What is the church for 2?

If you visit a church and it is your first time there you may not be able to tell what is going on.  In this blog there is a basic guide as to what they do in churches.  The basic structure of all activity in church stems from Acts 2:42:"They (the early Christians) devoted themselves to the teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer".  Well there you have it the basic recipe for what happens it churches.

• Teaching.  This is centered on the Christian holy book called the Bible.  Teaching takes place in several ways.  The main sermon or homily, the speech on Sunday morning is one of the ways that teaching is carried out in churches.  Teaching is also carried out in Sunday Schools and Bible Studies
• Fellowship. A word not used a lot in day to day speech, all it means though is living together in a Christian community in which a common life is shared beyond the Sunday service.  The interaction of fellowship is governed by what is taught in scripture.  So example the Bible says that if during our fellowship we have a disagreement, that disagreement needs to be sorted out following the guidelines of scripture.
• Breaking Bread.  This is also a practical thing, eating bread together is an indication of a community.  Eating with people that you do not get along with is a chore.  Eating where there is a common link is much better. Also, When Christians break bread together it is alluding to the communion or the last supper,  a symbol which Jesus said was a picture of his death and ressurrection.
• Prayer.  The church is a living organism because it is connected to God.  One of the main ways in which this is shown is that christians may talk to God.  This is called prayer.  Jesus taught the disciples to pray when he was on earth, so prayer is a central part of church life.  Christians pray at any time sometimes it is in church, but Jesus says that there is a special blessing for those who pray in private because God will reward in a public way.

These four elements represent the foundation blocks of what happens in church.  One word that covers these units is the word worship.  It means that God is worthy of all the effort made to remain connected to him.  This word comes from a root word which means to "kiss the feet of" and pictures a servant kissing the feet of the master.  In many churches Gods worthiness is expressed in the songs that are sung by the people who gather together.

If you are not sure what to do next time you visit, just ask the person next to you, in most cases they will be only too pleased to help.

New Testament Church of God (Handsworth)
244 Lozells Road
Handsworth
Birmingham
B19 1NP
0121 554 1358
www.ntcg-handsworth.org.uk/