Early Church History

Early church history is something Christians need to know, in order to understand where their faith has come from, and why it bears such great importance to the future of their faith. The early fathers formed the foundation of the early Christian church. Many of their writings can be found by an astute researcher. One of the most important things in learning about the history of the greatest religious organization of mankind is that we must also be willing to see who we are and how that pertains to the past. We can never truly live freely in the future if we do not understand our past, thus, the importance in learning all about our church fathers. But what we need to do is go all the way back to the beginning of the church and see how the organizational structure began.



The beginnings of Christianity is due to the apostles, who are considered the "fathers". The concept of the church began when Jesus was preaching to those who followed him to the hillsides and sat down waiting for the messages. Those who faithfully followed Jesus would become part of history. Encouraged to sell everything that they owned and follow the Lord, these courageous followers became the 'charter members' of the early Christian church because of their willingness to give up everything for the Lord. In early church history, there were many who followed but only few that truly understood the message that accompanied the preachings of Jesus while talking about the importance of letting go of possessions and following the path to the Kingdom of God. The new and quickly growing group, contained many true followers of the Lord who loved him and would give anything for him. Yet, just as with any organized group, some people were not always the easiest, for even the Lord, to work with.



When looking at the history of this now worldwide religion, it must be understood that the early membership truly represented what the Lord wanted. The basis of the organized movement was to work together in one accord, to have all things in common, and to care for their needy. Deacons were appointed to oversee the functions of service, and made sure their brothers and sisters in faith were cared for, especially the widows and orphans. Even though every advantage in the world was theirs by knowing the Lord first-hand, amazingly enough, it was still easy for them to reject him. Sometimes it is hard to understand the early Christian church followers. They knew a real and personal Jesus and stood in his very presence and yet, some (Judas for example) rejected him for a little bit of money. This brings to light a lot of thoughts on our own human side; what do we put before the priority of serving Christ. We must understand what the Lord expects of us in our lives so that we can begin to know him on a deeper level. For other interesting topics, visit our Bible resources.



In understanding the church today, we must also understand the importance of early church history and the singleness of mind it exemplified. Jesus taught them what it was to truly be a follower of him with teachings such as being poor in spirit. The Lord wanted to show what could be fulfilled in them by His power. While that ancient time was filled with people who rejected him, the early Christian church was also filled with people who desperately loved the Lord and wanted to know him more as well as imitate the One they loved. Because of their tight organization in belief and thought, the early Christians stuck together even after Jesus returned to heaven. They were the first stage of community for us to see and the model that Christ laid down for the future of mankind and his followers in particular. The new membership also had the bittersweet blessing of seeing Christ die on the cross for all our sins. The climax of the Lord's death was justified by His resurrection and that became the glue that solidified the church for all time thereafter.



The most prevalent and obvious of the church's founders is Jesus Christ. He was the beginning of the early Christian church and the one who is the reason for the early church history. He was the beginning of the teachings about God and ultimately was given as a sacrifice so that Christianity could be possible. We must look to him before anyone else in the fact that we have a Christian faith where we get to worship the Lord whenever and whenever we want. We know that in the Lord, we have complete freedom. This was only made possible by Jesus Christ. All of the group's following fathers pale in comparison to who Jesus Christ was. He was a teacher and the Savior for all of his people. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." (Matthew 3:16)