The Great Return
This is the final and longest post in my “Return to the Ancient Path” series. Over the past four posts, we’ve journeyed through the explosive movement of the early ekklesia. A scattered minority that conquered an empire through radical devotion, shared life, and costly discipleship. We’ve contrasted their organic, home-based communities with today’s institutional monuments, their unwavering commitment to apostolic truth with our cultural compromise, and their embrace of suffering with our pursuit of comfort. Now comes the moment of decision.
Something is missing. Despite our buildings, programs, and packed services, American Christianity in many places has lacked the transformative power that once turned the world upside down. I know many will look at this as an attack or divisive, but understand that raising concerns and finding ways to correct the many flaws in the “system,” is not divisive so long as we speak on solutions rather than just the problem. We have to get back to the ancient paths. Why? Well, the early church conquered an empire with no buildings, no budgets, no political influence, and so should we, especially with the almost infinite amount of resources we have in the American church. But what did the early ekklesia have that we’ve lost?
The answer, honestly, is not that complex, but man, it is costly. The early followers of Jesus operated on five fundamental principles that modern Christianity has largely thrown out the window. These aren’t optional upgrades to our current system; they’re the original blueprint for authentic Christian community. It’s time we stopped building monuments to our own ambition and started following the pattern Christ actually established.
We have to get away from spectator religion and back to participatory community. When Jesus said “I will build My church” in Matthew 16:18, He used the word ekklesia, a called-out assembly of citizens with authority and purpose. This wasn’t a religious service where people watch their favorite teacher, preacher, prophet, or worship leader perform. It was a dynamic gathering where every person had a role, a voice, and a responsibility. Think town hall meeting, not theater performance.
The early church met in homes, not cathedrals or mega church buildings. Acts 2:46 tells us they went “from house to house,” creating intimate communities where everyone knew everyone. They didn’t specifically have pastors and definitely not what we call worship leaders; they had family. They didn’t have audiences, they had participants. When someone walked into their gathering, they didn’t slip into a back pew unnoticed. They were embraced, known, and expected to contribute something.
Today’s institutional Christianity has turned God’s people into consumers who attend religious performances in expensive buildings that are financed by the people sitting in the pews. We’ve created a spectator sport where most people warm benches while a few professionals do all the work. This isn’t what Jesus built, and honestly, it’s not producing disciples either. Forgive some of my strong language. Like many of you, I am consistently frustrated with seeing the majority of believers sitting and paying for these church buildings, salaries, ministries, etc. and not being activated, not being “Biblically” discipled, not being trained and equipped for the work of ministry which does not mean only volunteering inside of the building by cleaning bathrooms. Saints, there is more!
I’ve been in churches where the same 5-10 people do everything while 200 others just show up and watch. That’s not biblical community, that’s religious entertainment. We need gatherings where every believer can use their gifts, share their struggles, and grow in authentic community. Stop building bigger audiences and start building deeper relationships. Now, this is not just on leadership. Many believers are content with just sitting in pews and waiting for a rapture. We were not called to sit and wait.
It is time to go from professional church employees back to a universal priesthood. Peter declared something revolutionary in 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” Not some of us, all of us. Every believer has direct access to God and responsibility for ministry. The New Testament knows nothing of separating Christians into those who do ministry and those who watch ministry happen.
Paul’s fivefold ministry gifts in Ephesians 4:11-12 exist to equip “all” the saints for ministry, not replace them. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are meant to train everyone else, not create a professional class that does ministry while everyone else watches and pays for it.
The early church operated on this principle completely. Every believer was expected to minister, serve, and grow. There were no professional Christians and amateur Christians, just Christians at different stages of maturity, all moving toward the same goal. The Shepherd of Hermas (140 AD) reveals a church where prophetic ministry functioned regularly in Roman congregations. Origen’s homilies show believers actively participating in biblical interpretation and teaching. The Epistle to Diognetus describes Christians as those who “dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners,” fully engaged yet distinctly different.
Today we’ve created a system where 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people while the majority remain spiritual infants most their lives. I’ve seen 70-year-old believers who’ve never led anyone to Christ, never taught a Bible study, never served beyond ushering or making coffee. This violates everything the New Testament teaches about body life and spiritual maturity. This should create a holy rage. A whole generation of wisdom just sitting and waiting for the Lord to take them home.
