Why the Book of Acts Matters for the Church Today
Quick Summary
Acts is not just ancient history. It shows the church what it means to be Spirit-empowered, mission-focused, and willing to cross boundaries for the gospel. Acts challenges contemporary Christians to embrace bold witness, expect the Holy Spirit's guidance, navigate diversity with unity, respond faithfully to opposition, and trust that God continues the work begun in Jerusalem. The book offers a vision of the church as a community on mission, shaped by the risen Jesus and empowered by the Spirit.
Introduction
The Book of Acts was written nearly two thousand years ago, describing events in a world vastly different from our own. Yet Acts remains urgently relevant for the church today. It is not a museum piece to be admired from a distance but a living text that challenges, instructs, and inspires believers in every generation.
Acts matters because it shows us what the church looks like when it is animated by the Holy Spirit and committed to its mission. It addresses questions the church still faces: How do we bear witness to Jesus in a pluralistic world? How do we navigate cultural and theological diversity within the body of Christ? How do we respond to opposition and suffering? How do we discern God's direction when the path forward is unclear?
Luke wrote Acts to show Theophilus and subsequent readers how the gospel spread from a small group of disciples in Jerusalem to the heart of the Roman Empire. In doing so, he provides the church with a portrait of its own identity and calling. Understanding why Acts matters helps the church reclaim its missional identity and find courage for the challenges it faces.
Acts Shows Us a Spirit-Empowered Church
One of the most important contributions of Acts is its emphasis on the Holy Spirit's role in the life of the church. The Spirit is not a distant theological concept but the active presence of God guiding, empowering, and speaking through believers. The Spirit descends at Pentecost and transforms fearful disciples into bold witnesses. The Spirit directs Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch, tells Peter to go to Cornelius, and sets apart Paul and Barnabas for missionary work.
The early church expected the Spirit to lead, and they organized their life around listening and obeying. Decisions were made in prayer and fasting, seeking the Spirit's direction. When conflicts arose, the church looked to the Spirit's guidance. The Jerusalem Council concluded, "It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" (Acts 15:28), recognizing that their decision was not merely human consensus but the Spirit's leading discerned by the community.
For the church today, Acts challenges us to ask whether we genuinely expect the Spirit to guide us or whether we rely primarily on strategic planning, demographic analysis, and institutional momentum. Acts invites the church to recover a confidence that the Spirit is present, active, and willing to direct us if we are willing to listen.
See The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts for a fuller exploration of this theme.
Acts Calls the Church to Bold Witness
The apostles in Acts are fearless witnesses to Jesus' resurrection. They proclaim Christ in the temple courts, before hostile authorities, in synagogues, in marketplaces, and in private homes. Peter and John refuse to stop speaking about what they have seen and heard, even when threatened. Stephen testifies before the Sanhedrin and dies praying for his killers. Paul appeals to kings and governors, using every opportunity to proclaim Jesus as Lord.
This boldness is not natural courage. It is the result of the Spirit's empowerment and a conviction that the gospel is true and worth proclaiming regardless of the cost. The apostles know Jesus is risen, and that knowledge compels them to speak.
The church today lives in contexts where bold witness may provoke ridicule, social marginalization, or worse. Acts reminds us that witness has always been costly and that the church's mission is not to be popular but to be faithful. The question Acts poses is not whether we will face opposition but whether we will continue speaking when opposition comes.
At the same time, Acts shows that witness is not limited to preachers or apostles. After Stephen's martyrdom, ordinary believers scattered by persecution proclaim the word wherever they go (Acts 8:4). Every believer is a potential witness. The church today needs to recover this understanding that witness is the calling of all Christians, not just clergy or professional evangelists.
Acts Teaches the Church to Cross Boundaries
One of the most striking features of Acts is its relentless movement outward across ethnic, cultural, and social boundaries. The gospel begins among Jews in Jerusalem but quickly spreads to Samaritans, God-fearing Gentiles, and eventually to thoroughly pagan contexts across the Roman Empire. Peter's vision and encounter with Cornelius forces the church to recognize that God makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The Jerusalem Council affirms that Gentiles do not need to become culturally Jewish to belong to God's people.
This boundary-crossing is not incidental. It is central to the church's identity. The gospel creates a multiethnic, multicultural community united by faith in Jesus rather than by ethnic identity or cultural uniformity. Acts challenges every generation of the church to examine the boundaries it has erected and to ask whether those boundaries reflect God's heart or human prejudice.
For the church today, this means wrestling with issues of race, ethnicity, class, and culture. Are our churches genuinely diverse, or do they reflect homogeneity that contradicts the gospel? Are we willing to embrace the discomfort of crossing boundaries and learning from brothers and sisters who are different from us? Acts does not offer easy answers, but it insists that the gospel breaks down walls and creates one people from many.
See Acts and the Inclusion of the Gentiles for a deeper exploration of this theme.
Acts Shows How the Church Navigates Conflict
The early church was not a harmonious utopia. Acts records conflicts over leadership, theology, and practice. The Jerusalem Council debates whether Gentiles must be circumcised. Paul and Barnabas have a sharp disagreement over John Mark and separate. The church faces internal sin, external opposition, and competing visions of what faithfulness looks like.
What matters in Acts is not the absence of conflict but how conflict is addressed. The church gathers, prays, listens to the Spirit, considers Scripture, and seeks unity without uniformity. Disagreements do not destroy the community because the community is centered on Jesus and committed to the Spirit's guidance.
