If you have been attending Willowdale Chapel these past few weeks, you know we are working through a series in Acts 2 called The Place to Be. The pastoral staff has been encouraging us to imagine our church as a place where we consistently do life together.

Acts 2:42-47 says,

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

So what does that mean for us?

ATTEND CHURCH TOGETHER AND HAVE COMMUNION

The pandemic presented a time where we needed to study the word and worship online. But there is something different about being together with other believers. Now that we can be in buildings and hear the message, worship with the band live, and feel the praise of God come from those around us, it’s such a different experience. And we are called to it. There is a reason it was encouraged in the early church. It means making attending a priority when our busyness tempts us to do something different. The church is not the same without you there! I urge you to start attending in person regularly; you will not regret it.

PRAY

In my opinion, prayer is the most intimate part of our relationship with God. The early church was not only devoted to God, but they were so in love with him that the Lord added daily to their numbers those who were being saved. It makes sense that the early church was praying – talking to the Lord consistently -- and it was attracting others to the faith. Prayer is a practice that does take time to learn if you’re unfamiliar, but you can start small by praying through a passage in the Bible, such as a brief Psalm. You can speak to Him and praise Him for who He is. If I don’t know where to begin, I often offer thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for. (I learned a lot about thanksgiving through reading the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp!) But I can speak firsthand on how deepening the practice of prayer has changed everything in my life. It is such a comfort on a hard day to know I speak to the Creator of the Universe, and He has ordered my steps.

GIVE

The Acts church literally sold what they had so everyone had all their needs met. Reading that verse made me think about our family’s approach to our possessions. Here I am building up my wealth to prepare for retirement and other expenses that may occur. While that is not bad, I wondered if I was giving in a way that would honor the Lord. If I am honest, I am not. I was scared to write this part of this blog because this is something in which I have not been faithful. But I have been so encouraged by a recent sermon at Willowdale Chapel by Carole Hoy and Jim Conkle that we are going to make a change in my family. We need to give more. Our family chose to put our financial giving to the church on automatic withdrawal so that it’s not optional. Is this something that you need to add to your life?

HAVE MEALS TOGETHER

Being with others is so fun! Eat with the people you live close to or often cross paths with in daily life. Invite them over and get to know them. Or have your best friends over to talk about what you’re going through in life. If you are embarrassed to have people over, I’d say don’t be, but maybe go out to eat the first time. Spending time with people grows our relationship with them and the fellowship is mutually encouraging to each other’s faith. My friend, Hope, is such a good cook and whenever she invites us over to share her love language of cooking and homemade baking, I feel so loved.

So where do you begin? It starts by saying YES to something. One small step. This idea started with a campaign our church is doing for the children’s ministry: Saying yes to volunteering. What element can you say yes to in regard to this passage in Acts and the messages these past few weeks preached at our church? I believe Acts 2 is for all believers right now. There are churches all over the country with this same message of “saying yes” because we need to unite, grow strong and deepen our faith in a time of apathy across the country.

What’s your role in this? Maybe it is going to be tithing 10 percent and giving out of a servant’s heart to the Lord. Maybe you are going to be intentional about getting to know new members of the church body. But pick an area in this passage and say yes to doing it. We are all in this together and need one another. I encourage you to share with a friend or in the comments what you plan to do. You know my next step. We are going to tithe consistently. What’s yours?

ABOUT OUR BLOGGER

Susan Veenema and her husband, Jeremy, love exploring Chester County with their two older biological daughters and three adopted children. Susan has been in education for almost 20 years supporting children with disabilities and their families. She currently works at the Department of Education.

One of her greatest joys is leading Thursday night women's Bible study and her couples community group. People are her passion. She loves to read, write and study everything from history to social sciences to the early church. You'll always find her trusty German Shorthaired Pointer by her side.