Members of One Another: How to Build a Biblical Ethos Into Your Church

380 Pages·2016·1.46 MB·English

by  Dennis McCallum

Members of One Another:
How to build a biblical ethos into your church
Dennis McCallum
Copyright 2010 by Dennis McCallum
Visit http://membersofoneanother.com/ for bulk orders and author
access
International Standard Book Number 978-1-935920-06-5
New Paradigm Publishing
Praise for Members of One Another:
What should a real Christian community look like? What should its ethos be,
and how in particular should it function? What should its leadership structure be
like, and how does one discern God's vision for such a body of believers? If you
are interested in these kind of questions, and you've been curious about how
house churches or in fact any sort of body of believers can and ought to work,
then Dennis McCallum's Members of One Another: How to Build a Biblical
Ethos into any local Body is the book for you.
—Dr. Ben Witherington, III, Amos Professor of NT for Doctoral Studies
Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore KY
I came to Christ in college out of a basically unchurched background. The
few times I did go to church, I was struck with how odd and other-worldly the
whole experience was. It never really captured my heart and never seemed to
connect with my real life. Once I started reading the Bible and then came to
Christ, I found myself growing as a believer and yet also continuing to struggle
with the apparent disconnect between the modern church and the vibrant New
Testament church. Where was the passionate outreach that I read about all
through the book of Acts? Why weren’t more older believers pouring themselves
into the lives of younger believers?
It was at this point in 2003, while living and working in Columbus, Ohio, I
heard that Xenos was really strong on reaching and discipling the unchurched
through home groups. This was very intriguing and attractive to me. Since this
time, I have attended numerous Summer Institutes, scoured Xenos’ rich website,
read several of Dennis’ books, exchanged countless emails with Dennis, and
sought to wisely implement these New Testament principles in our church in
Manhattan, Kansas.
For all of these past 7+ years, I have regularly mourned that there was not a
book that summarized the biblical principles and practical applications that I
have discovered both through observing Xenos and continuing my own study of
the New Testament. Praise God, now we have the book!!! In this book, Dennis
has done a tremendous job unpacking the Scriptures, shedding light on some of
the perils of our modern culture, and inspiring our hearts to truly live out the
reality that we are members of one another in Christ. Our church and my home
group are teaching and seeking to live out the principles outlined in this book
within our context. Lives are changing! People are coming to Christ! Sleepy
Christians are waking up and engaging in Christ’s mission! Cynical Christians
are stepping down from their seats of judgment and getting in the game! New
leaders are developing! Home groups are growing and beginning to multiply!
Finally, two words of warning are in order. First, this book is not about the
latest greatest church growth model. Rather, these principles are grounded in the
New Testament and must be fleshed out in your particular ministry context.
Second, if you take these principles seriously and begin to apply them they really
will change your life and your church. However, this will not be without
tremendous cost and sacrifice. Many will balk at the commitment you call for
from the body of believers.
I challenge you to do what I and several of our church leaders are doing –
Read this book with one eye. Read the New Testament (especially the book of
Acts) with the other. And then let your mind and heart dream of what God could
do through you as you live as members of one another advancing the Gospel in
your context and to the very ends of the earth!
—Todd Stewart, Pastor of New Hope Church, Kansas State University Not
since Ray Stedman wrote the book Body Life nearly fifty years ago has a book
on the church caused me to lose as much sleep as this book. Dennis McCallum
has brought a living picture of the struggle to release the people to be the true
body of Christ. As one who has visited Xenos a number of times, I know they
actually practice the principles in this book. People there are excited about their
home church rather than the big building. As an outsider, I see Xenos as
biblically and theologically correct, and they have struggled to live that out.
—Dr. John M. Perkins, Author, Let Justice Roll Down and Beyond Charity
Dennis McCallum’s most recent book, Members of One Another, is not a
pharisaical firebomb being thrown at the church. It reflects a pastor’s heart that
doesn’t want to beat up the church, but rather, wants to see the church built up.
As a pastor, I was both challenged and convicted. This is a must read for the
church and for every church leader.
