Excerpt from Following Jesus: The Church
“When we talk about the Church, we must clarify exactly what we mean… When we say the Church, we mean every community who follows and loves Jesus, and actively works to help people back to Him. The Church is a global movement. This is why we partner with and support other churches and movements around our city, country, and world. Although The Experience Community Church has been around since 2009, the global Church, that is, the gathering of Jesus followers, has been around for nearly 2000 years! Our church exists because of martyrs, saints, and believers who have gathered for centuries…
The first few centuries of Christianity were without a physical copy of the New Testament (as it is compiled today). The main authority and reason for growth came through the apostles of Jesus. You could not be an apostle unless you physically saw Jesus on earth and witnessed His ministry and works. This is important because it gives credibility to the early Church’s movement. It wasn’t one man’s divine revelation that no one else could verify, but rather a collection of people who formed a church based on what they actually witnessed here on earth…
The most fascinating aspect of the early Church is that it faced extreme persecution for nearly 300 years. Christianity started in the Roman Empire and it was not a welcomed movement. Christians were beaten and scrutinized tirelessly. In fact, Emperor Nero in 64 AD sought to all but end Christianity… The fact that the Church formed and grew in these conditions is a true work of God. For hundreds of years, the Church was an organic, yet structured movement. It influenced society from the bottom up. Eventually, society took notice. In 313 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity as the official religion of Rome. It was at that point Christianity shifted into more of an institutionalized movement. Institutions are not bad. However, institutions create power and thus the struggle for it. As leaders sought power, they split, other movements formed, and today there are nearly 33,000 Christian denominations…
We desire to focus on the original Church’s passion: Jesus. We say this often: ‘We major on the majors and minor on the minors.’ We are more interested in being an organic, organized movement that influences society than an institution that demands attention and power.”
These are excerpts from week 5 of our course called Following Jesus. If you haven’t gone through the whole course yet, you can sign up for it below.