 |
The book of Acts describes how the early Christians use to meet up:
Acts 5:12 (ANIV) The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's Colonnade.
Historians all coincide that the early Christians met regularly at homes (Ac 16:40; Ro 16:5, etc.) where they would sing to God, dance in His presence, prayed for the needs of those present and far, ate together, were edified by the collective reading of the letters sent to them by the apostles (many of which are part of our New Testaments today), provided for the needs of the poor among them and supported the Apostles so they could keep preaching and planting new groups (churches) wherever the Holy Spirit would lead them to go (thus the name of our ministry: GO> Church). And from time to time they would all gather together at the temple in Jerusalem or at rented or public venues through the empire. Such the case in the cities of Corinth and Ephesus, just to mention two.
That’s how the Church functioned for the first 300 years of our era.
Quite a different model of church as we understand it today, nevertheless, this Church expanded throughout the whole known world of the day and won half of the population of the Roman Empire before its fall in the year 453. It wasn’t until the 4th Century that Emperor Constantine decreed that “the church” had to meet up in specially built temples, run by a hierarchy of priests appointed by him and dressed in specially designed robes that the Church had to stop meeting in homes “in the traditional way” to follow the idea of worship imposed by Constantine. Idea that became very popular until our days!
In the past few years growing numbers of believers have been deserting “the church building” in pursuit of a type of christianity that would fulfil their spiritual hunger.
I firmly believe that we can be like the primitive Church in principle and function not only within but also from church buildings.
The “going to church" paradigm is changing to “going from church” into the whole world to pray for the sick so they shall recover, to share the Gospel so that they may be saved, to fill them with the Holy Spirit for a life of freedom and power and to equip them so that they may do the same as they live their day to day lives, and then the end will come (MT 24:14). AMEN!