The first church met in homes. Every Christian home was a church and every Christian church a home. These were communities of families and friends in which deep and lasting connections were made, and through which there was the most profound impact on society. This simple model continued for the first three centuries of the church and was so effective that the gospel went to all the known world. Many churches in our day have embraced the idea of believers meeting in homes, but whether these are called ‘house groups’ or ‘life groups’ they are not quite the same thing as the groups that met in the church of the first century. The reason for this is that the first church was not centred on a single meeting attended by all, but on a network of churches meeting in homes.