Early church services at first were on the Sabbath (Saturday), but by the middle of the first century, many Christians were gathering regularly on the first day of the week (see 1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10) out of respect for the time of Christ’s resurrection. At first, however, followers of Jesus in Jerusalem gathered daily in the Temple for prayers (Acts 3:46).
4. Worship Was Filled with Charismatic Praise
The offering of enthusiastic praise and prayer under the influence of the Holy Spirit was characteristic of the early Church’s worship. This was demonstrated through speech (1 Cor. 14:19) and tongues or ecstatic speech (1 Cor. 14:2, 6 ff.). Each person was given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good (1 Cor. 12:7) and to build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-15).
5. Worship Was Didactic
In an early church service Christians were a teaching community giving instruction in their time of worship (see 1 Cor. 12:8; 14:26; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:13; 5:17).
6. Worship Was Eucharistic
In an early church service Christians were a community that was conscious of the need to give thanks to God (Eph. 5:19-20; Col. 3:17).
7. Worship Involved Koinonia
The Greek word, koinonia, means “sharing” or “participation” and is seen as the kind of giving in the fellowship that builds up the family of Christ (Acts 2:42-47). This is the focus of 1 Corinthians 12:1-7-each person was expected to come and share in the event of worship rather than simply listen to one person.
8. Worship Was Corporate
In an early church service there was also a corporateness in worship in every sense (1 Cor. 12:12-26). The Church was consciously a body or a fellowship of persons who saw themselves as inextricably bound together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
9. Worship Included Music
In an early church service Christians lifted their voices in praise to God. The New Testament frequently mentions the corporate singing which took place in their midst and also indicates some of their hymns and spiritual songs (e.g., Phil. 2:6-11; Eph. 5:19-20; Rev. 4:8-11; 5:9-13).
10. Worship Included Singing and Songwriting
There are a number of hymns or spiritual songs in the New Testament literature. Among many others, here are examples of Christian spiritual songs: Eph. 5:14 (three lines, first two rhyme in Greek, and the last is a promise), 1 Tim. 3:16, Phil. 2:6-11, Col. 1:15-20, Heb. 1:3. There are also the Nativity hymns in Luke: the Magnificat (1:46-55), the Benedictus (1:68-79), and Nunc Dimittis (2:29-32). Besides these, there are a number of well-known Christian hymns that date from roughly the early second century AD currently known as the Odes of Solomon, a collection of some 42 spiritual songs. One can see in all of these songs both praise and testimony to the greatness of God’s activity in His Son in Jesus the Christ.
All of the above hymns relate to the person and work of Jesus the Christ. They sometimes mention His pre-existence or how He became a man and accomplished redemption (salvation) for the world through His suffering and death. The dominant motif in most New Testament hymns is that Christ is victorious over all of our enemies and is rightly worshiped as the image of God Who is over all.
Lee Martin McDonald, author of this piece on an early church service is the President Emeritus and professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the President of the Institute for Biblical Research. He and his wife are now living in Mesa, Arizona.
