Christian
Churches and Assemblies
In the
First Century
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. --Acts 2:41-47 NRSV
One of the difficulties people face in emerging from a life-domineering religious organization is where to find solace to fill the social and spiritual void left in its wake. Where there had seemingly been clear guidance for every aspect of Christian living, with answers to every question through the dictates of policy-making leadership, self-proclaimed to be spirit-directed by Almighty God, there is now little that remains in its place except bewilderment.
We entrusted our faith to an authoritarian organization, served it to the utmost and based important life decisions on that faith, only to eventually discover our devotion was to the illusions of imperfect humans who were not the emissaries of God that we had believed. The table on which we had perceived a bountiful banquet is bare. The flourishing oasis we envisioned in a parched desert was a mirage. Some may feel lost in a spiritual wilderness without refuge, wary to ever again trust any kind of organization for worship lest they fall prey to another order of mind control and deception.
Yet how are we to seek and sustain a meaningful relationship with our Creator apart from association with fellow Christians? How do we apply the instruction of the apostle Paul who counselled, "let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, . . ."? (Hebrews 10:24,25 - NAS)
Now we must ask, can there be Christian association without submitting to domination by men? Can there be unity in Christ without conformity to a central earthly authority? Can there be Christian freedom in assembly? Or can people and families study the Bible in approved worship independent of association with larger groups? To understand these and other questions about Christian fellowship, we look to the Scriptures to discover how the followers of Jesus worshipped together, and later how they assembled as a church after his death and resurrection in the first century CE.
In order to understand the meaning of church in the early Christian community, we must examine a Greek word ekklesia from which the word "church" is translated.
The "church" (ekklesia) in the first century
A literal translation of the Greek word ekklesia means, in the general sense, "assembly" or "gathering. " From the fifth century BC it was applied to any group of Greek citizens who came together in meeting for a purpose. In the Greek translation of the "Old Testament" (Septuagint), the word ekklesia denoted an assembly of Israelites, and the term was also sometimes interchanged with the word for "synagogue."
The word church (ekklesia) appears in only two verses in the Gospels, both in the book of Matthew and spoken by Jesus. In the first occurrence, Jesus tells Peter: "upon this rock I build my church." (Matt. 16:18) Here Jesus applies "church" in a universal sense as meaning the whole spiritual assembly of all Christians, the "rock" being his spiritual "body" (Col.1:18) of which he, the Christ, would be the head. (Eph.5:23) In this application there is an implied relationship to the universal church of his future Kingdom. In his second reference to "church," Jesus instructs a believer to appeal to the "church" when a member, a wrong-doer, will not heed private admonition. (Matt. 18:17) In this definition, the term applies more generally to a local "congregation." In deed some translators render ekklesia here as "congregation" (for example, NEB) or "community" (JB). It is this second definition that we are concerned with for consideration of Christians assembling together for worship in our time.
Other than Jesus' two references to "church" in Matthew, it does not appear to be the term generally used by his disciples or the Jews to describe their gatherings prior to the writing of Paul in the Epistles. It was some years later, in his letters to Gentile congregations, that the apostle Paul regularly employed the word "church" in reference to groups of Christians in their various communities.[1] In the Bible, the word "church" is first seen in his greeting to the Christians in Thessalonica. (1 Thess. 1:1) Thereafter, "church" is recorded some sixty times in the writings about his ministry to the Gentile Christians. That he viewed the "churches" as independent congregations is clear from the fact that he uses the plural word (ekklesias) when writing a letter to several groups, for example in his letter to "the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea" (1 Thess.2:14) and in his letter to "all the churches of the saints" (1 Cor. 14:33). Throughout the record of Paul's ministry, it is clearly evident that the early communities of Christians did share in independent group fellowships called "churches." The only way "church" was applied collectively to multiple congregations was reference to an assembly of more than one congregation, or when it was applied in the universal sense of all Christians in union with Christ. "Church" was never used in reference to Christianity as a religious denomination. In Harper's Bible Dictionary, under the definition of "church" it is stated this way:
"In the NT "church" always denotes a group of people, either all the Christians in a city (Acts 14:23, 1 Cor.1:2; 2 Cor.1:1) or those gathered for worship in a particular house (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor.16:19) or all Christians in all the churches, the whole church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 1:22). It never signifies a building or a "denomination." [Bold not in original.]
Where did first-century Christians meet?
There are no specific commands in the Bible as to where or how often Christians should meet. However we can learn much by what the Scriptures reveal in the various references to church meetings. Notably there is no mention of any church-owned property or permanent meeting place. Meetings were held in various homes and in public places, including the Temple (Acts 2:46; 5:12, 42), or out in the open as on the Mount of Olives (Acts 1:6) or on the seashore (Acts 21:5), or in "an upper room" (Acts 1:13-14; 2:1-2; 20:1). Specific homes mentioned are Cornelius's house (Acts 10:27), Simon's (Acts 10:6), Mary's (Acts 12:5, 12), Lydia's (Acts 16:40), Jason's (Acts 17:5), Justus' (Acts 18:7), Philip's (Acts 21:7), as well as the apostle Paul's abode (Acts 28:23-30).
". . . while I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from house to house.* --Acts 20:20 New World Translation Rev. 1971 edition. [Footnote: *Or, "and in the private houses."--pg. 1162]
In the Epistles, the only buildings specifically mentioned as used for church meetings are private houses. These include Priscilla and Aquila's house (Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19); Nympha's house (Col. 4:15) and Philemon's house (Philem. 2). It is generally supposed the groups were relatively small, numbering anywhere from the immediate members of one household up to perhaps approximately 40 in more affluent homes.
