Sojourner #056: Home Groups & The Mission Of God

“Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” (Acts 2:46, ESV)

Home Groups and the Mission of God
Reclaiming the church’s everyday call to gospel community and local witness.

By faith, the Church is not a building. It is a people. And in every generation, God's mission has moved not through programs or platforms, but through ordinary believers gathered around the Word, shaped by the Spirit, and scattered into neighborhoods, villages, and cities, carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ to every tribe, nation, and tongue.

For many, “missions” still exclusively conjures images of far-off nations and vocational missionaries. And while those things are certainly a huge part of God’s mission, Scripture presents a more expansive vision: missions is the outworking of God’s eternal purpose to redeem a people for His name through His Church, both globally and locally, both across the world and across the street. This is not a work contained only to a few, rather it is a charge given to all who bear the name of Christ. At the heart of that mission is something far more accessible than we often realize: the household.

The Mission Begins at Home

From the earliest ages of redemptive history, God has worked through households and communities. The Passover was celebrated in homes (Exod. 12:3–4). Fathers were to teach their children diligently “when you sit in your house” (Deut. 6:7). Even the Hebrew word for “nations”, goyim (גּוֹיִם), reminds us that God's mission always extended beyond the nation of Israel to all peoples of the earth.

In the New Testament, the early Church gathered in homes, not as a temporary solution, but as a Spirit-formed expression of gospel life (Acts 2:42–47; Rom. 16:5). These gatherings were not peripheral, they were central to how the church lived and grew. The Greek word used for “church” in the New Testament is ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία), which means a called-out assembly, a people summoned by God, not to a building, but into covenant fellowship with Him and one another.

These house gatherings weren’t modern "small groups" in the casual sense. They were the Church sent out. Places of prayer, teaching, hospitality, and mutual care. Local outposts of the Kingdom. Through them, disciples were made, leaders were equipped, and neighborhoods were reached. The home wasn’t a retreat from mission, it was an engine of it.

What Are Home Groups?

Biblically defined, Home Groups are not church programs or social circles. They are communities of believers shaped by the means of grace - Scripture, prayer, fellowship, and the Lord’s Supper - and sent into the world as faithful witnesses to Christ and Him crucified.

They may meet around dinner tables, in living rooms, or in backyards. But their purpose is the same: to grow in Christ, bear one another’s burdens, and proclaim the gospel in word and deed. In them, the church becomes visible and missional, not just on Sundays, but throughout the week. To put it simply, Home Groups are a mark of a healthy, missional church that is functioning within its local context as the biblical model for missions sets forth. 

Mission Is Not a Project

Too often, local missions are reduced to events, projects, or seasonal campaigns. While such things may have great value, they cannot replace the long, ordinary work of Spirit-formed community. Mission is not an initiative we launch, it is the identity we live as God's people.

This identity is rooted in the character and purpose of the triune God. The Father sends (John 17:18), the Son reigns (Matt. 28:18), and the Spirit empowers (Acts 1:8). When Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” the word for authority in Greek is exousia (ἐξουσία), not just power, but rightful rule. And when He sent out His disciples, He used the verb apostellō (ἀποστέλλω), meaning “to send out with commission.” That same language shapes the word “apostle.”

The Church is not merely encouraged to engage in mission, it is sent by the King. And just as the risen Christ declared that the gospel would go forth, “beginning in Jerusalem” (Acts 1:8), so too our witness begins right where God has placed us. For believers in North America, that may be a suburban neighborhood or a rural street. For believers in Nepal, Nigeria, or Nicaragua, it may be a mountain village, a crowded market, or an urban slum. The point is not geography, but Spirit-enabled obedience to God’s call to make disciples. Whether near or far, “home” or abroad, we are each called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ by faith with the same urgency.

The Table as a Place of Fellowship and Witness

In the early church, gathering in homes meant more than spiritual conversation, it meant breaking bread in real time, with real people, in response to the real gospel. These meals were not casual or transactional. They were tangible acts of fellowship rooted in the body and blood of Christ, where worship, discipleship, and witness met in the ordinary rhythm of eating together.

