Bringing Church Home

How the Family of God Makes Us A Little More Human

From Seedbed Publishing, 2022

In a day of statistical decline in church participation,  what if we imagined marriages as little churches and households as living demonstrations of the way that God’s love is re-oriented around Jesus? In his first book, author Gannon Sims shows how our homes can become hubs for mission pointing toward our true home where we—no matter our previous experiences of family or home or love—can find kinship in God. Order your copy today.

What readers are saying:

"In Bringing Church Home, Gannon Sims shares what he has learned from a variety of Christian traditions and provides us with an antidote to the do-it-yourself, privatized version of the Gospel that threatens the very life of our churches.  He reminds us that the original expression of the Church of Jesus Christ is the domestic church.  Let us learn from the riches he offers in these pages.”

Fr. James Mallon pastor, author of Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish

“The nuclear family may be the smallest building block of the community, but for most of history families were bigger, including grandparents, single relatives, and friends. Gannon Sims's book presents what he's learned by experience over many years, of the strength and love an expanded family circle can share.”  

Frederica Mathewes-Green, author of Welcome to the Orthodox Church

“In our fragmented world of the twenty-first century, many of us experience little overlap between our home and our church spheres of life. Gannon Sims’s compelling book Bringing Church Home charges our imaginations with a vision of how family life can deepen our experience of life together in the church, and vice versa. Reading this book and taking its message to heart in our local churches will undoubtedly guide us deeper into the rich and interdependent sort of life that God intends for all creation.”

C. Christopher Smith, Senior Editor, The Englewood Review of Books, and co-author of Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus.

“In Bringing Church Home, Gannon Sims invites readers to reflect more deeply on the most important and foundational aspects of Christian faith and community.  By looking closely, and theologically, at Christian marriage, Sims illumines Christian practices and understandings for embodying family and community to witness to God’s love in Christ for all humanity.  This is a wonderfully refreshing and captivating book full of insight, wisdom, and faith.”   

Rev. Laceye C. Warner, PhD, Associate Dean for Wesleyan Engagement, Associate Professor of the Practice of Evangelism and Methodist Studies, Duke Divinity School 

“In this creative work that explores the nature of the church through the theological lens of family and familial life, Gannon Sims helps us make sense of the deeply personal and richly covenantal nature of Christian community.” 

Alan Hirsch, author of numerous works on missional spirituality including Re-Jesus and The Forgotten Ways. www.alanhirsch.com

Selected Blog Posts

Church Everywhere, Fresh Expressions Blog, June 2020

A Culture of Beauty Shaped by People of Peace, Fresh Expressions Blog, May 2019 

Three Ways to Help Outsiders Experience Family, Fresh Expressions Blog, January 2019 

Millennials Got a Bad Deal, Now Here’s What they Need from Church, Fresh Expressions Blog, December 2016

Author Page, Faith and Leadership Blog (Leadership Education at Duke Divinity), March 2010-March 2011