STORY OF THE WEEK: How Early Christians Built a Church Without Walls, Rules and Guilt
Unveiling Christianity’s Original Blueprint
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As a child growing up in the church, it was easy to assume that the way church services are conducted today is how they’ve always been.
Two songs.
Welcome, and announcements.
Another song (but a slower, more worshipful one).
The Lord’s Supper.
Prayer.
The Offering (a non-negotiable).
Another song.
A sermon with three points on how to do life better.
A prayer while the worship band got back up on stage.
One more song that often included a call to give your life to Jesus Christ.
A benediction.
Amen.
This was the typical order of service for virtually every church service I attended over my four decades in the church. It was always in a dedicated church building, usually with a pitched roof, a steeple, and some stained glass windows. At the front was an enormous lectern, or pulpit, where the preacher would stand, bang his fist, and deliver both great and terrible tales about life, death, and the constant threat of Hell.
The predictability of it all was oddly comforting, like an old family recipe handed down through generations. You knew what to expect: hymns that felt like old friends, well-worn pews that creaked in all the right places, and a church bulletin that looked like a ransom note because some enthusiastic volunteer had just discovered different fonts and clip art.
I never stopped to question whether this was all the church should be or if this was all the church ever was. Even when I became an adult and entered the ministry myself, I continued to replicate the same tired model of doing church because, well… that was all I knew.
But you know… most of what we call “church” today was never part of the “church” as the Christians in the New Testament understood it. Much of what Christians today believe is essential to the form, practice, and theology of the Christian church developed and evolved in response to cultural, historical, and theological shifts over centuries.
In fact, most of the key elements of a church service today were not part of the church at all until hundreds of years after Christ had been and gone. It’s worth reminding ourselves of that fact before we get too precious about our quaint religious traditions. Let’s take a look at the parts of the church that were not originally part of its earliest expression.
A churchless church
Did you know that for the first 300 years of Christianity, there was no such building was known as the “church?” In the earliest days of Christianity, believers met in homes, synagogues, or other communal spaces rather than purpose-built structures.
The church was not a place that you went to but a group you were part of.
What if I told you that when the Bible was first published, it didn’t contain the word “church?” Would you find that hard to believe?
Well, in fact, in the Tyndale Bible — published in 1524 as the first complete English Bible — the word “church” was nowhere to be found. Rather, it used the word “congregation” or, in the original language, “Ekklesia” which literally means “community” or even “society.”
As time went by, the word “congregation” was substituted with the word “church,” which eventually replaced almost all 115 mentions of the word “Ekklesia” in the New Testament. Sadly, when translators inserted the word “church” in English versions of the Bible, they included a word — with all its associated baggage — that did not reflect the original intent of Jesus’s words.
The church was never meant to be a building, so in the beginning, it had no buildings.
The shift toward dedicated church buildings began after Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 AD, which legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire. With newfound freedom and acceptance, well-meaning Christians sought to establish visible symbols of their faith. At first, these buildings were modest in size and design, often converted from existing structures such as houses or meeting halls.
However, as Christianity gained prominence and influence, church architecture evolved to reflect the grandeur and power of the faith. Magnificent cathedrals and basilicas emerged, featuring elaborate designs, towering spires, and intricate stained glass windows. These architectural marvels became not only places of worship but also symbols of Christian authority and prestige.
Of course, one has to wonder if Christ ever intended for his followers to become associated with power and prestige.
I have my doubts.
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