Following the deaths of the apostles: The apostolic Church

In this day and age, start-up companies follow a common pattern as they move from small enterprises in back lots to major corporations on Wall Street. A common scenario goes something like this: A start-up begins humbly with a small team of workers working around the clock in an old factory building. The founders, besides running the company, get their hands dirty and contribute like everyone else. The company is small enough that it has little organizational structure. The sole objective of everyone in the company is identical – get the product to market and start getting customers. Yet, after the start-up company has success and begins to grow, change is inevitable. The founders begin to play a less hands-on role, and they form an organizational chart.

 

In many ways, the Christian Church experienced a similar phenomenon during its early years. People usually call the first sixty years of the Church’s life the apostolic Church, indicating the key leadership that the apostles held during their lifetimes. The apostles headed up the teaching and missionary activities of the Church and were the ultimate authority in Church matters, given their direct relationship with Jesus Christ. However, as the original apostles passed away one by one, Church leaders knew that in order to keep growing and remain viable, they needed to put certain building blocks in place to ensure consistency and stability going forward. These included

 

Bishop leadership: The Church’s organizational structure during the first century was dynamic and practical. Apostles led the Church as a whole, while leaders in the local churches were known as bishops (overseers or shepherds of the Church), elders (spiritual leaders, particularly strong in teaching the Word of God), or deacons (responsible for supporting the ministry of elders and other spiritual leaders). However, over the years, a more formal bishop-led structure of the Church as a whole started to develop that was quite different from the way the early Church and Jewish synagogues were organized. A handful of bishops provided leadership as the Church grew throughout the Mediterranean region, each one providing overall leadership for a given geographical area.

 

Creeds: In order to emphasize correct and unified teaching for all Christians during this era, Church leaders developed creeds – simple statements of belief – as important elements of Church worship. Creeds proved to be a stabilizing factor, ensuring the integrity of what the Church and its local congregations believed.

 

One of the most popular creeds for Catholics and Protestants is the Apostle’s Creed (see the sidebar “The Apostle’s Creed” in this chapter), which has its roots in the first-century Church. However, the one universally accepted creed for Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians is the Nicean Creed (usually referred to by Orthodox believers as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed).

 

New Testament canon: The apostolic Church based its teaching and doctrine on the spoken testimony of the apostles themselves. However, as Chapter 6 discusses, it became clear that someone needed to write down this oral doctrine, both to reach other Christians outside of Palestine and to speak to future generations. Therefore, various Christians transferred the apostles’ spoken words to a written account that people today call the New Testament. As the written Word of God, the New Testament enabled the Church to have a solid foundation on which to base its principles. Although much of the canon was set as early as the second century, it took until A.D. 397 for a concrete list of New Testament books to be officially approved.

 

As a result of all these developments throughout the critical early days, the Church was able to keep heresy (false teaching that seriously undermines all of Christianity) out of official doctrine and keep congregations spreading throughout the region, united in one faith.