Churches often identify themselves with their buildings, even though Scripture does not. How did this happen?
A full-length book is needed to fully explain the cultural and theological history about how the church began to identify itself with buildings. I will try to summarize it in a few blog posts. If you want to read more, I highly recommend The Subversion of Christianity by Jacques Ellul, and Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna.
This post summarizes the first 100 years or so of church history, much of which you can read about in Acts and the Epistles.
When considering the history of church buildings, it is crucial to remember that almost all of the first followers of Jesus were Jewish. There were a few Samaritans (cf. John 4) and an isolated Gentile or two (Matt 8:5-10; 15:21-28), but for the most part, the masses that followed Jesus were Jewish. Even after the birth of the church in Acts 2, the vast majority of the early Christians were Jewish, and most of the Gentiles who converted were “God fearers” which means that they knew and respected the teachings of Judaism, and even followed many of the Jewish traditions and practices (cf. Acts 10:2).
Therefore, when the early Christians were trying to figure out how to worship and fellowship in their new communities, it was natural and normal for them to look to their Jewish roots for guidance. The most readily available Jewish community institution for instruction, prayer, fellowship, and support was the Synagogue. Members of the Synagogue met several times a week for prayer and teaching, often met together for meals, and supported one another as needs became known. Synagogues usually had a designated building to meet in, but if a Synagogue was just starting, or the members were poor, they would meet in homes. This is how Jewish synagogues still function today.
The early church adopted this pattern. They did not invent “house churches.” It is somewhat unlikely they even sat down to think about how they should function, but simply adopted the patterns and structure they already knew from the Synagogue. Initially, they probably even met in Synagogue buildings until the Jewish leadership kicked them out for believing that Jesus was the Messiah. When this occurred, many of them started synagogues in their homes, according to the Jewish pattern. As they gained members, however, few groups were allowed to construct synagogues of their own because of persecution by the Jews.
As Gentiles were added to the church, they often followed the Jewish traditions, and met in home synagogues as well. Not being Jewish, and due to persecution, they probably did not call their gathering a “synagogue” (Gk. sunēgogon, meaning “to assemble, gather together”) and went instead with the related term “ekklēsia” (“to assemble, come together”) which gets translated as “church.” Sometimes, when they outgrew homes, they met other gathering places, such as community educational centers (Acts 19:9). The issue was not where or when they met, but how and why. The purpose was always for teaching, encouragement, and the mutual edification of other believers. Buildings were not the goal or focus on the church gatherings.
However, in the early fourth century, something happened which changed all this. We’ll look at that event tomorrow.
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