Kate Mizelle and Scott Risley

At Dwell Community Church, we strive to create a community that reflects the love, grace, and truth of Jesus Christ. We recognize that as a diverse body of believers, conflicts and misunderstandings are inevitable. God calls us to address these issues in a way that glorifies Him, builds up the church, and preserves the unity of the Spirit. This paper outlines a comprehensive, biblically based approach to resolving conflicts and disputes within our fellowship.

Dennis McCallum and Gary DeLashmutt

Gary Frieson's book by this title is controversial, and, in our view, extreme. The following points represent a measure of agreement as well as difference. We advance these points for discussion and debate.

Dennis McCallum

The notion that leadership neglect is abuse, for instance, suggests an understanding of leadership that is analogous to parents and children. This is out of order. Children are entirely dependent on their parents, and must be supervised closely at all times. Therefore neglecting them is abusive. This argument cannot be applied to church leaders and their members without accepting a dependency model that conforms somewhat to the descriptions of addiction in Toxic Faith.

Dennis McCallum and Gary DeLashmutt

We notice that Christian students often feel they don't need to study Christology. These questions help them see they don't have all the answers they need.

Doug Patch

"Effective!" Is that how you would describe your meetings? Do you even have leaders' meetings or believe they are a waste of time? It is difficult to imagine how a leader can effectively communicate to the home church – verbally and by modeling – excitement and direction for evangelism and discipleship without healthy leaders meetings that evaluate the success and direction of the group. Here is a brief guide on how leaders' meetings can help a home church "stay the course."