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Church Building
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, (see Capernaum synagogue remains at right) 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, Stephanas and Gaius at Corinth, Phoebe at Cenchreae, and perhaps Onesiphorus at Ephesus.1
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 (see drawing right), 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.1
1"Pauline Theology - Ministry and Society" by E. Earl Ellis.
"The church building before church buildings!"
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