Spiritual formation occurs primarily in the context of community. But as the modern cultural norm of what social scientists call “radical American individualism” extends itself, many Christians grow lax in their relational accountability to the church. Faith threatens to become an “I” not “us,” a “my God” not “our God” concern.When the Church Was a Family calls believers back to the wisdom of the first century, examining the early Christian church from a sociohistorical perspective and applying the findings to the evangelical church in America today. With confidence, author Joseph Hellerman writes intentionally to traditional church leaders and emerging church visionaries alike, believing what is detailed here about Jesus’ original vision for authentic Christian community will deeply satisfy the relational longings of both audiences.
When the Church Was a Family
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About the Author
Joseph H. Hellerman is professor of New Testament at Biola University in La Mirada, California, and helps pastor Oceanside Christian Fellowship in nearby El Segundo. He holds degrees from Biola (Master of Divinity and Master of Theology, Old Testament) and the University of California (Bachelor of Arts in English and Masters of Arts in English and History of Christianity).
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Every now and then a book shakes up my deeply cherished perspectives and lays bare inconsistencies I would rather ignore. Hellerman manages both. He carefully weaves cultural, historical, and biblical insights into a thesis that demands my response -- perhaps repentance is the best term. His documentation is so through, his historical examples so compelling, that I almost felt like I was gasping for air in trying to avoid his conclusions. I wanted to argue with his understanding of the strong group approach to family as the model for Christian community. But even rejecting it, the rest of his evidence crushed my objections. And he did so in such a readable, engaging, and irenic style I couldn't even be mad at him! I'm going to guess this book will not be highly popular, as he thoroughly and repeatedly mashes and bruises the toes of us American individualists. The implications for giving, vulnerability, relational loyalties, and indeed the entire way we do church continue to haunt me many months later. I really am rethinking some core beliefs and practices. So think twice about reading this book. It is a "dangerous read."
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Hellerman does a great job of reminding us that the New Testament church was a family. The New Testament culture was also group oriented. We in the WEST are individualistic, non-group oriented, and mostly do not practice the family values of the Christ's New Testament church. We must allow the Holy Spirit to change us. Hellerman gives practical illustrations from his own church experience that show us how to live out NT family values in today's culture.
I did not agree with Hellerman that we should place the family of God above our own nuclear families. He doesn't believe in that distinction, but I believe it's an important one. In my case, each one of my own nuclear family is a strong believer. So yes, each one is also my brother and sister in Christ. Yet, I believe Scripture teaches that I must prioritize my nuclear family above the general family of God (or more specifically my local church family). Hellerman blurs this distinction and even says it's not biblical.
Apart from this disagreement, Hellerman has uncovered an important truth about the church as God's family. He's exhorted us to return to the church as family. Here are some excellent quotes from chapter 8:
"We pay a tremendous emotional price for the freedoms in decision making that we exercise in our radically individualist society. God has not equipped us to operate as isolated individuals, especially where the most important decisions of our lives are concerned. God has created us for community, and it only makes sense to think that we will be healthier psychologically if we make important decisions in the context of a loving and caring church family" (170).
"I find it immensely encouraging to remember that this is God's project, not ours, and to remind myself that the Holy Spirit truly longs to knit us together in community as God intends it. God is more than ready to come alongside those who are willing to do the hard work of living life as the new covenant family of God" (176).
"The one event preeminently identified with the word "church" in most congregations find our people seated side-by-side, facing forward, with little or not interpersonal interaction with persons to the right or to the left. A fellows sitting next to me in Sunday church might have lost his job--or his spouse--that very week. Tragically, however, I would never know it." (177).
"You might try what I did on a Sunday morning some time ago. I preached a sermon entitled `why Sunday A.M. is Not the Church' in which I compared early church family values and practices with the way that we do church on Sunday morning. The application was challenging but quite straightforward. I proceeded gently but firmly to inform my people that many of them--some of who had attended on Sunday for years--had never been to church! Then I encouraged them to begin going to church, that is, to start attending one of our home-group settings where they could cultivate the kind of surrogate sibling relationships that God intends for his children to enjoy with one another" (178).
GREAT BOOK!
I did not agree with Hellerman that we should place the family of God above our own nuclear families. He doesn't believe in that distinction, but I believe it's an important one. In my case, each one of my own nuclear family is a strong believer. So yes, each one is also my brother and sister in Christ. Yet, I believe Scripture teaches that I must prioritize my nuclear family above the general family of God (or more specifically my local church family). Hellerman blurs this distinction and even says it's not biblical.
