“And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”                                                 (Acts 2:47b)

About 25 years ago a seminary teacher and theologian wrote a book called The Contagious Congregation. It was a powerful description of what the church could be. I think that phrase also characterizes the first century church as revealed in the Book of Acts. 

I have always read the New Testament lesson for today with a certain sense of longing. (Acts 2:37-47) Listen to another rendering of that text as it tells of the early church.

Everyone around was in awe…All the believers lived in wonderful harmony…They followed a daily discipline of worship…followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew…”  (from Eugene Peterson’s The Message) 

This is the church as it ought to be—making a difference, having real clout, with a clear purpose. This is a church where impact on life is extensive and unmistakable. This is a church with a contagiously rich fellowship. It is a church that almost creates a traffic jam when the people gather. 

A few years ago a church in St. Louis held an Easter service in the park. There was plenty of parking and seating. They did lots of advertising. But they were not prepared for what happened. There was a major traffic jam at the entrance to the park a half-hour before the service began. Every available parking space was full. Over 4000 people attended. 

The image in the scripture from the Book of Acts creates that kind of scene in my mind. I long for it as an occasional or maybe even regular happening in the church today. I’ve had this vision for the church for most of my ministry. Here is what the church could be. Here could be a truly contagious congregation. 

I read a story about a man who applied for a position as a custodian at the First United Methodist Church downtown. The interviewer liked the man. He seemed knowledgeable and capable. So he took the man into his office and showed him a computer printout of the work to be done. He said, “I will print this out each week for you. You will read it, and go to work.” 

The applicant responded, “But sir, I don’t know how to read or write.” The employer was astounded, but sadly he had to turn the man away. Nobody could work on this job if they couldn’t read or write. 

Dejected, the man went and sat down by the curb. He pulled out a couple of apples from his pocket and began to polish one of them absentmindedly. Soon somebody offered to buy one of his polished apples. He sold it for 50 cents, pulled out another apple and began to polish it. Then someone offered to buy the other apple. He thought to himself, “Maybe I can make a living selling apples.” 

So he set up a small street corner operation. Business was brisk and good. One day the box in which he kept the money was full. He went to the bank. When the teller saw how much money was in the box, she called the manager. The manager took the man in for a private consultation. “Do you know how much money is in this box?” he asked. 

“No,” came the reply. The bank manager answered, “$120,000. I will get the forms and open a series of accounts for you.” 

“I’m sorry,” the man replied, “but I don’t know how to read or write.” 

“What? You don’t know how to read or write? Do you know what you could be if you could read or write?” 

“Yes,” replied the man. “I could be the custodian at First United Methodist Church.” 

Do you—do we know what we could be here? If we were faithful to the New Testament image of Pentecost? We could be a contagious congregation. 

The question is, what did the Acts church exude? Why did people want to be a part of it? Why did they add numbers day by day, as the story reports? 

AN INCREDIBLE HOPE 

First, they demonstrated an incredible hope. The world in the first century was very dark. It was dismal. Hope was a scarce commodity. The world of the 21^st century is dark as well. We may not always see it. We may be somewhat insulated from it. We may be isolated from it much of the time. However, we know that ruthless hunger stalks many lands. Cruel leadership rules with a hard fist in many places. (The U. S. military has eliminated one such ruler, but there are at least a half-dozen more.) Violent, ruthless, religious extremists rise up all around us. A pandemic plague of AIDS covers Africa and part of Asia. 

Contagious Christians are a beacon of hope in any or all darkness. I read about some special glasses that can be used in a dark room. These glasses take the tiniest particle of light and magnify it many times. I believe Jesus is that kind of light in the darkest room. Through our actions, through our missional outreach, and through our spirit, hope is contagious. Chardin says “The future belongs to those who give it the greatest hope.” 

Norman Cousins wrote a book in 1992 called The Biology of Hope. The book documents the power of hope over all forms of “dis-ease.” The church has an indigenous biology of hope. 

I have always believed that the church is God’s best hope for the world. That’s partly why I never aspired to be a bishop or district superintendent or to lead a General Agency. It’s why I never really wanted to teach in a seminary. I’ve had a few offers over the years. I have always declined. I made a firm decision to stay with the church for a lifetime. 

Hope is a privilege. Hope is in our spiritual DNA. We are a community of incredible hope. 

SOMETHING ENDURING 

Secondly, the Acts church demonstrated something enduring. The early onlookers caught something of eternal significance in what they saw and heard. 

In a throw-away society, in a time of strained commitments, in a day of fracturing institutions, the church endures. 

