Why? Because, generally speaking, today's typical church is having little effect on society. This is in comparison with how the early church turned their world upside down. In Australia probably 80 per cent of the population will go to a lost eternity. The church at present is doing little about this, again generally speaking. There are exceptions, and thank God for them.
The church members are scattered. They all live in separate homes (individually or in a family) many in different suburbs. They all have to make a journey on Sunday to get to the service and again for the midweek meeting. So at best there is unity and fellowship on two occasions per week.
The Sunday fellowship consists usually of 15 minutes or so over refreshments after the meeting. Some don't even stay for that - they rush off home. The midweek after-fellowship socialising might be half an hour. This is the extent of "following Jesus" for many. There is little unity, little fellowship, and it is why the church generally is so weak and ineffective today.
Turn to Acts chapter 2. It says the believers were "continuing daily with one accord in the temple." And not only in the temple. Notice it says daily, not twice a week. It also says "all who believed were together and had all things in common." It tells us "They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need." We read also "they broke bread daily from house to house, and ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart." Most Christians would be horrified today if the pastor asked them to sell their houses and possessions, and share.
That is the key as to why they were so powerful. They were totally dedicated to their cause. No half-heartedness. They had an attitude of heart. Total dedication. Guts. Because of that God moved mightily. They performed signs and wonders in Jesus' name. Acts tells us that three thousand were added to their number in one day! This writer was in the 80s a member of a big church in Sydney. The pastor thought it wonderful if 12 people said the salvation prayer on a Sunday night. It was indeed wonderful compared to most churches in Sydney then. Yet when we compare a dozen with three thousand?
So there has to be a revolution in thinking by pastors and ministers as to what it means to follow Jesus. Churches have to use Acts as the operational manual. There has to be an end to the no-risk, easy, comfortable, don't-upset-my-applecart Christianity of today. "Yes I'll follow Jesus as long as it doesn't inconvenience me too much." All that has to go. Taking the gospel outside the four walls of the church has to be a priority for church leaders. Jesus said "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Not many are doing it. The kind of society we have today reflects that. I have heard pastors say revival is coming to Australia. Not until we have a ...
A new heart is required. A new attitude. A new understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Saved not to sit and wait for heaven, but to save others.
If there is change, and we use the early church as our example, then undoubtedly there will be supernatural events such as in Acts. God has not changed (Hebrews 13:8). Then, the millions following some religion will abandon it when they see Jesus in action.
Again we will see three thousand (and more) added in one day. That is the kind of Christianity Jesus intended. We fall far short of it today. What we read in Acts happened in the First Century. What Jesus did, the apostles did. It was dynamic and it brought results. When we get our thinking in line with theirs,it will happen also in the Twenty-first Century.