The Early Christians Were Intensely Christ-Centered
by Ray Spellbrink
The early Christians were intensely Christ-centered. Jesus Christ was their pulse beat. He was their life, their breath, and their central point of reference. He was the object of their worship, the subject of their songs, and the content of their discussion and vocabulary. The New Testament church made the Lord Jesus Christ central and supreme in all things.
The New Testament church had no fixed order of worship. The early Christians gathered in open-participatory meetings where all believers shared their experience of Christ, exercised their gifts, and sought to edify one another. No one was a spectator. All were given the privilege and the responsibility to participate.
The purpose of these church meetings was twofold. It was for the mutual edification of the body. It was also to make visible the Lord Jesus Christ through the every-member functioning of His body. The early church meetings were not religious “services.” They were informal gatherings that were permeated with an atmosphere of freedom, spontaneity, and joy. The meetings belonged to Jesus Christ and to the church [Ed: the people]; they did not serve as a platform for any particular ministry or gifted person.
The New Testament church lived as a face-to-face community. While the early Christians gathered for corporate worship and mutual edification, the church did not exist to merely meet once or twice a week. The New Testament believers lived a shared life. They cared for one another outside of scheduled meetings. They were, in the very real sense of the word, family.
Christianity was the first and only religion the world has ever known that was void of ritual, clergy, and sacred buildings. For the first 300 years of the church’s existence, Christians gathered in homes.
On special occasions, Christian workers would sometimes make use of larger facilities (like Solomon’s Porch [John 10:23, Acts 3:11] and the Hall of Tyrannus [Acts 19:9]). But they had no concept of a sacred edifice nor of spending large amounts of money on buildings. Nor would they ever call a building a “church” or the “house of God”.
The only sacred building the early Christians knew was the one not made with human hands.
The New Testament church did not have a clergy. The Catholic priest and the Protestant pastor were completely unknown. The church had traveling apostolic workers who planted and nurtured churches. But these workers were not viewed as being part of a special clergy caste. They were part of the body of Christ, and they served the churches (not the other way around). Every Christian possessed different gifts and different functions, but only Jesus Christ had the exclusive right to exercise authority over His people. No man had that right. Eldering and shepherding were just two of those gifts.
Elders and shepherds were ordinary Christians with certain gifts. They were not special offices. And they did not monopolize the ministry of the church meetings.
They were simply seasoned Christians who naturally cared for the members of the church during times of crisis and provided oversight for the whole assembly.
Decision making in the New Testament church fell upon the shoulders of the whole assembly. Traveling church planters would sometimes give input and direction. But ultimately, the whole church made local decisions under the lordship of Jesus Christ. It was the church’s responsibility to find the Lord’s mind together and act accordingly.
The New Testament church was organic, not organizational. It was not welded together by putting people into office, creating programs, constructing rituals, and developing a top-down hierarchy or chain-of-command structure. The church was a living, breathing organism. It was born, it would grow, and it naturally produced all of what was in its DNA. That would include all the gifts, ministries and functions of the body of Christ. In the eyes of God, the church is a beautiful woman. The bride of Christ. She was a colony from heaven, not a man-made organization from earth.
Tithing was not a practice of the New Testament church. The early Christians used their funds to support the poor among them, as well as the poor in the world. They also supported traveling itinerant church planters so that the gospel could be spread and churches could be raised up in other lands. They gave according to their ability, not out of guilt, duty or compulsion. Pastor/clergy salaries were unheard of.
Every Christian in the church was a priest, a minister, and a functioning member of the body.
Baptism was the outward expression of Christian conversion. When the early Christians led people to the Lord, they immediately baptized them in water as to testimony to their new position. The Lord’s Supper was an ongoing expression whereby the early Christians reaffirmed their faith in Jesus Christ and their oneness with His body.
The Supper was a full meal which the church enjoyed together in the spirit and atmosphere of joy and celebration. It was the fellowship of the body of Christ, not a token ritual or a religious rite. And it was never officiated by a clergy or a special priesthood.
The early Christians did not build Bible schools or seminaries to train young workers. Christian workers were educated and trained by older workers in the context of church life. They learned “on the job”. Jesus provided the initial model for this “on-the-job” training when he mentored the Twelve. Paul duplicated it when he trained young Gentile workers in Ephesus.
The early Christians did not divide themselves into various denominations. they understood their oneness in Christ and expressed it visibly in every city. To their minds, there was only one church per city (even though it may have met in many different homes throughout the locale). If you were a Christian in the first century, you belonged to that one church. The unity of the Spirit was well guarded. Denominating themselves (“I am of Paul”, “I am of Peter”, “I am of Appolos”) was regarded as sectarian and divisive (See 1 Corinthians 1:12)”
I do believe these are some of the aspects of God’s vision for His church. Remember, the goal in our lives and in our church should be the absolute centrality of Jesus Christ. Nothing less will suffice.
We need more revolutionaries today who will stand against the religious system of our day. I encourage you to catch the vision God has for His church! The freedom His plan and will brings is beyond words! Let’s “buck the system” and seek a complete upheaval of those church practices that are so engrained in our churches today that are contrary to biblical principles. Let’s build on the right foundation – Jesus Christ. Anything less results in defect.
