The church was a family. It IS a family. It is THE family. And because the early church understood this, they continually devoted themselves to reflections of that reality. Like a family, they taught each other, had a participation of fellowship in their sharing and contributing, ate together, and prayed with and for each other. Like a family, they considered their possessions not merely their own, but provided for any as each had need. This wasn't a cult or communism: this was family, as God truly intended. Though they didn't share their own blood, they were brought together by the more precious blood of Jesus.