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Spread of Christianity Among People Groups Essay

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Spread of Christianity Among People Groups

From the very beginning times of Christianity, its message has identified with and transformed communities of people. Christianity itself grew out of a people group who had an identity that stretches back in time thousands of years. The worship of Yahweh, geographically born in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) has spread through history to the farthest islands of the seas.

Born into the people of Israel, Jesus gathered a small group of followers living and working with them until his ascension to heaven. From these few, the Christian faith spread to other Jews in Israel and the further reaches of the Roman Empire, including parts of southern Europe and Southwest Asia. As …show more content…

Among the groups that might be included in this history are the Vandals, Visigoths, Burgundians, Franks, Ostrogoths and the Lombards.

A pattern begins

Ralph D. Winter comments on the ‘barbarian conversion,’ which took place in the midst of Rome’s decline. He states that, "as the Barbarian tribes people became Christianized, they became a greater and greater threat to Rome." He also notes that as the Barbarian tribes encroached on Rome they held high regard for the Christian faith and avoided the desecration of church properties. This respect was a result of what Winter calls a faith of at least ‘superficial’ proportions on the part of the Barbarians.

Winter explains that they received this faith through the missionary efforts of the Eastern church in Rome rather than the Western church. He conjectures that, "Perhaps a little more Christianity might have prevented the complete collapse of the governmental structure of the Roman Empire in the West." Perhaps this lack of effort on the part of the Western church in Rome to reach their neighbors to the north with the message of Christ can be credited in part for the West’s quick demise.(2, pB-10)

The unknown East

Another historical branch of the spreading Christian faith, though not as geographically and historically noted was to the east. A significant branch of Christianity spread to Persia, which grew to a point of sending

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