Apart from this disagreement, Hellerman has uncovered an important truth about the church as God's family. He's exhorted us to return to the church as family. Here are some excellent quotes from chapter 8:
"We pay a tremendous emotional price for the freedoms in decision making that we exercise in our radically individualist society. God has not equipped us to operate as isolated individuals, especially where the most important decisions of our lives are concerned. God has created us for community, and it only makes sense to think that we will be healthier psychologically if we make important decisions in the context of a loving and caring church family" (170).
"I find it immensely encouraging to remember that this is God's project, not ours, and to remind myself that the Holy Spirit truly longs to knit us together in community as God intends it. God is more than ready to come alongside those who are willing to do the hard work of living life as the new covenant family of God" (176).
"The one event preeminently identified with the word "church" in most congregations find our people seated side-by-side, facing forward, with little or not interpersonal interaction with persons to the right or to the left. A fellows sitting next to me in Sunday church might have lost his job--or his spouse--that very week. Tragically, however, I would never know it." (177).
"You might try what I did on a Sunday morning some time ago. I preached a sermon entitled `why Sunday A.M. is Not the Church' in which I compared early church family values and practices with the way that we do church on Sunday morning. The application was challenging but quite straightforward. I proceeded gently but firmly to inform my people that many of them--some of who had attended on Sunday for years--had never been to church! Then I encouraged them to begin going to church, that is, to start attending one of our home-group settings where they could cultivate the kind of surrogate sibling relationships that God intends for his children to enjoy with one another" (178).
GREAT BOOK!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Arthur Sido
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Joseph Hellerman's When the Church Was a Family is one of the most important books I have read in a long time. It is a remarkable contrast to another book on the church I read, the highly acclaimed Why We Love The Church by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. When the Church Was a Family (or WTCWAF) takes a very different look at the church body compared to Why We Love the Church and most other books on matters pertaining to the church. Rather than focusing on the organization, on the hierarchy, on the methods, Hellerman looks at the idea of familification, that salvation creates not just a sinner redeemed but a community formed.
"It is time to inform our people that conversion to Christ involves both our justification and our familification, that we gain a new Father and a new set of brothers and sisters when we respond to the gospel. It is time to communicate the biblical reality that personal salvation is a community-creating event, and to trust God to change our lives and the lives of our churches accordingly." (WTCWAF, p. 143)
Hellerman begins WTCWAF by building the cultural foundation the reader needs to understand the premise of the rest of the book. It seemed to drag on a bit but it made perfect sense once he showed how it applies to the church. It can be seductive to think about the church as we have come to know it in America and assume that it has always been this way. Hellerman makes a solid effort to show that what Christ and the apostles were speaking of meant something completely different from what we assume.
WTCWAF is a paradigm changing book, if I can use what has become a trite and overused term. It is a book that changes the conversation about the church from "I" to "we". By that I mean, the focus is less on "I am a member of this church", "I chose this church because" and "I need this from a church" to "We have a common salvation that binds us", "We have these responsibilities to one another" and "We are the family of God". I have rarely read a book that caused me to put it down to ponder what I just read on so many occasions.
I found some weaknesses in Hellerman's book. When he speaks of believers sharing materially together, I thought he gave this important notion short shrift. In three pages (pp. 145-147) where Hellerman addresses the topic, he gives a very brief and incomplete treatment of the topic and uses as a primary example the local church where he is employed giving his home a "make-over" that apparently cost $20,000 and included "all new top-drawer Pottery Barn furniture." I think there is a bigger point here that focuses on making sure that those among the Body have their needs met, while the idea of expensive name-brand furnishings probably wouldn't even show up on the radar of the early church. I found this example to miss the mark. I see the idea of familial relations leading to sharing of wealth more representative of the complete abandonment of what the world holds dear (personal property along with our myriad other rights we cherish). The early church shared not out of a desire for their pastor to have Pottery Barn furniture but because they no longer saw the value in their own possessions.
I also think that Hellerman places a little too much faith in the ability of a church of several hundred "members" and regular attendees to live together as a strong-group family. I am not convinced that the model that is effectively laid out by Hellerman can really exist in the traditional mold of Western evangelicalism. We don't hear much about the church where he is employed but based on what I have seen and even on what he writes, I just seems unlikely that a traditional church setting is going to be fertile ground for a strong-group family relationship among believers. Having said that, these small quibbles hardly impact my recommendation of this book.
I don't want to engage in hyperbole here but this book is putting forth ideals, a radical reshaping of our priorities in the church and how we look at the church. If these principles were to gain a widespread audience and acceptance, I think we could be see an impact on the church that is analogous to what Luther's 95 Theses had on Christianity. While Luther's Theses were pivotal in regaining the Gospel itself, the understanding of the church as an adoptive family unit has the potential to impact the vital "Now what?" question that the church has struggled with for so long.
