EARLY CHURCH

THE FOUNDING OF THE EARLY CHURCH.

            It can be understood that Jesus came into the world for the specific purpose, i.e. to reconcile humankind back to God. To fulfill this one purpose, Jesus taught the people, preached the Good News, healed the sick and did miracles and at the end, he gave himself as a ransom for many, so that people may redeem and reconcile to God. He rose again from the death so that humankind may become new creature and they may have everlasting love.

            To continue his works, Jesus trained a group of people to carry out his mission. He trained group of people, concentrated on his twelve disciples and this twelve became the nucleus of the early church.  In Matthew 16:18 he says that he will his church which showed that the builder of the church is Jesus himself. But it is an interesting to know that that Jesus himself did not build any formal church institutions. He never created any formal creeds, officials, liturgy but on the other hand, he did something else.

(i). He gave his very own life to establish church. His life was his message. He communicated through his life. It was in him that the church was founded its principles and power.

(ii). He prepared a group of people, his twelve disciples to carry on his works.

(iii). He left two very religious rights.

(iv). Jesus promised Holy Spirit.

THE BEGINNING OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH.

Although Jesus founded the church, the active life of apostolic life was started in the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:8). It is significant to understand that the first thing that the church did was not to organize themselves but to preach Good News to others. And the activity resulted the baptism of 3000 people. People responded the ground was already prepared, that was the church. There were signs of fear. They did signs and wonders. They have feeling of unity, one mind and one purpose, one goal. They made houses. They made breaking of the bread. Shared one another. They added number of people to the church.

The Geographical Expansion of Christianity: The Geographical expansion of Christianity was based on what Jesus told them (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts tells us the expansion of Christianity. Multitudes were added to the church. Community started Jerusalem later churches others. Disciples dispersed to other places as a result of persecution (Acts 8). The church expanded in the first place as a result of persecution. At the end of the first century churches were planted in most of the villages, towns and cities in most of the Roman Empire. Gospel went beyond the Roman Empire just like Ethiopia, to Arabia, Armenia, and even to Sri Lanka and India and to many other places. Except one apostle all apostles died at martyrs.

MISSIONARIES OF THE EARLY CHURCH:  

When Christianity was started, there were no paid missionary. Mission work was started not as a career. Every Christian were called to witness to what they had heard, seen and experienced. After Jesus, Paul was greatest missionary. We can see his works through the three of his missionary journeys. Apart fro Paul, there were other missionaries like Barnabas, Silas and others. There were evangelists like Philip, Priscilla and Aquila. Acts 1:4-8 tells us that almost every believer witnessed.  There were no permanent or regular salaries were fulltime paid missionaries like today. They were all supported by the churches. Many of them earn their own preaching and teachings.

Factors that contributed to the spread of Gospel. There were several factors for the growth and spread of the Gospel, but there is no one uniform factor for that. Here we can divide into two factors for the discussion and they are:- (i). Contributory factors and (ii) Direct factors.

            (i). Contributory factors .

*Cultural fluidity. There was a kind of culturing fluidity and disintegration of existing culture. People were uprooted from their culture. That resulted disintegration of culture helped them to new ideas.

*The close association of Christianity. The close association of Christianity with Hellenism was another contributory factor. Many Jewish people were Hellenized. Greek culture influenced Jewish people. This association enhanced the spread of the Gospel.

            (ii). Direct Factors.

*The obedience of the apostles to the promises of Jesus Christ to their commission. The apostles were commissioned by their master in spite of their weaknesses. They waited for the promises of the Holy Spirit.

*The works of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can be done effectively in the mission without the Holy Spirit. It is only by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit that the church could witness effectively.

*Very Structure of the Church (Acts 2;41-47).

*Very messages of the New Testament were very clear and challenges.

*Coinonia (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit.  The love and care for people attracted others to their community.

* Practical application of Christian Charity was also there. There were hospitality to the travelers among the Christians.

* Christian Social Ethics. They accepted that all people including the slaves are equal before God. There were no social distinction among them.

* The praise, the enthusiasm and the involvement of all group of people.                       

LIFE WORSHIP AND ORGANIZATION OF THE EARLY CHURCH.

After many years back, there were misunderstanding of the life and worship of the first century Church. Many believed that Early Church is a perfect church. This is true for certain sentence. They were far from being perfect. Our being in Christ as the child of God is perfect. But the experience of our position in Christ need not be perfect always. For example we see many problems in the New Testament. Within few months, there is a deception in the Church (Acts 5:1). Ananias and Sapira. Acts 6:1, Distribution of food. There were disagreements in the distribution of food in the first council (Acts 15). Then two prominent missionaries, Paul and Barnabas heated each other (Acts 15). There were divisions in the church of Corinth.

