Where did the first disciples meet at?

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Is there any accurate history to determine where the first disciples congregated at in the early days of the church? I know there were house churches. But is there any indication that the church had fellowships that numbered in large numbers? I also realize there were synonogues but they would have been teaching Judaism; not the teachings of Christ and the apostles. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[public hermit]

I just read this a couple months ago. Pretty informative about places, spaces, times, and such.

Ancient Christian Worship | Baker Publishing Group

I would try to answer your question in a more direct manner based on my reading, but like I said it's been a couple months.

 

[Knee V]

Is there any accurate history to determine where the first disciples congregated at in the early days of the church? I know there were house churches. But is there any indication that the church had fellowships that numbered in large numbers? I also realize there were synonogues but they would have been teaching Judaism; not the teachings of Christ and the apostles. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

As for the synagogues, the first Christians did indeed meet in synagogues on the Sabbath at the very beginning, which largely consisted of prayers and hymns (mostly psalms and other scripture), and particular scripture readings. They would then, either that evening or early the next morning, on the first day of the week (or the eighth day) meet for those elements which were specifically Christian. Not too long later, they had to stop attending the synagogues and they tacked those synagogue elements of their worship directly before their christian elements of worship, which is what created the pattern of the liturgies/masses we see today: the first half being prayers and hymns culminating in the reading of Scripture, and the second half being prayers and hymns culminating in the reception of the Eucharist.

As for the rest of your question, there are early house churches that have been unearthed (I don't know if any of them are first century or not), and while we don't have attendance records, if we assume that the number of people that can fit in a large house was the number of people attending each house church, and perhaps a little more, then we can probably assume that they had around 50-75 people in attendance at a given house church, or somewhere thereabouts.

 

[Hazelelponi]

While it may not exactly answer your questions, but you might like to read very early writings such as the letter to Diognetus, among other such early writings. The letter to Diognetus is dated anywhere from 130 C.E. to the late second century, with many scholars preferring the later dating. (That letter is apologetics though)

But I do think if your wanting to know more about some of the earliest churches and their practices outside of what scripture teaches, the early writings are perhaps your best bet.

 

[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

As for the synagogues, the first Christians did indeed meet in synagogues on the Sabbath at the very beginning, which largely consisted of prayers and hymns (mostly psalms and other scripture), and particular scripture readings. They would then, either that evening or early the next morning, on the first day of the week (or the eighth day) meet for those elements which were specifically Christian. Not too long later, they had to stop attending the synagogues and they tacked those synagogue elements of their worship directly before their christian elements of worship, which is what created the pattern of the liturgies/masses we see today: the first half being prayers and hymns culminating in the reading of Scripture, and the second half being prayers and hymns culminating in the reception of the Eucharist.

As for the rest of your question, there are early house churches that have been unearthed (I don't know if any of them are first century or not), and while we don't have attendance records, if we assume that the number of people that can fit in a large house was the number of people attending each house church, and perhaps a little more, then we can probably assume that they had around 50-75 people in attendance at a given house church, or somewhere thereabouts.

OK. I can see that. Because Jesus did say in the gospels where there would be a time when they would be kicked out of the synaogues and such. Alright. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Daniel Marsh]

house to house too