The church at Pentecost
The spine · c. 33 · Jerusalem outward
Believers gathered at Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts 2), continuing in the apostles' teaching and fellowship. On this tree it is a pattern anchor, not an institution: no body descends from it, and the one body of Ephesians 4:4 is not drawn as a node.
The church at Pentecost is the pattern this tree measures against, not a body: nothing on the tree descends from it.
At a glance
- Formed
- Around 33
- Family
- The spine
- Region
- Jerusalem outward
- Key figures
- The apostles
- Also known as
- The early church; The assembly of Acts 2
Is the Church at Pentecost Biblical?
On divine ground.
c. AD 33. The day of Pentecost, Jerusalem (Acts 2).
This is the beginning. Believers were gathered at Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit, baptised into one body, and continued "in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers" (Acts 2:42). No other center existed and none was needed. Every other verdict on this tree is measured against what this assembly was gathered to, not against any body descended from it, because no body today descends from it.
Sources: Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 12:13; A. Miller, Short Papers on Church History, p. 18; H. L. Rossier, What is a Meeting of the Assembly?, pt. 2.
This verdict concerns the ground of gathering, not the salvation of any individual. Whoever truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is a member of the one body, wherever they gather; ‘[The] Lord knows those that are his’ (2 Timothy 2:19).
“It is not a question of life or salvation. Thousands are saved by Christ that do not own Him as their center.”
How the ground was lost and recovered
Pentecost
"THE Jewish feast of Pentecost may be called the birthday of the Christian Church." "At Pentecost the assembly, the whole assembly, was gathered at Jerusalem."
A. Miller, Short Papers on Church History, p. 18; H. L. Rossier, What is a Meeting of the Assembly?, pt. 2.
The departure
The professing church left the ground as clergy and human order displaced the Spirit's presence and ministry. Miller dates the steps: the epistles of Ignatius and the bishop over the presbyters, A.D. 107; a salary for "the clergy", about the year 245; the edict at Milan, A.D. 313, and the union of church and state that followed. He calls the change of God's order in ministry "the original sin of the Church". In 1828 Darby wrote of the church: "Do we not believe that it was, as a body, utterly departed from Him?"
A. Miller, Short Papers on Church History, pp. 152, 154, 156, 187, 190–191; The Ruin of the Church, Eldership, and Ministry of the Word by Gift, compiled by R. A. Huebner (PTP), p. 9.
The ground itself remained
"There Remains the Divine Ground of Gathering in the Ruin of the Church." The Word of God "supplies a resource of efficacy at all times and in every circumstance", the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst of two or three gathered to His name (Matthew 18:20).
R. A. Huebner, Practicing the Truth that "There is One Body" in View of Division (PTP), p. 32, section heading; H. L. Rossier, What is a Meeting of the Assembly?, pt. 2.
1827: the ground taken up again
Four men began breaking bread at 9 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, in November or December 1827. It was a recovery of the ground, not of the church's first state: "Restoration to the original state of the church on earth is not possible." The early brethren "had no thought of constructing a fresh system, or of re-constituting the church as God had constituted it at first".
R. A. Huebner, John Nelson Darby: Precious Truths Revived and Defended, vol. 1, Revival of Truth, 1826–1845 (PTP, 2nd ed., 2004), pp. 27–31; The Ruin of the Church, Eldership, and Ministry of the Word by Gift, compiled by R. A. Huebner (PTP), p. 9; A. Miller, Short Papers on Church History, restored ch. 56 (G. Morrish edition), p. 655.
On the tree
The church at Pentecost and the 1827 line share one verdict. The centuries between them are shown as departure, and no line of descent is drawn through them.
The assembly meeting in Scripture
- Gathered to
- The Lord's name alone, on the ground of the one bodyMatthew 18:20; Ephesians 4:3–4; Rossier pt. 2
- Who presides
- The Lord Jesus, personally in the midst. No man presides.Matthew 18:20; Psalm 22:22; Rossier pt. 3; Kingscote pp. 10–11
- Lord's Supper
- Every first day of the week. It is the main object of the gathering.Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, 11:18–26; Rossier pt. 4; Miller p. 95
- Who administers the Supper
- No one. "The very idea of a person standing apart and claiming to administer it as a right alters and ruins the Supper."Kelly, in Huebner pp. 40–41
- Who takes part audibly
- Brothers, as the Spirit leads, one by one. Two or three speak and the others judge.1 Corinthians 14:26–33; Rossier pt. 6; Kingscote pp. 12–13
- Women
- Silent in the assembly1 Corinthians 14:34–35; Kingscote p. 13
- Order of service
- None arranged beforehand. Liberty of the Spirit, with dependence on the Lord.1 Corinthians 14:26, 33; Dennett Letter 6
- Ministry
- By gift, exercised in responsibility to the Lord. Not by election to an office.Romans 12:6–8; 1 Peter 4:10–11; Ephesians 4:11–12; Dennett Letters 4–5, 7
- How ministers are appointed
- Gifts are given by the risen Lord. Elders were appointed only by apostles or their delegates, and there are none today.Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; Dennett Letters 4–5; Ruin pt. 2
- Kinds of assembly meeting
- Worship (the breaking of bread), prayer, and the open meeting for edificationRossier pts. 3–6
- Who may break bread
- Every believer not under scriptural discipline for walk or doctrineDennett Letters 6, 8; 1 Corinthians 5
Its place on the tree
On the tree
Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.
Scriptures
Sources
- Acts 2
Quotations from assembly writings: R. A. Huebner, courtesy of Present Truth Publishers (free PDF).
Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.