We have created a chart that lists differences from the New Testament Church and today's more Traditional Church.
| The Traditional Church |
The New Testament Church |
| 1. The church meets in a special building |
Churches met primarily in homes.
(Acts 2:46-47; 5:42; 8:3; 12:12;
16:40; 20:7-8; 20:20; Rom.16:3-5;
1Cor.16:19; Col.4:15; Philemon 2;
2Jn.9-11) |
| 2. New converts are added to the existing church to make it bigger. |
When the number of believers outgrew a home, a new church was formed.
(Rom.16:3-5; 14-15; Acts 2:41-47) |
| 3. The Christian church is fractured into hundreds of different denominations. |
There were no denominations; instead there was one church in each city, meeting in various homes.
(Acts 8:1; 11:26; 18:22; Rom.16:1;
1Cor.1:2; Rev.2:1; Col.4:16;
1Thess.1:1; Rev.2:12; 3:7; 3:1;
2:8; 2:18) |
| 4. Pastors are trained in seminaries and sent out to serve in a
congregation which has no real knowledge of his life or character. |
Elders were local brothers who arose from within a local church where their life and character were known.
(Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5) |
| 5. The Sunday �worship service� is characterized by passivity among
the laity with the Pastor or a select group of leaders doing nearly all the ministry. |
Church meetings were participatory and interactive � every member had a function and contribution to make.
(1Cor.12:4-27; 14:26;
Eph.4:15-16; Rom.12:3-8;
1Pet.4:10-11; Heb.10:23-25;
Rom.12:15; 1Cor.12:26) |
| 6. The Sunday morning worship service is characterized by a rigid
and inflexible order of service. |
Church meetings were characterized by informality, flexibility, and spontaneity.
(Acts 20:7-12; 1Cor.14:26-31) |
| 7. The goal of the meeting is worship, listening to a sermon or evangelism. |
The goal of the meeting was mutual edification.
(1Cor.14:3,4,5,12,17,26;
Eph.4:11-12,16; Heb.10:24-25) |
| 8. The church is led by the Pastor (or Senior Pastor in a large church). |
The church was led by a plurality of co-equal Elders.
(Acts 14:23; 20:28; Phil.1:1;
1Tim.4:17; Heb.10:17; James
5:14; 1Pet.5:1-2) |
| 9. The Senior Pastor is seen as set apart from and over the other pastors and elders. |
The church was cared for by a team of pastors who were accountable to each other and the church; they were also known as elders or overseers. No one elder functioned as the head of the church.
(Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-7;
1Pet.5:1-2) |
| 10. The Pastor is paid a salary by the church. |
Some elders might be financially supported, but they were usually bi-vocational
(1Tim.5:17-18; Acts 20:33-35) |
| 11. The church is comprised of both clergy and laity. |
There was no clergy/laity distinction in the church � all the members comprised a fully functioning priesthood.
(Heb.13:15-16; 1Pet.2:5,9;
Rev.1:6) |
| 12. The Lord�s Supper is observed monthly, quarterly, or annually. |
The Lord�s Supper was observed as often as the church regularly gathered and was the stated purpose for their meetings.
(Acts 20:7; 1Cor.11:18-20,33) |
| 13. The Lord�s Supper is observed with a piece of cracker and a sip of juice. |
The Lord�s Supper was observed as a full meal.
(Acts 2:42,46; 1Cor.11:20-21;
Jude 12) |
| 14. The Lord�s Supper is observed in a solemn funeral-like atmosphere as the worshippers
reflect on Christ�s sufferings and death. The believer�s vertical relationship with Christ is emphasized. |
The Lord�s Supper was observed with glad and sincere hearts as the church not only reflected on Christ�s death, but also on the future marriage supper of the Lamb which it depicted. The believer�s horizontal relationship with other believers was emphasized.
(Acts 2:46; Luke 22:15-18,30;
1Cor.11:26; Acts 2:42;
1Cor.10:16) |
| 15. A new believer must go through membership or instructional
classes before he can be baptized. |
New believers were baptized as soon as it was humanly possible.
(Acts 2:37-41; 8:12; 8:36-38;
9:17-18; 10:45-48; 16:31-34; 19:5) |
| 16. Baptism is performed by the clergy. |
Baptism was performed by any Christian.
(Jn.4:2; Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 9:18;
22:16; 1Cor.1:17) |
| 17. The church must be present when someone is baptized.. |
The church was not always present when someone was baptized.
(Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 16:31-34) |
| 18. Pastors deliver monologue sermons with no opportunity for questions or input from the congregation. |
Various brothers taught the church, and allowed the congregation the opportunity to question them and/or add their own insights.
(Acts 20:7; 1Cor.14:29-35) |
| 19. The church allocates the great majority of its finances for administrative overhead (salaries and building expenses). |
The church gave primarily to relieve the poor and assist Christian workers, often beyond their means; they had very little if any administrative expenses
(Acts 2:44-45; Gal.6:9-10;
1Jn.3:17; 1Tim.5:17-18;
1Cor.9:6-14; 2Cor.8:3;
Phil.4:15-18; Lk.12:33-34;
Eph.4:28; James 1:27) |
| 20. Believers are often urged to tithe; that is, they are taught to give a minimum of 10% to the church. |
Believers gave voluntarily as God had blessed them and they had purposed in their heart; tithing was not carried over into the NT church.
(2Cor.8:3-4; 9:7) |
