Dennis McCallum

A good way to understand your home church's success in follow-up is to compare the number of first time guests to the group with the number of those guests returning for additional visits since the last time your church planted. These returning guests are called "returning new" in the graphs provided by the Dwell office. The comparison between first time guests and returning new people is not a completely accurate measure of follow-up success, but experience shows that this ratio generally correlates well with successful follow-up efforts. Notice the following about this comparison:

Gary DeLashmutt

Learn to distinguish between the gift of leadership and the office of leader. There is a difference between these two, and if you don't understand this and remember it, you will get in trouble. The gift of leadership is a spiritual gift recognized by things like:  - naturally sees where to go;  - likes trying new things;  - likes the responsibility of making important and difficult decisions;  - easily gains confidence of people without having personal relationship with them;  - thinks fast and well on his feet; etc.

Dennis McCallum

Christian leadership involves influencing others. We want to be able to influence people to do God's will, much of which requires a certain level of expertise in order to be effective (witnessing, teaching, discipling, etc.). This means that in the first place, the leader is concerned with the learning process, and how to bring about rapid and permanent learning. Also, when psychologists refer to learning, they mean not only learning facts about a subject, but learning behaviors. A child must learn to walk, talk, and feed herself. Christians must learn to pray, study, love others, admit sin, etc. The leader not only must demonstrate and explain how these and other things are done, she must also cause the learner to desire to do such things. Learning has occurred when the learner exhibits the learned behavior regularly and without prompting from others.

Dennis McCallum

One of the most difficult trials we face in group, or collective leadership is conflict. At Dwell, we have found that improperly managed conflict is the leading cause of home church failure. During the combined home church leadership weekend this year, we would like to examine the question of inter-personal conflict and our response to it. This paper provides insight from Donald Bosart and others intended to stimulate thinking on the part of leaders in preparation for more detailed discussion.

Dennis McCallum

A review of New Testament passages on how the church should use its money, how it should handle its money and how it should go about collecting money.

Dennis McCallum

Some discussions seem to drag in fits and awkward silences, creating tension in the group that further inhibits discussion. Other discussions seem to thrive in eager sharing, with people actually competing to get their point in. Why is this? The most likely reason for such difference is the introduction. In our introduction, we touch on the skills of public speaking, or homiletics. The leader must stimulate and excite the group about the subject under consideration.

Gary DeLashmutt

Here is a very important question: “What is my predominant disposition about being a home church leader?” Is it “I get to” or “I’ve got to?” If you lead for any length of time, you will struggle at times with the “I’ve got to” perspective. But you must struggle against it, not accept it. And you must cultivate the “I get to” perspective so that it predominates.

Dennis McCallum

I argue repeatedly that the key to success in ministry, as God defines success, is getting in line with what God wants to do, or is doing. The biblical concept of ministry is serving God or other people in a way that furthers God’s will or purpose. Further, true ministry must be empowered and directed by God. God is clear that "it is the Spirit that quickens, the flesh profits nothing." (John 6:63) He warns in the Old Testament that, "Unless the Lord builds the house, they do labor in vain that build it." (Psalms 127:1) Paul said the apostles were those who "glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." (Phil. 3:3) These passages and many others all suggest the same thing: If God’s power moves through us in ministry, spiritual fruit will be borne. If his power is not animating our ministry, nothing we do will help the situation.

Dennis McCallum

Dwell sees itself as an underground indigenous house church-planting movement. - Underground means that our growth is primarily through neighborhood groups, not through large worship services or seekers meetings. It also implies the leaders of home churches are all lay people (i.e. they are not professionals, but "tentmakers"). Even when staffers lead home groups, they receive no compensation for that part of their ministry. A church planting movement is a grassroots movement, not a staff-driven movement. - Indigenous, means the leadership for the home churches has to come from within the home churches themselves via a process of personal discipleship. Dwell leaders would ask even experienced leaders from other churches to spend time in a home church becoming one of the trusted leaders in that group before sending them out with their own group. - House Church-planting movement, means the development of such groups, if carried out properly, should lead to multiplication, or exponential growth, unlike plans where a central office arranges groups from lists of applicants and leaders. In a church planting movement, the impetus for planting churches comes from within each group. Church planting also implies that the groups are relatively self-sufficient for ministry, as opposed to groups that are heavily dependent on program-heavy worship services or the central leadership of the church.

Dennis McCallum

Vision has always been considered an important component in leadership, both in Christian and secular circles. The term usually refers to the ability leaders have to form a plan for the future and to get others excited about their plan. Often, leaders have less a plan, but more of a simple picture of a possible future, and let people sort out the action steps toward that more general picture.