Every page in the history of the church is a part of the history of salvation. Through the preaching of the church and the testimony of life, the word of God has been vividly displayed in different times and situations, and has become the driving force for transforming life. From another point of view, every page of church history is written by faithful believers with blood and sweat. In order to be loyal to the mission entrusted by God, many believers have taken pains to bring the gospel to different regions and cultures, and in the face of persecution, they have devoted their lives. Their blood, like seeds, germinated in different areas and gave birth to the church. However, in the past 1900 years, the church has also experienced many setbacks, and sometimes it will retreat and compromise when faced with challenges; Sometimes it is infiltrated by external forces, which splits the church and leads to extinction; Sometimes, because of the weakness of human nature, people hold high the truth of teaching, but forget the practice of love, which leads to the division of the church and the great loss of God's name. It is precisely because the church has experienced many setbacks that we can look at it from another angle, that is, the history of the church is the history of God's faithfulness. No matter what era, when the church is in a state of internal troubles and foreign invasion, God raises porcelain servants to cooperate with various environmental factors to clean the church, revive it, make it rise from decay and expand the kingdom of God.

Before talking about the difficulties encountered by the church in different periods, we might as well outline the history of the church for nearly 2000 years, so that everyone can have a relatively complete picture first.

For convenience, many historians divide the history of the church into three parts. The first paragraph is the history of the early church, from the establishment of the church by Christ and the apostles to the end of the sixth century. Historians ended the early history of the church at the end of the sixth century because the church entered a new historical situation at the end of the sixth century. Since the fifth century, the Roman government has lost control of the Western Roman Empire, which gradually collapsed. At the same time, however, the church there became more and more powerful and gradually became the leader of the universal church. Gregory I (about 540-604 A.D.) was the key figure to make the western Roman Empire church prosperous. He was considered as the last godfather and the first pope, and the founder of the Roman Catholic tradition. Therefore, most historians regard the year when Gregory I ascended the Pope's throne as the beginning of the rise of Roman Catholic tradition. For this reason, the second period of church history began in 590 BC (that is, the year when Quayle I ascended the throne), until Martin Luther launched the religious reform movement in 15 17 BC. Historians call this history the history of medieval churches. The third is the history of the modern church, which began with the Reformation and lasted until today in the 20th century.

Every period in the history of the church has its own characteristics, unique opportunities, unique problems and crises, and unique achievements. Now let's look at the uniqueness of these different historical stages.

The development of the early church itself can also be divided into several stages. When the apostles passed away one after another, the church entered a new milestone. On the one hand, the church should continue the missionary work of the apostles; But on the other hand, how can churches scattered in different regions keep their pure faith and the testimony of unity under the guidance of losing the spiritual authority of the apostles? This was a problem for the church at that time. During this period, on the one hand, the church tried to preserve the words and teachings of the apostles while they were alive, on the other hand, it must establish a new generation of spiritual leaders. We usually call this period "post-apostolic period". This period began from about 100 to about 170. During this period, the form of church authority began to change. At first, the apostles directly accepted the witness from Christ and conveyed the mission of porcelain enlightenment, so for church believers, their words and deeds had the authority to represent Christ. But after their death, the church had to rely on another indicator of faith and life, so some documents and creeds generally recognized by the church began to appear, becoming the most reliable reference for believers' faith and life. It was during this period that the canon of the Bible began to take shape. More detailed creeds (such as Apostolic Credo) also appeared in this period. During this period, the expression of faith was very simple, and there was no profound and abstract explanation. It paid great attention to some practical problems of faith in life. This period was also a period when the church experienced great persecution, but it expanded very rapidly. The main energy of the church is spent on the Ministry of evangelism; The organization of the church is still very simple, and the influence of heresy is not too rampant, so there are more and more believers. At this time, the vast majority of believers are grassroots. Historians in this period call it the "post-apostolic era".

Then there is the history of the "Ante-Nicaean era", which began in 175 BC and ended in the Nicaean conference in 325 BC. During this period, the church experienced great pressure from internal and external troubles. In terms of foreign invasion, the church has been severely persecuted by the state one after another, and pagan philosophers and writers have also questioned and attacked it in many ways. In terms of internal worries, the manifestations of faith and heresy in the church are more extreme. Therefore, during this period, the church should not only defend itself to the government, but also meet the challenge of anti-Christ thought and argue for pure faith. Therefore, the greatest feature of this period is the development of Christian orthodox theology and the rise of apologetics. At the same time, in the rapid expansion, the church began to have a relatively strict organization, and the content of worship was gradually enriched. At this time, the church was no longer monopolized by the lower classes, and Christianity gradually penetrated into the upper and middle classes, so various problems of getting along with different classes began to appear in the church.

