Changes in the Mission of the Church: From the Act of the Apostles to Martin Luther

This essay discusses the changes in the mission of the Christian church from the Act of the Apostles to Martin Luther. It highlights the role of the Apostles in the formation of the church and Luther's challenge to the corrupt practices of the church.

The Mission of the
Church Modified

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ......................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The way that the Christian church functions in the modern day is quite different than its
ways of the old and this essay will highlight the various changes that the church has undergone with
respect to the Act of the Apostles and it will also highlight the way in which Martin Luther dealt
with the aforementioned changes of the church.
MAIN BODY
The act of the Apostles is the fifth holy book in the new testament and details the formation
and foundations of the very first Christian churches through which the gospel about Christianity and
Jesus were spread out to the world. This book is very important to the formation of the church as it
details the manner in which Christianity spread throughout the Roman empire due to the rapid
influence of Christian churches by the Apostles. One of the most major events which are detailed in
this book is the Pentecost event during which the Apostles got the holy spirit to descend to them
which started their mission of starting and spreading the Christian church (The amazing growth of
the early church, 2012). One of the major events that took place in the Pentecost is that the Apostles
got to experience Jesus die, come back to life and ascend to heaven which is also known in
Christianity as crucifixion, resurrection and Ascension (Manning, 2018).
Martin Luther is one of the most prominent figures whose challenge towards the order of the
Christian church is not only well documented but also resulted in some well documented changes.
Martin Luther was born in 10 November, 1483 in Eisleben and after studying in the university of
Erfurt, he joined a monastery order and quickly progressed to become a Augustinian friar. After
getting ordained in 1507, he began teaching at the university of Wittenburg and the initial roots of
his protest against the Christian church came from his Rome visit in 1510 where he found rampant
corruption. After he discovered a clergy selling indulgences which were being distributed by the
Church to give people pardon from their sins, he decided that the Church was being unfaithful to the
teachings of Jesus Christ and in 1517, he published his legendary work, 'The 95 theses' attacking
two important social pillars of the church in that Era which were Papal abuses and sale of
indulgences.
Despite getting criticized and even ostracized, his protests led way to the protestant
revolution and also shed light on the way in which churches made money off of innocent and
devout Christian which was stopped and greatly criticized in his wake which was a very welcome
change (Luther, 2018).

CONCLUSION
The above essay went into detail regarding the various factors which led to the formation of
the Christian church along with the various ways in which it was changed through important social
figures challenges their ways. This essay highlighted the role of Apostles in the creation of the
Christian church and the way in which Martin Luther challenged the wicked ways of profiteering by
the church.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Luther, M., 2018. The Collected Works of Martin Luther: Theological Writings, Sermons & Hymns:
The Ninety-five Theses, The Bondage of the Will, The Catechism. e-artnow.
Manning, P., 2018. Why Consult the Laity? A Theological Justification. The Furrow, 69(4), pp.195-
205.
Online referencing
The amazing growth of the early church, 2012 [online] available through
<http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222012000100076>