90: 10 Ways the Early Church Looks Different from American Churches: Part 1

I'm Eddie Lawrence, and this is the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog exploring biblical truths for inquisitive

Bible students. Have you ever wondered if the church you attend would be recognizable to a first century

Christian? We read the same Bible they wrote, follow the same Jesus, and use words like fellowship and communion that came straight out of their world.

But if a first century Christian somehow walked into one of our

Sunday morning assemblies, would they have any idea what was happening?

The gap between the church we read about in the New Testament and the one we experience today is staggering, not just in the obvious ways like technology and buildings, but in fundamental practices and beliefs that shaped how early

Christians understood salvation, community, leadership, and what it meant to follow

Jesus. There are many differences, but let's take a look at just 10.

First century churches met in homes with perhaps 20 to 50 people maximum, the most that a house of that period could hold.

Church meetings were participatory. We know this from 1 Corinthians 14 .26 when it says,

When you come together, each one of you has a hymn or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.

Modern churches often have hundreds or thousands of members in auditorium style buildings with professional production, stage lighting, and concert level sound systems.

A very few people perform while everyone else sits and listens.

Sermons are lecture format, which was a concept foreign to first century house church gatherings.

First century baptism was by immersion. The Greek word baptizo means to immerse or plunge.

Baptism was performed immediately upon belief. You can see this example by looking at every conversion in the book of Acts.

They all show that every person who came to belief was baptized the same day they believed.

It's a historical fact that for the first 1500 years of church history,

Christians believed that baptism is essential to receive the forgiveness of sins.

This is based in part on Acts 2 .38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Many modern churches practice infant baptism by sprinkling and they view baptism as a symbolic act that's unrelated to salvation.

Even those who practice believer's baptism often delay it for weeks or months since they don't see it as part of one's response to the gospel.

Difference number three, leadership structure. First century churches had a plurality of elders, also known as presbyters, leading each congregation.

Paul appointed elders, plural, in every church. The idea of one man serving as the pastor in a congregation is not found in the

New Testament. Likewise, the senior pastor model, where you have one pastor who is in charge of a ministry staff, this model is foreign to the

New Testament. Modern churches typically operate with one lead pastor who preaches, provides vision, and holds primary authority with other staff as subordinates.

The plurality of equal elders sharing teaching and oversight has been replaced by a

CEO -style model in most congregations. Difference number four, money.

First century collections were specifically for the poor, supporting widows, orphans, and impoverished believers in other cities, and for supporting evangelists.

There were no church buildings to maintain, no staff salaries, and sometimes evangelists even worked to provide their own support, such as when

Paul made tents to provide for his own needs. Modern churches spend the majority of their budgets on buildings, staff salaries, programs, and operational costs.

Typically, only 10 -20 % of the money collected goes to missions or benevolence.

This is a total inversion of first century priorities. Difference number five, the frequency and focus of communion.

Early church writers recorded that the first century Christians broke bread together weekly.

The meal was substantial enough that people could get drunk or leave other people hungry.

We know this from 1 Corinthians 11. It was during this meal that the

Lord's Supper memorial was observed. Modern churches often take communion monthly or quarterly with a tiny cracker and a tiny juice cup.

It's kind of a brief addition to a sermon -focused service. The communal meal around which the early church ate the

Lord's Supper has been reduced to a ritual add -on.

Number six, the doctrine of original sin or inheriting a sinful nature.

First century writings do not contain doctrines of inherited guilt or total depravity.

While Paul discusses sin's reign through Adam, the systematic theology of inherited sinful nature, total inability, and original guilt comes from Augustine who lived in the 4th and 5th centuries

AD. Modern theology, especially reformed and Calvinist traditions, teaches that infants are born guilty of Adam's sin and possess a corrupted nature, making them unable to choose

God. These are concepts not articulated in first century

Christianity or the New Testament. In fact, these are Gnostic heresies that the early church fought against.

Number seven, the role of women. First century churches had women prophesying in worship, read 1

Corinthians 11, serving as deacons, Phoebe is an example in Romans chapter 16, and hosting churches.

Lydia, Nympha, and Priscilla are listed as hostesses of house churches.

The Bible calls Junia, who was a woman, an apostle in Romans 16.

The word apostle means one who is sent. In other words, an apostle is a delegate.

While the text designates Junia as an apostle, this does not mean she was an apostle of Christ.

She may have been sent by her home congregation. Regardless, it was a serious role and it was assigned to a woman.

Women clearly participated significantly in early church communities. However, they did not serve as pastors since the

New Testament describes elders in masculine terms in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1.

Many modern churches prohibit women from any active role or conversely have them serving as pastors.

The early church practiced neither of these two extremes. Difference number 8 is the clergy and laity distinction.

First century Christianity had functional roles such as apostles, prophets, teachers, and elders, but no professional clergy class.

Leaders often worked regular jobs, and everyone participated in worship, and the spirit distributed gifts throughout the body.

Modern Christianity has inherited and maintained a clear clergy -laity divide where pastors are usually seminary trained professionals who perform ministry while lay people are consumers who attend services.

This amounts to a professionalization of ministry, which is foreign to the

New Testament. Difference number 9, the approach to discipline and purity.

First century churches practiced serious church discipline, including publicly removing unrepentant members.

Paul instructed the Corinthians to expel an immoral brother in 1

Corinthians 5, and in 2 Thessalonians 3 he told them to withdraw from members who were idle or disorderly.

Jesus taught a process of confrontation, which would leave an unrepentant brother or sister in the same status as someone who was considered a pagan or a tax collector.

In Matthew chapter 18, those who refused to repent at the admonition of the entire church were to be withdrawn from.

Modern churches rarely practice any form of church discipline. Uncomfortable with confrontation and fearful of losing members, public removal for sin is virtually unknown.

And the last example of a big difference between the early church practices and today's is denominational division versus unity.

First century churches had no denominations. Believers in Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome were simply the church in those cities.

One body with local congregations. When divisions arose, that is, some people prided themselves in following Paul or Apollos or Cephas, Paul rebuked them and he said, is

Christ divided? 1 Corinthians chapter 1 is a record of Paul correcting their divisive attitudes.

Paul describes one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one

God in Ephesians chapter 4. This reinforces doctrinal and communal unity.

Today, the church stands divided into thousands of denominations. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and etc.

Each with distinct theological systems, governance structures, and statements of faith.

Churches fellowship primarily within their denominational tribe, often viewing other groups with suspicion or considering them doctrinally deficient.

This tribalism and doctrinal splintering would be recognizable to first century

Christians, but based on Paul's teaching, they would understand that it represented unacceptable division within the body.

So there you have it, 10 massive differences between how we do church and how they did it in the first century.

Many more examples exist, but these make the point. Some people argue that the

New Testament writings are just descriptive, not prescriptive.

They say that's how they did church in their culture, but we need to do what works for us and ours.

Well, there's some truth to that, and it is a compelling argument, especially when our current model feels comfortable and familiar.

But is it actually true? And more importantly, even if some of these practices were cultural adaptations, what have we lost by abandoning nearly all of them?

In the next episode, we'll explore why these differences matter more than we may realize, and why the early church's practices weren't just cultural adaptations, but carried theological significance that we may have lost by abandoning them.