Church without buildings, pastors, or worship services: what the first Christians did when they gathered

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This is a companion to my conversation with Dr. Tom Wadsworth, "Church Without Buildings, Pastors, or Worship Services? (First Century Reality)." Tom has been studying what the New Testament says about Christian gatherings since 1977, and he finished a doctorate on the question in 2022. His seven-part video series on the Christian assembly has passed a million views in more than 110 countries as of 2026. The teaching in this guide is his where it is his, and I say so by name. The framing, the arc from Genesis to Revelation, and the places where I go further than he does are mine.

It is for the person who has sat in a pew for years and felt something was off. You love Jesus. You show up. And you have a nagging sense that what happens in that room on a Sunday does not quite match what you read in your New Testament the rest of the week. Maybe you have said, "I love Jesus, I just can't find a room where I fit." Maybe you have never said it out loud. Either way, this guide is for you.

Here is how to use it. Watch the video first if you can; it runs long, and it is worth it. Then open your Bible to 1 Corinthians 14 and keep it open. Read "The teaching" straight through, because it carries the whole argument on its own. Then work "The passages" slowly, with a pen, checking every quotation against your own Bible. Save "Questions to sit with" for last, and answer them on paper.

One thing before we start. Being right about this does not save anyone. Faith in Christ does. I have friends all over the map on this question who love the Lord and love people, and some of the most Christlike people I know sit in pews every week. Tom says the same thing, and he says it with force: do not go lobbing grenades at people who do it differently. So hold this study loosely in one hand and your Bible firmly in the other. Be convinced by the text if the text convinces you, and stay kind to everyone who reads it differently.

What you believe the church is decides where you go looking for it. If church is a building and an event, then the ache you feel in the pew is a defect in you. If church is people building one another up, then that ache is your conscience telling you the truth, and there is somewhere better to go looking. Same Bible, two very different lives.