How big were the churches in Bible times, and where did they meet?
In Bible times, churches were small assemblies, not large congregations of hundreds or thousands. They did not gather in great big beautiful buildings; instead, they met in homes as simple gatherings of believers. The context contrasts this with modern large church buildings and mega-congregations.
Les explains that after all the sufferings, beatings, imprisonments, and shipwrecks, the Apostle Paul took the Gospel to people who had never heard, saw them established in it, and saw churches established—not large ones. Les notes that too often today we think of churches of several hundred or several thousand people with great big beautiful buildings, but that was not the church of the Scriptural days. They were just small assemblies meeting in homes. He then drops down to II Timothy chapter 1, verses 15-16, where Paul writes that all they who are in Asia turned away from him; Les identifies Asia as primarily what today is Turkey, with the Galatians area in between.