Three Joys of Transformational Change.

In the book of Acts, there are seven episodes of the Early Church undergoing transformative change. In each of these episodes, we see THREE joys they experienced.

Spiritual Maturity

We see the Church experienced an increase in spiritual maturity. Generosity with time, talents, and treasures increased. Followers of Jesus grew in their faith with Jesus, AND, at the same time, grew in their capacity to love others well with the one another practices of Jesus.

Unity

In addition, the Church experienced a sense of oneness. The church would pivot and exercise its faith in practice by aligning (and at times realigning) itself with community unity and mission.

In the early church narrative, the community standards EXCEEDED individual rights. In other others, individuals thrived, including their personal goals to change, through the community standards the Early Church set.

Numerical Growth

And last, there is an increase in the number of people being saved. In fact, the historical narrative of Acts reveals that the church grew in number DAILY (Acts 16:5). What a great reality! Family, friends, and neighbours encountered Jesus through the church's spiritual maturity and unity!

This means that the local church is meant to win - to bring hope, healing, and hospitality to a broken and “rage bait” world.

For this to occur, local churches need to APPLY the transformational truths found in the book of Acts. If we do this well, then we can experience the joys of spiritual maturity (not immaturity), unity (not disunity), and growth (not decline) as individuals and communities.

Too often, we gravitate toward change as negative or disjointed, yet in the New Testament narrative, change is embraced as positive and joyful.

What are your joy(s) of change?