@FirstChurchofJerusalem
Today's Early Church Wisdom
“I shall not hesitate also to put into ordered form for you, along with the interpretations, everything I learned carefully in the past from the elders and noted down carefully, for the truth of which I vouch. For unlike most people, I took no pleasure in those who told many different stories, but only in those who taught the truth. Nor did I take pleasure in those who reported their memory of someone else’s commandments, but only in those who reported their memory of the commandments given by the Lord to the faith and proceeding from the Truth itself. And if by chance anyone who had been in attendance on the elders arrived, I made enquiries about the words of the elders—what Andrew or Peter had said, or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the Lord’s disciples, and whatever Aristion and John the Elder, the Lord’s disciples, were saying. For I did not think that information from the books would profit me as much as information from a living and surviving voice.
~ Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130 AD) From the Preface to his lost ‘Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord’
This week's Psalm is Psalm 31 'My Rock, My Shield, My Song'

Establishing New Believers In Local Churches

Once someone has received Christ as their Saviour, the question arises as to where they would be best placed in terms of local church membership. This was never really a problem or issue when the church was first founded, because in first century Jerusalem the new convert would in most cases simply have become part of their nearest home fellowship, where they would have become a valued and treasured ‘family’ member. But after 17 centuries of institutionalised Christianity things are not so simple, and a choice between what we call ‘denominations’ must now be made. This should be explored prayerfully with consideration for the personality and preferences of the individual. Although most churches subscribe to the fundamental tenets of Christian faith, there are significant differences in culture, as well as differing degrees of dysfunction (see the ‘letters to the seven churches’ in Revelation 2-3). Careful thought should therefore be given by evangelists to the type and condition of congregation that they introduce a new convert to. 