The Dynamics of a True Church

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching...

— People are smarter than they let on. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to grasp scripture, but scripture can be tricky at times. The Holy Spirit will guide us, but we can also do diligence to study His word with study bibles and commentaries whether in hand or online. People are in charge of their own spiritual growth. Bill Eliff once said “You know as much about a subject as you would like to.” People have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. People cannot easily make valid excuses for their lack of understanding nowadays, but if they truly want to grow then they can do so with some work.

— The model of the church is that the people devote themselves to the apostles teaching, though. Now we do not have living Apostles anymore, but we do have pastors. If the people are to devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles, then the people will only be as strong as their apostles are. (theoretically) I am young, and I know many who are stronger than I. I am young, and I know many that I am stronger than that are older. When you find a pastor who believes that they have little room to grow, you have found a dangerous man to follow. By this model, the pastor must grow himself as the church grows underneath him. If the pastor does not grow, the church will be stunted. (This does not mean that people will not grow on their own as mentioned in point #1, but following the example the pastor must be in charge of leading and growing the church)

— Pastors should take keen interest into their own spiritual lives and understand that if they are not growing, then their church is not growing, and if it does grow it will grow in spite of them and not because of them. If your church does well, in a perfect world, you will do well also. Keep this in mind.

Fellowship

— Breaking of Bread

— Prayers