John Ed Matheson from Montgomery, Alabama tells of visiting a Sunday school class in his church. It was during the time of a building program. He held up before the boys and girls a small replica of the church. One child piped up and said, “Be careful, Dr. Matheson. That’s our church you’re holding. Don’t let the church fall or break.” John Ed used the opportunity to tell the children about the church being a rock that endures. Jesus doesn’t say the church is built on sand, or on timbers, but on a rock. 

Someone once said, “I thought I had a handle on life, and then the handle broke.” For many people, life is a slippery, elusive business. A contagious church is one which gives a message of endurance—solid, durable, with a glimpse of eternity. 

Even the “look” of a church can be off-putting today. Some churches are pre-fab or pre-engineered. They look nice, but will they last? I was not here when this sanctuary was built in 1959 and ’60. But I have heard stories about some of the ridicule and the mocking that went on. The building committee insisted, however. They wanted a church made out of rock, limestone and steel. In the end, we have inherited a church that will stand for a long time. 

I think it was Edward Gibbon (who wrote The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire) who once wrote, “The early Christian church out-thought, out-lived and out-died the pagan culture around it.” 

We are a sign of life. We are a sign of life beyond life. We are a sign of life into eternity. And that resonates with the human soul in a fragile time. To out-think, out-live, and out-die the culture is still contagious. 

TOTALLY ALIVE 

The Acts church also seemed totally alive. That may sound a bit redundant. We’re either alive or we’re not. But I don’t know any other way to say this. When I read the Book of Acts I see energy and aliveness! I see an emerging church that was truly alive. 

I recently came across this statement:

The church community should strive to conduct itself beyond the “normal” expectations of human interactive groups. The church is to be an example of a virtuoso community. 

A “virtuoso” contagious church is a lively one. We celebrate life here. Here is where you find joy in being a Christian. Music captures the spirit of both member and seeker. Since most people find a church for the first time through worship, our job is to provide exciting, contagious, life-lifting worship. 

We are alive. We are a contagious community. 

LIFE-RELATED 

Fourthly, the church in Acts was life-related. People saw somehow that the message intersected with their lives. 

A consultant once said this to me, “Thirty-two percent of all persons around your church today are desperate to get in touch with God and don’t know how to do it.” If we are truly relational, they’ll find a way to get in touch. 

I have told you before that I am a “relational” theologian. This was my earliest conviction in ministry—while I was still in Seminary. The message of Jesus is connected to this life. We do not have here some Gnostic special insight reserved for a select few. We do not have simply healing balm for the hurting soul, although it is partly that. I am not trying to make people believe as I believe. But a connectivity to the real issues of everyday living is important here. 

Some years ago I sat on the front porch with a member and friend in my church. We talked about many things. He told me about his reasons for coming to church. 

He was an engineer for a company that had just been bought out by another company. He told me what it was like: frustration, frantic pace, demands on him and others that were intense and constant. Then he said to me something like this:

When I come to church on Sunday, I come to be with a group of people who seem to be in touch with the things that make sense in life. I come to church because it gives me a sense of wellness, of promise, and of order in a life that otherwise seems intense, chaotic, and out of control. 

He found a contagious life-relation in his weekly presence. For him, it spilled over into some important areas of service as well. 

I sat at lunch a couple of weeks ago with a clergy colleague who is also a very good friend of this church. He said to me, “Do you know why Christ Church is healthy and growing?” I let him talk. “No, tell me!” I said. Then he enumerated all the ways that people can connect with real issues here. He ticked off more than I knew he knew! Divorce recovery, grief support, cancer support, the pet ministry (including rituals for use in a family where there’s a death of a pet). He also spoke of our many work teams: to North Carolina, to the Gulf Coast, to Jamaica (2005) and the Nyadire mission (2006). 

What he did not know and what I talked to him about were some of the things that are on the emerging edge for us. One of them is a family worship ministry. Another is parent support groups and classes year-round here at Christ Church. 

A contagious church is life-related. It is connected. 

DISCIPLINE 

Finally, the emerging church in the Book of Acts had a sense of discipline. I am intrigued by part of the New Testament reading that I shared with you a few minutes ago. I like the phrase, “They followed a daily discipline.” 

I think discipline is contagious. If we know what we are about, if we know who is at the center of life for us, if we have a singleness of heart, if we maintain a disciplined focus, contagiousness is inevitable! 

What made the early church contagious? It was hope, durability, liveliness, connectivity, and discipline. These are the goals toward which to strive here.  

We may never fully arrive. Dag Hammarskjöld once said, “Becoming is superior to being.”  We may never fully arrive. But we are on a marvelous journey. And we can still be…in this post-modern, high-tech, consumer-driven, crazy world… a contagious congregation. 

Thanks be to God.