On Church—Part 3 (Fellowship)

My wife and I currently attend a Lutheran church. We were initially drawn to the church because of its proximity to our home and the Wednesday night meals. As empty nesters who had recently arrived in town, we wanted to be able to connect with others. We found that we could easily converse with people while sitting around the circular tables in the fellowship hall. And these interactions included talking with the pastors and their families.

Christians have been eating together since the first century. Luke says, the early believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42 NIV). In Greek the definite article is included before the word fellowship, so some translations have “devoted themselves to . . . the fellowship.”

The previous post highlighted devotion to the “apostles’ teaching.” This post will explore devotion to “the fellowship” and “the breaking of bread.”

The Fellowship

What does it mean to be devoted to “the fellowship”?

First, it means ancient believers were committed to meeting together: “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts” (Acts 2:46). As Jews they continued going to the temple in Jerusalem. Indeed, the next chapter begins this way: “Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon” (3:1). Using the temple as a meeting place began with Jesus. While Jesus was in Jerusalem, Luke writes, “everyday he was teaching at the temple” (Lk 19:47) so his followers would have been used to gathering at this sacred site. But all visits to the temple ceased when it was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

House Churches

Fortunately, the early believers had another meeting location: “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:46). Throughout the New Testament we find repeated references to believers meeting in homes.

• Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their house. (Rom 16:3-5)

• The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. (1 Cor 16:19)

• Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home (Philemon 1-2)

• Give my greetings to the brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. (Col 4:15-16)

• If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. (2 Jn 10)

While most of these references use the word “church,” the Greek word is ekklēsia and it is better translated as gathering, assembly, congregation, or even community. In brief, the Greek word refers to the people not the building. Church buildings didn’t exist at this time.

We can also add references in the book of Acts:

• When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. (12:12)

• You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. (20:20)

• On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. (20:7-8)

Homes are the most ancient location for Christian gatherings. This historical fact means special buildings are not the essence of the church. The Christian faith does not require temples, basilicas, or any other unique edifice. In other words, Christians can function and even thrive without buildings dedicated to their faith. Let me say it one more time in a different way: just because massive church buildings are empty doesn’t mean the Christian faith is dying. It never required those buildings in the first place.

Why is this the case? Because believers are God’s temple (1 Cor 6:19). Before he was stoned to death, Stephen said, “the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). And Paul declared, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands” (17:24). We can build massive structures, but God does not make them his home.

On a practical level meeting in homes requires three things. First, someone must open their home to fellow believers. Hospitality was a key ingredient in early Christianity. Second, the meetings must have been fairly small. How many people would have been able to meet in a first-century home? Estimates range from 20 to 30 people, possibly as high as 50 in a large home (Giles, 113). Megachurches could not have been imagined. Third, the early believers must have lived in close proximity, within walking distance. What does that mean for us? How devoted to “the fellowship” can we be if we have to drive an hour to reach the meeting place? Why drive out of your city to meet with believers when you can do so in hundreds of places in your city?

What did ancient believers do when they gathered in homes?

Common Meals

First, they ate together. Luke says, “they broke bread in their homes and ate together” (Acts 2:46). “The breaking of bread” may be a reference to communion or the Lord’s Supper, but it’s difficult to say for certain. Initially, the Lord’s Supper was part of a substantial meal, called the agapē or love-feast. Most likely, however, this is merely a reference to having a normal meal together because it says, they “ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:46). Likewise, in Acts 20: “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread” (v. 7). At a minimum these are references to sharing a regular meal together. Ironically, ancient Christian gatherings required food not special buildings while many modern Christian meetings require the opposite. Practically speaking, one or more people had to provide the food so think of how those people sacrificed for the Christian movement on a weekly basis.

Participation

Second, they encouraged each other. Imagine if your church experience was eating in someone’s living room. And rather than one person doing all the talking, picture everyone feeling free to share. Listen to Paul’s words to the believers in Corinth, written in the early 50s AD.

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. (1 Cor 14:26)

This doesn’t mean the gatherings lacked leadership. Leaders or elders played a key role in the New Testament and those with the gift of teaching would have been expected to speak more than others. But, it seems, everyone was allowed to share something edifying in the meetings. Here is Peter’s admonition:

⁹ Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. ¹⁰ Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Pet 4:9-11)

How would conversing in someone’s living room while eating affect your perception of church?

While this setting would be more casual, it would mean being more involved in other people’s lives. You wouldn’t be able to go to church then leave without talking to anyone. Hiding in the crowd would be impossible. Hence, there would be a need for the many “one another” commands as we find in the New Testament:

• Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Eph 4:2)

• Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph 4:32)

• Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thess 5:11)

• Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (Jam 5:16)

Sunday

When did the first Christians meet? During this early period in Jerusalem, they met daily, but later it seems they gathered “on the first day of the week,” meaning Sunday. Since Sunday was not an official holiday, believers would have had to meet early in the morning or after work. (For more on Sunday vs. Saturday, see the bottom of this post.)