The pre-Nicaean period was followed by the Nicaean period. Christianity at this time, due to the conversion of Constantine the Great, gradually became the state religion of the Roman Empire. The anxiety of persecution disappeared, but various internal problems emerged. The most serious problem is that the church is becoming secular and structured. In order to avoid being corroded by this trend, many believers retreat to the desert and try to maintain a holy life through quiet and rigorous practice when they are alone. The rise of monasticism is the characteristic of this era. Another feature of this era is the universality of theological argumentation. In order to solve these theological disputes, the church had to continue to convene the great Council. The division of the church has also become more and more serious because of these disputes and gatherings.

Entering the second period of history, we see that the Roman empire is shrinking, barbarians often invade, and the Roman army is unable to resist. In 4 10 BC, the goths invaded Rome, which shocked the whole Roman empire. At that time, many people thought that this incident was a harbinger of Rome's national subjugation and a punishment incurred by the Romans for abandoning their gods. In 475 BC, barbarians invaded Rome again and plundered everywhere. If the archbishop of Rome hadn't begged them not to burn the city, I'm afraid it would have been burned. By the way, the capital of the Roman Empire was not in Rome at that time, but in Constantinople next to Asia Minor. Since Constantine moved to the capital in 3 15 BC, the center of gravity of the whole Roman Empire shifted from Italy to the east, resulting in the emptiness of Italy and its western border. A small group of barbarians can often attack the city and plunder the land, and come and go freely. Because the empire had no time to care about the west, it left the west of the Roman Empire to fend for itself. Because of this, the Archbishop of Rome gradually became a political, economic and religious leader in the West. After the barbarian invasion, it was often the archbishop of Rome who helped and led the people to rebuild their homes. This is how Roman Catholicism developed. In the East, theological arguments never stop. One theological dispute was solved, and another appeared. Believers' faith life has gradually lost its vivid ability. At this time, about 630 BC, Islam suddenly rose. In 637 BC, Muslims invaded Jerusalem, and in less than two years, the whole of Syria fell into their hands. In fifty years, most of the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire fell into the hands of Muslims, and the church retreated to a small corner near Constantinople, which was a heavy loss for the church.

The situation at that time was really unfavorable. The Western Roman Empire was often invaded by barbarians, and people could not live a stable life. The Eastern Roman Empire fell into the hands of Muslims. This is really a gloomy era, so many historians call it the "dark age". We should make it clear that the "dark age" is not the darkness within the church, but refers to the collapse of the civilization of the entire Roman Empire, the stagnation of cultural development in many aspects, and the gradual loss of many cultural heritages. In turn, the church is the messenger to preserve these cultural heritages; For example, in many areas, when barbarians invaded, farmers often fled, so that many agricultural lands were abandoned and even farming techniques were lost. Many monks in the church undertook the task of farming and kept their farming skills. In fact, this period also has its bright side. This period was a period of rapid expansion of the church to western and northern Europe. Based in Rome, the church sent missionaries to lead the barbarians to the Lord. From 600 BC to 750 BC, England, Scotland, Ireland and barbarians entrenched in today's Germany and France all converted to Christ. Soon after, northern Europe was also included in the territory of Christianity.

Due to the great shrinkage of the Eastern Church, the Archbishop of Rome gradually became the most influential person in the archdiocese, and the Roman Church became the mother church of all the churches in Europe because of its missionary achievements, and was under her shepherd and jurisdiction. As a result, Roman Catholicism became more and more powerful, and the once influential Eastern Church played little role in history. Since then, the focus of church history has almost completely focused on the development of western churches.

The influence of the Pope is growing, the status of the church is getting higher and higher, and power struggles and all kinds of corruption are beginning to appear. Italian aristocrats often control policies such as the selection of popes, so some morally corrupt people actually become popes. Since 900 BC, the pope's prestige has plummeted and cannot be reversed after several reforms. The world is like this, and so is the world. Many bishops are in charge of several parishes and never assume the responsibility of grazing. Not only that, they sell some profitable clergy, and the moral life of many clergy is very corrupt. Therefore, there is a lack of pastoral care and truth teaching, and all kinds of folk superstitions penetrate into the belief life of laymen; Sometimes clergy will use these superstitions to catch believers, such as selling atonement vouchers, which is a good example.

In theology, scholasticism rose, and theological introspection was almost completely captured by the system of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Rational argumentation often replaces the listening and interpretation of myths, and the Tao of God is transformed into an abstract and mysterious system, which is far from the belief experience and life of believers.

