At The Start of the Church
Present Day
The Very First Church - Ever
The Christian church as a formal organization of believers began in Jerusalem. Acts chapter 1 explains that post-resurrection Jesus appeared to a large group of his disciples gathered at Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost celebration and told them to remain in Jerusalem until they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they were to become witnesses for him throughout the then known world.
In Acts chapter 2 that Holy Spirit’s filling occurred during the Pentecost celebration at which thousands were in attendance. Peter, present and observing that miraculous experience of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then began to preach to the gathered crowd so fervently and effectively that by the thousands they immediately began to acknowledge and accept Peter’s message of the cross and redemption through Jesus.
By the end of that gathering, a large fellowship had formed (Acts 2:42-47). This fellowship included teaching, praising God, “breaking bread”, miracle working, and the sale of their personal goods and land to distribute the proceeds to the “needy” among them.