Building the Church

Read Acts 1:1-14 The Book of Acts is about building the Church. It shows how the first generation of disciples carried the Good News of Jesus Christ "to the ends of the earth." But before they did anything or went anywhere, verse 14 tells us that they gathered together in prayer as they awaited the arrival of the promised Holy Spirit.
What does this teach us about building the church today? Too often our established congregations forget about "building the church" and instead spend their energy "keeping up the building." What is the real purpose of a church building? Is it a place in which to build mission and ministry, a place in which to gather together in prayer so that we may be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be Christ's witnesses "to the ends of the earth", a place from which we practice extravagant generosity in the name of Christ? Or is the building to be kept as a pristine sanctuary, an empty museum of a long-ago era, even a mausoleum for the relics, the dry bones, of a once-living faith?
This is the real question, the real litmus test, of the faithfulness of any congregation to the call of the Gospel. And as we journey through the Book of Acts we will see that all the obstacles we face to building the Church today -- and more -- were faced and overcome by the faithfulness of those first generations of witnesses for Christ. May the Holy Spirit empower us to go and do likewise.