The study of history and Christian practices, from my point of view, is imperative in the journey of any seminarian. Every major event today has its roots in the history of our society and in the history of the world. Likewise, Christian practices have their roots in both history and the historical practices of the Christian Church. Our readings from the Context Matters portal course, and in particular the practices of the Christian Church, are important for this very reason. If we want to understand the “why” of why we do things, we need to look at how they have been done before and how they have been done. been practiced in the past. Church practices or the practice of “doing” church have changed many times over the two thousand years of Christian church history. It is well known that the first century Christian Church met in homes and worshiped together in small, family-centered groups attended by several families. This church model remained faithful to a few additional administrative structures for over three hundred years. This model of Christian practices has seen ...