new church life: jan uary/february 2016
In those days [of the Early Christian Church] all members of the Church lived
with one another as brothers; they also called one another brothers, and loved one
another mutually. (Secrets of Heaven 1834.2)
This has its origin among angelic communities, in which angels love one another,
acknowledge one another, and live in association with one another, depending on
how similar and close together their kinds of goodness are. (Secrets of Heaven 9079)
Heaven is structured in families, but they are spiritual families that may
have no connection with our birth families.
They recognize each other, not from any relationship that had existed in the life of
the body; but solely from good and the derivative truth. A father does not recognize
a son or a daughter, nor a brother or a sister, nor even a husband a wife, unless they
have been in similar good. They indeed meet when they first come into the other
life, but are soon dissociated; for good itself, or love and charity, determines and
assigns everyone to his or her own society. (Secrets of Heaven 3815)
The early Christian Church reflected this structure of heaven. They met
in both large groups (in the temple) and in small groups (in people’s homes).
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house
to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God
and having favor with all the people. (Acts 2:46-47)
Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house they never stopped
teaching and proclaiming the Good News that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:42;
compare 20:20)
In their social gatherings they saw themselves as being spiritually related as
a family. These gatherings gave them consolation in the adversities of the
church, joy for its increase, and also recreation and conversation, all springing
from the love they had for one another. (True Christianity 434)
In the beginning of the Christian Church there were no church buildings.
They sometimes preached in the Temple in Jerusalem (before it was destroyed
in 70 AD), and sometimes in established synagogues, or public squares, but
most Christian gatherings were house churches – small groups meeting for
worship, instruction and social life in someone’s home – for example in the
homes of Nympha (Colossians 4:15), and Aquilla and Priscilla (1 Corinthians
16:19, Romans 16:5).
Changes in the Church
As time went on, love diminished in the church, and those gatherings of love
disappeared. People still had parties, but they were not focused on the Lord and
His command that we love one another. The church began to argue doctrinal
positions, placing a higher value on authorized doctrine than on compassion.
At the same time the church came to see worship more as ritual sacrifice
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