Have you wondered what the church looked like in the New Testament? Have you wondered how different the church is today than when Paul wrote the letters to the seven churches in Revelation? If you have, you are not alone. In this post we will search scripture to find verses to answer the question, what did the early church look like?

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

I Corinthians 12:12-32

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

I Corinthians 12:27-28

The church is composed of members of the body of Christ. It’s composed of many members, with many different gifts. These gifts are given to each member of the body of Christ by God, to be used to edify and help care for the whole body. As you read I Corinthians 12:12-32 you will see the full picture of what the body of Christ looks like. You will also see it’s role for the church. This gives us the first glimpse of what the early church looked liked.

What is the church according to this scripture? Firstly the church consist of different members of the body of Christ. Secondly, the church is different members of the body of Christ that assemble together for the good of the body. Thirdly, the churches structure was set up by God!

WHERE DID THE EARLY CHURCH MEET?

Where the church meets today is very different than the early church. For example, the established American church meets primarily in their own building, and there can be many different churches established in an area. A further example of this is the small town I live in, it has roughly 3,800 people and 10 different Christian churches.

• Acts 19:8-10, 18:4, 20:7-8, 2:42-47, 16:13, 1:12-14
• Romans 16:5
• Philemon 2b
• I Corinthians 16:19

And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Acts 19:8-10

Jesus often taught in the temples and synagogues, teaching the Jews and gentiles. His disciples did the same, as you see in the above verses. They continued preaching in a synagogue until they were no longer call by God to stay there. So, the next question is where did the Christians start meeting after they were converted?

When you read all the above verses you will see that they started to meet in smaller groups in houses, riversides, large areas (upper rooms) etc.. I truly believe that Christians continued to meet in the temples and synagogues weekly, but they met in smaller groups on a regular basis.

WHAT DID WORSHIP LOOK LIKE IN THE EARLY CHURCH?

I Corinthians 14:26, Acts 2:42-47

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Acts 2:42

I believe that in the beginning the early church was very passionate when it came to living out their faith. They met where they could, when they could, and did what they were able to do using the gifts that God gave them. When they met they broke bread (had communion), they fellowshipped when they ate, they taught, prayed, sang, and collected for those in need. These are just some of what is mentioned in the above verses.

CONCLUSION TO WHAT DID THE EARLY CHURCH LOOK LIKE

In many ways the early church looks different from todays church, but we have many similarities too.

The basic concept is still the same; a body of believers gathering together to fellowship and build up the body of Christ, by using the Gifts that God has given. They did this then, and we need to continue to do this today. It didn’t matter how many gathered in a place on a regular basis, it was still called the church.

Let us continue to live out what God has called us to do by not forsaking the assembling of His people! (Hebrew 10:25)

We hope you search our Free Bible Studies from Christian Fellowshipping for more encouraging ways to fellowship with God and other believes.

References:
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.