Killing Curiousity? (2 of 3)

Here is the context around the first post (from Houses that Change the World). Curiosity is one of the major reasons many historians give for the great amount of people becoming Christians in the ancient church. Why is this amazing? The ancient church had an incredibly different context than our churches today. In fact, the differences would seem to me to decrease the amount of people coming to faith.

Picture of the New Testament Church (up to AD 312)

1. Persecution could break out anytime. This was a time that always had this possibility. Joining this sect was clearly not the easy life.
2. There was no public evangelism. You would not see many public speaking engagements. It was too dangerous.
3. No "attractive" worship services. Generally, people outside the Christian circles were not invited or even allowed to Christian meetings. After Nero's persecution, many closed their doors completely to outsiders.
4. Not mainstream religion. This was the counter-culture that was very secret and private.
   

Isn't that crazy? This is the context of the church when it experienced some of its greatest growth! Here are a few ideas why such an insatiable curiosity was built in this context:

1. The incredible community these Christians had. Their lives were wrapped around their Christian community
   
2. The love and peace that flowed within this community as well as towards others, even as they faced death.
3. The extreme faithfulness to their beliefs and their king.

What other ideas do you have on why this curiosity was built in outsiders? How do we fit these principles into our present (almost opposite) church context? What have we lost as the church? How do we get it back in our church age? What do we change? get rid of? add?