The First Christians

What was it like to go to church in the first century CE? It was, in some ways, like going to a Jewish synagogue because many of the first Christians were Jews.

First century church services did not have a set structure and everyone could take part. The Bible was read and explained and the people joined together in public prayer and songs of worship. Services also included communion, where bread and wine (mixed with water) were shared to remember Jesus' death on the cross. There was also an 'Agape' meal - a shared meal that might include communion.

At first Christians met in homes, taking down inside walls to make room as their numbers grew. People who became Christians were baptised by total immersion in a river or the sea. Early Church buildings often included a baptistry very like those found in Baptist churches today.

Congregations were led by a group of Elders (also called Bishops) and had a group of Deacons to do the practical jobs. These people were chosen from among the members of the Church. There were seats at the front for the church leaders and some walls have been found painted with stories from the Bible - Adam and Eve, The Good Shepherd, Jesus walking on water etc.

People travelled and traded easily throughout the Roman Empire - there were good roads, no frontiers and a shared Greek language. As ordinary Christians moved throughout the empire they spread their faith and soon there were Christians in each town and every level of society - although it was still a minority religion. Remains of small Roman church buildings and "house churches" have been found in England and Wales, as well as all kinds of Christian objects from lead baptismal tanks to apostle spoons.

"They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang an anthem to Christ as God and bound themselves by a solemn oath (sacramentum) not to commit any wicked deed, but to abstain from all fraud, theft and adultery, never to break their word or deny a trust when called upon to honour it; after which it was their custom to separate, and then meet again to partake of food, but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."
PLINY . Letters x 96, AD 112.