@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'

Houses, not Halls

People, not procedures

How do you see your home? As a sanctuary? A place where you can relax, unwind, and leave the cares of the world behind? If your answer is ‘yes’ to questions like this, you may be at least half-way to making your home a church! From the beginning of the first church, people met in homes, and as the church grew, so did the number of these little churches (Acts 2:46; Romans 16:5). Every believer’s home was a house of God. Given the rate of growth implied in Acts, we can imagine that there were a great many of these! With this remarkable growth came the rise of local leaders, sometimes referred to as elders (Greek: presbuteroi). These local shepherds or rabbis providedpastoral care, teaching, and oversight within their house gatherings. Their appointment (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5) was based on spiritual maturity and character, rather than status or wealth. They were not paid for their ministry but were employed like every one else. Some leaders, such as the apostles, held pastoral roles involving a broader oversight of the emerging church. The New Testament uses the term presbuteros (elder) and episkopos (overseeror bishop) interchangeably in most contexts (cf. Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5–7), referring in each case to mature, spiritually grounded individuals who shepherd the flock of God. These roles were collegial, not singular, promoting mutual friendship, support, and accountability. Love, not law, drove this movement.