In the widest out look, Church History is the history of the kingdom of God upon earth. As such it naturally deals with the founding and development of this kingdom. The citizens of this kingdom include the people of the Old Testament (Mat 8:11), and those of the New Testament. Therefore, properly speaking church history extends from the creation down to the present. The central event in this long history is the coming of Jesus Christ the saviour of the world. He is not only the centre of history but also he is the key stone to the universe (John 1:3).
Thus, we find an intimate relationship between the Old and the New Testament.. The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. But the term church history is now commonly used in a more restricted sense, designation merely the second stage in the development of God’s kingdom upon earth, in this sense church history means a history of the Christian church as another way, church history may be defined as the history of God’s kingdom upon earth from the time of Jesus Christ and the first Pentecost down to the present.
1.1.1. Ecclesia
In the pre-Christian period the gathering of God’s people was designated by two terms: 'edhah' and ‘kahal’ meaning “assembly”. In the Christian world this body of the true believers is referred as to ecclesia. The term ecclesia is attested from the 5th B.C., and it denoted at first the popular assembly of the full citizens of a city. So centuries before the translation of the O.T., the term ecclesia was clearly denoted as political phenomena. In the Septuagint (LXX) the term ecclesia denotes the gathering of an army in preparation for the war or the coming together of a potentially dangerous crowd /1Sam.. 17:14, 2chr.28:14, psa.26:5/. Moreover, some passages of the Bible describe ecclesia as the coming together of the people to hear the word of God or the voice of God /Deu.4:10, 18:16, 31:30, judge 20:2/.
1.1.2. Ecclesia in the New Testament
The word ecclesia appears 114 times in the New Testament, with 62 instances in St. Paul’s letters, 3 times in St. Mathew, 23 in Acts, 20 times in Revelations and six times in other epistles.
1.1.2. Ecclesia in the New Testament
A. The sayings of Jesus Christ about Ecclesia
The saying in matt18:20 gives the precise meaning of a church. Here He designates the term ecclesia as the gathering of the congregation of the believers in his mane. Here the term implies some kinds of organization which gather in the name of Jesus Christ. Matt.16:18 gives several factors, first Jesus creates a new congregation which is evidently a special ground within Judaism. Second Jesus speaks himself as Messiah and my congregation means to us that he established the congregation of messiah. Third, the congregation is built on this rock which is, according to the Roman Church, taken to refer to St Peter and the term Petra suggests that the foundation of the church is the content of Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the messiah. Finally that Jesus Christ is speaking on cosmic scale is apparent from the references to the opposition from “gates of Hades” and keys to the kingdom, this means that ecclesia is a divinely instituted community against which the full force of evil is pitted. All these materials show that Jesus proclaimed the rule of God and He called the people to be his own disciples and constituted the ecclesia of the messiah. He saw them as the children of God and called them to live together as brothers and sisters. Here is the essence of the church.
B. Ecclesia in the Epistles
St Paul uses the term ecclesia in different ways. The first one is local assembly or the congregation of the believers (1Tess. 1. ‘1,2 pet 1’1), in his greeting to the Christians of Thessalonica, Paul says “Silas and Timothy to the Church (ecclesia) of the Thessalonians God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ”. Here the term is employed in the some way as in the Greek and in the Jewish circles. However, it is distinguished from the regular political assembly by the addition of the words “in God the Father” and from the regular synagogue meeting by the additional phrase “in the lord Jesus Christ”, so here it is clear that Paul has in mind an actual gathering of Thessalonians Christians (2 Tess.1:4, Gal.1:2, 1cor 7:17, 11:16, 2cor8:19, 11:8, Rom. 16:4).
C. A House Church
In a second group of references Paul uses the term ecclesia in the sense of a house church on some occasions a whole congregation in one city might be small enough to meet in the home of one of its members, and it must be remembered that it was not until about the middle of the third century that early Christianity owned property for the purpose of worship. In other places, house churches appeared to have been smaller circles of fellowship within the larger group. In addition to Nympha’s house in Laudicea [col.4:15], we know that in Colossia Phlemon's house was used as a meeting place (phi.2). At Philippi Lydia’s home seems to have been used it this way (Acts 16:15, 40), while at Corinth Gaius’ house is described as “host” to the whole church (Roman 16:23).
D. Heavenly Church
This title has got a mystical and eschatological significance. In Colossian 1:18 St. Paul states that Christ is the head of the body that is the church (eph.1:2, 3:10.21). Most commentators interpret this reference in Colossian and Ephesus the church is universal to which all believers belong whether they are in heaven or on earth. As a member of the body of Christ, they are not only related to Christ Himself but also to one another even when they are separated by space and time. It is expressedly mentioned by St Paul that God made as alive with Christ raised us up with him and seated us in the heavenly reasons in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:5-6).
E. Ecclesia and Synagogue
In the Septuagint both ecclesia and Synagogue were used to translate Hebrew Kahal (Num.16:3-5-synagogues, Deut 31:30-ecclesia. In James 2:2), Synagogue is used for the ordinary gathering of the people for worship, whereas the Revelation 2:8 and 3:7. ecclesia is quiet definite by applied to the Christian assembly and synagogue to the Jewish assembly.
The word church suggests a derivation from Kariakon, which means belonging to the Lord and it may refer to two things: the Lord’s body or the congregation of believers and Lord’s house or the secrete building. The word Christian was coined in Antioch around 40 AD (Acts 11:26).
In addition to the original term of ecclesia (Church) is now employed for the service, as to attend the church. The church of Rome or the church of Alexandria or any other particular church; the body of the Christian either people in one local community or in the world or it may be an ideal conception embracing only true believers either on earth only or also in heaven.
