What strikes me most about our discussion of the shape of the communities that are the early church was their dynamism and fluidity. While they were becoming more structured and differentiated than they were as original bands of Jesus-followers in Palestine, there was still a “wild west” vibe about these early house churches. At the same time the church didn’t appear ex nihilo. I think that fact is so often missed by average churchgoers and former church reformers (thinking of Wesley and his ilk). The patterns of “house synagogues” and households shaped and defined how the early church lived its communal life.
MC500 – day three
