<P> According to the New Testament, the earliest Christians did not build church buildings . Instead, they gathered in homes (Acts 17: 5, 20: 20, 1 Corinthians 16: 19) or in Jewish worship places like the Second Temple or synagogues (Acts 2: 46, 19: 8). The earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church (domus ecclesiae), the Dura - Europos church, founded between 233 and 256 . In the second half of the 3rd century CE, the first purpose - built halls for Christian worship (aula ecclesiae) began to be constructed . Although many of these were destroyed early in the next century during the Diocletianic Persecution, even larger and more elaborate church buildings began to appear during the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great . </P> <P> From the 11th through the 14th centuries, a wave of building of cathedrals and smaller parish churches occurred across Western Europe . In addition to being a place of worship, the cathedral or the parish church was used by the community in other ways . It could serve as a meeting place for guilds or a hall for banquets . Mystery plays were sometimes performed in cathedrals, and cathedrals might also be used for fairs . The church could be used as a place to thresh and store grain . </P> <P> Between 1000 and 1200 AD the romanesque style became popular across Europe . While the name of the romanesque era refers to the tradition of Roman architecture, it was actually a West - and Central European trend . Romanesque buildings appear rather bulky and compact . Typical features are circular arches, round or octagonal towers and cushion capitals on the pillars . In the early romanesque era, coffering on the ceiling was fashionable, while later in the same era, groined vault was more popular . The rooms became wider and the motivs of sculptures became more epic . </P> <P> The Gothic style emerged around 1140 in Île - de-France and spread through all of Europe . The gothic buildings were less compact than they had been in the romanesque era and often contained symbolic and allegoric features . For the first time, pointed arches, rib vaults and buttresses were used, with the result that massive walls were not longer needed to stabilise the building . Due to that advantage, the area of the windows became bigger, which resulted in a brighter and more friendly atmosphere inside the church . The nave became higher and so did the pillars and the church steeple . The amibition to test out the limits of the architectural possibilities resulted in the collapse of several towers . In Germany and the Netherlands, but also in Spain, it became popular to build hall churches, in which every vault has the same height . </P>

Where did the christian church worship why did they have to gather at this place