Synagogue Today
The Synagogue Continues
The early Christians continued to attend synagogues, although they had a new interpretation of the Torah since Jesus had been revealed as Messiah (Acts 13:14). The new community of Jesus was born out of the synagogue, and the early church continued the same practices of living and worshiping together as a community (Acts 2:42-47). Believers were to become assemblies, not single individuals seeking God alone.
Jesus' followers today have also been made one body through Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-13). That's why we address God as "our Father." We would do well to remember that the church's roots are in a community living and worshiping together. Worship, study, and prayer should become a natural extension of the church's community life.
In our fractured, broken world, with all its self-preoccupation, the model of the synagogue, a picture of the community of God, presents an alluring message. We would do well to put it into practice.
