As the start of school is just around the corner, and we begin our fall campaigns to welcome our families back into Sunday mornings as summer comes to a close, we often worry about our changing cultural landscape and if that will affect our congregations.

I think it’s good to remind ourselves that the early church was dealing with tough things too.  In Acts 4, we see that the church was in the midst of things that don’t sound all that different today.  Their culture was angry, preparing for battle, gathered together against the Lord, united against Jesus…sound familiar? 

But the encouraging part?  As a church, they asked the Lord for boldness to share the Gospel in spite of the threats around them, for unity among the believers, and miraculous works in the name of Jesus.  Church, this is an example of what we need to do in our communities, churches, and culture.  We need to remember that we are servants of a different kingdom.  We need to be in God’s word, in prayer, and listening to the Holy Spirit.  We need to create an environment to train up our congregations to do the same.

Let’s together pray boldly to preach the gospel graciously and clearly in spite of the threatening culture around us, for God to do miraculous works, and for unity in heart and mind.  May that be the movement that begins to happen around our country and in our VCN churches.