Let’s return to Bible basics and New Testament Christianity where Jesus is Lord!
BE A REVOLUTIONARY!
Until next time, enjoy the journey!
By Ray Spellbrink
————————————————–
I found Ray’s writings at these web pages:
http://rayspellbrink.blogspot.com/
http://newjerusalemmin.tripod.com/id5.html
http://blogs.christianpost.com/musings/author/ray-spellbrink/
http://www.mychristiandaily.com/index.php/promopuff/1255-the-bondage-of-religion-ray-spellbrink
Called Out: Now What? 
Loretta
June 10, 2013
I really liked this illustration(linked here) also for this article. Like the beautiful ancient painting illustrating this article (likely from the catacombs), this simple illustration also conveys the togetherness, the “eating meal together” communion/ supper fellowship they participated in when they gathered. It also conveys the fact that they were all on the same level together, functioning together with all their gifts, with no “clergy” at a higher level in some hierarchy above them. It also shows that they all participated in the gatherings together; there was no division of active ritual performers and passive spectators.
hutima
June 10, 2013
I disagree, I took a class on Christian history in a secular university and according to mainstream (i.e. non-evangelical/catholic) the church became institutionalized in under 200 years. The beginnings of this institutionalization can be seen as early as 40 years after the death of Christ with the writings of the Gospel because Jesus christ did not return as expected. Establishment of doctrine can be seen early as AD 70 in the Didache. This is further evidenced by the squashing of early heresies such as gnosticism and a rejection of women from the office of minister by the third century. A visible hierarchy also developed under persecution in the first 400 years.
I do however agree with the statement that there were no seminaries (persecution kind of eliminates the possibility of that) but that is not the say that there was no training. The people that became leaders tended to have training in the current philosophies of the day, instrumental in leading to the development of the trinity (and if you’re mormon the cause of the Great Apostasy).
You are clearly leading a restorationist model, however a restorationist model fails to account for the living development of the Church today. Denominations, however, are sinful, but they are currently the lesser of wrongs among the choices in promoting christian unity.
Harvey
June 10, 2013
It’s not that complicated, and this article is a guide including background setting, doctrinal spelling out 1 Cor 14:26, “when you meet.” Yes, pollution began even in Acts, and the apostles named names, calling against those who mixed things in and those who manipulated.
With the internet the explosion of information leads often counter-intuitively to simpler, purer truths; in Christian doctrine and “practice” – and also in health, nutrition, medicine.
Having a house fellowship is not a formula for winning the “bless me” lottery. Always there are some messy diapers to change. But it is possible, even simple. If you’re ever in Taichung we’d love to fellowship.
fleebabylon
September 21, 2013
Hutima said:
“I disagree, I took a class on Christian history in a secular university”
Jim says: So you disagree with the early Church being intensely Christ centered based on what a secular history class taught you? That is kind of strange for a believer to reach a conclusion that way don’t you think?
You are describing the harlot church which began in the first century, was fueled by emporer constantine, thrust us into the dark ages, and spawned many rebellious harlot daughters into the world during the reformation.
-Jim
tkilpatrick
May 19, 2014
Well, how do you do? I like this article and agree with it’s basic desire to shed light the spirit of religion.
tkilpatrick
May 19, 2014
Well, how do you do? This is article does a great job of casting light on the spirit of religion.
Loretta
May 25, 2014
welcome tkilpatrick!
Tim Shey
June 26, 2014
Here is a good book that you might like to read sometime:
“Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna”
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/pagan-christianity-by-frank-viola-and-george-barna/
Mac Nelson
October 17, 2014
This article lacks consistent thought. Church planting was Saul/Paul’s idea, and that is where things went wrong. Jesus is Light. Religion is darkness. Christ is Truth and Freedom. Religion is deception and bondage; for religion exalts a man [Saul/Paul], and men [preachers], and looks to them for guidance instead of looking to Christ alone. During the process of braking free from religion I came to realize that Saul/Paul’s confused writings are just more religious leaven, best to be abandoned, and that his words are not the words of God. For Saul/Paul is the essence of religion, and therefore the enemy of Christ.
Mac Nelson
October 17, 2014
If you say you have broken free from church/religion but continue to quote Saul/Paul and regard him as an authority, you are still in bondage and still have one foot in the church.
fleebabylon
October 24, 2014
” During the process of braking free from religion I came to realize that Saul/Paul’s confused writings are just more religious leaven, best to be abandoned, and that his words are not the words of God. For Saul/Paul is the essence of religion, and therefore the enemy of Christ”
You are the type of person scripture warns us against, not Paul. You are not only at odds with Paul, but also Peter, James, and the entire early church. You think you are enlightened but you have a reprobate mind. I write this for any true believer who still has eyes to see and ears to hear and implore Mac to fall on his face asking Jesus to deliver him from the demonic lies he has embraced and teaches.
Acts 15:22-26 All of the other apostles and church in Jerusalem validated Pauls ministry:
“it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 3:15-16 Peter validates Paul’s ministry
and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.