—Patrick Schwenk, Teaching Pastor, NorthPoint Church, Toledo, OH
Members of One Another isn't like most books on the church because its
author keeps together what too many of us put asunder these days – a faithful
biblical theology of the church and loads of church experience. Dennis
McCallum studies like a scholar and serves as a shepherd. If you've spent time at
his church, Xenos Christian Fellowship, you've seen the fruit of his work:
authentic and passionate followers of Christ. Read this book and go to the Xenos
Summer Institute for your next church conference. The Lord will encourage you
that New Testament church is possible, and He'll give you biblical and practical
ideas for building a biblical ethos into your church.
—Pastor Ken MacGillivray, Hopevale Church, Saginaw, Michigan.
Finally! To the best of my knowledge, there has not been a strong book
written on what it really means to be members together in decades. Now there is.
Thanks Dennis for putting it all down for us in a way we can apply it.
—Dr. Dave Earley, Director of the Lovett Center for Ministry Training
Director and Chair of Pastoral Leadership and Church Planting Liberty Baptist
Theological Seminary "If you're serious about being an agent of change for the
Kingdom of God, this book will provide you with the practical insight and
wisdom of a community of Jesus followers who have been engaged in disciple-
making — not for months, but for several decades. A truly unique and valuable
perspective."
—Craig A. Steffen, Elder Apex Community Church, Dayton, OH.

Contents:
Introduction. 6
Section 1: Grasping the Core Issues. 209
Chapter 1. An Awesome Church. 209
Chapter 2. Jesus Launches his body. 209
Chapter 3. Living Out Our Unity: Koinonia. 209
Chapter 4. Relationships: How Deep?. 209
Section 2: 7 Pictures of the Church. 209
Chapter 5. Pictures: The Body of Christ. 209
Chapter 6. Pictures: God’s Army. 209
Chapter 7. Pictures: God’s Building.. 209
Chapter 8. Pictures: God’s Family. 209
Chapter 9. Pictures: God’s Field. 209
Chapter 10. Pictures: Jesus’ Bride. 209
Chapter 11. Pictures: God’s Flock. 209
Section 3 Lessons From Stories and Letters. 209
Chapter 12. Of Wine and Wineskins. 209
Chapter 13. The New Testament Pattern of Ministry. 209
Chapter 14. Equipping God’s People. 209
Chapter 15. The New Testament Pattern of Worship. 209
Chapter 16. The Ministry of the Word. 209
Chapter 17. Other Lessons on Leadership. 209
Chapter 18. Outreach in the Church. 209
Chapter 19. Church Finance. 209
Chapter 20. Church Discipline. 209
Chapter 21. Student Ministry. 209
Chapter 22. Ministry to the Poor. 209
Chapter 23. Missions. 209
Section 4 Practical Ideas for Change. 209
Chapter 24. Pastors or Elders Seeking Change. 209
Chapter 25. Home Group Leaders and Average Members Seeking Change.
209
Chapter 26. Planting a New Church. 209
Chapter 27. The Key to a Quality Church. 209
Appendix 1 Character Qualifications for Elders. 210
Appendix 2 Qualifications for Deacons. 214
Introduction
What would an awesome church look like?
That’s what I wondered.
In 1969 I was arrested and jailed for drug trafficking. There, I surrendered
my life to Christ and promised to follow him from then on. When they released
me unexpectedly to probation, I found myself alone on the campus of a large
university trying to recover from several years of addiction and lawless living.
My probation terms required that I abstain from all drugs, attend college with
passing grades, and live at my parents’ house. I had a curfew of 9:00 every night
and I wasn’t allowed to drive. Walking the streets of the university that fall, I
spent most days alone and rode the bus to my parent’s house at night.
Someone told me about a Bible study at the student union on Tuesday
evenings and I began to attend. I didn’t know anyone there, and they didn’t seem
too interested in getting to know me. They seemed nervous around me, probably
because of my appearance and my scowling, cynical, and maybe even hostile
demeanor. I didn’t care though, because I was prejudiced against church kids,
having grown up in the church myself. These very straight-laced students didn’t
look to me like likely friends.
The teacher, however, was very interesting – a former Campus Crusade
staffer who had left Crusade and gone into some alliance of people (long-since
disbanded) seeking out an experience of the early church described in the book
of Acts. In fact, he was expositing Acts when I went to the group, so that was the
first book of the Bible I heard taught as a walking Christian. I think the Holy
Spirit immediately began to work on my mind and heart through that study
series.
