Resources In The Ancient Church For Todays Worship

There is much that the church today can learn from the worship of the early church, particularly in the second century. This was a time when increasing numbers of gentiles were coming to the church with little or no previous knowledge of the Judeo-Christian tradition. How did the church train and instruct those who wished to join it? How did its worship, particularly in baptism and in communion, respond to the challenge of shaping and nurturing believers who would have to live their faith in a hostile environment? Today the church begins to face similar conditions. Growing numbers around us have little or no idea what our faith is all about. As such people seek membership in the church, and as we all seek ways to be faithful in the present environment, we have much to learn from the church in those earlier times, and particularly from its worship.

La iglesia de hoy tiene mucho que aprender del culto de la iglesia antigua, particularmente de la iglesia durante el siglo segundo. En aquel tiempo cada vez eran mas los gentiles se acercaban a la iglesia sin saber mucho de la tradicion judeo-cristiana. Como era que la iglesia instruia y adiestraba a quienes deseaban unirse a ella? En que modos el culto de la iglesia respondia al reto de formar y nutrir a aquellos creyentes que tendrian que vivir en un ambiente hostil? Hoy la iglesia se enfrenta a retos semejantes. Cada vez son mas nuestros contemporaneos que saben bien poco acerca de la fe cristiana. Cuando tales personas piden unirse a la iglesia, y cuando nosotros mismos buscamos como ser fieles en el ambiente de hoy, la iglesia de aquellos tiempos tiene mucho que ensenarnos, particularmente en lo que se refiere al culto.