Church, back in those days

by James Rutz, in Open Church

Things were were different in days of yore, when the church of Jesus Christ was turning Rome on its imperial ear. Laymen were free to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit and speak when they had something to say. They were born running — talking in church and witnessing outside it. And in the space of three centuries, they had conquered for Christ much of the known world, up to and including the Emperor. Without even an Four Laws booklets.

That shows they were better witnesses than most Christians today. and why? Because the chcurch didn't stifle them. It conditioned them to communicate their faith. Church services were different then. Livelier. More off-the-wall. We don't have many specifics about what they looked like, but we do have a few. Such as …

1. "When you come together, everyone has something to contribute: a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation... you can all prophesy in turn..."
Sunday morning in Corinth was a free‑for‑all, so Paul was telling them to act more Presbyterian. But notice: He did endorse individual contributions by everyone. (Do you?)

2. "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Bamabas and Saul..."
This couldn't happen in the church today! Our worship patterns don't allow it, and we don't do fasts.
Our missionaries get their calls straight from God, then spend eons convincing supporters they did. If it weren't for the "extra-biblical" requirement of running around with a tin cup before getting a passport and shots, we'd have four or five times as many missionaries on the field.

3. "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs..." Precisely what does "one another" mean? Group singing? Hardly! Tertullian tells us what it meant in his day:

"In our Christian meetings we have plenty of songs, verses, sentences and proverbs." [obviously individual]
After hand‑washing and bringing in the lights, each Christian is asked to stand forth and sing, as best he can, a hymn to God, either of his own composing, or one from the Holy Scriptures.

In Tertullian's time (160‑230), there were many churches that were interactive powerhouses, not audiences.