House church

A Christian congregation that meets in a private home rather than a dedicated church building. House churches have appeared in different periods and Christian traditions.

Early Christianity: The movement that formed around Jesus and his followers in the first centuries CE. The earliest Christian congregations gathered in homes across the Roman world.
Early Christian worship: The communal practices by which early Christians prayed, read scripture, baptized, and shared meals. These practices formed the activities carried out in house-church gatherings.
Domus: A Roman urban house, typically occupied by a single household and arranged around an atrium or courtyard. The domus offered rooms and courtyards that could accommodate group meetings.
Early Christian architecture: The architectural forms developed for Christian worship from late antiquity onward. Purpose-built churches eventually replaced homes as the main venues for public worship.
House church movement: A modern Christian tendency to organize congregations primarily in homes instead of dedicated church buildings. It adapts domestic worship to contemporary conditions rather than describing only ancient practice.
Dura-Europos church: A third-century Christian meeting place created in a private house at Dura-Europos, Syria. Its surviving rooms provide rare archaeological evidence for an early house congregation.
Eucharist: A Christian rite commemorating Jesus's Last Supper through bread and wine. House congregations could celebrate the rite around a household table.
Titulus (church): An early Roman Christian worship site associated with a named property or household. Some domestic meeting places developed into recognized local Christian sites.
Basilica: A large rectangular building type adopted by Christians for congregational worship in late antiquity. The basilica provided space and visibility unavailable in most private homes.
Cell group: A small Christian group that meets regularly for fellowship, study, or prayer, often alongside a larger church. A cell group uses a home meeting without necessarily replacing the congregation's main church.

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