A Christian from 50 AD walks into a bar to meets a 2019 American Christian for coffee. This is how the conversation goes.

2019 Christian: “hello brother my name is Gunther, I understand you are a Christian from the first century, I am a Christian from 2019 please tell me how things are in your churches in 50 AD.”

50AD: “my brother!!, you are a Christian, you follow the Lord? Wonderful! Well this is how a few things are in the kingdom of Jesus in 50AD. We do many things together as a community, one of the most helpful things is we do in the kingdom of Jesus that unites us is our love for Jesus himself and we routinely confess our sins one to another. “

2019 AD: “oh Well we love Kesus by singing beautiful songs about him it’s beautiful and our pastor sings great as he leads us. Here we don’t confess sin out loud per say to one another that would be embarrassing, it’s done just between us and God. “

50AD: “I’m not sure how things are in your kingdom but in the kingdom of Jesus we all take turns exalting and honoring our king.”

2019 AD: “well we have one designated guy do all the speaking, we amplify his voice with electronics and elevate him above us all sitting as an audience, he is great you should meet him his name is Pastor Roger you’d like him, you really should meet him maybe I’ll call him!”

50 AD: “Not sure how things are under your king but in the kingdom of Jesus we are all equal. We share our money one with another, we all speak, we all bring something to share, men women, children, the eloquent, the dull, rich, poor, smart, dense, we all take turns hearing our king and sharing our king. And our rich don’t get special status and favor with out king or among us.”

2019AD: “That sounds great…we tithe and the leader uses it for beautiful buildings and salaries but we do have a fund for the poor.”

2019 AD: “Only our great one shares, pastor Roger, and the tithe monies all flow through him and our volunteer professional tax accountant.”

50AD: “Not sure how things are in your kingdom but in the kingdom of Jesus we don’t compete and gossip one against another like the pagan religions do. We all cooperate with each other out of a mutual love for our king. “

2019: …awkward silence … “well if I’m honest we compete and many Christians hop from church to church throughout our lives until they find a pastor they like or who runs things like we want, but …our Pastor Roger he’s the favorite in our area, he has the largest congregation and he preaches great his congregation is growing and it’s like a revival in his meetings.“

50AD: “…silence…By the way… please don’t be upset with me but are you sure that your king is not this Pastor Roger?, I’m not sure what happened to the church after our murder in 69 AD, but can I reintroduce you to my king?”

2019 AD “Uhhh sure, but wait …let me call my pastor”