Characteristics of a Growing Church - What church should really look like

Characteristics of a Growing Church - What Church Should Really Look Like

Speaker Tony Uddin takes us back to Acts chapter two to explore what the early church actually looked like. Not a building with programmes and production values, but a community of changed people devoted to one another. The picture he paints challenges much of what we've come to expect from "church" in the modern West, and offers something far more compelling.

Changed People, Not Perfect People

Tony starts with something foundational: the early church was made up of changed people. Not perfect people. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that these early believers had their problems and their issues, but they were people who had been transformed through an encounter with Jesus.

This matters because otherwise we look at a passage like Acts 2 and think, "How do we go about living that way?" But the key thing is we'll never live that way unless we've encountered what they encountered. And they had encountered Jesus.

Tony studied political philosophy as a young man and noted that in an ideal world, there's some sense to the idea of people with less getting more, and those with more being able to give what they have to others. But as he put it, "The fact is it doesn't work. It's impractical. Because it doesn't deal with the issue of selfishness, of human sin, of greed."

What we see in the Book of Acts is far better. We see a people who live in community, sharing what they have, being generous to one another, not living selfishly but living differently, aware of their responsibility to others. But that only happened because they encountered Jesus.

As Tony explained, "Ultimately the truth is that only changed people change people."

More Than a Meeting

It's really helpful to think about what we mean when we use the word "church." In the Bible, the word church never refers to a building. It always refers to a gathering of people. The word used is Ecclesia: the assembly, the gathering of people. A building is simply the place in which a church meets, but the church is never the building. It's always the people.

Tony made a vital distinction: the early church was a community to belong to, not simply a meeting to attend. In the New Testament, believing in Jesus not only connected people to God the Father through his son Jesus, but because of the work of the Holy Spirit transforming lives and shaping individuals, it brought people together into a community.

It wasn't possible to simply believe in Jesus in isolation. Believing in Jesus brought people into a family and the community of church.

If we look at Acts chapter two, we see the word "together" time and time again. That's important because in our culture, we are often very individualistic. We talk about our personal faith, and in one sense, faith is always personal. But it always has implications for how we live our lives, and that means it brings us to a commitment to God's people.

As Tony put it, "Church is a team sport. It's not something that we are designed to do on our own."

What Real Fellowship Looks Like

The early believers held things in common. People didn't see their own possessions and goods simply as their own, but they saw their responsibilities towards others. Those who had gave and helped to meet the needs of those who didn't have. That's a radical version of church.

Fellowship is more than just friendship. It's a joining of hearts. It goes beyond what is on the surface to something deeper. Being part of a church isn't just coming to a meeting and reading the Bible, maybe singing, and going home. It's about being committed to relationships with others, following Jesus together.

They were in each other's homes. They spent time together. They ate together. They prayed together. They experienced difficulty, loss, persecution even, and they experienced it together.

But this community was never insular. The churches of the New Testament were outward looking. Tony explained how the early church was known for the way it helped the marginalised and the poor, the way it brought together young and old, rich and poor, slave and free, Jew and Gentile. Those distinctions and barriers utterly marked out the ancient world, yet the church was the place where people crossed boundaries.

Real fellowship takes us across boundaries. It doesn't mean sharing a culture in common. It means that, because we share a Saviour in common, we live differently.

What does that look like in 21st century Britain? Tony suggested it may not mean we sell our homes, but it does mean we recognise our responsibilities toward one another. It means we are generous in helping to meet the needs of others. It means my home is not my castle but a place where I want to invite others in. It means I only find the true me, I only find real meaning, not just in myself but in my relationships with others as I grow together as part of a community of faith.

Devoted to What Matters

Acts chapter 2, verse 42 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer,” (NIV.)

Tony drew attention to that word: devoted. It carries a sense of exclusivity. There's a cost to being devoted to something or someone.

He's been married close to 25 years and is devoted to his wife. That devotion has a cost. When he got married, he made a promise: "forsaking all others." Being devoted to her meant exclusivity. Devotion to one excludes devotion to others.

There was a sense in which the early church was devoted to these things: to teaching, to understanding, to growing in their knowledge of God, to their relationships with their brothers and sisters in church. Not to the total exclusion of all others, but these were the primary relationships. They prioritised being together, sharing meals, sharing the presence of God, remembering what Christ had done. They prioritised prayer.

Living this way requires some limitations on us. Being committed to a local church means there has to be a priority around relationships that last. If we are devoted to something, we see it through good times and bad.

Tony smiled as he said, "Sometimes it is pretty tough to be a Liverpool football club fan! The club has gone from highs, to some pretty poor performances. But if you really love something, you stick with it through good times and bad."

It's the same with church. There will be difficult times. There will be people who annoy you. There will be people you might fall out with. Commitment to a church means seeing through difficulties, being committed to working through differences.

