Introduction

The Book of Acts is often seen as a story of church growth, missionary work, or new ways of being the church. But behind these themes is a deeper truth: Acts tells the story of how God works to create a loving community.

The Spirit does not merely launch an institution. The Spirit forms a people. The Spirit interrupts inherited divisions. The Spirit redraws boundaries. The Spirit teaches strangers to become siblings.

In his commentary on Acts, Willie Jennings argues that Acts reveals God's refusal to allow humanity to remain trapped within the confines of fear, tribalism, possession, and exclusion. The Spirit continually gathers people into relationships they would not have chosen on their own.

This study invites participants to take active steps beyond simply learning Acts. I hope you accept the challenge to practice and embody this book's message as a beloved community. By "embody," we mean living out the values and tenets of faith in concrete ways. 

The interrogatives guiding these six weeks are simple:

What if we became the beloved community God calls us to be?

How might your life and relationships look different if you truly lived out this calling?

BELOVED: A Six-Week Journey through the Book of Acts