Examining The Early Churches Strengths And Weaknesses Religion Essay

Examining The Early Churches Strengths And helplessnesses Religion EssayThe purpose of this essay is to see how the church service began 2,000years ago, with a small group of disciples em springed by the set apart Spirit, who preached, and taught, healed in synagogue, and everywhere they went, lives and society was changed in the see of the professional Jesus Christ.The Strengths of Early ChurchThe azoic church did not just scratching to grow after Jesus ascension by its own enthusiasm. The disciples on the day of Pentecost were all together in one place. hotshot of the strength of the early church is their ability to wait on god. Jesus instructed his disciples to wait (Matt 2819-20, Luke 2449) first for the Holy Spirit in order to do the drub he commissioned them for. The disciples waited until when the Spirit descended on them on the day of Pentecost. The power received at the out pouring of the Holy Spirit enabled them to fulfil their mission. wait is sometimes part of Gods plan in order to be truly effective.Descent of the SpiritThe apostles and disciples were the first recipients of the outpouring of the spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues (Act 26). They received power to function like Jesus Christ to preach the gospel with boldness, with signs and wonders following. The disciples spoke in prophetic speech that people of various nationalities represented at Jerusalem recognised their languages, which drew their attention unto God. Peters sermon on the day of Pentecost led to revival that caused salvation of over three gram people. Followed by diverse forms of miracles, and healings enhancing the circularize of the gospel.The Church was BoldInitially the disciples were very timid. But after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit they were filled with boldness to do mighty works and witnessing effectively. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit inspired evangelism and proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From the day of Pentecost when P eter spoke to community of believers the gospel has spread from Jerusalem to Syria, Asia, Europe and Africa. Despite persecutions, oppositions, imprisonments, plots they neer relent, they kept on moving never dare to go to a new place to preach the sound out of God.The Early Church was very PrayerfulAnother characteristic of the early church was that they are very prayerful, committed to Gods will through prayer (Act 114). As it faces challenges the churches always came together to pray so that healings, miraculous signs and wonders will take place (Acts31-3, 41-10).The Church was in one accordOne of the strengths of the early church is unity. The church was one, and there was no proliferation in the body of Christ. There were house fellowships where believers met for teachings and breaking of bread. None of the early Christians felt that what they had was their own they never allowed any of the brethren to suffer when others had plenty. The unity brought by the Holy Spirit increa sed loyalty, commitment and love for God. Without unity, the church could not concord survived therefore they had everything in common. consummate miraculous signs and wondersSigns and wonders followed the apostles everywhere they went. The healing of the man at the Beautiful gate by Peter and John created a stir in Jerusalem that saved five thousand people (Act 31-3). The early Church did much miraculous work through the help of the Holy Spirit as the Lord had done. They confirmed the gospel with great power, miracles and abundant grace as they spread the good news. A lot of people were attracted to the early church by expressions of Gods power at work.People of PrayerThe early Christians devoted themselves to prayer. They understood that Gods kingdom could only be manifested in its full power through fervent prayer. (Act 114, 242, 31, 64, Eph 618). In those days devote Jews pray 2 or 3 times a day and it was the bespoken of the disciples to follow this devotion. Peter and John went to pray at the temple (Acts 31), while Luke and Paul did the same (Acts 1616). God rewarded Cornelius for keeping to hours of prayer (Act10).Weakness of the early churchExternal Opposition The early church was not without its own problem. The church experience both miracles and opposition the same time. There is impertinent opposition from Judaic leaders who became uncomfortable with message of Christian liberty preached by the early believers, which undermined Jewish legalism. Besides the opposition from religious circle believers constitute themselves in conflict with social patterns of the day, because they no longer participate in emperor worship, refused to take part in bloody roman sport and irreligious shrines. As a result persecution arose, legion(predicate) were exiled, killed, mocked and imprisoned.Jewish and Gentile Conflicts God has no favourite nation or race, he only favours and accepts anyone who turns from sin and believed him. The Apostles ab initio want all people to be saved but did not understand that salvation was no longer restricted to Israel alone, but for everybody. The Jewish-Gentile conflict is the superior barrier to the spread of Gospel in the 1st century. Until the issue was resolved, in council at Jerusalem, it was a barrier.Administration as the early church increased in size, so did her take aways and challenges. The new believers were moved by the Holy Spirit to share their possession (Acts 4 32-37). But as the numbers increased, it became difficult for tolerable distribution of goods to meet the needs of everyone. The Hellenist believing widow felt neglected. To rectify this, the Apostles created the office of deacon to oversee the physical needs of the people. Later we see the bucolic epistle written by Paul to Timothy and Titus, about the spiritual and character qualification expected for church leadership in order to keep the church from false teachings (1Tim 31-13, Tit 15-9).Dishonesty and Greed In order to gain recognition Ananias and Saphira lied about their giving to the church. (Moreover any injustice move in the church prevents the working and movement of the Holy Spirit). God dealt harshly with the couple in order to reveal his hatred to all greed, craft and dishonesty in the kingdom.The Peril of Heresies The early church was not immune against false teachers and heresies. Already Jesus had warned his disciples several times in the Gospels to catch up with out for leaders who would introduce destructive heresies among Gods people (Matt. 2411, 2424-25). For example the book of Jude was written against false teachers who are distorting the gospel of Gods rejecting traditional Jewish and Christian teaching about morality, advocating sexual licence. In their teachings they denied original apostolic revelation about the person and nature of Jesus Christ (Jude 8, 16, 2pet 2 1-34).Comparism amongst the early church and the church instantlyThe early church relied much on the leading of the Holy Spirit to get the gospel to the whole world, which I believe todays church need to learn from. Paul and Barnabas were commissioned by the Antioch church through the leading of the Holy Spirit, were directed by the spirit of God to specific areas to be a witness on their missionary journey. Our evangelistic or missionary moves should be according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Act 13 1-5).Churches today do so many things in the name of the Lord with ulterior motives. Many at times we tend to do what we want in the name of the lord rather than what Gods want. The early churchs motives were pure. Their aim was to spread Christianity as far as they could.Some churches today are being run under the intellect of men not of God. The Spirit of God had being relegated or given a minor role in the church. Making many worship centres to overlook power thus dry and lukewarm. During the apostolic age the early church was established on apostolic pattern. But tragically the chu rch today have departed from apostolic faith and doctrine but patterned itself according to human ideas and modern thought that now proliferate our churches today.ConclusionThe gospel cannot be confined to one corner of the world. Therefore what the early church did is possible in our generation. The church was bold, filled with power because the early disciples were committed to the task of evangelising the world. Churches need to be committed to the work of soul winning and world mission, for example in the west secular humanism has become the dominant philosophy for many and the church is not immune to all this. We need to be more involved in world issues by ministering to the social ills of our environment, by our evangelistic move.