THE BOOK OF ACTS
FRONTIER COMMUNITIES RESOURCES
PracticeS
Follow along with each part of the series as we practice living out the implications of trusting this story of Acts in the Way of Jesus. We recommend you work through it with your Frontier Community, but if unable, grab a weekly meal with a small group of friends or neighbors, your roommates, whatever works. Get a group of people, set a time each week to share a meal, then talk and pray for about an hour. Transformation happens in community.
ACTS PREVIEW MESSAGE // “Fall Heart Re-set”
This message looks at some examples in Acts and church history of where we are aiming as a people that live for the renewal of all things, and the message will land on the 4 Marks of Community that Builds for Revival, looking at four features of the first "small community groups", and how we might work to recover them. Teaching (YouTube) // Podcast
Community Group Guides
Before you begin the practices with your community, listen through the teachings to understand why this practice is important and discover what it can do in your life. (We’ll be updated weekly from Sep 1- Mid Nov, 2024)
“The Ascension”: Experience the Closeness // Acts 1:1-11
There are several key changes in our relationship with God because of Jesus.
“The Spirit’s Sermon”: Breaking Barriers to Our Hearts // Acts 2:14-47
Intimacy with God restored + the Community built by the Spirit.
Teaching (YouTube) // Podcast
CG Guide
“The Activation” // Acts 8:1-17
Activating all God’s people in practicing the way. Meeting needs, reaching the lost, uniting enemies.
Teaching (YouTube) // Podcast
CG Guide
Optional Community Group guides
Use these in the first couple weeks as you build relationally with your groups or in other weeks that you aren’t working through the Acts Series.
More coming soon…
Our Modern Relationship to Acts
The book of Acts is about how the earliest church was essentially launched into a cosmopolitan and urban setting just like ours today. Our church has never been here just for convinced, believing Christians, but it’s also here for the people of Los Angeles who aren’t sure what they believe (or who don’t believe in Christianity). Acts is one of a few books in the New Testament that is pretty specifically written for skeptical people, but it also challenges us to contextualize the gospel in the way we live + how to strategically invite outsiders in!
Challenges that Acts Presents to us Today:
OUR MISSION. Acts demonstrates the priority of sharing our faith with others. These early evangelists sought to show that Christianity could answer the questions people were asking, and the records of the speeches indicate that their message was strongly content-oriented––i.e., they had something valuable and meaningful to say when the opportunity arose.
OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. Second, Acts presents a vibrant community that is passionate about the mission of the Church irrespective of their immediate circumstance.
OUR COMMUNITY. And more broadly, to a Western society in which individualism reigns, the earliest Christian community presents a people who strove to hold all things in common…
“Community as a Creative Minority” // Building off the concept of a “Creative Minority” that we began in our Exile Series from Daniel, Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks describes this with the basic idea that it’s a group of people on the fringe of culture – so, a minority. An ethnic minority, religious minority, etc – who rather than default to separatism ("let's get away") or syncretism ("let's give in") are creative and together, so as a community, they work for the good for the healing and the renewal of the wider culture that is in decline.
“A Christian community in a web of stubbornly loyal relationships that are knotted together in a living network of persons who are committed to practicing the way of Jesus together for the renewal of the world.”
Acts has a voice to several of our “modern arenas”…
TO CONTEMPORARY CHURCH
To a contemporary church that has adopted a style of community life aligned with Western individualism, Acts presents a group of Christians so committed to Christ and the cause of the Gospel that they were willing to sacrifice their desires for the good of others.
TO WESTERN SOCIETY
To a Western society where pluralism defines truth as something subjective and personal, Acts presents a church that based its life on certain objective facts about God and Christ Jesus.
TO SUFFERING
And in an age when many avenues are available to avoid suffering, in consequence of which many Christians have omitted suffering and trials from their understanding of the Christian life, Acts presents a church that took on suffering for the Gospel of Christ and considered it a basic ingredient of discipleship.
Recommended Reading FOR ACTS
Follow along with the recommended reading. We want to continually expand our minds and understanding of the way of Jesus. God wants us to love him not only with our hearts, souls, and strength, but with our minds as well.
Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, Tom Holland (The author rediscovered his faith in research for this book! An amazing secular, historical read… not all theology in book is sound;)
REVIEW: A “marvelous” (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination.
Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions.
Everyone Gets to Play, John Wimber.
A classic by the founder of the Vineyard Movement! John Wimber wasn't interested in religion -- he was interested in a relationship with Jesus and discovering how that impacted the way he lived his life and the people with whom he shared his life.
He viewed community as a great opportunity to put into practice the teachings of Jesus and felt following Jesus wasn't a spectator sport.
In Everyone Gets to Play, Wimber's writings and teachings on life together in Christ drives home the importance of one of his favorite sayings and shares some of his ideas on what that can look like. From taking risks to prayer to leading others, Wimber skillfully penned words from his writings and teachings still resonate powerfully today.
The Bible Project: Guide to the Book of Acts // Resources, Summary videos, Readings, Podcasts
BIG IDEA: The good news of the risen King Jesus leads to the formation of communities where individuals from various backgrounds are treated with equality as they pledge their allegiance to Jesus and live according to his teachings.
Key Themes
The power of the Holy Spirit given to human beings
Jesus’ ongoing mission to Israel and the nations after his departure
The self-giving faithfulness of the early Church
Structure
Acts is divided into five parts. Acts 1 details Jesus’ commission. 2-7 focus on the arrival of the Spirit and birth of the Church. 8-12 describe life within the Jesus movement. 13-20 recount the mission of the Church. And 21-28 end with Paul’s arrest.
QUESTIONING JESUS
Together the following books will give readers a good overview of Christian beliefs presented in the context of most contemporary arguments for and against their validity. The tones and styles of the books differ widely so we propose that if you pick one up and find it slow, feel free to choose another from the list that engages you more. What you learn from that first book can then be supplemented by the others from this list. (*These lists inspired from redeemer.com)
Reading Lists:
THE SEVEN BASICS
How Christianity Makes Emotional Sense
How Christianity Makes Cultural Sense
Why Christian Belief Is Rational: