The church, aaagggh this is big!!

Right, I kind of want to let the cat out of the bag, as it were, and give it all away now. It is like holding back a dam a the moment. There is so much stuff to get through. I remember once getting blocked, I wrote down a list of possible studies I was thinking of to see if I could get something going and I wrote a list of 17 studies that were all going on in my head at the same time. That was why I was blocked. Once I wrote them down I could easily go through the list one at a time. I'm not sure whether I have a concrete list in my head but it might be useful to write it down.

I think I will try and make it simple so I will just do a comparisons list of how the early church functioned compared to today!

Firstly, let me say something provocative, the church today has more in common with the Roman Catholic Church than it does with the early church!! Has that for provocative? It doesn't matter whether you are a falling over charismatic church with miracles, or a lectern thumping evangelic church, your roots are more in the Catholic church than the biblical church!

Tee Hee!!

Here goes,

The sacred meal in the early church was a full bring and share fellowship meal. The attitude of the meal was about fellowship. Today the sacred meal is a token of a meal eaten in silent introspection. The complete opposite in fact. The origins of the "Communion can be traced to the cult of Mythrus and was adopted by the Catholic Church.

The ministry worship and sharing time in the early church was from everyone, 1 Cor 14:26 says "When you come together everyone has!" There was no sermon or worship leader. Everyone took it in turns to contribute something to the meeting. Today the "services" are led. The only people that contribute are the preacher and the worship leader. Everyone gets to follow the songs and say "Amen" but the difference is like watching a sporting event and taking part. As a spectator you get to sing and shout responses. In fact as a sports spectator you are more free to start a song than if you are in a modern church! Which is of course the complete opposite of the early church. The practice of led services started with the Catholic Church.

The early church met in members houses. This wasn't because of persecution, as some suppose. The persecution was only at certain times. The Greeks, Romans, and Jews all had special worship buildings that they erected where ever they went. It was a very multi faith society and another faith would not have made much difference. There is no mention of special building.

"34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet." Acts 4:34-37

There is no mention of money going to buildings or ministers but to those who had need. There were no needy people, why, because everyone distributed what they had spare to help those who were in need. Today ministers plead for money for buildings and for ministers wages. This practice started with the Catholic church. It is the complete opposite.

Church government in the early church was by consensus. That is every person had a vote and things were only changed if there was a large majority vote. This is not a 51% vote, this is a 100% vote and only less if it is considered that someone is just being awkward! Now, decisions are made by the ministers, and possibly and elected committee. The government of the church was removed from the people by the Catholic Church! It is the complete opposite!

In the early church the "local church" was autonomous, that is to say that it was its own authority. Even though there were apostles, they didn't "lord it over" the congregations. Jesus even praised a church for judging those who called themselves apostles. Decisions over member discipline (1 Cor 5) were made by the church, not by "area experts." Today churches are part of denominational hierarchies, some churches have autonomy but very few exercise it. The Catholic church created a hierarchy through which Emperor Constantine could govern the whole empire. To say that authority is form outside the local church is the complete opposite of saying it is inside the local church.

Pastors in the early church were equally called bishops and elders. They were senior members of the church. They did not put on special clothes or stand in a special place. They were there to oversee the meeting and make sure that everyone was treated fairly. They also made sure that heresies were not being shared as part of the "everyone has." They also could be called upon when there was need. Today Pastors are seen as the managers and are expected to "take" the service. They are seen as a rank above the body and not mere members of the body. If you walked into an early church it is likely you wouldn't be able to tell who the elders were, today you can't help but know who the "pastor" is. The Catholic church authorised the rank of clergy as the ministers to the congregation and were actually civil officers. This is of course the complete opposite!!

In each case the teaching that Jesus had imparted to the Apostles concerning establishing the church was reversed by approximately 300 AD when Constantine declared that he would rule the empire through the church.

To me Jacob is a great picture of this. He though he was marrying Rachel but he actually ended up married to Leah. The only thing that is said about Leah is that she had weak eyes! Spiritulising that, she had weak vision. The church today has a very weak vision of what it should be about. It has taken what it has received and run with it and tried to make sense of it in relation to scripture. However, it is far removed from scripture. Over the centuries many people have brought about change trying to return the church to the biblical model, however, it has a long way to go.

The picture of the church in the bible is a local group of believers meeting together, each taking responsibility for ministry and sharing a meal together. It is a picture of a family gathering together to eat together and to catch up on what has been happening, to rejoice together and so on. Like a family, family decisions are made by the family. Today the church is an institution where the people are ministered to and a token of a meal is taken. Like an institution decisions are made by the institutional hierarchy.

I warned you! But as I say, even though this is far removed from the early picture, they are still God's people. I firmly believe that we should know that what we have is not God's best for us, and that like missionaries in a foreign land we should love God's people regardless of whether their customs are what we would like.