What was the largest empire ever?
In the history of the world, the largest empire ever was The British Empire.At its height in 1922, London controlled nearly 38,000,000 kilometers and nearly half a billion people (1/4 of the world’s population at the time).Countries and places such as India, Hong Kong, Canada, Israel, Iraq, South Africa, Ireland, and Australia all hailed the Union Jack.Their influence is still felt today. English is the most popular language in the world and their infrastructure is still maintained in these areas.On its day, the sun just would not set on the British Empire.If you are looking for a contiguous rather than one of colonies, the Mongols are up next. A world power 800 years ago, especially under the ruthless Genghis Khan, their rule stretched from Beijing to Kiev. 24 million kilometers fell under the Great Khans, however their lack of stability equals a fact that it is like the Mongols never existed. Besides some assimilation, there is little legacy from their rules like the British and Romans.
How was the Christian Church first organized?
Well, there's the rub. No one can really explain it. Because the "Christian Church" as it exists today is no where near what early Christianity was. There were dozens, if not more, different sects of Christianity with varying views. They ranged all over the Middle East down into Africa -- as far as the Ethiopian kingdom. Some viewed Christ as divine, some as human, some as a mixture of the two. Some viewed John the Baptist as more important. Some thought you couldn't be Christian without having been a Jew first, others thought you could convert directly. Some of the sects also thought that women were equal in teaching to men. People connected to these various sects all left written records. Some were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, others found elsewhere throughout the middle east and north Africa. However, the sects that developed into what we see now as the Christian church remained in the "powerful" parts of the world -- where the Roman empire was strong. This is where you will see early Christian history turned into early Catholic history. It became based on "Peter" as the rock on which the church was based. That sect became the most powerful one and did not want competing sects to its power. All others became "heresy" and were eliminated. All of this was crystallized at the First Council of Nicea where the writings that would be accepted as part of this new religion were selected and the basic beliefs solidified. This is kind of simplistic -- and many people will "thumbs down" it because of my references to different sects -- but that's ok. Because when it comes right down to it, what you believe is a matter of opinion. I have included a site on early Christian writings for you that includes many of the gospels left out of the Bible. http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/