Tellout Evangelism Resources and HiVu Antique Photos Galleries
| Next | Previous | Contact Ron | Ron's Blog | Index | Tellout Home |
Christian Meeting Places
During the second stage of household development (c.150-250), private domestic residences were renovated for the exclusive use of the assembled Christian communities. In some instances, these renovated homes had been used formerly as meeting places for believers during the earlier period. These architectural alterations and change of function are the two characteristics of the so-called "domus ecclesiae," appropriately rendered in English as "meeting house."1
The earliest Christian meetings took place in homes. It is only to be expected, therefore, that Christians should have borne witness to their faith through the decoration of these homes. (see mosaic decor at right) The evidence suggests that they did so in a tentative and allusive way. They Christianized decorations would mean much to a fellow Christian, but would either seem unremarkable to the non-Christian or might excite mild comment, which in turn, could give the Christian householder an opportunity to bear witness to his or her faith.2
The private house was being replaced by the remodeled house, the "domus ecclesiae," which, while resembling a residence on the outside, was no longer a center of private family life. It is not that house and family were devalued in the process, for they remained the location in which faith was first nurtured and people lived out their Christian lives. The scattered evidence suggests that families became increasingly places of private prayer, reading from the scriptures and other religious books, and places in which religious faith found new and more overt means of expression.3
1"Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development" editors Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids. 2"Evangelism in the Early Church" by Dr Michael Green. 3"Families in the New Testament World - Households and House Churches" by Carolyn Osiek and David L. Balch.
"Decoration of these Homes bears witness to their faith."
| ^Top Page | Next | Previous |