As an act of pastoral ministry, was the episode with Ananias and Sapphira a pastoral success or not? It all depends on how you look at it. Through Peter’s pastoral care, the church lost two of its more “prominent” members. Yet, at the same time, the church first experienced itself as church, first used the word ecclesia to describe what happened. In Luke’s wonderfully laconic, almost humorous verdict, “And great fear came upon the whole church.”