Due to persecution in the first century, Christians met wherever they could. Christianity was not recognized as an exclusive religion by the Roman government before the time of Constantine.
"Until the second century Christians were not permitted to erect churches, but were compelled to worship in private homes, in the open fields, or, to escape persecution, in the Catacombs (q.v.) and other concealed places."[2]
Church historian, Quintus Tertullian, early in the third century writes: "Lastly, if you cannot assemble by day, you have the night . . . . Be content with a church of threes. It is better that you sometimes should not see your crowds, . . . ."[3] And Jesus did say: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (Matt. 18:20 NRSV)[4]
How did they fellowship?
The early Christians served as a support group for one another. To embrace the Gospel meant to embrace one another in brotherhood and fellowship as members of the dwelling of God. As Paul said:
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God." -Eph.2:19-22 NRSV
They shared their possessions (Acts 2:44-47) and made provision for those less fortunate, widows and orphans (Acts 6:1-7). They were known for their love and loyalty to one another as noted by one early historian:
"They abstain from all impurity in the hope of the recompense that is to come in another world. As for their servants or handmaids or children, they persuade them to become Christians by the love they have for them; and when they become so, they call them without distinction, brothers. They do not worship strange gods; and they walk in all humility and kindness, and falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another. When they see the stranger they bring him to their homes and rejoice over him as over a true brother; for they do not call those who are after the flesh, but those who are in the Spirit and in God.
"And there is among them a man that is poor and needy and if they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast two or three days, that they may supply the needy with the necessary food. "They observe scrupulously the commandment of their Messiah; they live honestly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and all hours on account of the goodness of God toward them, they render praise and laud Him over their food and their drink; they render Him thanks.
"And if any righteous person of their number passes away from this world, they rejoice and give thanks to God and they follow his body as though he were moving from one place to another. And when a child is born to them, they praise God, and if again it chances to die in its infancy, they praise God mightily, as for one who has passed through the world without sins.
"Such is the law of the Christians and such is their conduct."[5]
Meals were central to the life of the early church. Luke gives a glimpse of the early church days in telling us: "They broke bread in their homes ["house to house" in the KJV] and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." (Acts 2:46,47 NIV). Meals made fellowships a joyous occasion which became a way of demonstrating and celebrating their new kinship in Jesus' family. Meals specifically associated with fellowship and worship have been called love [agape] meals, which may also have relevance to partaking of the emblems of Christ. And they sang songs, as it says: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Col.3:16,17)
Summary
"Church," then, in its most fundamental definition means people, specifically the people of God. The Christian church was born with the first converts from the multitude gathered for the day of Penticost after Jesus' ascension. (Acts 2:37-42) They were commissioned to then spread the gospel ("good news") message of hope in God's kingdom through Christ. (Matt. 28:19-20; 2 Tim.4:1-5) The church in its universal sense means all Christians in the body of Christ and alludes to that promised Kingdom.
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." -1 Pet.2:2-10
The kingdom in one sense is a present reality, a life-support system for those who believe and accept Jesus Christ and his gospel. Christians become part of the kingdom of God on earth. However, they experience the kingdom in only a partial sense. The fullness of the kingdom is our destination and our goal. Yet a foretaste of the kingdom is present now in the Body of Christ. It is this present reality that enables and empowers us to be Christian pilgrims (2 Pet. 1:3-4)
The church is not a corporate body. It is not a building or a structure. The church is not a multi-national institutional conglomerate. The church is people. That is not to say that people of God should not organize for fellowship. The Scriptures give a basic structure and coherency to the people of God. But the church should never forget that it is comprised of people in union with the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is unfortunate that the history of Christianity demonstrates the people of God have often been overlooked, forgotten and even abused by the corporate institution of the church.
Home Churches in our twenty-first century
As we enter the twenty-first century, there is a rising movement among worshippers to restore the home church concept of those first-century Christians. Many people of faith are discovering it to be an appealing alternative to joining a corporate denominational religious organization. In the spirit of identifying with the citizenship of the universal Christian church, and applying the instruction to gather together with one another in love, Christian Quest is pleased to promote this Biblical concept of home churches and family groups among Christians. Our mission of appeal gives particular attention to the special interests and doctrinal experience of former Jehovah's Witnesses. Our Web site offers a suggested outline for regular weekly Bible study for those who would like to follow a program in shared fellowship with others. For more information write to:
Christian Quest - USA
PO Box 39
Eagle ID
83616 USA E-mail: Info@christianquest.orgCamino Christiano - Spain
Website: http://usuarios.maptel.es/camino
E-mail: galaad@maptel.esChristian Quest - Australia
Dave and Maureen Lavis
E-mail: davelavis@hotmail.comChristian Quest - Mexico
James Penton
lobogris@LAGUNA.COM.MX
[1] See Rom. 16:1; 1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1;
1 Thess. 1:1, 2 Thess.1:1.
[2] 'Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature,'
McClintock/Strong, Vol.22, pg 334.
[3] 'De Fuga In persecutions' as translated by Rev. S. Thelwall in
'The Ante-Nicene Fathers,' Vol. IV, page 125.
[4] Early historians such as Justin, Pliny, and Tertullian all wrote descriptions
of Christian meetings and did not mention any type of church building.
[5] The Apology of Aristides, Syriac text and translation. Cited in
Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. 1 (Chicago Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.),
page 346. 7