Along those lines, it would be useful for people to read antebellum church records, when black and white people went to church together.
When slavery is mentioned, people seem to think of "Tara" or "Twelve Oaks" and plantations with white columns, azaleas and hundreds of slaves. According to the 1860 slave schedule, the average number of slaves in a slaveholding Alabama household was seven. That means half the familes which included any slaves numbered one to seven negroes; men, women and children. Places like "Tara" and "Twelve Oaks" were rare.
Tennessee Confederate questionnaires mention white boys working in the fields alongside slaves, both doing the same kind of work. This should square with accounts by former slaves from average households. It wasn't like white people sat around in the 'big house' sipping juleps while slaves toiled away under the lash and the blazing sun.
A week or so back, we debated the significance of facts. In this case, facts about slavery don't support the popular image. You are correct; slavery in the time of the early Christian church was quite different. Slaves weren't nearly as expensive in ancient Rome, and there were no reprocussions if the head of a household decided to kill a slave or even one of his own family members.