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The Look of Acts
Robert Hart What the Church Steadfastly Does Every Sunday
My wife and I recently had dinner with some friends who go to a large and very modern church. While we ate, we listened to them tell of their frustration. They are unhappy because a large cross that was the central focus of what is, in their terminology, the worship space, had been replaced by large video screens. The Sunday services, they complained, were no longer a time of worship, prayer, and preaching, but were more like a rock concert, a show. A verse from the Book of Acts came to my mind, prompting a discussion of what needs to take place in church services, as opposed to performances: "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (2:42).
Several years ago, I read about a proposed drive-through "church" for people in a hurry. They could go to a place similar to a drive-through bank, say a few prayers in their car, receive communion somehow, and go on their merry way. Such "worshipers" need not waste their time on any of the things associated with the experience of a full-blown service.
Those who treat their church simply as a sacrament factory and those who treat it more like a rock concert than a worship service are on opposite ends, perhaps, of the same error. The verse from Acts tells us how to avoid both extremes by specifying the proper context and necessary components of a Christian church service, no matter what the denomination or tradition.
What does it mean to "continue steadfastly" in those four things specified in Acts? Let's take a closer look at each one.
The Apostle's Doctrine
First, "the apostles' doctrine." All Christians endeavor to believe in the apostolic church, though history has left us with various understandings of what that means. In the Anglican tradition, for instance, a specific taste for either a high or a low church may govern one's choice of parish. In my jurisdiction alone (the Anglican Catholic Church, formed in 1977), both high and low congregations have existed for years as a matter of local style, but not as reflecting a difference in essential theology. In the larger context of the church, thinking in terms of mere Christianity, it is quite obvious that there are different kinds of services and even different doctrines.
Still, there are essential doctrines that all believers share and that mark out an important, indeed necessary, common ground. These include the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of God's Son, Christ's virgin birth, his atoning death and sacrifice, his Resurrection from the dead on the third day to die no more, the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and "the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead on the Last Day" (Book of Common Prayer) when Christ returns in glory. Where this common ground does not exist, it is not possible to recognize a religious body as a church that is attempting to "continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine."
We all know that some people regard themselves as Christians even though they affiliate with a body that fails to hold these doctrines or that is willing to compromise on them. Many have abandoned any effort at fidelity to the apostles' doctrine in favor of trendy innovations concerning the commandments of God. Falsely claiming prophetic authority to contradict centuries of accepted doctrine and biblical exegesis, they replace God's laws with heresies that blatantly approve of immorality. They claim that God is still speaking to them, but, like the rest of the world, they do not know the Lord. They advocate everything from homosexual "marriage" to murdering babies in the womb.
God is indeed still speaking. He speaks whenever we read the Bible faithfully, and whenever we continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. But just as there are many wrong answers—indeed, an infinite number of wrong answers—to the question, "What does two plus two equal?", so there are numerous wrong doctrines.
Bank tellers do not learn how to spot counterfeit money by studying the counterfeits. Instead, they learn to recognize the fakes by becoming very familiar with the real thing. If we are to avoid the deceptions of our common enemy, we, too, need to become very familiar with true doctrine. It is the apostles' doctrine that must be preached from our pulpits, taught in our Sunday schools, and always brought to people's remembrance. Denominational differences exist, but what is recognizably Christian can always be found in this common ground.
Robert Hart is rector of St. Benedict's Anglican Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (Anglican Catholic Church Original Province). He also contributes regularly to the blog The Continuum. He is a contributing editor of Touchstone.
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