Monday, June 21, 2004 AD
The purpose of the church's survival
What is the church - prayed for by Christ, sustained by His Word - for? In his essay, Sanctorum Communio, Hermann Sasse answers this question, and summarises the early church's mission and evangelism programme:
Today as always people ask, What does the church actually do? It prays. The praying church [ecclesia orans] is one of the constantly recurring themes of early Christian art. The church prays. Thus it was at the beginning. "All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer" it says of the first believers after Christ's ascension (Acts 1:14). "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers" it says of the church at Pentecost [2:42]. "Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they [were] ... praising God and having favor with all the people." (v.46).
They founded no mission society, organized no city mission, wrote no books on "dynamic evangelism". Instead, they celebrated the Sacrament and prayed continually. "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved" (2:47).
