Today in my scripture reading I came across Acts 2:42 : "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers." From the very beginning, there was an understanding of what was important, what was absolutely necessary, for the success of the church: learning, prayer, participation in ritual (the breaking of the bread was, more than likely, communion), and fellowship.

In their brilliant book, Growing Spiritual Redwoods, Bill Easum and Tom Bandy describe what an effective church, a "spiritual redwood" looks like. The book is golden, every page an outpouring of love for the church. When I cam across the passage from Acts this morning, it reminded me of a passage I had read from their book a couple of weeks ago. They describe what they see as the system of "reciprocal rewards" that is inherent in many traditional churches: "If you do this for the institution, the institution will do this for you." and "If the institution does this for you, it has the right to expect you will do that for the institution." They contrast this with what they call the system of shared disciplines (139):

"First, every individual separately pursues disciplines of prayer and Bible reading...Second, every individual is linked to a small group in which prayer and Bible reading are shared, and in which honest conversation seeks to discern how faith can change and direct daily living...Third, every individual is linked to the larger organism of the spiritual redwood...Fourth, all individuals seriously endeavor to engage their faith with daily living, through constant attention to their mission."

Powerful, exciting thoughts on how to be church.