I believe the path forward is recognizing every believer as a minister. That we equip everyone to serve according to their gifts. We must stop creating audiences and start developing armies of equipped saints. When the fivefold ministry operates correctly, it produces mature believers capable of reproducing biblical community anywhere.
Moving away from cultural compromise and back to apostolic truth should be a focus in this hour, and we are seeing pockets of this in our nation. Praise God for the many ministries that are walking in this currently. The early ekklesia held firmly to apostolic doctrine while showing incredible love. They didn’t separate truth from love or love from truth. Paul’s command to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) requires both elements. Truth without love becomes harsh legalism, while love without truth becomes meaningless tolerance.
When false teaching threatened the church, leaders fought back with a passionate intensity. They understood that false doctrine destroys souls, making tolerance actually cruel. They loved people too much to let them believe lies that would damn their souls.
Modern Christianity has largely abandoned this balance. We’ve embraced a therapeutic gospel that avoids difficult truths and controversial passages. Churches split over salaries while compromising on core biblical teachings. We’ve chosen cultural acceptance over doctrinal faithfulness many times.
Like many of you, I have watched pastors avoid preaching on hell, sexual morality, or biblical authority because they might offend someone. Meanwhile, their congregations remain biblically illiterate and spiritually weak. The result? Believers who can’t defend their faith, churches that can’t distinguish truth from error, and a gospel that has lost its power to transform lives.
Churches must distinguish between primary gospel truths and secondary denominational preferences. Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) showed how early Christians could engage diverse cultures while maintaining doctrinal integrity. Cyprian of Carthage demonstrated how scattered churches maintained unity through shared commitment to apostolic teaching, not institutional control.
So, what is the path forward? Returning to teaching the whole counsel of God. Developing discernment through serious Bible study. Loving people enough to tell them the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. Unity comes from agreement on the essentials while drawing clear lines against false teaching.
Currently, I am seeing many in the body of Christ go from comfort-seeking back to cross-bearing. This is what we must do as a collective. Jesus never promised His followers an easy life. His words in Luke 9:23 remain unchanged: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” The early church understood this. They expected suffering and found strength through it. Consider Justin Martyr, who debated philosophers in Rome and ultimately died for refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods or the Scillitan Martyrs of North Africa in 180 AD, who when offered life in exchange for denying Christ, replied simply, “We have never done wrong; we have not lent ourselves to wrong; we have never spoken ill of anyone; but when ill-treated we have given thanks.”
These weren’t extraordinary people; they were ordinary believers who understood the cost of discipleship. Much of our modern Christianity has flipped this upside down. We’ve created a prosperity gospel that promises health, wealth, and happiness. Even mainstream churches often treat suffering as a problem to solve rather than a calling to embrace. We’ve produced believers who expect blessing without sacrifice and victory without warfare or a Biblical understanding of what spiritual warfare is.
Many of the sermons today sound more like motivational speeches than biblical exposition. “Your breakthrough is coming!” “God wants you blessed!” Meanwhile, 365 million Christians worldwide face serious persecution, and many of them display greater spiritual vitality than their comfortable Western counterparts. Their faith burns brighter under pressure while ours often grows cold in comfort. But there is a remnant. I see many in this hour going back to the simplicity of the gospel. Loving, serving, praying, and making disciples. It is not all doom and gloom. God is moving in His people. There is hope, and many are sharing that hope. Those of you reading this are the remnant. You have seen the need for change and are making it happen rather than just complaining about it. I applaud all of you bringing holiness and a fear of the Lord back to His ekklesia.
The path forward is adjusting expectations to match Scripture. Preparing for difficulty rather than promising exemption from it. Finding Christ’s presence in valleys as well as mountaintops. Not preaching a gospel that Jesus wouldn’t recognize. We are His remnant.
I am sorry, but we have to leave these corporate megastructures and back to intimate community. For nearly three centuries, Christians met in homes. The largest house church discovered by archaeologists accommodated only 65-75 people. These intimate settings fostered the “one another” relationships described 59 times in the New Testament. House gatherings naturally encourage spiritual gift development, mutual ministry, and authentic accountability. Everyone can participate, everyone is known, and everyone matters. They reproduce easily without expensive buildings or professional staff. They can multiply rapidly and survive persecution.
The honest truth is that modern megachurches operate like corporations with complex hierarchies and celebrity pastors. While claiming efficiency, they often produce spiritual consumers rather than committed disciples. Larger churches typically have lower discipleship rates, less member involvement, and weaker accountability structures. You can attend for years without anyone knowing your name or caring about your spiritual condition. Saints, you know this is true.
