The first 300 years of Christianity were epic years.
They were the legendary years of unparalleled gospel penetration. In them we find the storied days of the church’s radical, wholesale participation in spreading the gospel’s stunningly good news far and wide.
“For there is not one single race of men, whether barbarians, or Greeks, or whatever they may be called, nomads, or vagrants, or herdsmen living in tents, among whom prayers and giving of thanks are not offered through the name of the crucified Jesus.” - Justin Martyr - 150 AD
By only the year 150 AD, an unpromising band of 120 men and women had multiplied so rapidly that their message had infiltrated practically every nook and cranny of their known world.
By 350 AD, these earliest believers had spread the gospel throughout most of the Roman empire. An incredible 56% of the population called themselves Christ followers!
So how did they do it? What was the secret behind such success?
Somehow - with no printing press, no church buildings, no seminaries, no radio or television, no mass mailings, no Internet, no Christian concerts, no church growth experts, and most of all, no clergy - these Christ-followers remain unrivaled in the "gospeling" of the world in their day.
In fact, the stunning historical reality is this - Christianity was at its best when it had no clergy and no church buildings!
The answer is both profoundly simple and profoundly powerful.
Like great athletes, the early Christ-followers simply did the basics extraordinarily well.
What then were those basics? What made them so powerful? Most of all, could they be replicated in our day? Game-Changing Christianity provides provocative, yet practical answers to these very questions.
