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Insula Christian House
How many people could comfortably fit into a house church gathering under these circumstances is almost impossible to estimate. It would depend entirely on the size of the house and the amount of open space available. To the extent that separate dining facilities for men and women remained the custom, this separation according to sex, smaller children with the women, may have continued in Christian assemblies as well. But all would presumably have been positioned in such a way as to be able at least to hear the voice of the president and/or preacher. Another possible scenario, however, is that women were led by a woman presider [President] in a separate section of the dining facilities during the meal, only joining the men for the teaching, or perhaps only when an important visitor presided.1
If no members of the community possessed a large home, which was probably often the case, the group would have to gather elsewhere, most likely in one or two rooms of an insula, perhaps in a large ground floor room. The first church buildings of San Giovanni e Paolo and San Clemente in Rome seem to have been built over original insulae. Although there is no archaeological evidence for Christian habitation in the insular, one has to ask why these particular locations were later chosen as Christian sites. It is quite possible that these are examples of locations where the earliest Christian meetings took place in a room or apartment of the original house. "Those with Chloe" 2 may be an example, and Paul's late night discourse in the third storey room at Troas3 is probably another.
1"Families in the New Testament World - Households and House Churches" by Carolyn Osiek and David L. Balch. 21 Corinthians 1.11 3Acts 20:7-12
"Insula Christian House."
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