Level 1 Organizational Maturity

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The Church in the beginning (Level 1)

I can’t and have no intention of trying to cover 2000 years of church history at any level of detail. I will try to give my bird’s eye view of that history using the yardstick of organizational maturity that I have outlined. Using a roughly thousand-year timeline, the church began with the death and resurrection of Jesus. It underwent prosecution, heresies, misunderstandings and worked to define itself more clearly. There were periods of the desert fathers, monasticism and many trials and errors. There arose Saints and Sinners and many fruitful efforts usually instigated by holy and thoughtful individuals. As outlined for a level one organization some efforts were successful and some not. There were many discussions, documents, councils and attempts to become an ongoing viable organization. The church grew through conflicts and their resolutions and began to spread through a large part of the western world. I could try to say more about people like Ambrose, Augustine, Constantine, etc., but that’s not the purpose here. Suffice it to say the church like an infant was learning to crawl, beginning to walk (somewhat unsteadily) and trying to keep its arms and legs in synch. It grew stronger and began to influence the world in many ways. It also began to define itself with formalizing rituals, promoting corporal works of mercy, and influencing the disparate political and economic entities that ruled the world. It began forming the environments to help it reach Level 2 with repeatable successes and fewer failures