New Testament Church Dynamics: Help for Bi-Vocational, House Church, and Small-Church Pastors Drawn from Early Church Practice. This item is unavailable.New Testament Church Dynamics: Help for Bi-Vocational, House Church, and Small-Church Pastors Drawn from Early Church Practice

Every New Testament church letter was written to an illegal congregation that met secretly in someone’s home, often under bi-vocational leadership. The ecclesiology presented in the epistles was thus designed for effectively shepherding smaller churches. The result? God’s kingdom spread like yeast throughout the Roman Empire.

I’ve served as a bi-vocational small-church leader for over thirty years, and am well aware of its challenges. Over that time, the effectiveness of my ministry has been greatly increased by shepherding in the context of early church practice. The church has thrived both spiritually and relationally in amazing ways. Today’s small church leaders can have a big disciple-making impact in the context of first-century ecclesiology.

Don’t get the wrong idea. Simply adopting early small-church practice is not a substitute for the time-intensive task of intentional disciple making. However, if New Testament ecclesiology is followed, you can have a huge advantage in effectively teaching believers to obey all that Jesus commanded. First-century ecclesiology can make your shepherding and disciple-making efforts infinitely more natural and effective:

• First-century church meetings were not a spectator sport. Any member could contribute verbally to the proceedings. The prime directive was that everything said had to be edifying, encouraging, equipping, or motivational. The leaders were more like side-line coaches than star players in this phase of the gathering.

• Their teaching times were characterized by dynamic discussions, not monologue sermons. This teaching style caused spiritual maturity and critical thinking skills to skyrocket.

• The Lord's Supper was celebrated every week, as an actual meal. It was a time of food, fellowship, community, one-another ministry, and building unity. This is where Hebrews 10:24-25 was lived out.

• The leaders’ main authority lay in their ability to persuade with the truth. Rather than a top-down CEO model, church leaders took the time to serve the church by building congregational consensus on major decisions. This process strengthened the church and built unity.

Small churches that have adopted these New Testament strategies have abandoned the business model of church. They are more organic than organized, more family-like than corporate, smaller rather than larger, more relational than programmed, informal more than formal, focus more on one another than on one leader, and prefer authenticity over expertise. Additionally, first-century ecclesiology was designed to get far more people involved, making every member a minister. This spread-out ministry loads also took undue pressure off the bi-vocational leadership. Because genuine, close, solid relationships are developed through these practices, disciple making can be personalized—tailored to strengthen each person’s weakness.

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Stephen E. Atkerson
NTRF.org

Stephen E. Atkerson (M.Div., Mid-America Baptist Seminary) has served as a bi-vocational small-church leader for over thirty years, and is well aware of its challenges. Over that time, the effectiveness of his ministry has been greatly increased by shepherding in the context of early church practice. His burden is to help other bi-vocational and small-church leaders discover shepherding strategies given by Jesus to the early church. He serves as one of the pastors of a small Baptist church he planted in 1991, and has taught evangelists, missionaries, church planters, and pastors in Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. He is president of the New Testament Reformation Fellowship (NTRF.org), which is dedicated to helping small churches have a big impact.