8 - The Early Church

Introduction

No matter where you travel throughout the Western world, in every major town and City you will find at least one church building. Indeed, in many towns across the UK and Ireland you will be spoiled for choice. Why is this so?

The book of Acts provides an indispensible link between the four Gospel accounts and the development of the early church.

Its sweeping story commences immediately after Jesus resurrection and ascension to heaven and gives a fast moving account of how the early church was formed.

It is worth pointing out that every mainstream evangelical church in our modern world can trace its origin back to this period of the early church in AD 34-350.

On the Exodus page, we observed that only 70 Israelites entered Egypt and 400 years later, 2 million people came out. Well, the growth of the church is a fitting parallel. In the book of Acts we witness the same kind of exponential growth.

The storyline commences with a small band of bewildered disciples simply meeting together and not knowing what would happen next.

They appeared to be at a loose end, if not at their wits end. The four gospels close with various accounts of the resurrected Jesus meeting with them on several occasions.

On one of these occasions, Jesus told them that he was going to send them what his Father had promised; they were to stay in the city until they would be clothed with power from on high. 

As we now know, Jesus was referring to the Day of Pentecost when the disciples would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit - Luke 24 v 49.

Eventually the Day of Pentecost came and on that day everything changed for them and for the future of the whole world. God’s primary method of communicating with mankind was now moving to the third person of the blessed trinity; God the Holy Spirit.

With no exaggeration or fear of contradiction: what happened in the following months and years shaped history as we know it.

Regarding the Early Church...

This timeline covers circa 6000 + years of human history and delves into a wide spectrum of subjects, some of which have proved to be controversial over many years. You might not agree with every detail.

It is my hope that you will be challenged to consider this subject and how it impacts your life both now and in the future. I hope that you will learn something new about 'The Early Church' and perhaps be inspired to read the bible for yourself in order to shape your views on this interesting subject.

On this page we will discuss the following topics; The significance of the Book of Acts. The giving of the Holy Spirit. The first Christians. The Gentiles receive the gospel. Early Roman persecution.