name some of the effects persecution had on the early church, include both positive and negative.?

Answer 1

There were no valuable effects on the church, but lots of effects
on the poor innocent victims persecuted by those early hypocrites

Answer 2

You mean the Roman persecutions right?

I recently read a book that talked about these and some of the good and bad things.

A big good thing was that people who were Christian were really 100% Christian, because most that did things half way just paid homage to the Roman gods to avoid being killed. Those who remained faithful were very strong and focused in their beliefs.

A big bad thing, other than many of them getting killed off, was the zealotry for becoming a martyr. Some early Christians would purposefully stir up trouble just so they would be killed and counted amongst the increasingly over-worshiped martyrs that had gone before them.

Well that's all I'm remembering off the top of my head for the moment, I hope that helps answer your question anyway.

Answer 3

Positive: Cleared out those in for wrong motives, Made faithful stronger
Negative: Many killed, Many maimed, burnt alive in Nero's garden, etc.
Twas the first Rwanda!

Answer 4

Positive- Drew them closer to God
Negative- Was hard to worship together among other believers.

That is happening today.

Answer 5

History of the Early Church

" ... There is certainly an element of truth at the bases of the organizations of the Christian Church. For instance, the primacy of Peter and his right to succession after Jesus have been established by the latter, though only orally and not in an explicit and definite language. The real reason why Christ did not make some explicit statement regarding His succession is not known, and cannot be known. Ford how can we, poor humans, claim to unravel the mysteries of God's mind and purpose, and to grasp the inscrutable Dispensations of His Providence. The utmost we can do is to give some explanations, but these must necessarily fail to give the fundamental reason to the problem we seek to solve.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, December 28, 1936)  164 

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 163)

The true Christian civilization is in fact not that of modern Europe but that of the
age of Constantine, which far more perfectly mirrored the teachings of Christ and was
inspired by the religious spirit of the early Church.

(George Townshend, Christ and Baha'u'llah, p. 50)

There within the Bahá'í Faith the spirit of the early
Christian Church has risen again.

(George Townshend, The Heart of the Gospel, p. 148)

In The Testament of the
Twelve, regarded as authoritative by the early church, we read:
'The Most High will visit the earth, coming as a man, eating and
drinking with men in quiet.'[F12] In the book of Justin Martyr,
Trypho the Jew says: 'All of us (Jews) expect the Messiah to come
as a man from among men.'[F13] Roderic Dunkerley in Beyond the
Gospels quotes Christ as follows in a chapter on some of the
sayings of Jesus:

'I stood in the midst of the world and in the flesh was I seen
of them, and I found all men drunken, and none found I athirst
among them, and my soul grieveth over the sons of men, because they
are blind in their heart.'[F14]

(William Sears, Thief in the Night, p. 57)

A crisis, not indeed as severe as that which shook the Islamic sacerdotal orders -- the inveterate adversaries of the Faith -- has, moreover, afflicted the ecclesiastical institutions of Christendom, whose influence, ever since Bahá'u'lláh's summons was issued and His warning was sounded, has visibly deteriorated, whose prestige has been gravely damaged, whose authority has steadily declined, and whose power, rights and prerogatives have been increasingly circumscribed. The virtual extinction of the temporal sovereignty of the Roman Pontiff, to which reference has already been made; the wave of anti-clericalism that brought in its wake the separation of the Catholic Church from the French Republic; the organized assault launched by a triumphant Communist state upon the Greek Orthodox Church in Russia, and the consequent disestablishment, disendowment and persecution of the state religion; the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy which owed its allegiance to the Church of Rome and powerfully supported its institutions; the ordeal to which that same Church has been subjected in Spain and in Mexico; the wave of secularization which, at present, is engulfing the Catholic, the  230  Anglican and the Presbyterian Missions in non-Christian lands; the forces of an aggressive paganism which are assailing the ancient citadels of the Catholic, the Greek Orthodox and the Lutheran Churches in Western, in Central and Eastern Europe, in the Balkans and in the Baltic and Scandinavian states -- these stand out as the most conspicuous manifestations of the decline in the fortunes of the ecclesiastical leaders of Christendom, leaders who, heedless of the voice of Bahá'u'lláh, have interposed themselves between the Christ returned in the glory of the Father and their respective congregations.

(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 229)

Many similar experiences are recorded concerning the holy, divine Messengers. How bitter and severe was the persecution to which They were subjected! Consider how they endeavored to efface and belittle Christ. They placed upon His head a crown of thorns and paraded Him through the streets and bazaars in mockery crying, "Peace be upon thee, thou king of the Jews!" Some would bow to Him backward, saying in scornful tones, "Thou king of the Jews!" or "Lord of lords, peace be upon thee!" Still others would spit upon His blessed countenance. In brief, the persecutions which Christ suffered during the time of His manifestation are mentioned in the books of the old cycle, Jewish, Roman or Greek. No praises were bestowed upon Him. The only recognition and acceptance offered Him was from His believers and followers. Peter, for instance, was one who praised Him; and the other disciples spoke in His behalf. Numerous books were written against Him. In the history of the Church you will find record of the hatred and antagonism manifested by the Roman, Greek and Egyptian philosophers, attributing calumnies and ascribing imperfection to Him.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 435)