Is the House Church Model Biblical?, pt. 1: Use of the Word "Church" in the Bible

One of the most significant points of pushback, or at least hesitation, we receive is questioning the theological legitimacy of house churches. In a sense, the question is whether or not this model of church is biblical.

To answer this question, it depends on the working definition of house church. We addressed that in a few other posts here and here. So, assuming a house church is a small, simple, ongoing, autonomous, decentralized gathering of people who identify as a church, let's address its biblical legitimacy.

There are a few ways to address this question. We'll take each of these points in turn with a four-part series, starting with the first point in this post:

1. Use of the word "church" in the Bible

2. Churches meeting in homes in the New Testament

3. Obedience to "one another" commands

4. Further topics to consider

So for this post, we will look at the use of the word "church" in the Bible.

Use of the Word "Church" in the Bible

In the New Testament, which was written in a form of classical Greek, the word we now translate as "church" in English is "ekklesia." This word means a type of gathering. It refers to people. And there are fundamentally three ways this word is used in the New Testament:

Universal Church

The broadest sense of the term church refers to all the people who have in the past, do now, and will in the future follow Jesus. These are all the people who will spend eternity gathered together around Jesus. One way we can refer to this is as the universal Church, with an uppercase C. The phrase "universal Church" isn't used in the New Testament, but you see it in places where Jesus, for example, says things like "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18).

Some other terms used to describe this level of church might include the body of Christ, Christ's bride, the household of God, the elect, a holy nation, and similar phrases. But the main point is that the word church is used several times in a generic sense to refer to this universal body of true believers that spans all of time and space. There is one Church in this sense. But the word church is also used in two other ways that have a more localized sense.

Church in a City

One of those uses of the word church refers to a church in a given city. You see this first of all in Acts, where there is initially a church in Jerusalem, but then the movement spreads to other cities due to persecution and missionary activity in places like Samaria, Antioch, Lystra, and Philippi.

Then, in the epistles, Paul refers to churches in particular cities, such as Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. Many of his letters are, therefore, named for the church in each of these cities.

Galatia was a region, which is why he says in Galatians 1:2: "To the churches of Galatia"—plural. He makes a similar statement in Titus in reference to Crete, which was a region, so he refers to the various towns (plural) needing their own elders, giving a sense that these were distinct but related church bodies in each city: "This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you." (Titus 1:5)

And even Jesus, in Revelation 2 and 3, refers to seven churches in the region of Asia Minor by their city names: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

There seems to be an expectation, in many uses of the word church in reference to these cities, that there would be a single, unified body in each city/metropolitan area. In fact, at the beginning of 1 Corinthians, Paul rebukes the church in Corinth for its disunity within that particular city. Although there were most likely multiple small gatherings in a city (see Romans 16), these gatherings were relationally unified at a city level.

What those smaller gatherings looked like, we address in the next point.

Church in a Home

The third use of the word church in the New Testament is several references to churches in a given person or couple's home. We will address this point more completely in the second part of this series in next week's blog.

But for now, consider these most explicit examples from the New Testament that mention the church meeting in homes in a dedicated way:

• Romans 16:3–5: "Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."

• 1 Corinthians 16:19: "The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord."

• Colossians 4:15: "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house."

• Philemon 1–2: "Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:"

As already mentioned, we will look at these verses, as well as other similar passages describing Christians who are gathered in homes in the New Testament, in the next post.

But for now, to recap, whenever the word "church" is used in the New Testament, it is used in one of three ways, and one of those uses is the church gathering in a specific person's or couple's home. So, from this point alone, yes, we would answer the original question of whether the house church model is biblical in the affirmative. It is never commanded, but it is undoubtedly described as a normal expression of church gathering in multiple New Testament books.

If you appreciate this post, we encourage you to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. You can also read similar posts on similar topics here and here. And we encourage you to join one of our upcoming coaching cohorts to learn more about how you can start gathering with others in simple ways. And stay tuned for the second part of this series of posts next week.