The Early Church

North Forest

Overview

Many people I talk to assume one of the following ...

Their church uses the same model and the same teachings as the early church.
It doesn't matter what the early church believed and practiced, we now have the Bible as our infallible guide.
The Bible doesn't say much about church governance and practice so we can do it however we want.

We should learn about the faith-life and practice of the early church.

A few obvious points about the early church ...

They believed that sins are remitted during baptism. This is a sacramental concept. Thus, modern teaching that baptism is merely a symbolic act of faith is not in line with the early church.
People became Christians through baptism. Often there was a year-long teaching program they had to go through before receiving baptism. There was no separate church membership other than baptism.
They practiced the Eucharist and believed the consecrated elements of bread and wine to literally be Jesus. They took some to people who couldn't attend the service. They wouldn't allow non-Christians to partake. They wouldn't allow people who had committed grave public sin to take it until they completed a long period of public penance.
They had bishops ordained via apostolic succession. Christians were to unite behind their bishops. Bishops were to be present at every church service.
The church service was structured like the Catholic mass.

So which church of today has the same belief and practice as the early church? The surprising answer — none at all.

Featured article: The Early Church Fathers

Related article: The Protestant Reformation

One Apostolic Church | North Forest Home | Top of page

What was the early church really like? There were many stages ...

First 100 days ...
Thousands of new converts who were baptized right away — no year-long catechesis. High energy, doctrinally simple. Limited to Jerusalem — the apostles were all in Jerusalem. Met in the temple for Jewish devotional practices. Church meetings in homes. Those who didn't live in Jerusalem went back home and were pretty much on their own with no leaders at all. Practiced the Eucharist.
After Stephen's martyrdom ...
The apostles stayed in Jerusalem but other leaders left and established communities elsewhere. The norm seems to be the Eucharist in the context of an agape meal. Year-long catechesis for those desiring to become Christians becomes the norm.
Beyond Jerusalem ...
Leaders who had been taught by the apostles led their small local band of Christians. Many variations of belief and practice. Occasionally an apostle would appear and correct problems. We see from the letters to the churches in the book of Revelation that each local church had its own distinct identity. Some local churches had severe problems.
Bishops ...
The apostles noticed that the purity of Christ's teaching was being diluted and lost. They began training, certifying, and ordaining bishops. Bishops were to (1) teach the true gospel, (2) provide unity for Christians.
Patriarchates ...
Larger cities and cities with an apostle began to have more authority than other areas.
Heretics ...
But alas, bishops began teaching untrue doctrines. Local Christian communities had to choose whether to follow their heretical local bishop or not. Most of the time the Christians at large didn't even know their bishop was a heretic.
Unity ...
The early church was truly an "Ecumenical" church. There were no defined dogmas, no scripture, no creeds. Each local church had its own character and practice.
Standards of faith and practice ...
Finally creeds developed. There were writings from the apostles which were read during the church service. Doctrines were developed.

It seems to me that there were many problems with the early church. For Christians who happened to live where there was an orthodox bishop and a devout Christian community, their Christian life must have been awesome.