What can today's churches learn from the stories of the Early Church?

Churches at the dawn of the twenty-first century face a major identity crisis. We have lost sight of our history and increasingly find ourselves torn apart by the powers of the world. Just as the author of Hebrews used the stories of Israel's faithfulness to inspire his readers in a time of crisis, Christopher Smith re-tells the stories of the Early Church's faithfulness to inspire churches today. By focusing on three key themes in the Early Christian communities (baptism, the faith of the gathered community and martyrdom), Water, Faith and Wood makes the writings of the Church's first three centuries accessible to Christ's followers today, and challenges its readers to learn from the examples depicted in these texts.