In this case, both the Pope and the believers feel that the church is in urgent need of reform, but they don't know where to start. Occasionally there were a few shouts in the wilderness, but it didn't work. By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the political, economic, social structure and cultural consciousness had changed from gradual change to rapid change, and rapid change was imminent. When all the conditions were ready, Martin Luther's religious reform began in 15 17, and the Roman Catholic faith was comprehensively reviewed, criticized and reformed. Martin Luther's reform movement spread at the speed that a single spark could start a prairie fire, first in Germany, then in Switzerland and France. Soon, Britain broke with the Vatican because Henry VIII failed to get the papal approval for his divorce from the Queen, and another form of religious reform movement was also launched in Britain. The Reformation in Germany produced the Lutheran Church. In Switzerland, the Reformation led by Zwingli ulrich Huldrich (A.D. 1484- 153 1) and Calvin (A.D. 1509- 1564) produced the Reformation. The Anglican Church was born in England. Lutheranism and Reformism have important influences in different parts of Europe. Denmark, Sweden and Norway were deeply influenced by Lutheranism, while Scotland, the Netherlands and Belgium were deeply influenced by Reformism. In Britain, some believers who did not want to accept the Anglican system crossed the ocean to North America in the17th century to seek church freedom. This is the ancestor of the founding of the United States, and most of them are deeply influenced by the Reformed Sect. However, in France, Italy, Spain and Poland, due to various factors, the reform movement has been losing ground. Therefore, after the reform movement, the Catholic tradition was still firmly established in these areas. As a result, the church split; Catholicism and reformists have been hostile for more than 300 years. Among the reformists, different sects have formed a situation of old age and death because of different emphasis and system of belief expression.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Catholicism devoted its energy to missionary work, and they made considerable achievements in Latin America, Asia and even Europe itself. At this time, the reformists were entangled in theological arguments between sects or within sects, wasting a lot of energy and almost failing to preach.

Great changes have taken place in Europe's spiritual civilization since17th century. With the rise of rationalism, science has developed rapidly. /kloc-in the 0/8th century, the so-called Enlightenment appeared in Europe. Intellectuals began to accept a mechanistic view of the universe, thinking that the universe is like a mechanical system, and all phenomena in it can be explained by mechanical scientific principles. As a result, believers' beliefs are severely tested; The Christian faith has been questioned in many ways. In order to cope with these challenges, some theologians compromised traditional beliefs in an appropriate way, which led to the so-called liberal theology. On the other hand, the development of science and technology has stimulated the development of industry, and the development of material civilization in the west from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century can be said to be unprecedented. This brought the emptiness of western spiritual life, and the church felt great pressure from materialism. The church is facing the crisis of secularization.

However, on the other hand, 18 and 19 century, even at the beginning of the 20th century, were the periods of church revival and renewal. Since the end of the eighteenth century, the flame of revival has spread from Britain to the United States, and then from the United States to other regions. This revival fire supplemented the church's enthusiasm for missionary work. Therefore, in these two hundred years, the growth of the reformist church is unprecedented.

In the twentieth century, the church faced various challenges, such as productism, materialism, nationalism and so on. Therefore, in many people's minds, the twentieth century was a period when Christianity was losing ground. * * * Capitalism has swept one-third of the world's population in more than 60 years, while churches in Europe seem to be shrinking. However, the vitality of the church is really amazing. Under the impact of all kinds of fanaticism, the church has not retreated, but has the possibility of expansion. A study published by Oxford University in 1982 found that Christianity still accounts for about 40% of the world's population, and the church is still growing.

The 20th century saw the retreat of western missionaries and the rise of local churches. Many churches in the third world have developed rapidly after assuming the responsibility of autonomy, self-support and autobiography. The history of the church has also changed from a western-based exposition of the history of the church to a pluralistic historical exposition, seeking universal significance from the pluralistic historical development.

The 20th century was also a period of unification movement. It's a pity that the unification movement started a little, and before it could narrow the distance between different sects, it talked about the dialogue and unification of world religions. Therefore, it has not produced a breakthrough effect in promoting dialogue, cooperation and unity among Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Christianity. Soon, the focus of the Unity Movement gradually shifted, from discussions and activities centered on unity to political and economic liberation, which made considerable changes in theology and church life in the Third World, forcing the universal church to face up to the relationship between faith and situation. We can say that the mission of the church in the 20th century changed from responding to the trend of rational thinking to responding to the development of politics, economy and culture.

Some people think that the greatest development of the church in the twentieth century will be in Africa and Asia; In Africa, the missionary work of the church has made considerable achievements, while in Asia, we are still in the primary stage. In the face of such vast farmland, Asian Christians have a great responsibility.

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