Sean Dietrich illustration. Used with permission.
After the 50th Wedding Anniversary celebrations for a Classmate and his wife in Florida, another Classmate and I went to church with them before we left for home. It was another Evangelical church on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ! So much so that they are planting another church about 15 minutes away. On their own. No help from any church hierarchy or authority.
I felt like I was in the original, early Church of the Bible. With electric guitars, voice amplification, and air conditioning.
How dare I say such?
The service began with singing. (Eph 5:19, Col 3:16, 1 Cor 4:26, Mathew 26:30 and Mark 14:26.)
Then, there was preaching from Scripture (Exodus) and communion. (Acts 2:42, Eph 3:16, 1 Cor 11 and 14.)
The Bible reading wasn’t from a 3-year lectionary established in 1969.
That was it. It was awesome!
Yet, some Christians deny this worship service is like and actually “of” the early church described in the Book of Acts and in the Letters of the New Testament.
Really? How is anything the one, true, only authentic heir after 2000 years?
In science, law, language, history, and political science a chain of events or evidence must be unbroken to establish facts over conjecture.
If there is a single break in the chain, then the gap must be wished over, bridged by supposition, imagined well, or the alternative must be accepted. Namely, something else happened.
Said differently, if there’s a chain of events 1, 2, 3, to n, but actual proof of 2 or 3 is missing, then the chain of events is really 1,-,-,1,2,3. Truly, if 2 or 3 started hundreds of years later, then they don’t really come from 1.
That’s why this church in Florida was the early church of Acts in action.
The New Testament describes the Church (first called “Christian” in the 40s AD) from the Resurrection to the writing of 2 Peter around 125 AD.
Anything documented to happen after about 120 AD that isn’t attributed directly to teachings, persons, or practices before 120 AD is missing a connection. Missing a link. It is new. Something different.
That new thing becomes “tradition” after the new and different is done for a few centuries. Those traditions are man-made.
For example, the first building built to be a church is dated 230 AD. That’s not the same as worshipping in a synagogue or home. Does that mean that worship in a church building, rather than in a synagogue, is not Christian? No. It means worship doesn’t have to be in a building. As it was in Acts, “church” worship can be in a home.
Consequently, the pastor in Florida didn’t wear a robe or wear a special hat. Neither did the pastors in Acts. Robes are recorded in the 300s AD and Bishop’s hats in 708 AD.
No one genuflected (1000s AD) or made the full-body sign of the cross (300s AD).
No relics were venerated (165 AD), no frescos with Mary (240 AD), or statues (after 431 AD). No crucifix at the altar (326-335 AD), but a big one out on the lawn.
Christian Americans can choose to do all the above. But those who do shouldn’t insist that everyone else must do so. It’s un-American.
If one insists that traditions originating after the original church must be observed to be authentically Christian or connected to the original church, then – “Bless your heart”.
The original Church is the Church of Acts – only. Every church based, teaching, being, and following the New Testament is authentically Christian and as much the original church as any other.
Finally, the Florida church authorities didn’t get the government to kill anyone for blasphemy (385 AD) and they aren’t considering the widespread tradition of killing heretics (1022 AD). Good for this New Testament church.
The Churches of Acts are alive and growing in 2026!
Read James Atticus Bowden at https://jatticus.wordpress.com/ and https://substack.com/@jamesatticusbowden and https://x.com/jatticusbowden
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