by Tad Lindley
According to most sources, there are over 2 billion Christians alive on planet earth today. This group of people comprises a vast number of church groups all holding a variety of different beliefs. Starting in AD 451, when the Coptic church split from the rest of Christianity, until this day, the different denominations have multiplied. Interestingly, the Coptic church, which is located primarily in North Africa, has its own pope, Pope Theodoros II.
Back to the beginning
Fortunately for us, there is a very clear and accurate record of the early days of the church. You have it in your house if you own a Bible. The beginning of the church is recorded in the Book of Acts, also called the Acts of the Apostles. The remainder of the New Testament also contains a very intimate look at how the church was in the beginning.
120 people
At the beginning, as near as we can tell from the Bible, there were about 120 people. (Acts 1:13-14) Among the group are some names that you will recognize, Peter, James, and John, as well as the other disciples. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her other sons, Jesus half-brothers (she was a virgin when she gave birth to the Lord, but did not remain a virgin and had sons and daughters after Jesus, see Matthew 1:24-25 and Mark 6:3).
Waiting in Jerusalem
These 120 followers of Jesus were waiting in Jerusalem per the Lord’s instruction. They were meeting daily for prayer. The 7th day of their waiting was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost is a Jewish celebration of the time that God gave Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai. There were Jews from all over the region in Jerusalem for the feast.
6:00 AM Pentecost 29 AD
I might have the year wrong, but the time of day is right. At 6:00 AM on the day of Pentecost in about 29 AD (or whatever year the Lord was crucified in), this small group of 120 people was gathering for prayer. It was then that they received the power that Jesus had promised them in Acts 1:8. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
9:00 AM Pastor Peter preaches
Apparently the 120 people got excited and with everything going on in the house where they had been sitting, people in the streets took notice. They heard the 120 speaking in tongues and many recognized this as a work of God, still others thought that the 120 people were drunk (Acts 2:5-13). And so Peter and the other disciples stood before the crowd that had gathered. It was an enormous crowd. If you thought they were just sitting up singing Koom By Yah, you’re mistaken. There were over three thousand people that had swelled the streets to find out what was going on, and it was to these people that Pastor Peter began to preach. The first line of his sermon went something like this, “They’re not drunk like some of you are rumoring, it’s only 9:00 AM!” (Acts 2:15) From there he went on to preach about the power of the Holy Ghost and the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (2:16-36).
~9:45 AM: The altar call
Peter’s sermon could not have been more than an hour, probably more like half an hour. It was about 9:30 AM and the church still numbered only 120 people. But then someone in that giant crowd called out to Peter, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) He then went straight to what was the salvation message of the early church: Then Peter said unto them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” (Acts 2:38-39)
Population explosion
By sunset that night in the early summer of 29 AD, the small church that had numbered 120 people, now numbered about 3,120. From among the thousands that heard Peter preach, there were about 3,000 who were broken up by the preaching and repented of their sins and were baptized in Jesus’ name for the remission of their sins. (Acts 2:41) And that is the smallest that the church has ever been since.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
