Every New Testament church letter was written to an illegal congregation that met secretly in a private home. The ecclesiology presented in the epistles was thus designed for making disciples in smaller settings.

Using apostolic church practices, these small churches effectively taught God’s people to obey all that Jesus commanded, and the Church spread like yeast throughout the nations of the Roman Empire.

Your small church can have a big impact today if you follow these tried-and-true early church practices. Churches that have adopted the New Testament approach are more organic than organized, more like a family than a business, smaller rather than larger, more relational than programed, more informal more than formal, focus more on one another than any one leader, and prefer authenticity over the expertise.

First-century ecclesiology was also designed to get all the saints involved, making every member a minister. This spread-out ministry load also takes undue burden off bi-vocational leadership.