On the Church

Let’s take a look at the history of the church. We’ll do that first by looking at the church around the world. One statistic informs us that there are three hundred thousand local congregations across the United States. Another statistic tells us that there are 37 million local congregations around the world. I have a simple one-mile commute to work, and over the course of that mile I pass four churches. I used to live in Lancaster, Pa., and as I drove around I tended to count silos and churches. I don’t know how many of the 37 million churches are in Lancaster, but there are a lot.

Archaeologists tell us that the oldest church building dates to AD 230. It is in northern Jordan, and it’s actually underground. Remember, this was a time of persecution, when the church and Christians were being persecuted by the Roman Empire, so this is literally an underground church building. It also has an inscription on the floor that reads, “The seventy beloved by God.”

Of course, the earliest churches were actually house churches—congregations that met in members’ houses—and there were also congregations that met in synagogues when the members of the synagogue converted to Christianity. Many local churches have fascinating histories. The church I grew up in had church first and Sunday school afterward, which was a practice that went all the way back to the beginnings of the church. It was a circuit church, meaning that the pastor preached there and then preached at another church. So, he would preach at this church first, and then he’d hop on his horse and ride to the next town and preach there. And that tradition of having an early service stuck.

I recently spoke at another church that had a fascinating history. This church was founded in 1942 by a student of J. Gresham Machen named Henry Wellben. Wellben went to Princeton as a student and was with Machen for one year—the 1928–29 academic year—and when Machen left Princeton after that year and founded Westminster Theological Seminary, Wellben went with him. He graduated in 1932, pastored a few churches, and sided with Machen in the dispute over missions within the Presbyterian church, and for that he found himself in hot water in his churches. Finally, in 1942 he planted this church where I spoke celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary.

And this pastor has an interesting history. He was still pastoring when the Korean War broke out, and suddenly some black sedans pulled up to his house and he disappeared. He had grown up in Korea and was a son of missionaries, so, during the Korean War, he was enlisted by the CIA to serve as a spy. After the Korean War he went back to planting churches again.

As we look at the three hundred thousand churches across the United States and the 37 million churches around the world, we know that these churches all likely have interesting histories. And the churches that are faithful to God’s Word and faithful to proclaiming His Word, we know that not only do they have interesting histories but they are histories that ultimately tell of the faithfulness of God.

What is the history of your local church? Maybe you can be the local church historian and can uncover some fascinating and interesting facts and ideas from the history of your church. Every church has a history. What’s the history of your church?