Church History

Here’s a graphic that displays the family tree of Church history and I’ll run down the time line from the early disciples.  I have people ask me about Church History and why do we have so many denominations today and what’s the difference between each and don’t we all just believe the same thing? The reason there are different denominations is because there are differing views. Some small some big. Even if your church in non-denominational, your church is unique in some ways and it may be exactly like a denominational church.

64-100AD The Disciples
1st Century: New Testament- Elder bishops and deacons under the supervision of the church
2nd Century: Ignatius- Elders and bishops governed individual congregation
3rd Century: Irenaeus Tertullian- Diocesan bishops oversaw groups of churches. They were thought to be successors of the Apostle

4th Century: Council of Nicea- Metropolitan bishops gained succession of country bishops (Chorepiscopi
Council of Constantinople- Honor given to bishops of Rome

5th Century: Leo 1 Council of Chalcedon- claimed authority of the whole church on basis of sucession from Peter. Roman church papal claims rest on the assertion that Peter was given authority by Jeuss over the entire church and his power and authority were perpetuated through the Bishops of Rome.

The Decline of Roman domination began to occur in 1200’s with the rise of men like John Wycliffe, John Huss, and later on the Major reformationMartin Luther ((1483), Zwingli (1484), Calvin (1509), Knox (1514). The rise of the reformation gave birth to more branches on the family tree.

Lutherans 1517
Reformed 1520
Anabaptists 1525
Anglican 1534
Presbyterian 1560
Baptist 1612
Methodist 1787

There you have it! The quickest Church History lesson in blogdom.