The Nature and Spread of the Early Church

This essay discusses the nature and spread of the early church, highlighting its practices, challenges, and significance in the development of Christianity. It explores the early church's lack of physical buildings, the writings of Paul to the Corinthians, and the factors that contributed to its growth and popularity.

Running head: MINISTERIAL THEOLOGY
Ministerial Theology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MINISTERIAL THEOLOGY
The Church is the most important religious place which is available to a Christian. It
is a place where the Christians go to offer their prayers to God so that they would be blessed
by God with all the gifts and also the blessings of their life. Apart from that, the church is
also a place where the communions are held by the priests and priestesses where the people
who visit the churches can confess about their sins and therefore they will be absolved of
their sins. It os because of such reasons that the Church is considered to be an important
religious institution for the Christians themselves. However, the nature of the Church was not
always as the humans see it in the present times. This version of the Church was initiated a
long time back by a number of saints and philosophers who properly wanted to establish the
religion of Christianity into the world itself. It is from the knowledge of these philosophers
that the early church was formed which ultimately led to the formation of the modern concept
of the Church as is found by the human beings today.
The purpose of this essay is to provide a discussion about the nature of the early
church and the ways in which the early church spread as well as how normative these
churches are in the lives of the human beings in the present times.
The church or the religious institutions of the Christians was not the same as
the humans see these institutions in the present times. In fact in the ancient times, there were
no church buildings as such. This is because of the fact that the religion of Christianity, which
developed along with Judaism, was considered to be an evil religion in the ancient times,
until the time, when the religion of Christianity was made legal by the conversion of Emperor
Constantine (64 A.D.) as well as the Edict of Milan (313 A.D.). All these facts prove to the
readers about the fact that there were no church buildings as such in the ancient times, due to
the disapproval that was faced by the religion of Christianity (Watson, 2018). It is from the
sources written by various experts that we come to know about the facts that the early
followers of the did not have a church building as such and mostly used to meet at each

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other’s home where they would discuss about the matters of the truth sand the errors of the
matter itself. The readers also get to know about the fact that there were troubles along the
various ranks of the members of the Church themselves and also the fact that the Christians
were prosecuted by the Roman Empires as they were considered illegal and responsible for
various problems in the Kingdom itself (Ferguson,2017).
It is from the writings of Paul to the Corinthians themselves that the readers get to
know about the features of the early church and how the members themselves used to operate
in the early church themselves. Saint Paul is considered by many experts to be one of the
greatest figures in the development of the Christian faith. It is in the letters which he wrote to
the Corinthians after he visited them twice that the readers get to know about the facts of the
early church and the early Christian meetings itself. It is also from the letters which he wrote
in the course of his travels that the readers get to know about the facts of the number of the
churches which he had established in the various countries where he had visited. It is from
the same letters written by Paul to the Corinthians that the facts of his opinions on the early
church can be based on. In the letters written by Paul to the Corinthians that the details of the
early church had been provided to the readers themselves. In the letters, the readers finds that
the early church practices consisted of prayers and sermons in the upper rooms and sharing if
breads between the homes of the followers as well as the discussion of the subject.
Paul’s writings to the Corinthians refer about the practices that the early Christians
should adhere to while following the rules and the regulations of the early church which were
to be followed by the early Christians. At the same time, these letters also inform the readers
that there had been many problems within the earliest churches. Paul writes in his letter on
the various problems in the churches including the problems of the division within the
churches, the problems of carnality, the problems of fornification, the problems of marriage
as well as divorce and the problems of the role to be played by the men and the women in the

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church of Jesus Christ himself. Another major problem that was encountered by Paul in the
early church is the problem which had been faced by the gentiles in the church which was a
problem for the persons who were newly converted to the religion itself. It is these problems
itself which Paul had written a letter to the Corinthians to correct them about the matter itself.
From the writings of Paul himself, the readers can get the idea that Paul was indeed
one of the best apostles of Christ himself as it was he himself, who laid the foundation for the
establishment of Christianity as a legitimate religion itself. It is because of the efforts of Paul
himself that the early churches began to spread all over the world and with that the faith of
the early Christianity also began to spread across various parts of the world. It is with the
spread of the faith itself that the early churches began to spread all over the world thus
signifying the growth and the popularity of the religion of Christianity of the people in all
nations of the world in every way possible (Ferguson, 2019).
The spreading of the early churches proves the point of the popularity of the religion
of Christianity to the followers because it is because of the churches and the practices of
Christianity being spread to the other countries, more and more people got interested in the
religion itself which led to the religion gaining a large number of followers in the world itself.
This is what is referred to in the spreading of the early church itself. It should also be noted in
this matter itself that the actions of Paul is not the only reason for the spread of the early
church in the country itself. Other actions taken by other apostles of Jesus Christ as well as
the interest of the people in the teachings of the Bible itself is what allowed the faith and the
church to be established in the other countries as well. It is exactly because of these reasons
that the early church as well as the spread of Christianity in the world is considered to be play
an important role in the development of the religion worldwide for the development of the
religion in thew country itself (Kelly, 2016). All these factors help to tell the readers of the
essay about the various ways in which the early churches spread in the world itself and in the

