We look for our example to the first church founded at Pentecost in Jerusalem.1 Here the Spirit worked with unique power, leading Christians to share all they had, to serve the city’s poor, and to proclaim the gospel boldly. We believe that this first church community’s life and teaching demonstrate what God’s will is for humankind.
The church in Jerusalem was eventually dispersed through persecution. Yet its spirit could not be quenched. It lived on even after the death of the apostles, as attested by the early Christian martyrs. We affirm the early church’s rule of faith and we value its witness, including the Didache and the writings of church fathers such as Clement of Rome, Hermas, Ignatius, Justin, Tertullian, and Origen.
Over the centuries since, the apostolic witness of church community has shone out repeatedly. Though often suppressed or forgotten, it has reemerged again and again in new places and forms. It appeared in the monastic movements from the third century onward – notably among the Desert Fathers, in the community around Augustine of Hippo, and in Celtic Christianity. It appeared in the itinerant Christian communities of the Middle Ages, among the Waldensians, the Beguines and Beghards, and among the followers of Francis of Assisi and Clare of Assisi. It was there among the radical Anabaptists as well as among the early Quakers in the time of George Fox. It was there in the Moravian church of Zinzendorf, and it can be seen in many other movements up to the present day.
In addition to these church communities, the witness of other individual men and women of God is also important to us. These include the medieval mystics Thomas à Kempis and Meister Eckhart in their discipleship of the heart; John Wycliffe and Jan Hus in their courage for the gospel; the early Martin Luther in his experience of undeserved grace; and inspired artists such as Bach and Handel, whose works such as St. Matthew Passion and Messiah give glory to God. They include the evangelists John Wesley, Charles Finney, Hudson Taylor, and Sadhu Sundar Singh with their zeal for Christ; William and Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army in their care for the poor; Fyodor Dostoevsky in his solidarity with suffering humanity; and Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa with their devotion to the works of mercy. They also include martyrs such as Sophie and Hans Scholl, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero, and many others who stood up for truth at the cost of their lives.
