Perfilado de sección

  • apostolic traditions cover photo

    Early Church Practices: Descriptive or Prescriptive?

    Please note that this mini-course was formerly called Apostolic Traditions. 

    By Stephen E. Atkerson

    Matricularme

    Did you know that the widespread evangelical assumption that there is little scriptural guidance concerning church practice is indeed not scriptural? 

    Have you ever wondered why there are so many varieties of churches in the modern world, different from each other although most of them would claim that they possess scriptural warrant for the way they do church? 

    Have you ever longed for the kind of church life that you see revealed in the New Testament? 

    Jesus did not leave us wondering how to effectively make disciples. Through the apostles, He equipped the first Christians with timeless Scriptural church-practice traditions to teach believers to obey all He commanded successfully. Why should doing things the first-century way matter to you? The achievement of God’s disciple-making purposes for His body potentially awaits your fellowship if you adopt the examples given to us in the New Testament by the early church. In view of the unique relationship between Jesus and His apostles, we should take care not to neglect the church practices they modeled. Learn more about ancient church strategy for success in ministry in this mini-course composed by the President of the NRTF! 


    Course Outcomes: 

    Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: 

    1. Understand why it matters how we do church 
    2. Understand the best church framework for effective disciple making 
    3. Understand how you can be imbued with empowerment, wisdom, supernatural enrichment, spiritual significance, and success in ministry by following the traditions of Jesus’ apostles 
    4. Understand how to avoid a hurtful ecclesiology that ignores Jesus and his apostles 
    5. Understand how Jesus knew the purpose of the church and how the apostles intentionally followed Jesus’ commands when they planted churches 
    6. Understand that apostolic pattern is prescription, not mere description.

    Forums

    Post in the five assigned forums. You will get a completion check indicating you have posted reflections. Also, we encourage you to read and engage with the comments of others. 

    Quiz

    After you complete viewing the materials and posting your reflections, there is a feedback quiz. The quiz will help us evaluate the effectiveness of the mini-course.

    Content Provider

    This course is provided by NTRF - Small Churches, BIG Impact!

    "For over twenty-five years, we have provided church leaders in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania with resources and training in how the early church met together in community. The essential tenets of the faith to which we subscribe are identical to those found in the doctrinal statements of any sound evangelical institution. Our favorite statement of faith is the First London Baptist Confession of 1646. In short, we advocate historic, orthodox Christianity poured into the wineskin of New Testament church practice as seen on the pages of Scripture. Our goal is to be Christ honoring and thoroughly biblical in every area concerning our church life."


    Watch video on apostolic traditions → ntrf.org/timeless-traditions-strategy-video

    Read the article on apostolic traditions → ntrf.org/timeless-apostolic-traditions 

    Listen to the mp3 on apostolic traditions → tinysa.com/sermon/2171215122910