Issue 57 Converting the Empire

Little known or remarkable facts about church growth in the ancient pagan world.

Early Christians used a hodge-podge of methods to draw their neighbors’attention to Christ.

Setting the context.

How Christians responded to the sometimes strange accusations of their critics.

It wasn’t revivals or eloquent preachers that most influenced pagan society but everyday Christians doing everyday evangelism.

Two of the least known but most effective early evangelists.

Rejecting paganism, these five Christians helped evangelize an empire.

Chronology of the growth of the early church.

The untold benefits of becoming a Christian in the ancient world.

It took centuries for Christian martyrs to impact pagan society.

When Christianity came to town, the religious marketplace was already crowded.

Glimpses of many-sided Roman paganism—from engravings, parchments, and tablets of the ancient world.

The story of early Christianity’s most famous—and most controversial—convert.

How the once illegal religion became the law of the empire.

Today’s evangelistic challenge is not all that different than it was for the early church.

Resources for further study of evangelism in the early church.