"It is time to inform our people that conversion to Christ involves both our justification and our familification, that we gain a new Father and a new set of brothers and sisters when we respond to the gospel. It is time to communicate the biblical reality that personal salvation is a community-creating event, and to trust God to change our lives and the lives of our churches accordingly." (WTCWAF, p. 143)
Hellerman begins WTCWAF by building the cultural foundation the reader needs to understand the premise of the rest of the book. It seemed to drag on a bit but it made perfect sense once he showed how it applies to the church. It can be seductive to think about the church as we have come to know it in America and assume that it has always been this way. Hellerman makes a solid effort to show that what Christ and the apostles were speaking of meant something completely different from what we assume.
WTCWAF is a paradigm changing book, if I can use what has become a trite and overused term. It is a book that changes the conversation about the church from "I" to "we". By that I mean, the focus is less on "I am a member of this church", "I chose this church because" and "I need this from a church" to "We have a common salvation that binds us", "We have these responsibilities to one another" and "We are the family of God". I have rarely read a book that caused me to put it down to ponder what I just read on so many occasions.
I found some weaknesses in Hellerman's book. When he speaks of believers sharing materially together, I thought he gave this important notion short shrift. In three pages (pp. 145-147) where Hellerman addresses the topic, he gives a very brief and incomplete treatment of the topic and uses as a primary example the local church where he is employed giving his home a "make-over" that apparently cost $20,000 and included "all new top-drawer Pottery Barn furniture." I think there is a bigger point here that focuses on making sure that those among the Body have their needs met, while the idea of expensive name-brand furnishings probably wouldn't even show up on the radar of the early church. I found this example to miss the mark. I see the idea of familial relations leading to sharing of wealth more representative of the complete abandonment of what the world holds dear (personal property along with our myriad other rights we cherish). The early church shared not out of a desire for their pastor to have Pottery Barn furniture but because they no longer saw the value in their own possessions.
I also think that Hellerman places a little too much faith in the ability of a church of several hundred "members" and regular attendees to live together as a strong-group family. I am not convinced that the model that is effectively laid out by Hellerman can really exist in the traditional mold of Western evangelicalism. We don't hear much about the church where he is employed but based on what I have seen and even on what he writes, I just seems unlikely that a traditional church setting is going to be fertile ground for a strong-group family relationship among believers. Having said that, these small quibbles hardly impact my recommendation of this book.
I don't want to engage in hyperbole here but this book is putting forth ideals, a radical reshaping of our priorities in the church and how we look at the church. If these principles were to gain a widespread audience and acceptance, I think we could be see an impact on the church that is analogous to what Luther's 95 Theses had on Christianity. While Luther's Theses were pivotal in regaining the Gospel itself, the understanding of the church as an adoptive family unit has the potential to impact the vital "Now what?" question that the church has struggled with for so long.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Paper turned book
This was originally a dissertation. So there seemed to be some biases toward a certain kind of church model, without much critical analysis. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Kine
4.0 out of 5 stars
A must read for church groups.......
This book was very eye-opening for me. If you need to regain your conviction about people in the congregations of today needing each other, this is a must read.
Published 4 months ago by Charisse L. Cowan
2.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Topic
You can be right, and choose a fascinating topic and still not have a good book. I found his style to be sleep inducing, and his use of trendy trite jargon to be irritating. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Heinrich Friesen
5.0 out of 5 stars
True, Right, and Biblical
I admit, I may be a bit biased since I have been sitting in Dr. Hellerman (Pastor Joe)'s pews for over a year now, but to be fair, I have been saying a lot of the same stuff (in... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Djcool955555
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book
Every Christian in the USA should read this and it should be a requirement for every church in America to study
Published 5 months ago by Frank
5.0 out of 5 stars
Long forgotten truths
Joe Hellerman's book is a shock to the commuter church syndrome in America. The introduction and conclusion alone are well-worth the price of the book. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Dr. Robert L. Burris
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointingly Simplistic and Divisive
Hellerman argues that the western evangelical church has been too accepting of "pagan culture's unbiblical obsession with individual determinism and personal subjective experience"... Read more
Published on May 22, 2011 by Nathan Bodenstab
4.0 out of 5 stars
Radical thinking in this day and age
Before you get turned off by the word radical, please read on. Prof. Hellerman's challenge to the North American church is to consider a different way of viewing God, life, the... Read more
Published on April 22, 2011 by J. Low
5.0 out of 5 stars
Authentic
This is one book I have given copies of away...it represent our belief patterns so well. This author does a good job of adequately representing the mentality of the Scriptures and... Read more
Published on October 20, 2010 by Michael L. Harris
4.0 out of 5 stars
Made me think
Edit, late 2012: I am now an atheist, some two years have gone by since I wrote this book review originally, and the "friend" that preached from this book recently had me arrested... Read more
Published on October 3, 2010 by Michael Bird
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