The conventional church
I didn’t know much at this point in my Christian life, but one thing stood out:
I was certain that whatever I did, it wasn’t going to be the conventional church. I
was sure there must be another answer.
I had been raised in a Christian Reformed church, and then a conservative
Methodist church, which changed into a liberal Methodist church while we
attended there (because they replaced the believing pastor with a liberal one). At
some point, my parents left that church, although I had already checked out of
Christianity by that time. After my arrest some years later, my probation
agreement required me to do what my parents wanted, which included attending
church again, now at a Baptist church.
Looking back now, I realize these four types of church were very different
from one another in doctrine. But at the time they didn’t seem different at all; in
fact, to my eye they seemed almost identical. All four were traditional churches;
all four behaved the same way, they all met on Sunday mornings, all had similar
services, all sang many of the same songs, all had the same feel and largely the
same outlook – at least so it seemed. I had a feeling from day one that my future
lay somewhere different from this traditional version of “church.”
My negative feeling toward churches was partly based on personal taste – a
feeling that this “wasn’t for me.” It wasn’t my music, my dress, my language, or
my time of day. But I also sensed with certainty that it wasn’t for my friends. My
strong sense that it would be a big mistake to bring any of my non-Christian
counter-cultural friends to one of these churches was a big barrier; one that
demanded an alternative.
I think that’s why the campus lectures on the book of Acts meant so much to
me. It began to dawn on me that the church hadn’t always been what I was
seeing. What I read about in the early church seemed to have little similarity to
what I saw in the conventional modern church. When some of my friends
became Christians later that year, we often talked about this difference. We all
saw it. Viewed from the outside, the contemporary church was different in a
thousand ways from the one described in the pages of the New Testament.
I raised this observation with Christians I knew who were loyal to the
traditional church. They all reacted differently, but one thought was common:
Why should today’s church be the same as it was in the primitive period? Our
culture is different from theirs, we aren’t under persecution like they were, and
two thousand years have passed. Where does the Bible say the church should
stay the same as it was in the early period?
Such questions confused me, but I remained at least partially unconvinced
that it was okay for the church to be so different from the New Testament
church. I was definitely uncomfortable with some ways the church had changed
since the days of Jesus, although I could see that some change was appropriate,
and even evident within the New Testament itself (like the way Paul spent
longer periods in one place in his later journeys, or the way gentile churches
discontinued temple-based practices). I had no coherent way to view the whole
question of change in the church.
Studying the church
During the forty years since then, I have eagerly studied the church. I studied
church history and theology as an undergraduate and in seminary. Since then, I
have continued to study both in books and in the laboratory of life. My friends
and I have tried scores of ideas over a period of several decades.
During those years we’ve gone through times of powerful renewal and times
of intense struggle and defeat. I’ve learned just as much from our many mistakes
as from our victories. I’ve also traveled widely, studying what others are doing. I
have personally visited multiple examples of every significant pattern of church
that people are pursuing in America, as well as many others around the world.
During these study visits, I usually spend time with the leadership and often have
a sizeable research team with me to interview good numbers of members and
staff. We typically visit not only the large services but also various home groups,
classes, or villages to get a broad picture. I’ve learned from working with others
who are planting new churches, as well as leaders of existing churches who want
to change direction.
One thing becomes clear: as the old saying goes, “there is more than one way
to skin a cat.” I’m not sure why people are interested in skinning cats, but I agree
with several experts on the church who have described highly spiritual and
effective churches using very different models. People err when they conclude
that one particular model is the key. I’m convinced there is no one way to do
church. But I have also felt a growing certainty that some things are biblical and
necessary. If these required aspects are missing, trouble always follows. These
biblically mandated features of the church are the subject of this study.
Let me be clear: This is a Bible study. It’s not a study of the church I’m in, or
of other specific churches. I’m not interested in advancing my group as a model.
Our church has so many problems and weaknesses I feel reluctant to even write
on the subject of the church – I worry people will think I’m saying our church
has it together; we’ve figured it all out. Well, we don’t have it together and we
haven’t figured it out. I’m as agonized about the deficiencies in our church today
as at any time in our history.
The real point isn’t what we do or what the other group does or whether
those things work. The point is what God teaches in his word. As a Bible
teacher, that’s what I’m interested in teaching: What can we fairly conclude
from the Bible about God’s will for his church? In Columbus, I teach a class on