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7S. Three Stages of Household Development
House churches such as these were the only churches that Christians had, not only throughout the New Testament period, but through most of the second century. One report says that a church building was set up at Arbil, east of the river Tigris, before A.D. 148. (1)
Edessa Church Building
There is more evidence that there was a church building in Edessa, 300 miles west of Arbil, sometime after A.D. 180 when the King of Edessa became a Christian. The building was destroyed by flooding in A.D. 201.(1)
The early Christian period of A.D. 50-313 can be divided roughly into three stages of development. During the first stage (A.D. 50-150), Christians would have met in the private homes belonging to individual members, or benefactors, of the community. The appellation "house church" is most appropriately applied to this period. The house church by definition is a domestic residence that is architecturally unaltered for the purpose of Christian assembly and is used at least occasionally by the local Christian community or a part of it.(2)
Stage 1. A.D. 50-150 Home Unaltered "The House Church"
In this environment, earliest Christianity was born and developed. All evidence points to domestic buildings as the first sites for Christian gatherings. Even during the life of Jesus, the house seems to have been a favorite site for teaching (3). Beyond the households that welcomed Jesus for meals and residence, the first groups of his followers after his death began meeting in private houses. Many Jewish communities and private Greek-Roman cults began in a particular place as small gatherings in private houses, and it was the same with the first circles of Jesus' followers. (4)
Unaltered Houses
Given what we know about the structure of domestic buildings, how are we to envision the physical arrangements in which these gatherings took place? In these earliest years, perhaps for the first century and a half, there were probably no structural adaptations for Christian worship, but rather, the adaptation of the group to the structures available. The size of the meeting space in the largest house available must have determined the size limit of a worship group. When the group became too large, another was founded in another location.(4)
Peter's Residence
The Clementine Recognitions give us a sample of the house meetings which must have been common in the early centuries when Clement arrives at Peter's residence in Caesarea. Having heard through chatter in an inn that a certain Peter was in the town and was going to hold a discussion the next day with one Simon, a Samaritan, Clement asks to be shown to his lodging. He found it, knocked, was welcomed in, and before long was listening to extended instruction from the apostle.
Again, we find in another part of the same literature an account of how Peter and his company came to a house, previously agreed on: "The master of the house welcomed us, and led us to a certain apartment, arranged like a theatre, and beautifully built. There we found considerable crowds waiting for us, who had come during the night.. ." and before long the discussion was in full swing.(5)
No Church Buildings
Such is the background from which the physical setting of the Apostle's assemblies, including their Lord's Supper, can best be visualized. Unlike the Jewish synagogue associations, the Christians possessed no church buildings. While it is not impossible that, like the clubs, some early Christian congregations may have been given property, they apparently did not set aside buildings exclusively for worship until the late second century.
Also like the clubs, the churches sometimes used a rented building such as the hall or club of Tyrannus or, as was more usually the case, they met in the home of a more affluent convert or Christian missioners. Among such converts were Philemon and Nympha of Colossae, Jason at Thessalonica, and Titius Justus and Chloe at Corinth; probably, Lydia at Philippi, Stephanus and Gaius at Corinth, Phoebe at Cenchreae, and perhaps Onesiphorus at Ephesus.(6)
Some of these people held slaves, operated commercial enterprises, or were generally well-traveled, and in all likelihood they belonged to the wealthier strata of society and lived in the genteel surroundings exemplified by the homes in Pompeii and Ephesus. They not only provided the church with a place of meeting but also, like the patrons of the clubs, were sometimes its benefactors and leaders in its local ministry. The couple, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul's fellow missionaries, also belonged to a prosperous merchant class, having homes used by the church in one way or another in Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome.(6)
Bibliography and Notes
(1.) Selections from "The First Advance - Church History 1: AD 29-500" by John Foster S. P. C. K, Copyright All rights reserved. (2.) Selections from "Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development" editors Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. A Compendium of Contemporary Christian Scholarship Copyright All rights reserved. (3) Mark 2:1; 3:20; 7:17; 9:28; implied in 4:10 (4) Selections from "Families in the New Testament World - Households and House Churches " by Carolyn Osiek and David L. Balch John Knox Press, Kentucky Copyright 1997. All rights reserved.
(5.) Selections from "Evangelism in the Early Church" by Dr Michael Green William B. Eerdmans Company, Grand Rapids Michigan Copyright 1970 All rights reserved. (6.) Selections from "Pauline Theology - Ministry and Society" by E. Earl Ellis William B. Eerdmans Company, Grand Rapids Michigan. Copyright All rights reserved.
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