What was life like in the Church described in the Biblical book called The Acts of the Apostles? We kw that it was a very successful venture with thousands of new persons being won to Jesus Christ and rapidly being assimilated into the life of the Christian fellowship. How did they do it? It appears to be an impossible task. With all the differences of background, religion, language, race and nationality can the Acts account really have taken place as we read it? It most certainly can for when we read carefully we discover the key to their success to be drastic discipleship which can be described as simply taking the words of Jesus seriously. Jesus had commanded that his followers should go into the whole world and to make disciples from every nation. Ather way of describing drastic discipleship is that of disciples making disciples who would be obedient to all the teachings of Jesus. So we find in Acts those who remembered the commands of Jesus and accepted the power of the Holy Spirit to enable them to fulfill the instructions of Jesus to the letter. This book is in essence t just a study about how they were successful in the beginning of the Christian Church age but also a practical handbook of any church or follower of Jesus today who desires to be used of Christ in the work of securing and training other disciples. The book is presented in the strong belief that while the methods of winning and assimilating new believers may change, the abiding principles which are in evidence in the Acts are still valid for today's Church. To assist the reader in grasping the validity of the book's teaching, several questions are appended to each chapter. These are valuable for personal reflection or as discussion starters for group study.
Ray Bachman is an ordained minister who has spent his life in a wide variety of ministerial roles. He has pastored churches in two denominations as well as two non-denominational churches. He has also been a missionary in Haiti and an Hispanic church planter in north Indiana. This is his seventh book. He has written two volumes on Bible prophecy, an evangelistic Bible study for youth, two devotional books and an autobiographical book detailing the living of his life with Jesus as his King. His next book is expected to deal with Bible prophecy as found in the New Testament epistles. Bachman has made three pilgrimages to Israel which gives an added dimension to his Bible studies, especially in the area of understanding the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. He and his wife Jeanne reside in the Ozarks and in Florida. His latest venture is helping to launch a new Christian radio station in Avon Park, Florida. His hobbies include bread baking, reading mystery novels and working the daily crossword puzzles.