About a century after Paul wrote to Corinth, Justin Martyr (AD 100-165) described Christian gatherings he attended in Rome. His description shows that Christian meetings were becoming more formalized and it highlights Sunday as the meeting day.

And on the day called Sunday there is a meeting in one place of those who live in cities or the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. When the reader has finished, the president in a discourse urges and invites [us] to the imitation of these noble things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers. And, as said before, when we have finished the prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president similarly sends up prayers and thanksgivings to the best of his ability, and the congregation assents, saying the Amen; the distribution, and reception of the consecrated [elements] by each one, takes place and they are sent to the absent by the deacons. Those who prosper, and who so wish, contribute, each one as much as he chooses to. What is collected is deposited with the president, and he takes care of orphans and widows, and those who are in want on account of sickness or any other cause, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers who are sojourners among [us], and, briefly, he is the protector of all those in need. We all hold this common gathering on Sunday, since it is the first day, on which God transforming darkness and matter made the universe, and Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturday, and on the day after Saturday, he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them these things which I have passed on to you also for your serious consideration. (First Apology, 67)

In AD 321 Emperor Constantine made Sunday a civil holiday, declaring “All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun.”

Church Buildings

Speaking of Constantine, after his conversion to Christianity in AD 312, he made Christianity a legal religion in 313 then poured money and resources into the Christian faith, including the commissioning of churches. Keep in mind that I have just used the word church to refer to a building—something the New Testament does not do. These buildings were copies of the civil basilicas, where courts were held. The first Christian basilica funded by Constantine was Lateran Basilica or Saint John Lateran (AD 324) in Rome. Constantine commissioned many other churches, including the Church of the Nativity (AD 330) in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (AD 335) in Jerusalem.

We have evidence that church buildings existed prior to Constantine, but the evidence is rare. So far archaeologists have only found one structure used for Christian worship that dates to the pre-Constantinian era. It is known as Dura Europos, located in eastern Syria, dating to the mid-200s. While some think it was an ordinary house converted into a house church; others think it was originally designed to function as a church building. Either way, the material evidence indicates that it was used for Christian gatherings. Additionally, records show that Emperor Diocletian (AD 284-304) had a church “destroyed in Nicomedia because it overshadowed imperial buildings” (White, 72). The scant evidence for church buildings before Constantine makes sense because Christianity was illegal.

After Christianity adopted the basilica major changes occurred to Christian gatherings.

The bishop simply took the place of the judge on the throne in the apse, flanked by presbyters . . . For well over a thousand years, the posture of worship was standing. The bishop presided facing the people over the altar-table and preached from his throne until the locus shifted to the pulpit. . . In such a strange new setting, there was a rapid growth in ceremonial, with many aspects of the imperial court being adopted; incense, processional lights, and ceremonial fans became common. The change in scale from tiny homes to vast basilicas was enormous. (White, 72-73)

About a millennium later, pews were introduced and the congregation sat down (White, 101). However, in many Eastern Orthodox Churches people continue to stand.

Conclusion

In sum, for the first three centuries most Christians met in private homes, where they shared and ate together. Hence, the meetings were fairly casual. It’s amazing to think that the Christian movement is built on something as simple as hospitality. If you are tempted to idealize the original churches, don’t do so. The New Testament letters reveal that these congregations had many problems. For example, Paul reprimands the believers in Corinth because of their quarrels (1 Cor 1:10-12).

Moreover, just because Christians gathered in homes in the first century, doesn’t mean we need to do so in the twenty-first century. Nowhere in the New Testament are believers commanded to come together in homes. Ultimately, the meeting location is irrelevant because we are God’s temple. We should note, however, that house churches today are growing fast in some part of the world, especially in countries which ban evangelism. Also, it’s important to consider what Christians may have lost when they stopped meeting in homes and moved to impressive basilicas. Just think of the difference between eating and talking in a living room versus sitting silently in a pew in a huge basilica. Again, this change was due to the wealth of the empire flowing into the church. Constantine was trying to help the Christian faith, but what were the negative effects of the emperor’s favor? If you don’t think there were any negative effects, there are a host of monks who fled to the wilderness who would strongly disagree with you.

One last but vital point. Being devoted to the fellowship means more than merely meeting, encouraging, and eating with others. It means sacrificing for each other: “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need” (Acts 2:45). As we have seen, giving to the needy continued to be practiced more than a century later in Rome. Justin Martyr writes,

Those who prosper, and who so wish, contribute, each one as much as he chooses to. What is collected is deposited with the president, and he takes care of orphans and widows, and those who are in want on account of sickness or any other cause, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers who are sojourners among [us], and, briefly, he is the protector of all those in need.

Notice the amount given wasn’t determined by a set percentage. They gave as much as they wanted to give, which aligns with Paul’s instructions: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). Through meeting together, eating together, encouraging each other, and giving to the needy, the early Christians showed their devotion “to the fellowship.”