Church History: Evangelism in the Early Church - Part 2

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.EVANGELISM IN THE SECOND CENTURYChallenges to evangelismApostles now gone – tendency to get more and more involved in disputesPersecution: from Jewish to RomanFalse teachers (Marcionites, Gnostics, Montanists)Evolving priesthood (spectator shift)Success!Other nations, but little work outside the bounds of the Roman Empire.Church of the East (per comments in previous podcast)Continued to reach all strata of society (women, slaves – who even served in leadership, and intellectuals – like Justin Martyr)The martyrs greatly inspired others.By 200, up to 1-3% (my guess). By 300, perhaps 10% of Empire.Learn more about this from the main AIM Church History series (2000 years in under 10 hours) and the Early Church History set (about 7 hours).ConclusionWe can't always imitate their methods, or recreate the culture of the first 2 centuries, but we can imitate their faith.As in 1 Corinthians 11:1, imitation relates to following Christ, not necessarily methods…As Tertullian put it, around 200 AD, “The blood of the martyrs is seed.”They spoke out, because they believed they had something worth sharing.