The Early Church

Syllabus tag: Kenya CBC | Grade 9 Christian Religious Education | Strand 4.0 The Church | Sub-Strand 4.1 The Early Church (8 Lessons)

Lesson objectives

By the end of this sub-strand, you should be able to:

• Describe the beginning of the Church at Pentecost.
• Outline the practices of the early Christian community.
• Explain the challenges the early Church faced and how it responded.
• Appreciate the example of the early Church for Christian community today.

Summary

Acts records that the Church began at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in Jerusalem and Peter preached to a crowd drawn from many nations. About three thousand were added that day. Acts then gives a summary of how the first Christians lived: devoted to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread and to prayer, sharing possessions so that no one among them was in need. The community grew quickly, and it faced opposition, internal disputes and hard questions about who could belong.