When Paul arrived in Corinth, he met a couple who had recently relocated from Italy. The husband, Aquila, was Jewish, and the emperor had issued an edict expelling all Jews from Rome. He and his wife, Priscilla, worked together as tentmakers, and that was also Paul’s trade. So they welcomed him into their home, and they worked together. (See Acts 18:1-3.)
We don’t have a record of the conversations that took place in their home, but we do know that every sabbath day, Paul went to synagogue (Acts 18:4). We know that he was “pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ” (Acts 18:5). And we know that after he encountered some opposition, the Lord said to him one night, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:9-10).
After 18 months, it was time for Paul to move on, to a city called Ephesus. And who came with him? Priscilla and Aquila. (See Acts 18:18.) He only stayed there a short time and went on to Jerusalem, but they stayed in the city and continued to welcome people into their home. When a man named Apollos arrived and spoke passionately about John the Baptist, “they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:26).
When Paul returned to Ephesus, he sent a letter to the saints in Corinth. At the end of that letter, he gave them an update on some people they knew, including this note: “Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the church that is in their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19). Paul also mentions them in his epistle to the Romans, calling them “my helpers in Christ Jesus” (Romans 16:3-5). And in his second epistle to Timothy, the bishop of Ephesus, he asks him to give them his greetings (2 Timothy 4:19).
Priscilla and Aquila are a great example of home-based gospel instruction. They welcomed people into their home and participated in gospel conversations there. They remind me of Amulek, who “received [Alma] into his house” (Alma 8:22) and then became Alma’s missionary companion. Amulek testified to his neighbors that Alma “hath blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed, and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake” (Alma 10:11). After the horrific mass martyrdom in Amulek’s home town of Ammonihah, Alma reciprocated, inviting Amulek into his home in Zarahemla, where he “did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened him in the Lord” (Alma 15:18).
About five years ago, President Russell M. Nelson said:
As Latter-day Saints, we have become accustomed to thinking of “church” as something that happens in our meetinghouses, supported by what happens at home. We need an adjustment to this pattern. It is time for a home-centered Church, supported by what takes place inside our branch, ward, and stake buildings.
“Opening Remarks,” General Conference, October 2018, italics in original
Today, I will share the gospel in my home. Like Priscilla and Aquila, I will make my home a place where gospel conversations can happen and where faith can be strengthened.