Gathering 234: “Then What?” // Service of Worship // Rev. Tony Minear, Ph.D.

How do you measure success? The business industry uses a wide variety of metrics to measure performance and financial success. For ministers, it’s attendance and contributions to the church. For social media, it’s the number of “Likes” and “Shares”. With the advent of social media, social movements today exist because of the rapid pace at which a movement goes viral: the Ice Bucket Challenge, the January 6th U.S. Capital siege, Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, etc.  

But what about in the early 1st century? What factors can explain such rapid growth as experienced by the early church? How did a handful of followers grow into 30 million in just 300 years, and into the largest religion in the world today? The pace was comparable to today's viral phenomena, but what in human nature does it tap into to yield such swift results?  

Join us as Pastor Tony continues his sermon series, "Then What?" exploring the challenges and triumphs of the early church and its lessons for us today. Listen and discover the three factors that contributed to the growth of the early church. Can those three factors still be relevant today given the declining numbers of faith communities? Or is it time for us to redefine how we measure success?  

Recorded live at Beatitudes Church in Phoenix, AZ on 05/15/22  

Preaching: Rev. Tony Minear, Ph.D. 

Scripture: Acts 2:46-47 

Scripture Reader: Janelle Tapphorn 

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