New Testament Church?

Does anyone know any resources that give either the history or what the model of the New Testament church other than the Bible of course. Are there any just really good books that explain the New Testament Church or show it modeled as in the Book of Acts?

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/index.html

Eusebius wrote the first comprehensive church history. The Didache shows how quickly formalism and priestcraft entered the visible church.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Early-Church/dp/0802813399/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266950179&sr=8-1]A Short History of the Early Church[/url] might be what you're looking for. I've had it on my shelf for a while now and only lightly browsed it, but it seems to be steeped largely off what can be gathered from the Bible as well as historical sources.

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Eldership-Urgent-Restore-Leadership/dp/0936083115/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b]Biblical Eldership[/url] might also be something to check out. It's geared more for the modern Church to operate under the original apostilic model as opposed to a treatment of the actual early Church.

THE TRAIL OF BLOOD

trailofblood.com

Greg,

I had forgotten about The Pilgrim Church. That is a great book. Trail of Blood is interesting too. My Independent Fundamental KJV-only Buzzcut Baptist friends love it.

It should be noted that Trail of Blood is historically inaccurate. Granted, I'm taking the word of my evangelical seminary professor on it, but in more nice terms he said it was more of a propaganda tool than something reflecting a critical understanding of church history. Being that the early church had apostles and prophets, and Baptist polity has no such thing... that should be enough to tell you there is not some unbroken continuity.

If you want some good reads on church polity, though I don't always agree with the ultimate conclusions many of these guys make, I'd check out the house church movement. Most of their writings I've found to have a great understanding of these things.

Plurality and equality of elders, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit being for today (including apostles and prophets), consensus based government, an "open church" where every member can contribute in a service because of the universal priesthood of every believer. Being cell/house based instead of based on a large gathering. etc

Well the reason I ask is I am looking at starting a home church because I feel that the "Church Building" is a thing that we serve all to much. My thoughts on the church building maybe different from many people. the conviction I feel is as a person that does tithe all I pay for is building utilities and upkeep, rather than the poor, widowed, forgeiner, and orphanaged. I also feel that Paul gave a great model of an Apostles when He worked as a tent maker to pay for himself so he wouldn't be a burden to the church. A home church would allow people to Tithe and 100% of the tithe would go to the poor and needy. Just a thought and does that seem correct to you all? Also THANKS so much for all the Resources You have given me a great amount of reading and pondering and praying to do!

God Bless,
Matthew

Reading the Reviews for The Pilgrim Church sold me on buying it I look forward to reading this book and I will let you all know what I think. Thanks again!

Are there any just really good books that explain the New Testament Church or show it modeled as in the Book of Acts?

Matthew,

Looking for a model isn't the answer. You can find a whole lot of books on house church, big church, etc but that isn't going to solve the problem. I don't disagree that they do take steps to eliminate some of the problems you see in the larger congregations or corporate church setting often displayed. The church you seek is one built by the Son of God through the Spirit of God. Seek that foundation and that alone and Christ will be glorified, the widows will be cared for, the unlovely ones will become lovely, the weak will be strengthened, and most importantly the gospel will be preached. Any other foundation, even one with a model that is 99% like the church in Acts in form, will still have no power without things first being grounded in Christ.

I don't say this as a correction but an encouragement. I have watched MANY run towards models rather than Christ. He will still build His church IF we walk in communion with Him.

With all that being said, from a historical perspective you can get a pretty good picture of this through the Pilgrim Church. You might also be blessed in reading this short article from Zac Poonen - http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/articles.php?display=article31

Thank You brother that was an encouragement and I will definitely heed your words, and I am definitely seeking the foundation of Christ. What my chief concern is glorifing Christ and the Lamb that was slain may recieve the full reward of His sufferings. Thanks Again.

God Bless,
Matthew

Oh and the Zac Poonen link helped ten fold THANKS! His words were exactly what I was thinking for a church, However this won't stop there I have much prayer to do before I go out on this venture.

God Bless,
Matthew

Where in the New Testament does the Lord give the qualifications for apostles or prophets?

I don't know where that would be in the Didache there which isn't in the Bible but is still an ancient scripture gives a guide for a Prophet talking about a False and true prophet and then it also talks about some rules for the apostles. I found the information there about those two to line up very similar to the Deacon and Overseers qualifications which can be found in 2 Timothy 3 and I believe somewhere in Titus I hope this helps you.

God Bless,
Matthew

Where in the New Testament does the Lord give the qualifications for apostles or prophets?

The only "qualification" one need have is to be called by the Lord himself and be gifted to serve as such. 1 Corinthians 12-14, and Ephesians 4. As the saying goes, "He who the Lord calls, He qualifies."

The Didache, while an interesting read, isn't exactly in agreement with the Scriptures in the role and discernment of of apostles and prophets. It says apostles who stay at a location more than a couple days are false ones. Such means Paul would have been considered such. Nevertheless, it is an interesting read and shows that the second century Church still considered the ministry of apostles and prophets as a normal part of the life of the church. They expected their continued ministries as a normal function of the church, and simply sought to provide some simple rules of discernment for the church so that it could determine who was true and who was false.

For an in depth essay I wrote on the topic of the structure of the ancient church, and how it modified over the next century or so, I'd encourage you to read:

[url=http://www.iamadisciple.com/articles/papers/TheRiseOfBishops.pdf]http://www.iamadisciple.com/articles/papers/TheRiseOfBishops.pdf[/url]

It doesn't talk about the prophetic function so much, but, it definitely talks about the roles and functions of apostles to elders/bishops.

Zac Poonen's church CFC is run by a plurality of elders, based on the New Testament. Zac is just an elder, I'm not sure about this but I don't even think he's the "head" elder! As some in America would have to be.

[url=http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/bookshelf.php]CFC's Bookshelf[/url]

Above is the link for all his free books and you can email them and they will get right back to you. I have emailed with questions and someone always promptly gets back with me!

God bless you,

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