From the Inside Flap
Christians worshipped in private homes for the first three hundred years of the early church. In House Church and Mission, Roger Gehring explores the missional significance of these house churches from the time of Jesus through Paul.
"Massive erudition deployed with a deceptively light touch. Gehring connects the emerging twenty-first-century church with the apostolic first-century church in significant and revealing ways."
—Leonard Sweet, Drew University
"If 75 percent of U.S. churches are declining and only 1 percent are growing by converting the "unchurched," it is time to rethink how we do church. Gehring gives a broad and deep foundation for this reassessment. Panoramic in coverage of the literature, exegetically rich, archaeologically informed, socio-scientifically alert—this fine work should bump discussion of the nature and mission of the church to a new level. By taking such careful stock of history, Gehring is in a position to shed light on practical concerns faced by pastors, church planters, missionaries, and others involved in church growth in our analogous current setting. His close attention to relevant academic debates ensures that this volume will be welcomed by New Testament specialists as well."
—Robert W. Yarbrough, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
"This is far and away the most comprehensive survey of the role of the house—and household—according to the New Testament. It demonstrates persuasively their centrality for both church and mission in early Christianity. While, at a few points, modern assumptions may affect the author’s interpretation of the evidence, these are exceptions to his fine handling of the evidence. In a final chapter he also argues for the relevance of house and household for ecclesial life and Christian outreach today."
—Robert Banks, Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, Australia
About the Author
Roger W. Gehring is Adjunct Professor at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He has served on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ since 1972 at Arizona State University, the Free University in Berlin, and Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. House Church and Mission is a translation and revision of his doctoral dissertation, written under Peter Stuhlmacher at the University of Tübingen.
