Why the Early Church Skipped Worship Services

[@terrykuhns2241]

Best one yet. Thanks for providing this content.

[@TheMalphursGroup]

Thanks! It's a different kind of episode for us, but we had a great time speaking with Dr. Wadsworth.

[@JonBeight-k7s]

"There's more holiness in Scott Ball than in Notre Dame Cathedral." Priceless...

[@TheMalphursGroup]

You have to watch out for Scott! :)

[@turnaroundpastors5734]

Wow. So glad a colleague pointed me to this podcast. This connected a lot of dots for me. The implications for pastoral leadership are staggering.

[@RonBerget]

I have always been anti-building and pro-small and mid-sized gatherings. But when I went to Thailand to launch house church movements, I discovered that in Buddhist culture, a building is critical. Churches without buildings are seen as not meeting the needs of the people who require places for weddings, funerals, etc. My point is that the pull toward temples is not only something that happened in Europe. As Christianity has had to fit into various cultures most of these places have some idea about what religion should provide and temples are a worldwide commonly shared idea.

[@TheMalphursGroup]

Great point. I think there is a TON of nuance to this topic, which was Scott's point. For Dr. Wadsworth, I think he's trying to push modern Christians not to neglect the central call of the Church which is to build one another up--which is an important reminder. Thanks for engaging!

[@annajamiesonwoerner5098]

No, this is not the full picture, Latreia worship is described in the book of Hebrews as ongoing, temple or tabernacular worship is still part of New Covenant worhsip (Heavenly Tabernacle of Christ for example), not just communal upbuilding, which is very important as well. We also see evidence of sacerdotal and sacramental understanding of worship right from the first century church, In Justin Martyrs Apology and the Letters of Ignatius. Thus liturgy, ritual, sacred space are ongoing realities. Lowchurch, and house church folks alway claim that they are restoring the NT church but thats false, the earliest worship we in the first and second century records, still had liturgical aspects, Archeological evidence from Duros Europas church also shows this. We can`t throw out 2k year of Church because baby boomer can´t sit through a sermon anymore. God bless

[@annajamiesonwoerner5098]

Thanks Scott for pushing back on this guy, I genuinely do not find this communitarianism and inward christian mysticism to be helpful or Biblical. It represents a shocking denial of the goodness and givenness of the created order. Its a over spiritualization of the christian faith which is by definition embodied, Eucharistic theology was high not because a slow evolution of ritualization but because St. Paul warned people to not take the elements in an unworthy manner, lest they die... for example. Also the God would heal through handkerchiefs touched by the Apostles. Thus material objects can be vehicles of God´s power. (Acts 19.11-12)