As a follow up to reading the entire book of Acts, I read the book Transformational Church http://www.transformationalchurch.com/ .  In this book, the authors lay out an assessment that they did of North American churches to find out what the most healthy churches are doing.

What we find is that the healthy churches have really taken the core principles from the book of Acts and are running with them.  The churches are focused on mission.  They see themselves as situated in a geographical location to reach that location in particular.  The church is intentionally relational and makes friendships that last with people in the local community.  These are not the shallow connections of “How are you doing?” without really listening for an authentic answer.  These relationships are a basis to build into friends’ and neighbours lives with spiritual growth.  Vibrant leadership, leadership that equips and enables their congregations, by modeling the best practices of spiritual growth needs to lead the way in forming relationships.  However, the church, in general has become very passive in allowing their leaders to do ministry for them rather than motivate the church members to be missionaries to those they live around.

There are a lot more principles outlined in the book, but I recommend that you get a copy and read the research.  We all know that the church in general is in decline in the West.  This book outlines the activities of churches that are not in decline, and is therefore a breath of fresh air.  I am on a team at my church that is evaluating how we may apply this book’s findings.  Maybe you should read it and form a group with a mission yourself  http://www.transformationalchurch.com/.

Next, I will be reading a book called The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch.  It is generally seen as emergent, and although at Moody, where I work, the emergent church is very controversial, they are trying to apply the principles of the book of Acts.  I will post an overview when I have read the book.