6. What the Early Church Looked Like
What exactly did the early Church look like? If we read the description of the newborn Church as it is portrayed in the Book of Acts, we find something very different from modern ideas of a "church." In fact, a great many of the things we might mention today in describing a church were not even present. There were no church buildings, no special robes or identifying physical attributes of the church leaders or followers. There was no New Testament and no organization of belief in the form of catechisms, creeds or dogmas. How then would we have recognized the early Church?
The Book of Acts shows a number of things that were clear characteristics of the early Church – ways in which we would recognize it if we had lived then – and while some characteristics were unique for that time and circumstance, many are things that we should surely hope to see in the Church today: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47).
In the space of these six verses Luke paints a vibrant picture of the early Church. We see first that it was a dedicated church – devoted to certain things. The Greek word translated "devoted" can mean "persevere," "adhere to," "be devoted to," "be attentive to" and several other things, but the general meaning of dedication is clear. Acts 2:42 tells us this dedication was applied to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship, and to breaking bread – three forms of interaction with fellow Christians from the more formal to the more casual and from the greater opportunities for learning to the lesser.
Next, we see that the early church members were filled with "awe" (vs. 43) at the work being done in the Church. Not all the converted individuals can have been present at the "many wonders and signs" being performed – it is clear that they were talking and hearing about these things.
We are also told that the early believers had "everything in common," and although this does not reflect a kind of primitive communism as some have thought (as we will see in the next chapter), it is clear that the early Church was full of the spirit of giving and sharing.
Verse 46 tells us that the early Church met daily in the Temple. This was probably not formal religious activity, but simply meeting, discussing and fellowshipping – the stress is on the continuing interaction of the Church's membership.
The early Church was also characterized by a spirit of thankfulness – the example is given of eating together "with glad and sincere hearts" (vs. 46) – and "praise" (vs. 47).
Of great importance, we see that the Church was obviously "letting its light shine" and that its members were "enjoying the favor of all the people" (vs. 47B). The favor was not just with fellow Christians, but all the people. This fact clearly ties into the final thing Luke mentions: that "the Lord added to their number daily" (vs. 47B).
So this is what the early Church looked like. It was characterized not by externals or by physical things, but by the
Holy Spirit and by the believers' attitudes, their relationships, and their effect on those around them. The lesson to all of us today is not that we should necessarily be searching for a church looking like that to attend, but that we should be striving to make the church we already attend look like that.