Back to it again

I've just let this last week consume me in the wrong ways. I've opened blogger several times to start writing and then let interruptions get the better of me, not today. I'm going to get it in early before things start side tracking me.

We have been encouraging people individually and in groups in the church to be reflecting upon the Mission Statement of our church. There is a listing of questions to guide the discussion and the last post was my reflecting upon the first point. The second question to reflect upon is:
What does being a New Testament Church mean?

When the mission statement was written a number of years ago the focus of that statement was centered around the last portion of Acts 2. This is the passage where Luke writes about the things the early church was doing, such as eating together, worshipping together, sharing their resources with each other, etc. While I believe that these are signs of a community of believers that are actively living out a life of faith I think to stop there is really to lose out. There is so much guidance for us individually as well as a community in the rest of the New Testament that we should really look at the whole more often than just the parts.
My thoughts are that to be a New Testament Church means that our practices, attitutes, and expectations are guided by the whole New Testament. It means that whenever there is conflict in the church that the expectations are that it will be dealt with in a biblical manner, such as Matthew 18. It means that there will be no seperation based upon race, economics, or gender as Paul says in Galatians 3:28. It means that we expect people to grow in love and grace toward one another because of their love of Jesus as is shown in 1 John 4:7.
In all this I think that being a New Testament Church means that together we are guided by the New Testament in all of our interactions with one another and with the world. It also means that together we have to know what the New Testament says and then encourage one another to live it out for the glory of God.