House Church

A Return to the First-Century Model

Is the goal of Christianity to build more and bigger church buildings to attract more “church-goers? Or for pastors to gain more followers who sit passively, week after week, listening to their sermons?

Or is the goal for the church to make disciples ( locally and among the nations) so that Christ’s kingdom will spread throughout the whole earth? What model do we see in the New Testament that gives the blueprint for doing that? The purpose of this book is to remind us of the simple, but powerful model Jesus instigated for making disciples and reaching the lost that “turned the world upside-down” in one generation. That model was house churches and remained the primary model for the first 300 years of church history. HOUSE CHURCH also offers case studies, as well as practical insights for those who feel called to return to a more biblical, first-century church model, that will give them a richer, deeper, experience of knowing Christ, both individually and with others.

©2025 Bob Emery (P)2026 BenchPress Publishing