Template:First Gatherings

First Gatherings

The Church is not a building and the Greek word ekklesia translated "Church" clear means a "called out" group of people and biblically never refers to a building. These men called out by Christ were specifically told that they needed to be separate from what Jesus called the world. The habit of thinking of the Church as a building or a place you go to is not only dangerously misleading it is patently wrong.

• "There is no literary evidence nor archaeological indication that any such home was converted into an extant church building. Nor is there any extant church that certainly was built prior to Constantine. The first churches consistently met in homes. Until the year 300 we know of no buildings first built as churches." Graydon F. Snyder professor of New Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary.

So, if the Church is not a place or a building but men called out like the Levites to do the job prescribed by this other King, one Jesus, the Christ, according to His purpose those ministers of Christ must remain separate complying individually as joint heirs with the directives of Christ for His disciples about owning property.

The congregants who gathered with these called out were going to His Church. They practiced pure religion rather than public religion and cared for one another by freewill offerings rather than force according to all biblical teachings would be called Christians. These practices and positions imposed by Christ have sometimes created a Christian conflict with the legal systems of the world.

This called out group of men who acted in one accord as was one form of government bound society through congregations of the people who came together in small groups of tens but were networked by these ministers in a social welfare system of faith, hope, and charity rather than the covetous practices of the world that operated by fealty, fear, and force.

Many have begun to realize that the Church, as the Body of Christ, was first established by Christ, who was both high priest and king, should not be incorporated into or by a State. If any group does incorporate it can no longer honestly claim to be the corpus of Christ since it has become a part of the corporation of the State.

What is a house church?

The phrase "Home church" is used to describe having a church type gathering at someone's house and is a part of the modern house church movement which some acclaim as a rediscovery of the New Testament or first century Christian Church.

A House church group may be a part of a larger Christian body, such as a parish or network, but also may be independent groups that see the house church as the primary practice of the early Christian community. But what was that early Church doing and how did it function in the world?

Do we have a complete picture are we missing certain key elements of the local Christian community and the society of Christians who survived the decline and fall of the Roman empire and the degeneration of the Imperial Cult of Rome?

Is the home Church movement seeing clearly what the early home gatherings of the early Church were doing?

While there can be no doubt that early Christians gathered in small groups often meeting in homes rather than in special building like we see being done today it is important to look deeper into the function, purpose, and motivation of the early Christian community.

Why were they meeting at all?

What were they doing at these home gatherings and how did those gatherings relate to the activity of Paul and the other saints in the scriptures?

It is clear by what we see Paul and the apostles doing that the church was an international network of small but well-connected congregations that provided all welfare, aid, and provisions during social unrest, economic dearth and famine as Rome and the Empire began to fall into chaos and corruption.