Church History Week 2

Church History Week 2

In this weeks reading what I gathered about the church structure was fairly drastic in terms of the scope of change. In the beginning the church met primarily in houses and it was there the local leaders would lead in songs, reading of Scripture, and then communion. But leading into the 3rd century the church had evolved greatly. One of the most notable changes was the role of women in leadership. For most of the 2nd century there were understood leadership roles in the church. While these are in some debate the general idea is that there was a bishop, (or in some cases multiple), and then deacons. The bishops were tasked with leadership while the deacons handled the service aspect. In the early church it is fairly clear women had at least a semblance of leadership responsibility but by the mid- to late 2nd century, in order to combat heresy from the Gnostics, the leadership was almost totally masculine.