42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:42-47

So Pentecost came and the Holy Spirit came and a huge number of people came to faith in Jesus. Then what? Well, people who had turned to faith in Jesus started getting together—daily. That’s right. Every day. And what did they do when they got together? I count 5 things:

1) They devoted themselves to learning more about Jesus.
2) They devoted themselves to the fellowship (talking among themselves—the word for fellowship doesn’t mean chit-chat around a buffet; it means deep relationship and even one-ness).
3) They devoted themselves to eating together (or partaking of the Lord’s Supper; ‘breaking of bread’ could mean either or more likely both); apparently, they did it in their homes (v. 46).
4) The devoted themselves to prayer.
5) They worshipped. “Praising God” was part of the get-together.

Apparently, when they got together, they saw ‘many wonders and sign performed’, as well. So maybe we could say that the outcome was that a 6th thing happened. And a 7th thing that was an outcome was that people began to share. The point is, a lot of people have said, the new converts started doing church. And these 7 things is what their church looked like—every day!

Considering that today’s verses are nearly the only thing the Bible says about how church was done back in the early days, it’s important to consider if we’re doing it like this or if not, why not? There may be good reasons. None of this is mandated.

There’s a popular saying that the local church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. This early church doesn’t seem to be either. It seems more like a group of people gathering around their obsession with Jesus…learning more about Him, enjoying deep relationship with others around Him, celebrating Him in feasts and sacraments, praying to Him and worshiping Him together.

When people are that obsessed with Jesus, the outcomes that followed aren’t surprising: sharing and caring, and all those signs and wonders…maybe the hospital aspect was healing people. Who knows?

My point? Let’s not get so myopic about our style of church that we can’t learn from the people who started the concept. They have something to say to us today.