The church today often struggles with conflict. We are tempted either to avoid it at all costs or to allow it to fracture the body. Acts models a different way: engage conflict honestly, seek the Spirit's wisdom, anchor decisions in Scripture and the gospel, and maintain unity even when disagreements remain.
Acts Reminds the Church That Opposition Is Normal
Persecution and suffering are constants in Acts. The apostles are arrested, beaten, and threatened. Stephen is martyred. Paul is repeatedly imprisoned and faces life-threatening opposition in nearly every city he visits. Yet the church does not interpret suffering as failure. Instead, believers rejoice "that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name" (Acts 5:41).
Acts teaches that opposition is not a sign that the church is doing something wrong. Often, it is evidence that the church is doing something right. The gospel confronts idolatry, challenges power structures, and calls people to repent. These are not popular messages, and those who proclaim them should expect resistance.
For the church in the West, which has often enjoyed cultural privilege and legal protection, Acts is a necessary corrective. As cultural attitudes shift and Christianity loses its cultural dominance, the church may face increasing marginalization or hostility. Acts reminds us that this is normal and that the gospel has always advanced through suffering as much as through success.
At the same time, Acts cautions against seeking persecution or adopting a victim mentality. The apostles do not go looking for trouble. They proclaim the gospel, and trouble finds them. Their focus is not on their suffering but on their mission. Suffering is endured, not celebrated for its own sake, and the church continues its work regardless.
Acts Challenges the Church to Be Mission-Focused
Acts is fundamentally a book about mission. The gospel expands from Jerusalem outward, crossing geographic and cultural boundaries, because the church is committed to obeying Jesus' command to be witnesses "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). Mission is not one activity among many for the early church. It is the church's reason for existence.
The church today sometimes forgets this. We build institutions, develop programs, and focus on internal needs, treating mission as an optional add-on for those particularly interested in it. Acts challenges this inward focus. The church exists for the world. It is called to proclaim Jesus, make disciples, and form communities of faith that embody the kingdom of God.
This does not mean the church ignores teaching, worship, or caring for its members. Acts shows the church devoting itself to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). But these activities are in service of mission. They equip and sustain the community so it can bear witness effectively.
For the church today, Acts raises questions: Are we organized around mission, or around maintenance? Do we see ourselves as a gathered community sent into the world, or as a refuge from the world? Are we willing to take risks for the sake of the gospel, or are we content with comfort and safety?
Acts Shows That God Continues to Work
Perhaps the most important reason Acts matters is that it assures the church that God is not finished. The book ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome, proclaiming the kingdom of God "with all boldness and without hindrance" (Acts 28:31). The ending is open-ended. Paul is still in chains, but he is still preaching. The mission continues.
Luke does not provide a neat conclusion because the story is not finished. Acts is not only the story of what God did in the first century. It is the beginning of a story that continues through every generation of the church. The same Spirit who empowered the apostles empowers the church today. The same Jesus who commissioned the first disciples commissions us.
Acts reminds the church that we are part of an ongoing work. We stand in continuity with the apostles, called to the same mission, empowered by the same Spirit, proclaiming the same Lord. The challenges we face may look different from those in Acts, but the calling is the same: to be witnesses to Jesus in our time and place.
Practical Implications for the Church Today
If Acts matters in the ways described above, what does that mean practically for the church today?
First, the church must prioritize prayer and dependence on the Spirit. The early church prayed before making decisions, when facing opposition, and when seeking direction. Prayer was not a formality but the means by which they sought and heard from God. The church today must recover this priority, trusting that the Spirit is present and willing to guide.
Second, the church must equip all believers for witness. Acts shows that mission is not the task of a few specialists but the calling of every Christian. Churches should focus on helping members articulate their faith, engage their neighbors with the gospel, and see their daily lives as contexts for witness.
Third, the church must intentionally pursue diversity and inclusion. Acts challenges the church to cross boundaries and welcome people who are different. This requires humility, listening, and a willingness to change practices that exclude rather than include.
Fourth, the church must expect and prepare for opposition. Acts teaches that suffering for the gospel is normal. Churches should disciple members to stand firm under pressure, to respond to opposition with grace and boldness, and to see suffering as participation in Jesus' mission.
Fifth, the church must keep mission central. Acts calls the church to evaluate every program, structure, and activity by asking: Does this serve our mission to proclaim Jesus and make disciples? If not, it may need to be reconsidered.
Conclusion
The Book of Acts matters for the church today because it shows us who we are meant to be. We are a Spirit-empowered community on mission, crossing boundaries, bearing witness, enduring opposition, and trusting that the risen Jesus is with us. Acts does not give us a blueprint for every challenge we face, but it gives us a vision of what faithfulness looks like and confidence that God continues to work through the church.
The story that began in Jerusalem has not ended. It continues in every congregation, in every believer, in every place where the gospel is proclaimed and lived. Acts invites the church to see itself as part of that ongoing story and to live boldly, faithfully, and hopefully, knowing that the same Spirit who filled the apostles fills us today.
See Also
Works Consulted
Bock, Darrell L. Acts. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007.
Guder, Darrell L., ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
Johnson, Luke Timothy. Scripture and Discernment: Decision Making in the Church. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996.
Keener, Craig S. Acts: An Exegetical Commentary. 4 vols. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012–2015.
Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.
Stott, John R.W. The Message of Acts. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
Wall, Robert W. The Acts of the Apostles. In The New Interpreter's Bible, vol. 10. Nashville: Abingdon, 2002.
Witherington, Ben, III. The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