Consider this: the fastest-growing Christian movements worldwide are house church networks in China, India, and Latin America. They’re proving that God’s original design still works best. When persecution comes, and it will, these intimate communities survive while institutional structures crumble.
What is the path forward? Prioritizing relationships over real estate. Creating environments where everyone can minister and grow. Focusing on multiplication rather than accumulation. Every dining room table can become a sanctuary, every living room an upper room, every workplace a mission field.
Family, the principles I have been sharing, are not just organizational preferences; they are kingdom essentials. The early church’s power didn’t come from avoiding these challenges but from embracing them. They understood that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness and that His kingdom operates by different rules than the world’s systems.
We don’t need more or better programs, bigger buildings, or more salaried staff. We need to return to the basics that the early church never abandoned: authentic community, universal ministry, apostolic truth, costly discipleship, and intimate fellowship.
Please, if anything else, know this. The focus is not about destroying existing structures overnight. I’m not calling for everyone to burn down their church buildings this Sunday. It’s about recovering New Testament essentials that create authentic disciples who can penetrate and transform any culture. It’s about choosing substance over size, depth over breadth, and character over charisma.
Here is what we know about the early ekklesia. They conquered the Roman Empire not through political power but spiritual authority. They transformed their world not through cultural accommodation but radical obedience to Christ’s teachings. They had no buildings, no budgets, and no institutional backing, but they had something largely lost today. Complete commitment to Christ’s actual design for His ekklesia.
Many of you have asked, “How do we do this?” Well, definitely pray first, but here is what recovering the early church blueprint requires. Start where you are. You don’t need permission from denominational headquarters or approval from church boards. Gather a few believers in your home. Study scripture together, pray for each other, practice spiritual gifts, care for practical needs, share a meal, fellowship, have communion. Begin living like the early church and watch what God does.
Think multiplication, not accumulation. Instead of trying to build bigger, focus on building deeper. Instead of attracting crowds, develop disciples. Instead of creating spectators, equip participants. Train everyone to start their own communities. The goal isn’t one giant church but many healthy ones.
Embrace the cost. Following Christ’s blueprint may cost friendships, career opportunities, and cultural acceptance. Count the cost and pay it gladly. The early church thought it was worth dying for; surely, it’s worth living for. Don’t expect the road ahead to be easy, but expect it to be worth it. Trust me when I say it won’t be easy. Much of what I am saying goes against the establishment. I know the modern-day Sanhedrin will come against me, but this is a hill I see worth dying on. Do you?
As sons and daughters, hold fast to truth. In a culture that calls truth intolerant and love relative, stand firmly on apostolic doctrine while showing authentic love. Speak truth that transforms rather than tolerance that destroys. This isn’t about being mean to others; it’s about loving people enough to tell them what they need to hear.
Beloved, prepare for opposition. The world that crucified Christ won’t embrace His true followers. But remember, persecution has always strengthened the church, never weakened it. Be ready to suffer well. The days of cultural Christianity are ending, and that’s actually good news for those who follow the real Jesus. It’s not mainly the world that will oppose this, but most likely the opposition will be those programmed to protect a system that is fading.
The ekklesia Jesus has built and is building will prevail against the gates of hell. The question isn’t whether His ekklesia will succeed, but whether we’ll be part of His ekklesia or man’s institution. The early ekklesia showed us the way. They left us a pattern written in their blood and validated by their transformation of the world.
The time has come to stop building Babel’s towers and start following Christ’s blueprint. The early church is calling us home. Will we answer?
The ancient paths are calling. The early church blazed the trail. Christ Himself is waiting.
What’s your answer?
Sources:
Scripture: Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:46; 1 Peter 2:9; Ephesians 4:11-15; Luke 9:23; Philippians 1:29; James 1:2-3
Early Church Sources: Didache (50-70 AD); Justin Martyr, First Apology (150 AD); Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs (180 AD); Clement of Alexandria, Stromata (190 AD); Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church (251 AD); Shepherd of Hermas (140 AD); Origen’s Homilies (185-254 AD); Epistle to Diognetus (130 AD)
Archaeological: Dura-Europos house church excavation (235 AD)
Modern Works: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship; A.W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous; Frank Viola, Reimagining Church; Neil Cole, Organic Church; Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries; Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life; Open Doors persecution reports
Reference: Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; William Barclay commentary
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