (as if that church had any fewer problems that our own). Estes writes,
Everyone wants to claim that their church, their movement, or their ecclesiology is “closest” or a “return” to the early church. Frankly, I get sick and tried of that arguement. I don’t care how many books are published each year that claim such-and-such a movement is the real Acts 2 way; they’re all disingenuous. Why can’t we accept the fact that we will never again be just like the early church? That no one will ever again be swallowed by a fish for three days and regurgitated to call Nineveh to repentance? That we don’t need to be a carbon copt of what we guess the earliest church was really like to be faithful to God’s call. That we should do the best we can today to reach today’s generation in the way that God has prepared for today. (p 108)
Doug is right. We were not placed on this earth to participate in the mission of God in the first century to Palestinian and Dispora Jews, ancient Greeks, and Romans (to name a few). We have some problems that Peter and Paul never faced. We are doing some things better than the early church ever could have done it. All this being said, God has placed us in the here and now. We are not the “apostolic” era church; we are the modern church, and its OK.
the archives near Emmaus 
Well… we are the modern church, and we’re not OK, but that’s okay.
I do agree that it shouldn’t be about form. But I also think there are aspects of the early church’s nature we do need to recover.
Thanks for the post.
@Bill,
I think we are already there. We have churches that shine brightly in dark situations and we have churches that need the same correction as those who were rebuked in the Book of Revelation; we have some strong leaders and many false teachers; we are both like and dislike the early church depending on where you focus.
For instance, I’d venture to say that most of our churches are better off than the one in Corinth. This doesn’t mean there are not some churches going that direction, but that is exactly the point. The apostolic church was a mess too.
I agree that there were things about the early church that needed fixing…after all, it was the infant church. However, for being an infant it demonstrated a remarkable power that the “mature” church is most decidedly without. We are reduced to convincing others by argument, rather than demonstration…and that’s not a good thing, all the evangelical arguments to the contrary.
And while the Corinthian church was most certainly a mess, they were a mess without the benefit of 2000 years of cultural Christianity. They weren’t a mess because of spiritual apathy and morally bankrupt leaders.
While the postmodern Church should most certainly be bigger, better, and stronger than the early church, and have a different “face”, there should also be things encoded in her spiritual DNA that are unchangeable. Simplicity, compassion, real spiritual power, community…these are a few of the things that most definitely be present now.
All of those crying for a restoration of the Apostolic church should not be ignored. They are crying out from a sense of need. There are fundamentals that should be present that are not, things that should be in our nature as a Church that are not. So perhaps we should listen.
@Canadian,
Sure, there are elements that need to be “restored” here and there. We always need to be reminded that we can approve in this or that area. We always need to be reminded that there were certain aspects of the early church that we can recover. But to act as if the early church was the perfect ideal and we need to become like them to make it all better is a bit foolish to me. The church is built on the apostolic foundation; we aren’t supposed to just remain the foundation.
I agree. The early church was not the ideal…it was messy, poorly organized, chaotic, and even at times (gasp) heretical. But wow. What they did with what they had amazes me. For me, Brian, the appeal of the early church is the simplicity and spirit that appears in Acts. Of course, I admit to the possibility of being weary with the complexity of society being reflected in the way we “do church”. Maybe that’s what spurs me to Acts.
But hey…I’m going to be reading your stuff on a regular basis!