Key Moral Principles

• Four activities of the earliest church are described in Acts 2:42-47: listening to the Apostle’s teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers.
• The Apostle’s teaching (Greek: didache) was at a time when Christians used the Hebrew Bible.
• The distinctive Christian message was conveyed orally.
• The earliest Christians were Jewish, attended the synagogue and then met with other Christians to reflect on the Apostle’s message: the resurrection of Jesus, the message of repentance and the power of Christian community.
• Fellowship is from the Greek: koinonia, meaning communion or participation.
• The earliest Christians believed that material possessions should be held in common.
• There appears to be no philosophy of communism; they are sometimes described as having private possessions (Acts 12:2) yet, they did embrace a form of communal living.
• Breaking of bread could be either a reference to the Eucharist or to the Jewish practice of breaking loaves of bread, with a blessing, before a meal.
• Sharing meals in each other’s homes was an aspect of this vibrant, new community.
• Worship: what makes Christian worship unique is that God is approached through Jesus.
• Justin Martyr (2nd c. CE) says this included readings, a sermon, prayers and the eucharist.
• Differences today exist between churches which use art and architecture to convey identity and groups like Quakers focusing on the inner spirit in plain structures.
• Sacraments: ‘...an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace’ (Augustine).
• The Roman Church has 7, most protestants have 2 (baptism and communion); Quakers have none.
• There is disagreement about whether the power of God comes through these directly or if they are symbols of that experience of God’s power.
• The Church now has the canon and sometimes organizes its readings according to a lectionary where the entire Bible is worked through in a cycle.
• Some churches have catechisms (summaries of teachings) and/or didactic sermons and/or home Bible study groups.
• In Matthew 28:20 Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples of all nations.
• Evangelise = ‘good news telling’.
• Mission has sometimes been credited for humanitarian contributions or discredited for extending cultural imperialism.
• Jesus taught his followers the principles of servant leadership in John 13:1-7.
• Many churches view deacons, priests and bishops as servant leaders.
• Some churches stress, however, the ‘priesthood of all believers’, noting that the church is strong when all are viewed as leaders.
• Outreach: acts of service outside the church which may include humanitarian efforts of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the work of ‘para-church’ organizations such as Christian Aid and World Vision.
• Fellowship has as its purpose the growth of Christians to be like Jesus.
• The communal sharing of goods by Christians as in Acts 2 is rare.