Christianization

==== Christianization without coercion ====
{{Main|Persecution of Christians}}
There is agreement among twenty-first century scholars that Christianization of the Roman Empire in its first three centuries did not happen by imposition.{{sfn|Runciman|2004|p=6}} Christianization emerged naturally as the cumulative result of multiple individual decisions and behaviors.{{sfn|Collar|2013|p=6}} 
[[File:Distribution of the documented presence of Christian congregations in the first three centuries.tif|upright=1.5|thumb|Map of the Roman empire with distribution of Christian congregations in first three centuries|alt=this is a map showing how and where congregations formed in the first three centuries]] 

While enduring three centuries of on-again, off-again persecution, from differing levels of government ranging from local to imperial, Christianity had remained 'self-organized' and without central authority.{{sfn|Collar|2013|pp=6, 36, 39}} In this manner, it reached an important [[Threshold model|threshold of success]] between 150 and 250, when it moved from less than 50,000 adherents to over a million, and became self-sustaining and able to generate further growth.{{sfn|Collar|2013|p=325}}{{sfn|Harnett|2017|pp=200, 217}}{{sfn|Hopkins|1998|p=193}}{{sfn|Runciman|2004|page=3}} There was a significant rise in the absolute number of Christians in the third century.{{sfn|Runciman|2004|p=4}}