House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity

by Roger W. Gehring

For nearly three hundred years, early Christians met almost exclusively in private homes built originally only for domestic use. In House Church and Mission, Roger Gehring investigates both theological and socio-historical aspects of the missional significance of house churches from the time of Jesus through Paul. The development of early Christian ethics, the emergence of leadership structures, and the growth of ecclesiological concepts were all noticeably influenced by the households in which believers lived and gathered. In the last twenty-five years this early century house church phenomenon has generated a great deal of interest among New Testament scholars and church practitioners. This research has focused primarily on the implications of the social and theological effects of the house church on the early church. House Church and Mission offers scholars the first comprehensive summary of evidence concerning home churches in the New Testament and supplies pastors and lay leaders with a well-crafted discussion of the nature of "church" that explores the practical implications of house churches for outreach.

Genres: Church History, Ecclesiology

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Matthew Colvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would give 3.5 stars if I could.

This is a very dry academic tome, translated from German, with very solid bibliography. It dates from 2004, and its thesis has pretty well won the day in scholarship on Christian origins. For instance, Alistair Stewart's 2013 book _The Original Bishops_ takes Gehring's work as established.

In truth, the explanatory power of the house church model is very great. It clarifies many texts of the NT, from the salutations in Paul's letters to the haustafeln (household codes) to the social dynamics of the Johannine epistles (Diotrephes). The persuasiveness of Gehring's thesis lies in its ability to account for so many details and to solve longstanding scholarly puzzles. The origins of episcopacy turn out to be a non-issue: oversight came pre-packaged in the person of the householder. Once there were multiple federated house churches in a city, the same form of oversight was replicated at the city-wide level. The workings of Paul's apostolate; his exercise of authority at a distance via epistles; his personal emissaries; the traveling prophets of the Didache; Phoebe as a prostatis — just a whole host of details fall into place.

Gehring is unnecessarily circumspect about the contested questions concerning women: were they ever episkopoi or elders? Was Junia an apostle on the level of Paul? Was Phoebe the leader of the church in her house? Is women's silence enjoined by Paul? Again and again, Gehring exposes the lack of evidence for the feminist answers to these questions (e.g. he helpfully refutes the effort by Fee and others to athetize 1 Cor. 14:34-35), but carefully refrains from absolutely shutting the door on the possibilities: his usual verdict on feminist exegetical claims is "unproven", whereas I am more inclined to hold them in contempt of court for frivolous litigation and dismiss their claims with prejudice.

A major omission is any discussion of just how long the house church model continued, and whether it is evidenced in the ante-Nicene literature. I believe it is, and Gehring could have scored more points by demonstrating it.

[John Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tremendous resource in understanding discipleship in the ministry of Jesus and the very early church. It is hard to find but one of the most impactful books I have read in the last 7 years.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great in-depth study on early ecclesia

[Wes F · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book, but very, very academic overall. It showed quite clearly that the early pattern of the church was the house church and that enabled the young church to expand across the Roman world of the 1st-3rd centuries. Some interesting discussion on the make-up of the early house churches (oikos that went beyond a nuclear family) and how the church roles of elder and deacon developed over time. But, it was a heavy read, and included some "modern" 20th-century German higher criticism theological references that it could have done without. Read a bit like a Ph.D dissertation. Good for a library reference tool, for sure.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enlightening!