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

About the Author:

Roger W. Gehring, the author of this masterpiece holds a ThD with a New Testament emphasis, after completing a dissertation accepted by the Protestant theological faculty of the Eberhard-Karl University in Tübingen in 1998. The dissertation was originally in German with the title Hausgemeinde und Mission – Von Jesus bis Paulus. The German version was published by Brunnen Verlag in Giessen, Germany in 2000.

Then in 2004 a translation of the earlier German work was published by Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts with the title House Church and Mission: The Importance of Household Structures in Early Christianity.

About the Book:

The intention of this book is to show the relevance of the house church in contemporary times, by critically analyzing its biblical foundations and framework. It shows that: house churches provide a more private and less dangerous venue for Christian fellowship, Bible study, prayer, and communion during times of persecution; houses churches offer a financially attractive alternative to large church facilities; the unchurched are more likely to attend a house church because of the simple and friendly aura, than a large church building with its intimidating ambience; house churches best harness leadership abilities, are more manageable in terms of pastoral care, build strong relationships, and offer robust personal and relational dimensions.

Gehring has done a thoroughly extensive work on the house church discussion. It was a previously uncharted discipline in research. He begins by a quick review of discussions around the subject, two decades before his study (pp. 1 – 27). He then proceeds to show that the house formed a necessary precondition for missional outreach from the beginning of Jesus’s ministry to His death (pp. 28 – 61). Gehring advances his study by showing how the private domestic house served as the foundation for missional outreach and community formation in the primitive church in Jerusalem. He also notes that there are indications that house churches played a significant role in the development of leadership in this primitive church (pp. 62 – 118). Gehring embarks on a lengthy, but detailed appraisal of the use of houses in Pauline missional outreach. One major question that this section attempted to answer was whether and how the infrastructure of the ancient oikos influenced the organization of house churches (pp. 119 – 228). The study then examines the continuing influence of oikos structures in the New Testament (pp. 228 – 287). Gehring then summarizes his excellent study by explaining the ecclesiological and missional function and significance of house churches. This he did by evaluating their architectural, socioeconomic, and ecclesiological significances. His strong concluding argument is that the house church can serve as a model for today’s mission outreach (pp. 288 – 311).

House Church and Mission is both academic and practical. It is both thorough and readable. It is both theoretical and workable. It is a book for the classroom and the pew. It is a recipe for churches desirous of increased growth and those suffering from stunted growth. It can serve as a guidebook or a reference manual for starting a house church. More so, it is steeped in biblical principles and examples. Examples from Jesus, Paul, and others.

One outstanding resource found in this book is the abundant bank of literary sources available to anyone who desires further studies in the discipline of church growth.  The 64-page bibliography at the end of the book (pp. 321 – 385) offers priceless resource for scholarship.

This book is recommended to anyone who desires to have a firm and extensive biblical foundation for house church ministry, small group ministry, church growth, and mission.

Reviewed by John Okpechi.