The table was convenient, but it was a place of covenant, a sign of shared life under the present reign of Christ, where believers remembered His sacrifice and welcomed others into the community He purchased with His blood. Around those tables, strangers became brothers, skeptics heard the truth, and sinners tasted grace.

That hasn’t changed. Today, where it is still employed, the table still functions as a reminder of the nature of the kingdom of God. When believers open their homes and serve meals in Jesus’ name, they are doing more than offering food, they are bearing witness to the hospitality of the King. Whether it's a rack of ribs or a shared cup of coffee, the table becomes a space where the gospel might be preached, proclaimed, and preserved.

To eat, pray, and open the Scriptures together in the home is not a secondary activity of the church. It is the church in motion, embodied, hospitable, and faithful. And for those who do not yet know Christ, it may be the first glimpse they ever see of His people living under His rule.

This is completely counter-cultural. It is messy. It is hard. It is inconvenient. But it is the way. To gather in the home for the sake of His name and for the good of His people is to declare the gospel in both word and in deed, it is to show that the kingdom of God is different than we think it is and far more beautiful in each and every way, and it invites others to the table God has prepared for them through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Rhythms of Missional Life

What does this look like practically? It’s often simpler, and slower, than we imagine. Here are a few different expressions of this shared life together within the context of the home group gathering, under the authority of the local church:

• Centering on the Word and prayer — opening Bibles together and praying for neighbors, workplaces, and cities. (Acts 2:42; Colossians 4:2; 1 Timothy 2:1-2)

• Practicing hospitality — welcoming others into our homes, not to impress, but to reflect the grace of the gospel. (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9)

• Serving our neighborhoods — meeting visible needs: caring for the elderly, supporting local schools, feeding the hungry. (James 1:27; Galatians 6:10; Matthew 25:35-36)

• Multiplying disciples — encouraging and equipping others to lead, grow, and witness faithfully where God has placed them. (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2; Ephesians 4:11-12)

These are not strategies, they are rhythms of faithful obedience. They don’t require great funding or immense formality. They require Scripture, prayer, and the Spirit’s help.

Measured by Faithfulness, Not Numbers

In a world obsessed with metrics, the Church must return to what God values: ordinary faithfulness. The Greek word for faith or faithfulness is pistis (πίστις), and it is how Scripture describes the measure of a trustworthy servant, not the one who produced the most, but the one who obeyed (1 Cor. 4:2). God brings the growth. We are called to plant, water, and trust (1 Cor. 3:6) - by faith.

Success in home group life is not about growth charts or perfect attendance. It’s about opening the Word, opening your life, and opening your home for the sake of Christ.

Conclusion: From the Living Room to the Ends of the Earth

Home Groups are not a substitute for the Church’s mission, they are a living expression of it. They are not a church-growth strategy, they are a return to what the Church has always been: a people formed by grace, united in Christ, and sent in the Spirit to proclaim the gospel.

If the Church is to recover a vibrant, faithful presence in a fragmented world, it must begin not with grand initiatives and empty strivings, but with real, ordinary people - gathered, grounded, and going by faith in Him who reigns in love. And often, that begins around a table, in a living room, with a few disciples and an open Bible.

Because the mission of God does not begin at the edge of the map. 

It first begins right where you are.

---

About the Author

This article is part of our From the Editor’s Desk collection, reflections and essays from Sojourner’s Editor-In-Chief, shaped by real mission life in local churches and cross-cultural fields. The writer has served in a variety of missional contexts, and witnessed many others walk by faith in the ordinary rhythms of gospel community within their own contexts.

-

Visit the Sojourner Magazine Website here.

Please share this article with your friends and family. Follow the Sojourner Magazine Facebook page, visit our website to read other articles, and sign up for the Newsletter to receive updates, information about the print edition, and more stories from the front lines of the greatest fight in the world.

Questions? Email sojournermagazine@gmail.com