Evangelism in the Early Church: Did You Know?

For more than 150 years after the Resurrection, Christians had no official church buildings. During this time, evangelism was conducted mainly in homes, in the context of worship and Christian education. Itinerant evangelists were rarely found in the early centuries.

In Roman society, it was generally expected that everyone would participate in a cult, but few people thought it necessary to believe in pagan gods, like Mars or Venus. The satiric Roman poet Juvenal wrote, “These things not even boys believe, except such as are not yet old enough to have paid their penny for a bath.”

At the end of the second century, nearly every popular religion—especially Mithraism—aligned itself in some way with solar monotheism. Thus Christians often talked of the similarities and differences between the sun god and the Light of the World.

Apologists attempting to defend the truths of Christianity sometimes argued with a uniquely Roman mind. Clement of Rome (died c. 97), for example, tried to prove the Resurrection by comparing it to the story of the phoenix—a mythological bird alleged to be reborn from its ashes every 500 years. Clement wrote as if all reasonable people believed in the phoenix story.

Christianity, when it eventually prevailed, often “baptized” paganism: it established churches on old shrines, like the churches of San Clemente and Santa Prisca in Rome. The Church of Santa Pudenziana in Rome is named, not after a martyred Christian (as the legend goes) but after the Roman senator, Pudens, who originally owned the land.

Constantine’s famous Edict of Milan, which officially ended persecutions and granted certain favors for Christians, was not an edict (but a letter from a governor), nor was it issued at Milan (but at Mediolanum).

In 250, after over 200 years of evangelistic effort, Christians still made up only 1.9 percent of the empire. By the middle of the next century, though, about 56 percent of the population claimed to be Christians.

More resources:

Evangelism in the Early Church, by Michael Green, dwells on both the New Testament and later periods. As the adviser on evangelism to the archbishop of Canterbury, his zeal for spreading the gospel shines through his well-researched history.
Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, edited by Everett Ferguson, is a resource we are very excited about. The newly revised work is $187.50 for both volumes, so it’s a little expensive for the average reader. But since it is one of the top reference works on the subject, either demand that your local library purchase a copy, or start saving up for it. A single volume paperback edition, which will be far less expensive) will be released in late 1999.

The Ecole Initiative —A comprehensive hypertext encyclopedia of early church history. It offers everything from images from early Christian art to primary source documents, to recent academic papers on the period. For early church buffs, this is a necessary bookmark.
Journal of Early Christian Studies—For a more academic view, visit this journal, published by the North American Patristics Society (NAPS.) It includes book reviews and many kinds of scholarship on A.D. 100-700. One of the editors, Everett Ferguson, is a contributor to Christian History magazine and editor of the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.
The Perseus Project—For information on the world the early Christians lived in (and eventually converted), this is one of the best. It includes ancient texts and translations, philological tools, maps, extensively illustrated art catalogs, and secondary essays on topics like vase painting. This is truly an amazing site. More than 70 museums have shared pictures of their art objects. So far, it is mainly about the Greek world, but they are adding Roman materials constantly.
Calm exorcist. Jews and pagans had their own exorcism prayers and rituals to “place spirits under oath” long before Christianity arrived. But Christian exorcism was impressive in that it used no elaborate invocations or rituals—just prayer, Scripture, and the name of Jesus.
Recreational death. Prisoners of war, criminals, slaves, and even an emperor had fought in the highly popular gladitorial games since 254 b.c. This was one aspect of Roman culture Christians particularly despised—for the callous disregard of life and because the games were dedicated to pagan gods. Though Constantine tried to outlaw the games in 325, they continued for at least another century.
Live nude girls!!! Another aspect of Roman culture abhorrent to Christians was the theater. Unlike early Greek drama, female roles in Roman dramas were played by women, and the dramas had explicit sexual themes. Elagabalus, the oversexed, gay, transvestite emperor (204-222), ordered that all sex acts in dramas be real.
Sibling rivalry—with a difference.Christianity was most often associated with Judaism, since it too had come from Jerusalem (pictured here in a mosaic). But pagans found its rite of circumcision abhorrent, so more women converted than men. When King Izates, from the Tigris valley, converted to Judaism, he refused to participate in, what he called, “rites that were strange and foreign.”
Execution party. Nero (37-68) saw Christians as easy scapegoats and executed many in cruel and ingenious ways, including burning crucifixions like these. Fortunately, his persecution was limited to Rome itself. Unfortunately, it took two centuries before Romans felt pity for the Christians they executed.