"Lots of folk who called themselves Christians...
kept themselves to themselves in a really negative way and were self-opinionated and, frankly, isolated, not daring to properly share their lives with their fellow church members because they couldn't stand to not always get their way: they all thought their way of doing things was the best, especially if it was to do with the faith. Many of them hoarded things and money, and refused to even lend or loan personal possessions let alone give anything away, especially their time.
The ministers were pretty ineffective in their witness; very few people in the secular world saw even the concept of 'God' as relevant, let alone genuinely came to believe that Jesus had actually risen from the dead.
There was very little grace among them: there were quarrels and even lawsuits and hardly anyone came to faith.
There were lots of needy people on the periphery and they didn't get a lot of practical help from their more comfortably off "friends" - it was just about unheard of for someone to actually sell anything he owned and give the money away: if someone had done that with their property or country estate it would have been almost scandalous, certainly considered irresponsible - people just idolised houses and wealth especially, and most folk among them were so discontented they could only think about accumulating more for themselves: comfort was a kind of god."
Little exercise on rewriting Acts 4:32-34. Which version fits your church experience best?
With thanks to Irene Ng for her help.
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