Acts

Explosive. Communal. Miraculous. Messy. Empowered.

The story that is recorded in the New Testament book of Acts begins with a radical command from Jesus, to his followers, right before his ascension: Wait. Don’t leave Jerusalem. Don’t do anything. Soon you will receive power from the Holy Spirit. Once you receive that power, my message will explode and resound and radiate through you, until it reaches every single person on planet earth.

Though his followers had only spent about three years with Jesus, his message and way of life had impacted them so profoundly that they continued to exist as a community of transformation, with Jesus still at the center, even after his execution.

It was a messy and beautiful community of men and women who decided to live their lives centered on the person and will of Jesus of Nazareth, who still lived and led their community, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. They grew in number. They shared their possessions. They preached the radical gospel of grace. They were thrown in prison. When God told them to wait, they waited. When God told them to go, they went. Theirs was a community marked by a singular devotion: discerning and doing the will of Jesus in their actual lives, in real time, no matter what the outcome.

Church of the Open Door is a community of people who are wondering what their lives would be like if we were marked by the same singular devotion: discerning and doing the will of Jesus in our actual lives, in real time, no matter what the outcome.

David Johnson and Steve Wiens