We often look back to the “good old days” and wonder why our churches can’t do things like they used to anymore. The problem is that our vision is incredibly shortsighted. Remember, the church wasn’t born fifty years ago, or even a hundred years ago. It was born over two thousand years ago. If we find ourselves getting nostalgic for the good old days, it might benefit us if we examined what the early church looked like. How did they worship? Where did they meet? What did they do?

How did they Worship?

Jesus and the twelve apostles were all Jewish. They didn’t stop being Jewish when they came to faith that Jesus was the promised Messiah. As such, they continued to worship in the synagogue. Even when they were forced out of the synagogues, they retained their identity as a sect within Judaism, and their forms of worship remained largely the same.

We often have the image of a spontaneous free-form worship we believe existed in the ancient church, but that is far from accurate. Their Jewish tradition would have planted in their hearts an importance of liturgical prayers. In fact, Jesus gave them a wonderful example that we still use today when he taught them the “Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9–13. We read in Acts 2 that “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2: 42). What most translations of the original language do not show, however, is that the Greek text has the word “the” in front of prayer. They devoted themselves to “The Prayers.” This is a strong indication that ritual prayers were used in worship from the very beginning.

A study of the writings of the Roman historian, Justin, reveals that early church services were likely organized to include: 1) An Old Testament Reading, 2) Chanting of the Psalms, 3) A New Testament Reading, 4) More Psalms, 5) A Gospel Reading, 6) A lesson to explain the scripture readings, 7) Prayers for the faithful. If you look at that list, it likely appears very familiar. The same basic structure is used in most churches today. At times, rather than a lesson, they would read aloud a letter from a missionary such as St. Paul. More than half of the New Testament consists of these letters sent to churches in various areas.

When did they Worship?

One thing that set the early Christians apart from their Jewish counterparts was the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (also known as the Eucharist, or Communion). The Lord’s Supper was, and continues to be, a critically important part of Christian worship. The Jewish synagogue would, of course, never celebrate the Eucharist, so the young believers would attend synagogue services on Saturday, then meet at dawn the next day to share the bread and cup and remember the death and resurrection of Jesus. This timing worked perfectly, as communion would be celebrated on a Sunday, the day that commemorated the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It was also a tradition for Christians to gather again in the evening to share a fellowship meal called a “Love Feast.” This could well have been something like a modern potluck where everyone contributed whatever they had for the benefit of all.

For most, Sunday was not a day off from work. As such, while the well-to-do had the leisure to arrive at these meals early, the poorer people often arrived late from work. This led to conflicts such as what we see in Corinth, where St. Paul addresses them in his characteristically blunt language.

“Some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!” (1 Corinthians 11: 21–22)

According to Augustus, these conflicts and other disorderly conduct caused these love feasts to die out by the fourth century.

Priorities of the Early Church

From the very beginning, God’s Word was of paramount importance. Nothing else could supplant it. In Acts 6, we find: “So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.” (Acts 6: 2) They knew that as important as care for the poor was, it paled in importance to the study of scripture. The solution for them was to form a new order, the order that became known in the modern church as the Deacons.

Offering hospitality and caring for the poor was an absolute necessity. These activities were so ingrained into the life and teaching of Jesus that no early Christian could imagine not doing them. They were the duty of every believer, and the deacons helped to coordinate, when needed, allowing the pastors to focus on their tasks.

As church leaders, their priority should always be in praying, preaching, studying, and teaching the Word of God. Other people could take care of other tasks. In today’s church, we’ve forgotten these lessons. It is common for congregations to rely on their pastors to do all these things. As a result, too many pastors have neglected their primary duties, as they focus on the immediate needs of their flock.

The Effect of Persecution on the Early Church

While Judaism and Christianity were both subject to persecution by the Roman Empire, under Nero, it was officially considered a “religio prava” or “depraved religion.” All Roman citizens were required to receive a certificate from the government verifying that they had offered sacrifices to the gods and to the emperor. As this was one thing that Christians would not do, they were declared outlaws and subject to punishments, including arrest and even death. Sometimes the means of death was cruel, such as being soaked in tar and used as live torches to light the streets and Nero’s courtyards.

Christians were accused of many things because of gross misunderstanding of their beliefs and practices. The practice of the Lord’s Supper led to accusations of cannibalism. They were accused of disrupting business (a reading of Acts 19 shows that this was sometimes a legitimate argument). The existence of Christian Love Feasts often led to accusations of gross immorality.

As they had already been put out of the synagogues, Christians had begun to gather in private homes for worship. With persecution growing, they had to meet increasingly in secret, or risk losing these homes to the government and facing prison.

At the height of the persecution, it was not uncommon for them to meet in hidden caves or even the catacombs beneath the city, surrounded by the dead. As distasteful as some of these settings were, they took solace in knowing that places of worship were never, in themselves, considered sacred. Specific locations for worship were, after all, never sanctified by Jesus.

Worship Beyond the Church

A distinguishing factor for early Christians was that their worship was never restricted to a specific place and time. We read in Acts:

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. (Acts 2:44–46)

This demonstrates that the heart of the faith was in their lives together, rather than in specific times and places for worship. As they followed the teachings of Christ, a counter-cultural community developed, marked by several factors.

Diversity: We see throughout scripture that the Christian community was known as a remarkably diverse community. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Forgiveness: Rome was a society where vengeance was not only allowed but encouraged and expected. The Christian focus on forgiving each other was a shocking development.

Charity: Stories abound of Christians sacrificing themselves to care for others. In those days, it was common for unwanted infants to be tossed out in the streets or rubbish heaps. Even the poorest Christian families would rescue them and care for them as their own. When the plague hit and others fled in fear, Christians stayed behind to care for the sick and dying, often at the cost of their own lives.

Evangelism: As Christians fled the persecution, they scattered throughout the Roman Empire. Wherever they ended up, they carried their faith, worship, and way of life with them. The local populations flocked to them and God’s Kingdom grew exponentially. Read Acts 11:19–26 to see how Christianity first came to Syria.

Conclusion

Through these discoveries, we realize that the early church was much the same as our churches are today in some ways, and very different in others. St. Paul instructs the Corinthians to: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthian’s 11:1) As time carries us further and further from the time when Christ walked among us, we should seek to learn from these early believers and, as we find they imitate Christ, we should strive to imitate them.