Attraction

History of Christianity has begun! And this class is all about the early Church up through Medieval times. Of course, we are starting at the beginning and moving towards modern day. As I was reading yesterday one thing really stuck out to me about the Early Church's ability to attract converts to Christianity. The Early Church had certain characteristics that really defined who they were:

“Charity offered without expectation of return…fellowship opened to all social levels…steadfastness in the face of persecution…high moral standards…rejection of fate and belief in providence…” (Hinson, 64)

Do these words describe the Church today? Are people flocking to the Church for the same reasons? Do we share the same heart as the early Christians or have we become the picture of “Christian exclusivism”? Has our “very best of Christian intention turned against” us? Have we gotten to a point were we are “construed as a perverse ‘obstinacy’”? (Hinson, 71)

On so many levels, we have become an exclusive entity that sticks to itself, shunning all that doesn’t have the Christian brand and sadly, corrupting the things that do have that brand. Our charity expects something in return. Our fellowship is segregated, economically, culturally, and racially. We shutter in fear at the thought of standing up for what is right in the small things in life, facing the thought of being taken naked into an arena to our deaths, as early Christians were, we would deny our Lord. Much of our community has sold out to the worlds standards on morals and on fate. Christians read their horoscopes and believe that things happen because of fate. They forsake their Bible for the latest spoon-fed words from whoever.

Yet, I believe that many in the Church are perpetuating a movement towards our historical roots found in the early Church because they are applicable to ministry today, if ever they were before. Our youth/young adults of today are reaching out to make a difference in their worlds like never before. Within the Church many have seen the hypocrisy that comes with exclusiveness and are turning from it. Ministries are sprouting everywhere that love and give for nothing more than to bless the recipient. Inclusiveness is the cry of this movement and return to Christlikeness is its mission. I’m exited about it and I think that returning to that steadfastness in Christ will be blessed.