early church and the church now comparison ?

Question

similarities of the early christian church and the church today...
and when did aproximatley did the church from today start?

Answer 1

well that ultimately depends on which church you are refering to...Unfortunately, due to the devil's envy, he managed to devide some people and deceive them into going off on their own and starting a new church. Those churches tend to have a few of the traditions, teachings, doctrines and practices dropp off or seriously altered.
Having said that, the original church that was started by Christ 2000 years ago and passed on to the apostles is still around. They are known as the apostolic churches, because their roots and foundations is linked directly to the apostles and what they had taught...Interestingly enough, they have exactly the same teachings, practices, doctrines and traditions as it was 2000 years ago.
There was research document dating back to the 4th Century (mong before these divisions took place), written by one of the roman spies who was commission by the Emperor to investigate what it is those "Christians did in their practices and beliefs"...and when you compare that document and findings by the Roman spy, to what you witness in today's Apostolic Churches, you will be amazed at how identical and unaltered it is.
Such churches with apostolic links are identified as either the Catholic or Orthodox churches...go down to your nearest one and have a look...I think you will be impressed.

God Bless.

Answer 2

They met every Sunday in the sanctuary, and daily in the homes.
That meant they lived their faith.
They met, read scripture, heard a short message from the pastor and prayed for each other.

There has been an explosion in the church in the last 50 years.
We now have mega-churches with tens of thousands of members in those churches.

Fifty years ago, the large churches could hold 600-700 people.
They had one service every Sunday morning, one on Sunday evening, and one on Wednesday evening.
The smaller churches held 100-200 members and most of those have shut their doors now.

Today some of these churches have three services on Sunday mornings, and each service holds 2000 to 4000 people, depending on the church.

The church that I belong to has Sunday services at 8:00, 9:30, & 11:00.
By the time 12:00 comes, the pastor has preached three sermons back to back, and is ready to go home and take a nap.
He has to be back for a 6:00 service that evening.
We also have a service at 6:00 on Wednesday evening.

Fifty years ago, most churches had a piano, an organ, and a choir of 12 to 25 members.

Today, our church has multiple pianos, a pipe organ, a choir of more than 100 members, and a symphony orchestra.
Add to that a couple of thousand voices from the congregation and you have music like you have never heard before.

grace2u

Answer 3

Most of your current churches (Chiefly Catholic, offshoots and branch-offs) started with Constantine.

The early New Testament Church lived almost in a commune fashion. They worked outside the group and some were dedicated to serving the group and all shared everything, from food, clothes, medicine to tools and more.

Todays churches have ignored the practices of the early church and have missed their primary goals. Today there is a sickening "glamor" problem which is etched to the bone, evident in these massive "super churches" which house gift shops and cafés and such. Its all matériel gain and self centered vanity in an attempt to make Christianity a "Cool Trendy" thing to appeal to the world - by becoming like the world.

The early church was selfless and all about the other persons and fashion was NOT the mode they operated by. Is there a real valid comparison? I personally have not seen evidence of it except in the Missions field and even of that, mostly in remote regions of the world where reliance on God is 100% faith - not fashion.

Answer 4

Well, true that "God never changes" -- but the times do and so do the needs of the people. For this reason, the church evolved as it grew larger and larger....it necessarily had to. The message and the essence of the church remain the same, however.

The church from "today" started when Martin Luther got the idea to do his own thing in 1517 and then suddenly almost 500 years years later there are nearly 10,000 so called "churches" in the U.S. alone. Most faith communities actually start out as sects and need to meet certain criteria in order tgo reach the status of "church".

Sadly, all of these invented churches are not in communion with each other -- otherwise they'd all be the same denomination.....right? But Truth is ONE -- not 10,000 -- or even 2!!

Answer 5

I think Protestants usually give a fair shot at trying to be like the early Christian church. Im not saying they have it down pat, but generally speaking more attempt is made by them. Believers Baptism, being reborn in the Spirit through repentence and believing in Jesus' sacrifice, preaching the Gospel message etc....there arent very many "new" teachings within the Protestant churches that werent taught in the first churches. A few have popped up but it is not widespread throughout protestant religions. Protestants also do not take man's word as infailable, if a Preacher screws up, we admit it "yeah, he screwed up" where as Catholicism might deny a screw up from the Pope.

Answer 6

That's hard to answer because of your general use of the term "Church"

There are many different churches.

Actually, there were a lot of splits, arguments, and believers who chose to start their own form of Christianity. It's a long process, and can't really be pinned on one date.

The history of Christianity is dotted with all kinds of different movements.

The most important one, in my mind, is the break from the Church of England. Puritans tried to purify the Church of England. They failed, and came to the new world.

Answer 7

The Catholic Church started with Jesus Christ; She is 2000 years old. She has gone through many ups and downs, but through God's grace She has grown in wisdom and knowledge spanning two milleniums. I count myself lucky and proud to be a Catholic.

Answer 8

That's like comparing apples and oingoasjrr's.

We don't really know what the early church looked like.

Answer 9

They should be the same, God never changes and Jesus is also the same and He is the Head of the Church.

Answer 10

I guess each one of us will want to say "The early church was more like MY church". lol