When the Church was Young

Last week I read When the Church was Young, it Did Not Look Anything Like it Does Today by Ernest Loosley. At only 77 pages, it was a quick read. Not a new work, (written in 1935) I still found it applicable.

Very clear in layout, it compares some features of the early church with the church of today. Loosley’s main points are evident in his chapter titles:

Part 1: When the Church was Young, It Had:
1. No Buildings
2. No Denominations
3. No Fixed Organization
4. No New Testament
5. No Vocabulary of Its Own
6. No Dogmatic System
7. No Sabbath Rest
   
   Part 2: But It Did Possess:

8. An Experience
9. A Store of Teaching from Christ
10. A Gospel
11. Herself to Give (This point extra from the publisher)

Some points from this book which struck me were:

1. The essentials are the things present at the beginning
2. The church worked the more effectively [when it was young] because it traveled light
3. What traditions have been introduced for expediency may now be left behind for expediency
4. The line of advance for the church today is not to imitate the forms but to recapture the spirit of the Primitive Church
   

This book got me thinking about what it means for the church to travel light.

For more information, check out the forward to the book