I've had this plaguing question that resonates with me. I don't remember when I first became aware of it, only that I continue to ask myself the question on a daily basis:
What were the 1st century church doing differently than we are now?
Their techniques were far different than ours are now. If you don't think so then you need to reread the Gospels and Acts. It's obviously clear that something was different then.
It could be the fact that the Romans held power and controlled practically everything everyone did then. They were the world power. They made the rules and everyone followed. I guess this was a very good brewing ground for Christianity to sprout it's roots.
The writers of the New Testament had no clue that any of their work would be published. They thought that the Pentateuch was sufficient to understand Christianity. Why? Because I don't hear accounts of them running to publish their work. In fact most of the New Testament wasn't included in the Bible until some 600 years later. There is a very good reason for this, but a reason you won't really hear about because I don't think anyone knows it for sure.
No one in this time period owned the Bible. If your family had a copy, you were very wealthy because the scrolls needed to print the Bible weren't cheap. It was a sort of status symbol that very few people actually owned. Also very few people actually knew how to read, so even if you were fortunate to get a copy you probably couldn't understand it.
How were the first church communicating the need for Jesus Christ? Through spoken word. These people literally went door to door but they weren't giving out Bibles. They weren't handing out fliers. These people were actually being let in the door and in most cases actually convinced the people that Jesus Christ was the answer. How did they sell this? They didn't. Jesus Christ isn't something you have to sell, nor can you market Christianity (yet companies actually are, go figure).
This still doesn't answer the question though. Honestly I can't give you the correct answer unless I built a time machine and saw it for myself. I can only speculate and with my speculations I am spawning a series of posts.
Why I'm doing this
I came to a conclusion that the Bible can be explained in a more clear manner by putting it in terms professions can understand. The Bible as it exists now is basically written for farmers, fishermen, etc. The analogies and parables often speak in words that any farmer (even today) can understand clearly. What about the other professions? Are we left out? No. You just have to dig deep to put the analogies into terms you understand.
This in no way will be a substitution for the Bible. There's nothing like reading the Bible and understanding exactly what's been said. This is an attempt to try to help you logically fit the pieces together. That way when you read scripture for yourself, you can twist the analogies into terms you can better understand. Once it clicks in your head, you'll be able to understand a lot more than just one verse. You'll then be able to read everything and understand it a lot more clearly and come to your own conclusions. I will never try to put thoughts in your head, only you can do that.
My first installment will be pretty simple because it's a profession I am in myself: Programmer/Coder.