My Church was started in the 30s. It’s a relatively new church, in the history of the world that is. I should specify, my church was started in 33 A.D., somewhere in Jerusalem, by a man named Jesus Christ, who as it turns out, was also God! It was a great historical event that was chronicled in the bible by the evangelist and apostle St Matthew; see Matt 16:18. God also promised that no matter what happens the Church would never fall, then he commissioned his apostles to lead the Church and sent them His Holy Spirit to guide them in their divine commissions (Acts 2). Having a church started by God himself is kinda special…actually, really special.
I guess you could say that we were one of the first, if not the first non-denominational Church ever in the world. The first twelve leaders of my church took in everyone. They never cared or discriminated against slaves or emperors, the poor and the aristocracy, pagan or Jew, man or woman, white or black, a prostitute or soldier. They especially loved to take in sinners, oh how they love those sinners especially. They also looove to forgive sins through the power invested in them by Christ. They love to turn sinners into saints.
They only had three criteria for joining really, to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul’, and to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’ and to understand what that completely meant. They were kinda slack on the first two criteria, because they knew it would be very difficult to follow, so they worked their bestest to help people achieve the third one as much as possible before letting them in. See, they had to be a bit prudent about letting people in, because in that time, if you joined this church, you might lose your life. Anyway, despite all that, the small tiny church did thrive and grow. Nowadays, they still teach people to achieve the third criteria, and we are still growing.
That said, for the first few hundred years they were aggressively pursued and persecuted, with many being put to death, under Nero and then Diocletian and it was only when St Constantine the Great, after the influence of his great mother, St Helena, joined my church and issued the edict of Milan in 313 A.D. that my church-goers were given some peace. It was then, in about 397 A.D., that the leaders of my Church got together for coffee and some biscuits in Carthage and decided to compile the bible, that same Bible that everyone uses today.
They also did some really awesome stuff over the next two thousands years. They evangelised many pagans, and helped intellectually fight heresies and naysayers, they started the first universities, hospitals, brought education to the working class with their schools. They advanced philosophy, one of our greatest philosophers even used logic to reason that God exists, and his arguments stand undefeated even until today, and he lived 900 years ago. They also worked hard to advance science, law, astronomy, art and music. They invented musical notation and the do-re-mi scale. They created polyphony, which is some of the most gorgeous and beautiful music you can ever hear. The gothic and baroque styles of architecture can be traced back to the great churches they built.
They branched out all over the world. It’s really quite cool, you can go to practically almost any country in the world and you’ll be able to find a church to go to on Sunday. They say you can go to one of our churches anywhere in the world and service will be the same. And they don’t discriminate or separate either, no youth or adult service; everyone comes together like a gigantic family to celebrate God. You know what the best part is? They still take in everybody of every colour, race, height, size and shape. From royalty to poverty, professionals to odd-job labourers, everyone! And you know what? They still love sinners, they especially welcome them.
PS:Oh, psssst, I'll let you in on a secret. The actual best part about my Church is that during service, you actually get to physically meet Jesus! Like in person. Shhh ok? It's a big secret.
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