History in christianity
- Christianity began as a Jewish movement in the 1st century of the Common Era.
- The Books of Acts records that after Jesus ascension to heaven forty days following his resurrection, his disciples were gathered full of fear wondering what to do next. The Book of Acts tells how the Spirit of God came upon them in the form of fire giving them courage to spread their belief in Jesus as the Messiah. the first preaching of the christian message has been called the Birthday of the church.
- Christian message is summarized in the apostle Peter speech in Acts 2 which says that God is working in a special way and how Jesus was the expected Messiah, God's ambassador and these are the "final days" before God's judgement and the coming od a new world. Early christian practice required to those who believed to be baptized as a sign of rebirth, to share their possessions and to care for widows and orphan.
- The early christian group remained in Jerusalem and was mostly of Jewish people and was led by James who was also called the Just because of his careful observance of Jewish practice. The Jewish-Christian group who was led by Jesus's relatives was a strong influence for the first forty years. It was eventually weakened by the destruction of the temple in 70 CE and disappeared over the next one hundred years. But there was a non Jewish Christian group that was led by Paul and began to spread throughout the Roman Empire.