In spite of some of this imperfection of the early church, the leading characteristic of the early church is very very impressive. The Early church was characterized by the brotherly love of the highest order, their moral earnestness. Their purity, honesty, and meekness and several other things. Confident gladness in the love of God, Fellowship with the living God, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, certainty of Salvation, steadfast hope of the return of the lord.

The Worship of the Early Church. The Early Christians worshipped in the Jewish Synagogues as long as they are permitted. But when they were expelled from the synagogues they started meeting in private houses and sometimes in opened ground. There were two kinds of worship in the New Testament Church. There were no written liturgies as we have in the Early Church.

The First Meeting. The First Meeting was Sunday Morning. It was the nature of a prayer meeting and mainly carried down by people themselves in prayers are offered, testimonies, psalms and Christian songs began to compose. Old Testament was read and expounded by the leading elder. They also recounted remembered the Jesus ministry. Non Christians were admitted in this meeting.

 The Second Meeting. Sunday Evening Meeting. This meeting was the nature of love, peace and Lord’s super. Love feast was a kind of joyful sacred symbolizing their unity. Every one brought food from their own and all were assembled. Then they gave thanks and eat together. After that there was Lord’s super.

Organization of the New Testament Church: V.V.Thomas.18/711. It is understood the early church was independent, self-supporting and managing their own affairs. No one was above the other. First century Christian realized that they belonged to one universal Church.

The apostles were reverenced and their decisions were accepted. But their authority did not come from normal authority elected by men. Their authority was spiritual authority. They believed that they were directly appointed by Christ himself. There were different gifts of the Holy Spirit practiced within the Church during the first century. They are mentioned in Eph. 4:11. They were not elected or appointed by any man.

The apostles were not restricted to the 12 only. It seems that title was basically given to the pioneers of the Gospel or pioneers church plantations. Prophets and teachers were mainly to expound, to preach the Gospel, bringing light and meaning of the Gospel. Pastors were the one who shepherding or taking care of the people. Evangelists were basically preachers and moves from one place to another. They were not necessarily expounding churches.

How the Early church was organized. No one single pattern was followed to organize the Early Church. In the churches in which Paul established, there seems to be 2 kinds of officials and they are: - (i). Elders, Presbyters or bishops. These terms were used synonymously. They had mainly pastoral care, discipline and financial matters. They also presided over the Lord’s Super. They preached when there were no apostles, prophets etc.

(ii).They were known as deacons. Under the elders, they were mainly serving under the direction of elders.

Some of the Problems Faced by Early Church. Problems concerning to practice and belied are: - (i). In relation to the observation of Mosaic Law.  Whether all Christians should observe the Law as it is whether the Gentile Christians should obey all laws, including circumcise. Paul answers in a letter to Galatians. Council was made in Jerusalem and issue was settled in favor of Paul (Acts 15).

(ii). Division in the Church: This was specially seen in the church of Corinth. Main problem was when more and more gentiles come; they started eating meat offered to idol. These are divided the church.

Doctrinal Problems:  In the first century, Christianity had no written standard of doctrine as we have today. Even the apostle creeds were not there in the beginning.  In Matthew 28:18- 20, mentioned about some sort of doctrines.

The first century Christianity believed in God the father, in Jesus as the Son of God, in Holy Spirit whose presence they were really consciousness, they believed in the forgiveness of sins. They accepted all the teachings Jesus Christ, especially teachings of love. They also expected for final and they believed eternal. In short, their doctrine is very simple. However, in spite of this simple doctrine, they faced many problems and some of them are:-

(i). The Jewish Christian Sects. Towards the end of the First Century, we see several Jewish sects coming up. Some of these sects are:-

(a). Nazarites: These people accepted Christian faith strict on Mosaic Law. This people wanted the decision of Jerusalem Council (Act 15) apply to Gentiles not only to the Jewish Christians.

(b). Ebionites:- They were the opponenents of Paul. Like the Nazarites, these people believed everyone to keep Mosaic Laws. Not only for moral and ethical life but also for salvation. They denied the divinity of Christ. They were trying to teach the Holy Spirit descended on baptism and left Jesus while he was on the cross. They believed that Jesus Christ would return to build messianic kingdom on the earth.

(c). Elsesaites:  They also related to Ebionites. They practiced circumcision, Sabbath, Levitical Laws but did not do animal sacrifices which were faced in Jerusalem prayer. They baptized by emersion and maintained ascetic life and vegetarians. They continued until 5^th century.