The Early Church

<p>THE EARLY CHURCH</p> <p>The members of the early church still saw themselves as belonging to the Jewish religion even though they now had a revelation of the life of Jesus within them through the work of the Holy Spirit. They went to the synagogue every Saturday like good churchgoers, but they could not celebrate their newness of life in the Spirit together in the formal structure and liturgy of the synagogue so they met in households where they could grow their new way of life together in an informal friendly way and in the freedom of the Spirit.                 Their style of celebrating this way of life is described in the Book of Acts.</p> <p>Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. </p> <p>Apostles’ Doctrine. The early apostles spoke God’s word and trusted the Holy Spirit to teach each person how to hear from Jesus and how to live their life in partnership with him in a way that pleased the Father. That was the challenge that the apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers gave to each individual and to each group who gathered together in Jesus’ name, to build up their faith in their walk with God. This was something entirely new and scary because of the personal and individual freedom and responsibility that it brought but Jesus had said ‘I am the way the truth and the life’ and ‘no man can come to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6)</p> <p>Fellowship Our fellowship (koinonia) is an ongoing conversation of sharing the blessing of the ‘Jesus within us’ life. The Community of Faith is us together heeding another person’s experience of Jesus, no matter how different that experience might be to ours. Paul wrote to the church in Rome commending them on their inner knowledge of Jesus and he was confident that they could speak comfort and wisdom into one another’s’ lives.   Romans 15:14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to put o