ABSTRACT
Investigation of ministerial forms and functions in the early church is a subject that cannot escape revealing the interests of those who interpret the evidence. The analogy between God's household and everyday households to which people belong also illuminates ministerial forms and functions. Sociological studies of the New Testament have demonstrated the significance of the household for understanding the church in its earliest phase. It has been reckoned that the typical household in the Greco-Roman world consisted of about fifty persons. ‘The Household of God" was a family community made up of older and younger people, both men and women. The fact that the Christian community was a religious oddity is sharpened by the description of a church gathering in Apostolic Constitutions 2.57. The Jewish community to many in the ancient world seemed like a school. It is hardly possible to trace a simple linear development through the Greek fathers with respect to models of ministry and community formation.
