Church retention records reveal a sobering historical fact that many of those who make a commitment to Christ at evangelistic crusade meetings don’t last very long when they join a local church. It’s not necessarily that they give up being a Christian, but many struggle to adjust to church culture. This should tell us something, not least the fact that new wine is best in new wine skins, and that new believers are often happiest in authentic house-based fellowships like those of the first church that we see in the New Testament Book of Acts. Established Christian denominations face the challenge of encouraging home fellowships of this kind. This is not the same thing as having ‘house’ groups, ‘cell’ groups, or ‘life’ groups, but a fundamental paradigm shift to putting the church back in homes, where it thrived during the first three centuries of Christianity. No denomination need change its theology or its existing services. All that is required is a return to the model of the apostles. New and existing church groups who adopt this ancient model will likely find that it is as effective in promoting retention and church growth as it was in the first century.