*culture is not optional

Reviving Acts 2

Modeling the early church in our local communities

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

As we are increasingly connected to our global neighbors through technology, we have less time to develop connections with our geographic neighbors. This is not only a problem among people in the same neighborhood, but also among Christians in the same town. It's typically a rare occasion when we enter the doors of another congregation's building. Each church has its own concerns, programs, services, essentially churches are self-sufficient spiritual communities.

But is this the way things are meant to be?

While we think it's important for church families to maintain a manageable size so no members get left behind, we also think there should be opportunities for all Christians within a given community to learn and work together. Occasional interdenominational services are nice, but what we're proposing is a structure for more regular opportunities for the body of Christ to come together, share ideas, and combine resources.

acts+two communities would use the cooperative efforts of local churches to help Christians develop relationships and learn from one another across denominational lines. Our vision for this mode is to provide the structure and some resources for churches in defined communities to offer combined educational programs on topics that are relevant to that particular community. We would also help Christians in different communities work together by publishing topical course materials on our web site. This publishing would allow, for example, Community A, which just started experiencing racial tension recently, to draw on the race reconciliation materials that Community B developed two years ago to address the same problems.

In a sense, an acts+two community will resemble a university. Churches will work together to provide regularly scheduled classes on a variety of topics, from contemplative prayer to responding to homelessness, whatever topics are appropriate for the community. Members of the community will then choose which classes they would like to attend. Leaders of the classes can combine their own materials and experiences with resources that are published on the *culture is not optional web site.

There are many advantages to the acts+two structure, including:

• Effective solutions to community problems coming out of a church setting.
• Healing the polarization of the Christian community into "liberals" and "conservatives."
• Modeling the unity that the first Christians experienced by helping today?s Christians rediscover their common purpose.
• Encouraging Christians to grow deeper in spiritual maturity with the knowledge that they have the support of their local church community.

This mode essentially seeks to achieve one of our primary goals as an organization and that is to equip Christians to provide positive unified leadership in today's culture. Think about a pressing problem in the community where you live. Now think about the amazing potential your local churches have to address that problem if they all work together. Maybe you already have a model for such problem-solving in your community. Maybe you think your community could benefit from having such a structure in place. Either way, we need your input, support and participation if we're going to make acts+two communities a reality. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or suggestions.