Church of Acts

Livethebible.info is designed to be a centralized source of information and inspiration for church of Acts genre resources and a place for such saints to unite. The mission is equipping Christians for ministry mobilization.

In an effort to facilitate the Lord’s work, this is a rare and unique opportunity to forge a foundation independent of denominational influence. The goal is to exclusively look to Scripture and the witness of the earliest church as the source for both belief and practice. The result is churches with a rare and distinctive package.

The church of Acts genre is here identified as the combination of three streams of influence, all represented in various modern Christian groups. One is holding to a kingdom theology, maintaining the supremacy of the teachings of Christ. This persuasion is a New Covenant theology that subscribes to a natural reading of the Scriptures, understanding the balance of the New Testament in the context of the teachings of Jesus Christ. This is the theology shared by the Ante-Nicene church, or first few hundred years of Christianity. These were the churches and disciples closest to the Apostolic period, at a time when the church was united, and completely devoid of denominational division. Today this understanding is best represented by some of the remnant Anabaptist movements.

The second stream is operating in the power and leading of the Holy Spirit and moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament and Ante-Nicene church moved with power, signs and wonders being commonplace. God ministered to His people directly through revelatory gifts. These practices were largely absent or dismissed through a large swath of church history. Many believe this was God’s intent, that He suspended the Holy Spirit’s work. Early church history demonstrates that the work of the Holy Spirit continued long after the death of the Apostles, and even the completion of the Bible, and only diminished as the church became compromised. In modern times, it is the Charismatic and Pentecostal groups that best represent this stream of influence.

The third stream is the adoption of Apostolic biblical practices. Such practices include a Spirit-led interactive fellowship, the Lord’s table regularly, two-by-two evangelism, and meeting in homes. The churches are missional and evangelistic, recognizing all saints as gifted soldiers and emissaries of Christ. They value and uphold the biblical roles of leadership and church discipline, without the authoritarianism and abuse, while not neglecting their importance. These practices are best represented by the cross-cultural mission movements who espouse multi-generational discipleship and house church planting.

These three streams of influence were all fully represented in the church in the Book of Acts. They seldom overlap in modern representations of the bride of Christ. Two may collide in some groups, but we almost never see all three. Our vision is to change that.

Another element of fellowships affiliated with this mission is the commitment to strive to maintain unity of heart, mind, spirit, and purpose, all in humility. Relationships matter. With unity comes the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. With love comes attractiveness. Power and appeal yield growth. Growth spawns excitement and results in more attractiveness. This snowballs to create a mission machine, multiplying disciples and churches. A healthy church spawns emotionally and spiritually healthy disciples and healthy Christian families.

The teachings and resources here are field proven effective for reaching the lost, making strong disciples, and planting healthy churches. You will find information about front-line ministry best practices such as evangelism, healing, and deliverance. The biblical case for, practices of, and benefits of the home fellowship model are also presented. And above all, you can connect with others who share the same passion and vision for authentic church of Acts Christianity.

We invite anyone interested in learning about or participating in a modern day church of Acts movement to take a look around the site and take full advantage of the resources. If you desire more personal attention, consider signing up for a Christianity Arising conference, organizing a local conference or meeting, or connecting with participating saints via the Contact page. God bless you.