Volume 5 Issue 34

Warfare prayer of the soldiers of the Army of Jesus to bind and destroy the works of the devil

Let us bind and destroy the works of the devil in the name of Jesus Christ who has conquered sin, satan, curse and death on the cross

Pro  11:28  The spirit which makes one  trust  in his riches

What he said shall occur

In 2011 we were in Mumbai for 18 months. In the flat where we lived, there was a window which will bring bad smell from outside. So we could not open it. One day when we read Mark 11:23, we wanted to apply this. We opened the window and prophesied, “Let all this rubbish and the stench it brings be moved out of this place, fresh air flow in through this window and  fill our house”. The next day the authorities decided to convert it into a park and the work started right away. Within one week it was completed.

Yes our mouth has power in it!

Mar 11:23  For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said. 

Yes, we will have whatever we have said.

In the place where we live now also the same miracle happened. When we came here in 2015, the road we had was of mud and sand. Auto rickshaw drivers were fearful that their tyres may get punctured. We started prophesying! Now without any efforts on our part, there are shade trees  and flower gardens in front of the house, which are watered and cared for! You may produce anything out of your tongue and eat the fruit. Why don’t you try?

The Premise

There are no known church buildings prior to the time of Constantine. During the apostolic era and for the next two centuries, churches met primarily in the private homes of its wealthier members. This necessarily meant that the typical congregation was smaller rather than larger.

The Purpose

Everything in the New Testament was written to churches that met in private homes. The relationships the New Testament describes work best in situations where everyone knows each other. These smaller settings foster the intimacy and accountability that characterized the New Testament church. A loving, family-like atmosphere is more easily developed. Celebrating the Lord’s Supper as an actual meal is much more conducive to a smaller setting. Achieving congregational consensus is easier when everyone knows everyone else and open lines of communication genuinely exist. The many “one another” exhortations of Scripture can be much more realistically lived out. Church discipline takes on real significance. Participatory worship is natural to a smaller setting and is more meaningful.

The Professors

According to Anglican evangelist David Watson, “For the first two centuries, the church met in small groups in the homes of its members, apart from special gatherings in public lecture halls or market places, where people could come together in much larger numbers. Significantly these two centuries mark the most powerful and vigorous advance of the church, which perhaps has never seen been equaled. The lack of church buildings was no hindrance to the rapid expansion of the church; instead . . . it seemed a positive help.”[1]       

A Yale University archaeology pamphlet stated, “The first Christian congregations worshipped in private houses, meeting at the homes of wealthier members on a rotating basis . . . Worship was generally conducted in (either) the atrium, or central courtyard of the house.”[2]

Graydon F. Snyder, professor of New Testament at Chicago Theological Seminary, observed that “the New Testament Church began as a small group house church (Col. 4:15), and it remained so until the middle or end of the third century. There are no evidences of larger places of meeting before 300.”[3] Again quoting Snyder, “there is no literary evidence nor archaeological indication that any such home was converted into an extant church building.  Nor is there any extant church that certainly was built prior to Constantine.”[4] 

The ESV Study Bible notes that “Early Christian churches, since they were small and not recognized as a legitimate (or legal) religion, met in homes . . . There is extensive archaeological evidence from many cites showing that some homes were structurally modified to hold such churches.”[5]

Martin Selman, lecturer in Old Testament at Spurgeon’s College in London, wrote that “The theme of the ‘household of God’ undoubtedly owed much to the function of the house in early Christianity as a place of meeting and fellowship (e.g. 2 Tim. 4:19; Phm. 2; 2 Jn. 10).”[6]

Reformed scholar William Hendriksen, said “since in the first and second centuries church buildings in the sense in which we think of them today were not yet in existence, families would hold services in their own homes . . . The early church numbered many hospitable members, ready and eager to offer their facilities for religious use: meetings, services, etc.”[7]

According to Anglican commentator W.H. Griffith Thomas, “For two or three centuries Christians met in private houses . . . There seems little doubt that these informal gatherings of small groups of believers had great influence in preserving the simplicity and purity of early Christianity”.[8]

In his monumental work New Testament Theology, Donald Guthrie (lecturer on New Testament at the London Bible College) wrote that “the expression ‘in church’ (en ekklésia) . . . refers to an assembly of believers. There is no suggestion of a special building.  Indeed, the idea of a church as representing a building is totally alien to the NT.”[9]

Ronald Sider, in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, made a good point. He said, “The early church was able to defy the decadent values of Roman civilization precisely because it experienced the reality of Christian fellowship in a mighty way . . . Christian fellowship meant unconditional availability to and unlimited liability for the other sisters and brothers — emotionally, financially and spiritually. When one member suffered, they all suffered. When one rejoiced, they all rejoiced (1 Cor. 12:26). When a person or church experienced economic trouble, the others shared without reservation. And when a brother or sister fell into sin, the others gently restored the straying person (Mt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5; 2 Cor. 2:5-11; Gal. 6:1-3). The sisters and brothers were available to each other, liable for each other and accountable to each other. The early church, of course, did not always fully live out the New Testament vision of the body of Christ. There were tragic lapses. But the network of tiny house churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire did experience their oneness in Christ so vividly that they were able to defy and eventually conquer a powerful, pagan civilization. The overwhelming majority of churches today, however, do not provide the context in which brothers and sisters can encourage, admonish and disciple each other. We desperately need new settings and structures for watching over one another in love.”[10]

The Proof

The word church (ekklésia) in the New Testament never refers to a building. It fundamentally means assembly, gathering, meeting or congregation. [11] It is clear from Scripture that the early church met in the private homes of its more affluent members.[12] For example Philemon, who was wealthy enough to own a slave, also hosted the church in his home (Phlm 2b). Church hostess Lydia was a prosperous businesswoman who sold expensive purple fabric and could afford servants (Ac 16:14). A church met in the home of Aquila and Priscilla who engaged in the lucrative first century trade of tent making (Ac 18:1-3). Gaius, a man with the means to generously support missionaries (3Jn 1-5), had a home big enough to host the whole church (Ro 16:23). Less well known is the fact that the early church continued this practice of house churches for hundreds of years after the New Testament writings were completed.  What are we to do with the fact that the early church met mostly in homes? 

by Steve Atkerson