Ask someone today what first comes to their mind when you say the word ‘church’ and they are likely to respond with words like ‘building’ or ‘denomination’, but these are
not the responses we would have got if we asked the same question in the first century. The New Testament Greek word for church is ‘ekklesia’ and if we could travel back in time and ask the people of that period how they thought of church, many would answer that the church consists of those ‘called out’ from the world, for this is the meaning of the Greek. It’s likely that many would also respond with words like ‘house’ or ‘home’ because it was in homes that the first church met. The first church was not housed in grand buildings or cathedrals but in the homes of believers, and it is worthy of note that this home-based model directly contributed to the meteoric growth of Christianity in the early centuries. Many in our day are rediscovering the life of the home-based church, both within and outside of the established denominations. And as they do, a new wave of revival is beginning to rise throughout the nations.