The 6Ws
Posted by Pastor on June 11, 2010
The “6Ws” are important to any church. Luke presents these qualities in the summary passage of Acts 2:42-47. Whenever Luke gives an extended summary like this, he describes the internal workings of the Spirit-filled church. While the cultural expressions may change, these summaries should reflect what a Spirit-filled church is like in any age.
In Acts 2:42-47, we see that the Spirit-filled church was devoted to four things and habitually practiced two ministries. Sometimes these are referred to as purposes or characteristics. I like to think of them as functions - this is what a Spirit-filled church does. The first church was devoted to discipleship, fellowship, worship, and prayer. They practiced public ministry and evangelism. Many churches further refine these six things down to three – Ministry to God, Ministry to One Another, Ministry to the World. I like this classification and group the functions accordingly, but since Acts describes them as more than 3, I teach them as six.
In this post, I’d like to give a quick overview of the 6Ws.
Acts 2:42-47 (ESV)
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Ministry to God
Worship
They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread (understood as a reference to the Lord’s Supper/Communion) and were in the temple together. Worship is a primary activity of the church. Worship is our form of sacrifice to God – sacrifices of praise. Worship is the genuine response of the People of God to the Grace of God that revealed the Glory of God that made them the People of God. Outsiders should see our worship and want to worship God themselves, but genuine worship is an activity for believers that is done in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:24).
Warfare
(in Prayer)They devoted themselves to “the prayers.” This is not simply everybody-go-home-and-pray-in-your-closet personal devotional time (although Jesus taught believers to do just that). Here we see the church gathered together for together prayer as Jesus taught the community of disciples to do (see Luke 11:1-4; the model prayer is plural and intended for the disciples to pray together). The Church at Prayer is both an act of worship (a response of dependence upon God) and of spiritual warfare that recognizes this world is not the way it is supposed to be. It is a community devotion of the disciples to be led and conformed to the will of God by the Spirit of God. Prayer is perhaps the best indicator of church health.
Ministry to One Another
Walk
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. The apostles taught the gospel, Christo-centric theology, and the ethics of The Way. This is part of the Great Commission – making disciples by baptizing and teaching believers to observe all that Christ commanded us. This is also why God has given pastors and teachers to the church – for building up the body of Christ so that we will all grow into spiritual maturity. A functional church trains its members for kingdom ministry.
Welcome
They devoted themselves to the fellowship. The Greek word for “fellowship” is koinonia. It refers to a partnership – think more The Fellowship of the Ring, than the Potluck Picnic. Yes, the idea of being together is included (and the context supports that), but koinonia describes a business partnership – pooling resources, responsibility, and risk to achieve something and share in the success together. We are called to love one another and share together in koinonia because we have been called to koinonia with Jesus (1 Cor 1:9-10). The early Jerusalem church shared all things in common. The early Gentile churches crossed social status barriers and raised money for Jerusalem in a time of famine. The cultural form of the welcome is not as important as the fact of it. The Spirit-filled church is a partnership of believers on Mission.
Ministry to the World
Work
When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he answered that it was to love the Lord God. Then he followed up by saying that a second was like it: love your neighbor as yourself. The second is just like the first. Loving God and loving your neighbor are two sides of the same coin. How we love our neighbors reflects how much we really understand about loving and being loved by God. Loving God requires social ministry: our Work. We see the early church performing signs and wonders and having favor with all the people. We make social ministry for our neighbors a habit for the church because the Lord approves of good works that testify to the reality of the kingdom reflected in the Spirit-filled church.
Witness
This is the most important function of the church. Every other function will one day be done better in Heaven. Only missions and evangelism will not be a part of God’s future kingdom. There will be no need for evangelism when the promises of the New Covenant in Jesus is fulfilled (see Jeremiah 31:34). Missions/Evangelism/Witness – this is why the church is in this world. All the other functions help us to Witness – Luke seems to indicate that a healthy church will be blessed by God with further disciples. Also, our Witness leads us to fulfill the other functions. Evangelism is not complete when a convert is made. Evangelism is complete when a disciple is made: one who worships, wars, walks, welcomes, works, and witnesses in the world for the Lord Jesus. The Spirit-filled church habitually practices Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 style missions. They train others. They do it together.
We can see these six functions evidenced in the summary passage of Acts 2:42-47. But of course, that is not the only place in the New Testament where the church is encouraged to witness, work, welcome, walk, war in prayer, and worship before the Lord. We see these characteristics encouraged in many Scriptural passages. Still, it is significant to see them together in this first description of the first church.
These are the things God wants a church to do. Why would we want to do anything else?
