Organization

We want to note the organization of the church. The organization of the church in the beginning was really quite simple. While there was some awareness of, perhaps, while there would even be some concern about, sister congregations, each congregation, though, enjoyed a local autonomy. There is no evidence, at all, in the New Testament of any extra congregational structure or any kind of elaborate hierarchy that would later come to pass, and which, even to this day, play such a prominent role in the life people who belong to denominational organizations, and so on.

Each congregation that we read about in the New Testament had the objective of having elders, also called “shepherds” or “bishops” or “pastors”—all of those are the same word—and deacons. And these ones were responsible for the oversight of the congregation and for service within the congregation.

Now, it is true that the apostles exercised a certain authority over the congregations, but the Scriptures give no hint, at all, that their authority was passed on to others upon their deaths. In addition, we read in Ephesians 4:11-12 about some others who made up the body of those early congregations [“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ….”]. In addition to apostles, Paul speaks about prophets, evangelists, pastors (of course, we know that is another term for “elders”), and teachers. Well, those were the individuals that had a certain function, a certain responsibility within the local congregation.

Once again, we don’t see any authority, we don’t see any direction at all, for any kind of an ecclesiastical organization. This is really difficult, I believe, on the part of many people who are not familiar with the New Testament church, many people who are not familiar with, for example, the functioning and the organization of a congregation, even in our day, to comprehend. It’s very difficult for people who are so used to this ecclesiastical organization, this hierarchy, and so on, that they see within the denominational world, to believe that a church could exist in that particular fashion—in the simplicity of the New Testament organization of the church. But, of course, we know that the church did exist—that’s the way it was established. That’s the way we continue to carry on.

Worship / Practices / Doctrines

Well, what about the worship of the early church? We’ve looked just briefly at the organization, but let’s notice as well that the worship of the early church was similarly simple in its nature. Few, if any, church buildings were built in the 1^st Century. And so, the disciples met in homes; they met in other public areas; they would, in some communities, use the Jewish synagogue.

No where in the New Testament do we have a complete and a concise description of a worship service. You know, I know you, like me, often wonder and say, “Lord, if You would have, maybe, just made these things a little more clear, then we wouldn’t have so much trouble understanding them.” Well, this is not to criticize the Lord in His divine wisdom and providence, certainly. But we do have the information that is there. We simply have to compile it; we have to put it together.

What I’m saying here is, we don’t see an outline for a worship service for the saints in Ephesus or in Colossi or in whatever city, but what we do see, though, is that they did assemble for worship. As a matter of fact, there in the very beginning, while they were still that primitive church in Jerusalem, it seems that they came together on a daily basis for worship, Acts 2:46 [“So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart….”]. But, as time went on, the common practice was to meet on the first day of the week.

We also see, concerning that early church there in Jerusalem that, “they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers,” Acts 2:42. So, we begin to see sort of the flavor, the nature, of what they were doing as they came together in their assemblies.

Now, in addition, the worship services included reading the Scriptures, and, of course, for the very early days of the church, the Scriptures would be the Old Testament. Those were the only Scriptures that they had. Later, of course, as the writings of the apostles and other inspired writers began to be compiled, then they would have portions, at least, of those letters (hopefully they would have complete letters), but as those inspired writings would begin to be assembled, then they would have portions of what we now refer to at the “New Testament.”

We know, also, singing and preaching, extemporaneous speaking—all of these were included in their worship. And, of course, the Lord’s Supper was observed as a simple memorial feast, and it was often accompanied by a “love feast,” something that was referred to as “agape.” Now, we read over in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, that the church in Corinth began to abuse this “love feast,” and Paul had to straighten them out about what to do. Now, he didn’t forbid them to do this. We might sort of think of it as, maybe, they were sharing a fellowship meal together. Their problem was that, they sort of assimilated the fellowship meal, the agape, with the Lord’s Supper, and they lost sight of what they were really supposed to be thinking about and what the purpose and intention of the Lord’s Supper was. And so, Paul straightened them out.