The study of Christian history and Christian practices, from my point of view, is fundamental in the path of every seminarian. Every major event today has its roots in the history of our society and in the history of the world. Likewise, Christian practices have their roots in both history and the historical practices of the Christian church. Our course readings of the Context Matters portal, and in particular the practices of the Christian church, are important for the same reason. If we want to understand the “why” of why we do things, we need to look at how they have been done before and how they have changed. have been practiced in the past. Church practices or the practice of “doing” church have changed many times over the two thousand year history of the Christian Church. The first century Christian church is known to have met in homes and worshiped together as small family groups with several families participating. This church model held true with the addition of some administrative structures for over three hundred years. This pattern of Christian practices has seen ...