Page 3 - History of Christianity - Student Textbook

Study Section 1: Church History I – Early Church to Middle Ages

1.1 Connect

Living by faith is a difficult process! Our tendency is to want to know and see how things are working
out in our lives. We want the comfort of some additional money for savings in an emergency. We
want to know that our employer will faithfully pay us for our work as we must pay our bills each
month. And a lot of the time, we figure out our own ways to accomplish what God has called us to
do. We often depend on ourselves instead of God.

But the Bible says that God is honored by living by faith in Him. He wants us to daily trust Him for our needs. He
wants us to lean not on our own understanding, but rather seek His wisdom and guidance for all of our plans. In
fact, Hebrews 11:6 says that if we independent of God’s guidance that God is NOT pleased! This same verse
promises that if we would simply trust our God for His guidance and direction, and rely on Him in every way,
that He will reward his faithful servants. As we begin our study of Church History, let’s see how the early church
started out living by faith.

1.2 Objectives

1. The student will be able to state the guiding principle of life that made individuals stand out in history.

2. The student should be able to list the characteristics that distinguished the early church.

3. The student should be able to list several reasons why persecution came almost immediately after the
church was established.

1.3 Welcome to the Course

Welcome to a course on Church History. Over the next pages we are going to take a journey through
the annals of time, as far back as the first century, and zoom through the years to the Middle Ages,
just before the Reformation. We are going to be looking at the people and events that stand out as
significant in changing the course of history. We will discover that if people had not stood up by
faith during often difficult times, our lives today would be significantly different. We owe what we
enjoy as the church to many faithful men and women who were willing to “give all” in service to
Christ.

Throughout our journey, we will see that Satan continually has attacked the church. He has sought to attack
pure doctrine with heresy. He has sought to discourage and defeat men of God by terrible persecution and
slaughter. But through it all, God has called out a remnant of people to stand in the gap. He had honored their
faith.

The question often asked is “Why study the history of the Church? “ History can sometimes be boring when
looking back at all the names and dates. But you have to remember that these people lived lives just like you do.
They had plans and inspirations for their lives just like you do. But the people we will study about were special.
Most were believers who paved the way in developing the church as we know it today. Many fought difficult
battles against the enemies of the Cross. Many were banished to distant regions just because they believed and
taught that Jesus was God in the flesh. And as you will see in our studies, many laid down their lives rather than
deny the Lord. So learning about their lives hopefully will inspire you to stand strong for your Savior in a world
2