In response to penlies, re: the history and development of the early christian church. It's important to recognize the differences between the early Catholic "church" and the christian faith. Although it was instrumental in spreading the Gospel, the administrative body of the Catholic church was actually the government, and really not Faith oriented at all. They used religion as the tool to manipulate the populace, and create war against everyone else. When the populace started to recognize this discrepency, the Reformation occurred, which of course was corrupted in various ways as well.

The nature of the evangelical church today is to hold Christ as the head of the church (not the Pope) and recognize our responsibility as the Body of Christ on earth (the church). In this it is VERY different than the "Catholic" church at any period.
Glenn