A Lifestyle of Learning

The early church was committed to the apostles' teaching. They had a lifestyle of learning. They wanted to grow in their knowledge of God and their love for one another, and they knew that meant understanding, being committed to growing in their knowledge of the truth.

For us, that means being committed to growing in our knowledge and understanding and application of the Bible, but also to grow in our love for one another. They didn't want to just grow their minds; they wanted to see their lives changed.

Tony referenced 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others," (NIV). In other words, what you have learned together, grow together and pass it on.

They were committed to common teaching. They weren't committed to their own view of stuff. They were committed to receiving truth, wrestling with it, applying it, and passing on that truth to others.

One of the challenges we face now is a cultural mindset that places ourselves at the centre of the narrative. We rely on ourselves. Everything is about how I feel and what I think about it. That's the spirit of our age, but ultimately it's very limiting and destructive. It means we have to create meaning in and of ourselves, and that's a job that no human being is up to.

Conversation Street

Why is humility so important when it comes to church?

Dave Connolly pointed out that if Acts 2 were written today, we might say we were "devoted to our own teaching" rather than the apostles' teaching. We live in an individualistic society where most of us want to be devoted to our own view of things.

But devotion to the apostles' teaching speaks of humility. You humble yourself. You see something of God in a person, and you humble yourself to them. As Dave put it, "God's always attracted to people who are humble."

When Jesus sees people humbling themselves, he responds, and transformation takes place. There's something about sitting under ministry, receiving humbly, weighing what people have to say and what they model.

What can we learn from the Asbury revival?

Matt shared what Pete Greig observed about the outpouring at Asbury University in Kentucky. It was very gentle, very lo-fi. There was zero production value. There were no words on a screen, no hype. It didn't happen at a large church with a celebrity pastor. It was led by Gen Z students.

Everything that Gen X and Gen Y think is necessary to gather a crowd was not happening. It was a guy with a guitar doing worship. Very simple. But there was an overwhelming sense of peace for a generation experiencing unprecedented anxiety. There was a sense of belonging for a generation experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. There was humble leadership for a generation sick and tired of narcissistic leaders. There was participatory adoration for a generation consumed by digital distraction.

Dave noted that similar things are happening in numerous places. God is stirring something. As he put it, "There shouldn't be anything complex. We should be able to come together and eat and fellowship and worship God and pray together."

Has church become too consumeristic?

Dave suggested that lots of people, when they go to church, have been watching high-production entertainment. So when they encounter someone playing a guitar or ukulele, it doesn't fit the consumer side of them.

We're exposed to such a high level of performance through media that even in church we have expectations. We've created "celebrity pastors" and expect production values.

But as Dave reflected, "This morning I was in a little church in somebody's home. It was rough but wonderful. There was no flashing lighting. It was all about the presence of Jesus. And we worshipped together and fellowshipped together and prayed. There was nothing attractional in the natural sense, but it certainly attracted the Holy Spirit."

He added, "I'm not dismissing the bigger gatherings. They met in the temple courts, which are a good size. As well as from home to home."

What's the difference between programmes and real community?

Dave made a distinction between creating programmes and journeying with people. "You get to know people. You go through the good times and the challenging times. We had to deal with bereavements, marriage challenges, a whole variety of things, but we were able to journey together and support each other. This is what the Acts church is about. This is what authentic church is. It's not a programme."

Matt agreed: "If I look back over my Christian life, the transformative experiences have usually been around breaking bread at somebody's house or eating a meal and we prayed or something happened."

Your Next Step This Week

Here are practical ways to live out what the early church modelled:

1. Invite someone round — Whether you're watching a service online or gathering to pray, invite one or two people to join you. Do church in your home with friends who may or may not be church people.

2. Be devoted, not casual — Think about what you're actually committed to. Are you seeing church through good times and bad, or only when it suits you?

3. Share your story — Get to know others and let others know you. Share your good side and your bad side, your struggles and fears, your strengths and weaknesses.

4. Look outward — Real fellowship crosses boundaries. Consider who's on the margins of your community and how you might include them.

5. Keep it simple — You don't need production values to meet with God. A few friends, some food, worship, prayer, and honest conversation might be exactly what's needed.

The Hope of the World

We see in the early church a sense of generosity, community, and growth. They kept feeling a sense of awe. Why? Because God is real and he's doing great things.

Tony's encouragement is worth sitting with: think about what it means for you to be part of a local church where you know others and others know you.

As Matt put it at the end of Conversation Street, "I still think the church is the hope of the world." Whether it's online, in a living room with a few people, or in a big gathering, the church, when it looks like Acts 2, is still amazing.

The question is: what would happen if we actually did this? If we devoted ourselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer? If we stopped overcomplicating it and just started living it?