In Acts 4v34 it says that there was 'no one in need'. This is because they sold their possessions and even sold their houses. The neediness in the early Ecclesia in Acts 4 was based on how vulnerable they were. This vulnerability created authentic community that in turn became a powerful witness to those who did not know Jesus.

The unselfish sacrificial lifestyle and willingness to be vulnerable was powerful therefore. The way that the vast majority of the Western Church tends to be somewhat superficial. How are you we ask in our churches. 'I'm fine' we respond. This is all pervasive and creates a superficiality. The tragedy is that people are doing 'fine' mostly because so many have affluent materialistic lives in most Western churches. Yet, even when people are not doing 'fine' because they are in a season of suffering, we still tend to settle and hide behind the mask of 'I'm doing fine'.

To genuinely love each other we have to take a risk to be vulnerable. The things we long for like connection, love, belonging, purpose and meaning are all connected to the necessity to be vulnerable in some capacity. The reason is that so many people in the West are isolated, lonely, marginalised and lack a sense of belonging.

In this podcast I discuss Brene Brown's research findings on vulnerability and compare the deep principles of vulnerability with the roots of all human psychology in Eden and how the fig leaves are still very much in place in modern Western Christianity because there is such a lack of willingness to be vulnerability in order to cultivate authentic connection, community and love that shows the world who Jesus really is.