We have seen that the first church, established by Yeshua at Jerusalem in the first century, had certain characteristics which are being rediscovered by believers today. What are these characteristics? The first great distinctive of the first century Jerusalem church was that the primacy and centrality of Christ was their lived reality. What do I mean by that? Simply that Jesus was at the very centre of this society. He was not just as a symbol or merely a historical figure, but as a living active guiding loving presence. The members of this community had been taught to daily walk and talk with Him and whilst they did that the church remained under His loving control, guidance, and direction. To use the New Testament analogy of the body, whilst the church, Christ’s body, took its directions from the Head, Christ Himself, all was well. One of the greatest challenges facing the global church in our day is that of emphasising the primacy and centrality of Christ in practice, rather than simply in rhetoric. There are many who would agree with this idea in principle, but there are not so many who are living it out and teaching others to do so.