We had problems with our small home church. Our pastor basically was so stubborn that the elders quit. If you didn’t agree with his position on matter, then you were out.
He strongly believed in home groups, but they only met in the evenings. Those of us with kids in school had a hard time with this. Also, my husband is not very religious, so I’ve always gone to women’s Bible studies, and he would not let us set one up.
Then the youth group was in shambles. Now that those kids are 18 or over, I’ve found out that they are gay. They are the kids that went to public school. The one that were homeschooled or in private school seem to be okay. However, the youth group never talked about tough subjects like homosexuality.
Lots of the families that had been there a long time have moved to other churches.
Our new church is larger, and has very strong elders. Our pastor’s son died of a freak accident (carbon monoxide poisoning at a vacation home) last year, and the associate pastors and elders really stepped in to cover.
I feel much better in this church that it doesn’t rest on 1 person. It’s really a team effort.
It sounds like they were trying to model it after a conventional "building-based" church, (youth group?) which is probably why it didn't work. Home churches are a completely different breed and can't be forced into the conventional mold.