Church History Thread

[DragonFox91]

Was reading some history on individual church congregations that start strong & healthy but over time die due to low membership.

What happens many times is the church acquires new leadership. There's usually a shift in theology, a straying from the Word that had built it. The congregations become spiritually apathetic - maybe most in the congregation always were, the pastors were just good at still keeping them in the fold. But as it changes, they leave. The apathetic don't see a point. Those who know better knows it's not healthy. The church dies.

I've seen this happen in my own life. It's very sad, the death of a church congregation. The cracks are on it before it starts to fall apart. But God sees it & isn't surprised. He says some seeds grow strong at first then get choked on the thorns. There are some bad ones that grow up, but you'll recognize them by their fruit. A bad tree produces bad fruit.

 

[sampa]

It's interesting b/c what the scandal would be in the present time is the age gap between them.

I wonder how much of a scandal it really was tho, b/c evidently marriages got going fast. I have no doubt it ruffled feathers & I'll be honest, I can see why - they had sworn before God no marriage, they were now being hypocrites. But was it more a loud minority that was outraged. That's one thing I've really been learning the past couple years, is how much everything's just written by the winners, the loud, the smoothest-talker, or the mob.

It's encouraging to hear not everyone who marries marries in their 20s. Thanks for sharing that!

Agreed, it was an encouragement to me. They both definitely had a learning curve coming into a marriage together after having vowed purity and singleness before God. I'm sure there was an internal struggle and habits to change once they were joined together.

 

[DragonFox91]

"Let Scripture be our umpire" - Gregory of Nyssa

I was wanting to post quotes so there's one.

 

[LoveDivine]

"Let Scripture be our umpire" - Gregory of Nyssa

I was wanting to post quotes so there's one.

I like that one

 

[peaceful-forest]

I'd like to know the history of the church, starting with the Book of Acts up until now. I feel like I've been lied to about the church's history and things are being left out. Any good books or websites that talk about this?

 

[DragonFox91]

I'd like to know the history of the church, starting with the Book of Acts up until now. I feel like I've been lied to about the church's history and things are being left out. Any good books or websites that talk about this?

The site you send me GotQuestions is a good starting point. Read thru that. Go back & re-read it if you did already, & go back & re-re-read if you did that already!

I’ve found it’s usually best to research by topic. Use Google to type into questions like “what did Augustine believe about ______” You’ll find articles & websites that are Catholic / Orthodox & articles that are Protestant. (You’ll find ones that are atheist too ‘no one really knew anything, they were just making it up’)

What parts are you wondering about. Theology, church set up, how it grew, later history, American church history?

 

[peaceful-forest]

The site you send me GotQuestions is a good starting point. Read thru that. Go back & re-read it if you did already, & go back & re-re-read if you did that already!

I’ve found it’s usually best to research by topic. Use Google to type into questions like “what did Augustine believe about ______” You’ll find articles & websites that are Catholic / Orthodox & articles that are Protestant. (You’ll find ones that are atheist too ‘no one really knew anything, they were just making it up’)

What parts are you wondering about. Theology, church set up, how it grew, later history, American church history?

I'll have to go look.

I feel like there's a big gap in church history. We have the New Testament on the church. Then there's bad things that happened to Christians by the Romans outside of the Bible. Then there's this long period with no information on the church. Then the next information is that Christians are going to Catholic churches and the leaders of these Catholic churches are doing godless things, which provokes people into rebelling against them, like Martin Luther and the 95 Theses.

 

[DragonFox91]

I'll have to go look.

I feel like there's a big gap in church history. We have the New Testament on the church. Then there's bad things that happened to Christians by the Romans outside of the Bible. Then there's this long period with no information on the church. Then the next information is that Christians are going to Catholic churches and the leaders of these Catholic churches are doing godless things, which provokes people into rebelling against them, like Martin Luther and the 95 Theses.

I remember finding a site once that listed all the writings from church leaders between Acts & when most say Catholocism truly got going. It's more than you think, but it really is not a lot for basically 200-300 years. There are a few 'church fathers' who wrote a lot.