From the abundance of models of Christian Churches, few correspond to the model described by Jesus Christ and his faithful disciples including apostles and their companions. The New Testament is full of information regarding the mission, the concepts of organization, and the activity of a church that is pleasing God. In the following paper, I aim to describe the model of the church which is, in my opinion, is closest to the Apostolic Church of the New Testament. Overall, the evaluation of facts from the Holy Scriptures suggests that the model of Church as Herald is the most congenerous to the Apostolic Church.
Among the six models of a Christian Church that are described in Dulles’ book, the model of Church as Herald appears to be the most conformable to the model depicted by the apostle Paul and the other prominent Christian leaders of the first century (‘Models of Church’ n. d). According to Dulles (1987, p. 206), this model can be characterized by the following description: “the Church [is] those people who are summoned by God’s Word and who are given the task to proclaim and bring the Word to the world”. Of course, the other six models also have some features of the Apostolic Church of the first century, but this model is the closest one. Such a conclusion can be supported by the numerous sayings from the Bible including the messages from Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Apostle Paul in his numerous letters to the Christian congregations in the first century.
In numerous verses from the Bible, we read that Christian Church is a group of people who follow Jesus. The Greek word, translated into English as ‘church’, means a group of people. It is in full accord with the Apostle Paul’s words from the book of Acts who says that a church is even two or three individuals who congregate on behalf of Jesus. Thus, Christ’s example and his activity should be critically important for the representative of the Apostolic Church. Jesus himself stated many times that his goal on the Earth was to proclaim his Father’s message to humanity. Jesus urged all those people, who wanted to join him, to participate in the preaching activity. He along with his disciples went to villages and towns, and proclaimed the good news about God’s Kingdom from house to house. When Jesus was ascending, he stated his will to the apostles and the other disciples that they should continue bringing God’s message to people. Apostles and their companions obeyed Jesus, and started a massive preaching campaign in the Roman Empire, and in the other parts of Asia. Thus, they became known for being speakers of the good news from the Bible. By 60 CE, the Apostolic Church was known as a congregation of honest people who had learnt the truth from God in the Bible, and were proclaiming it to all people that they were able to meet in the street, at home, or at public places such as markets and squares.
In conclusion, the model of Church as Herald appears to be the most conformable model of church to the Apostolic Church in the New Testament. This is explained by the fact that apostles were active preachers of the good news about God’s Kingdom and encouraged their followers to join them in their activity. Not only has the Bible supported this fact, but also famous historians of those days such as Josephus Flavius. In particular, he stated that the first century Christians were known as a group of people whose primary activity was preaching.
References
Dulles, A. (1987). Models of Church. New York: Image Books. Models of Church. (n. d.). Class notes, 1.