church of our day has yet to discover the power of united prayer. We read about this kind of praying in the book of Acts. Armin Gesswein, author of this book, gives us great insight into why the early church in the book of Acts had so much favor and power resting upon it.
It was Armin who spent two years ministering in the great revival in Norway that began in the downtown Oslo Bethlehem Church in the early 1930s. This spiritual awakening lasted for nine years. When Armin returned home, he began an itinerate ministry, teaching and preaching on the importance of prayer and revival in churches and seminaries all across America.
At Armin’s memorial service, March 2001, Dr. David Bryant, president of Proclaim Hope! said, “If ever there was an ‘Apostle of Prayer’ it was Armin. As you know, it was Armin’s ‘Ministers Prayer Gatherings’ in Los Angeles that invited young Billy Graham to hold a Crusade in 1948—and the rest is history.”
Armin and I knew each other for almost thirty years, ministering together in many churches and prayer conferences. I can still remember how often he would talk about the great revival in Norway. In one of his letters, he wrote this: “It was reported that in connection with the Bethlehem Congregation alone, about 20,000 people came to Christ. It was one of the greatest awakenings of this century, and it would take volumes to tell the whole story.”
I remember him saying that if you want to get a clear vision about church evangelism and world missions, read and pray through the book of Acts. Jesus had no other plan except that little prayer meeting group of 120 in the upper room in Jerusalem that would turn the world upside down.
The secret is prayer.
—Rev. LaRue Goetz,
President Revival Prayer Fellowship
Assembly-truth is the most powerful truth in the New Testament. Especially as it is on display in the Jerusalem congregation described in the book of Acts. I am surprised that more have not developed it. Once we get the idea that church (ecclesia) really means “assembly” we are off to the right start.
It leads right into revival truth of the highest kind. Not some kind of revival—but church renewal. We are introduced to the Bible basis of awakening for our congregations. This is the high road on which we find Christ at work building His New Testament church.
I finally understood it: the local congregation is the basic unit for the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. It gives new birth and power to all other action, whether it is individual or group action, evangelism or missions or witnessing or prayer or whatever. Move any of these into the action of an assembly and they move into another dimension of power, up to divine specifications. Normal. Mature.
BOOK OF THE CHURCH
The Acts has well been called the “book of the church.” This is also true of the whole New Testament, including the book of the Revelation where the Lord says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” This He says seven times (Revelation 2-3). There is nothing like this in the entire Bible. When Jesus was here on earth, He would say, “Take heed how ye hear.” Now, from heaven, He says, “Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” I earnestly pray for such an ear.
Lately I discovered that most of the things we are now seeking for our churches are demonstrated in the first church, the mother church, the model church, in Jerusalem. This tells me I am no longer merely in the realm of good ideas—but in God’s Word. This not only gives us new vision but faith as we pray for our congregations. Church truth begets church faith. Now that “church growth” is the main topic of study everywhere, we must be very sure of our Biblical base.
Recently at a famous garden I stopped to admire a Mexican coral tree with its gnarled branches crisscrossing in every direction from the trunk. How like the Jerusalem congregation, I thought: organic in its growth all the way. Rugged. Tested. Tried. True. What a profound structure, branching out into all kinds of developments. One is reminded of the “tree of life” with its twelve kinds of fruit and the leaves of the tree “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22).
What a challenge—to trace the many forms of growth and life which came out of this one congregation! To take this assembly out of the Acts would be like lifting from the sky the very cloud which gave us the rain!
It is my prayer that God will use these pages to quicken churches everywhere.
—Armin R. Gesswein
San Juan Capistrano, California
CHAPTER ONE
The Jerusalem Congregation—Full of Surprises
This is a day of discovery. Not only are we going higher, we are digging deeper. By digging deeper at the same spot, archaeologists sometimes come up with some rare finds.
This is also often the case when we dig down again in the same Scriptures. Take, for example, the book of Acts. Many are digging there and are speaking and writing about the “early church.”
There are many possible titles for this book. The simplest of all is The Book of the Church. We open it and there it is, the church. We also see Jesus at work, shaping it all up, building it.
When Jesus said He would build His church, He used the plain word ecclesia, well known in the Roman-Greek world. With it He at once brings us to the point. Scholars tell us the word means “assembly, congregation.” This points out Christ’s new plan: the gathered-people-of-God and their action in assembly.
In a nutshell, the definition is the action of God in and with and on and through His assembled people. It is so plain that we almost miss it: assembly action. This is now the dimension of God’s power and working, and we must come to grips with it. We see it when we read chapter one of Acts.
Suddenly it is right there in full view. The Jerusalem church—the “first church.”
We are in for many surprises when we visit this congregation. At least five are very striking. They arouse us into quite an awakening!
Surprise Number One:
It happened in Jerusalem, of all places!
We thought Jesus was through there. They crucified Him in Jerusalem. He said, “Your house is left unto you desolate.” Jesus had finished with old Jerusalem; nothing more can happen there, we thought.
Would you believe it? Right there, in the hardest place in the world, He builds His church.
This fact should be a tremendous help to those who are at work seeking to plant churches in hard places. A fresh look at Acts 1:8 tells us there are plenty of these: “Jerusalem . . . all Judaea . . . Samaria . . . uttermost part of the earth.” They were all hard places.
“This is a hard place,” said a pastor when he met me at the plane. He did not know I had heard that also in the last place I had ministered. There are enough of these to go around!
Did you think it would have been