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various ways by which then people of the country got interested in the subject matter of the
Christianity religion in the countries as well as the world itself.
Another important point to remember for the spreading of Christianity as a religion
worldwide is the matter of the followers of the devotion of the church itself. This means the
fact that the early Christians were not only devoted to God and his scriptures but they were
also devoted to each other. It is exactly the reason why the people who had converted to
Christianity in the beginning wanted to visit the homes of each other where they would
discuss the scriptures of God as well as the breaking of the bread, which indicates they used
to share their food with each other. As stated by Watson (2017), apart from this, other factors
like praying together and the blood of the martyrs played an important role in helping not
only the early churches but also the religion of Christianity to be spread from one part of the
country to the other part. Hence, the early church as well as the religion of Christianity spread
all over the world.
The early church is considered to be normative for the human beings in the present
times because it refers to the way in which the religion of Christianity spread in the world
itself. In that sense, it serves mostly as a historical knowledge to the individuals in the sense
that it provides to the individuals accurate historical information on the particular events
which took place within the church itself. Moreover the practices within the church has also
taught the individuals on the importance of the subject matter itself and the various ways in
which the they should offer their prayers to God and also the various rituals that they should
practically follow in the world (Kelly, 2019). Another reason why the early church is
considered to be normative because it lays down certain rules and the principles which are to
be followed by the Christians for the purpose of their offering prayers to the God and other
rituals which needs maintained by them in the church.

5MINISTERIAL THEOLOGY
Moreover, the church also plays an important part for the individuals, especially
between the Christians, as it is the place where the Christians would be able to offer their
prayers and their services to God himself. The church is also a place where the individuals
can share the various problems which they face in their lives and try to find various solutions
to the problems which they have in their lives. All these factors play a very important role in
the lives of the Christians inn helping them to understand about the subject matter of the
Christianity and the various meanings that the religion stands for.
Apart from these points, there are other points why the early church is considered to
be normative for the human beings in the recent times. This is because the church teaches the
individuals about the various values as well as the moral principles which are important to
know for the Christians themselves. As stated by Ferguson (2018), these values are the ones
which will be followed by the Christians in their prayers as well as in their daily activities of
their lives. Following these rules and the regulations as imparted by the teachings of Jesus
Christ would instruct them to. All these reasons point out the facts why the church plays such
an important role in the lives of the Christians themselves.
The third reason for the early church being normative is the growth of the religion of
Christianity. It is because of the actions which had been taken by the apostles such as Paul as
well as others that the religion managed to gain a large number of followers in the history of
the religion. It is because of such reasons that the early church is considered to be an
important part of the Christianity because of the principles that it would impart to the
followers of the religion itself and the way in which the church imparts instructions to the
Christians (Watson, 2018).
Therefore, from the above statements, it can be concluded that the early church was
indeed an important part behind the growth of the religion of Christianity and the spread of

6MINISTERIAL THEOLOGY
the early churches in the world. This is because of the activities of Paul as well as the other
apostles who had played an important role in their contribution to the religion of Christianity.
Thus, it can be said that the early churches and the contribution which it had made to the
subject matter of Christianity had played an important role in the world itself.

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Reference List
Alfani, Guido. Fathers and godfathers: spiritual kinship in early-modern Italy. Ashgate
Publishing, Ltd., 2013.
Ferguson, Everett. Encyclopedia of early Christianity. Routledge, 2013.
Harrison, Carol. The art of listening in the Early Church. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Kelly, John Norman Davidson. Early christian creeds. Routledge, 2014.
Walton, Robert C. Chronological and background charts of church history. Zondervan, 2018.