Church History Outline

Seven periods of church history

THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH

START: From the Day of Pentecost (AD 30)

END: To the completion of the New Testament (about AD 100)

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

START: From the completion of the New Testament about (AD 100)

END: To the Edict of Constantine (AD 313)

This is a period of tremendous persecution of the church. The church was crushed beneath the iron heal of the Roman Empire.

THE IMPERIAL CHURCH

START: From the Edict of Constantine (AD 313)

END: To the Fall of Rome (AD 476)

The word Imperial refers to a king or ruler. This was a period in the history of the church that an emperor had much influence on the church.

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

START: From the Fall of Rome (AD 476)

END: To the Fall of Constantinople (AD 1453)

The Catholic church dominated Europe during this time.

THE REFORMED CHURCH

START: From the Fall of Constantinople (AD 1453)

END: To the End of the Thirty Year War (AD 1678)

This was a period when God used men like Martin Luther to stand up against the tide of Catholicism and preach the just shall live by faith. God raised up men throughout Europe to restore the Word to the church.

THE MODERN CHURCH

START: From the end of the Thirty Year War (AD 1678)

END: To the Twentieth Century AD (1950's)

This was a period of great revivals and missionary outreach. Up until this time there was never a concentrated effort to reach the world with the Gospel. It takes a great love of souls to travel to a foreign land and preach the Gospel. It was during this time that David Livingstone set up many missionary stations on the continent of Africa.

THE POSTMODERN CHURCH

START: From the Twentieth Century AD (1950's)

END: To the present day

We will study each of these periods individually. This chapter was only an overview of what this course will cover.