Real community?

I've preached on Acts 2 and the nature of the early church a number of times, I love the picture it gives of devotion to God's word, to God's people, and to God's gospel.  I love how you see the gospel central to everything the early church does as they worship together, break bread together and are in and out of one another's home.  It is a gospel community that we long for, there's no isolation, no family units at the exclusion of others, no isolated singles missing out on the meals shared by young marrieds, children see the gospel modelled by lots of adults of lots of ages.

But here's my question how do we contextualise that?  What will that gospel centred devotion look like in our churches and how will it be different from the church in Jerusalem in the first century?  How will it be different in Yorkshire from Wiltshire?  How will it be different in a working class community than a middle class community?

One of the great encouragements over the last few months is to have had a number of new people come and join us at grace church and comment on how at home they have felt, how there's a sense of family in Grace.  That has come from those who have no church background at all and come from a range of home life situations.  They have felt welcomed and cared for quickly, they have been struck by how willing people are to love those who are different from them.  They have found the bible speaks to their everyday lives and struggles and seen others around them working out what the gospel means for their lives too.

Others have come from churched backgrounds and have found the same, they have quickly felt welcomed and loved and part of God's people.  Again it has simply been God's people acting as family, welcoming, listening, remembering names and conversations and following up on them.  It is not rocket science but it is the gospel at work, the gospel makes us interested in others because we love them no matter who they are.  It has been a joy to see that happening more and more by God's grace and for his glory.

What it looks like will differ from church to church, which means that we mustn't be prescriptive about what exactly it will look like, or what exact background it takes place against.  In one place it might look like a very basic shared lunch which provides opportunity for this to flourish, at another having people into your homes for a meal, at another listening to others over a cup of tea after church.  But at root it will always be God's gospel gripped people loving others expressed in a concern and interest in them.