Meaning Of Christianity In Act 1: 18

In Acts 1:8 is says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is part of the mission statement of the Church, to go out and spread the gospel of Jesus as well as to be witnesses. But there are many definitions of what the Church is to people. Some may say that the Church exists to glorify God and others will add that the Church is to evangelize (Moore, 25). When people talk about the Church today, they talk about the building or the programs that it puts on. But this is far from true; the Church is made up of flesh and blood rather than bricks (Moore, 26). Ephesians 3:6 states that the Gentiles are together with …show more content…
The word is used throughout the New Testament for the Church. Jesus used this term in Matthew 16 when He spoke on how He will build His church. Again, Jesus used this term as a body of Christians, which is then later referred in church discipline (Hayes, 3). In the New Testament, this new gathering can be represented as getting called out together. When Jesus came, He started a new adventure that would unite believers and the Church would then become the one true congregation of the redeemed (Hayes, 4). Jesus wanted to bring His word to those who have not had a chance to hear it. This is where Acts 1:8 comes into place with the church. The word church means to call out; Jesus called us out to unite believers and fulfill the mission of …show more content…
In the Old Testament, believers in God went to the temples to be closer to God because that is where he dwelled. Once we get into the New Testament the Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go, which means we do not need a temple to go into every time we want to get closer with God. The New Testament church was the beginning of the church mind set. Paul and others were telling the believers to gather together to learn more about God and His word that He has given to us as well as to then spread it to those who do not know the gospel of God. Because the church began in the New Testament it was very mission minded to spread the word of the gospel to those who have not heard. Paul was one of several of those missionaries to spread knowledge of what the Church is to look like. They had to spread diversity and to let others know that the Church wasn’t just for the Jews, but for those who wanted to be saved. Paul preached about a “unique message” about something unthinkable for Jews to do. It was to unite and bring together the Jews and Gentiles as “Joint-heirs” (Moore, 26). The Church is meant to be unified together as one body under Christ according to verses in the New Testament. One of the earliest Greek terms that used to explain fellowship was koinonia (Hayes, 9). In Acts 2:24, it states “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship [koinonia], to the breaking of bread and to the prayer…” This is