Puritan Treasures for Today: Rules for Walking in Fellowship

What good is a church community if it lacks loving fellowship?

In Rules for Walking in Fellowship, John Owen supplies struggling congregations with biblical guidelines for making church life in the present a foretaste of heavenly fellowship to come. He discusses both the responsibilities congregations have toward pastors as well as the duties members have toward one another. Together, Owen presents twenty-four rules for fostering gospel fellowship, supporting them with numerous proof texts, brief explanations, and words of motivation to keep them. His simple approach makes this book ideal for personal or small group study. Here, then, is a collection of indispensable biblical rules that will challenge Christians in any given congregation, of whatever denomination—a little gem that is at the same time doctrinal, practical, and ecumenical.

Table of Contents:

PART 1: Rules for walking in fellowship, with reference to the pastor or minister who watches over your souls

1. Attending to the Ordinances Dispensed by Your Pastor
2. Following Your Pastor’s Example
3. Praying for Your Pastor
4. Esteeming Your Pastor
5. Paying Your Pastor’s Salary
6. Standing by Your Pastor in His Trials
7. Gathering to Worship when Summoned

PART 2: Rules to be observed by those who walk in fellowship, to remind them of their mutual duties toward one another

8. Loving One Another
9. Praying for the Church
10. Taking a Stand for the Church
11. Preserving Unity
12. Separating from the World
13. Engaging in Spiritual Conversation
14. Bearing with One Another’s Faults
15. Bearing One Another’s Burdens
16. Helping the Poor
17. Being Wary of Those Who Divide the Church
18. Sharing the Church’s Lot, No Matter What
19. Associating with the Lowly
20. Praying for the Afflicted
21. Keeping Each Other Accountable
22. Being Holy

Series Description  

Interest in the Puritans continues to grow, but many people find reading these giants of the faith a bit unnerving. This series seeks to overcome that barrier by presenting Puritan books that are convenient in size and unintimidating in length. Each book is carefully edited with modern readers in mind, smoothing out difficult language of a bygone era while retaining the meaning of the original authors. Books for the series are thoughtfully selected to provide some of the best counsel on important subjects that people continue to wrestle with today.

About the Author  

John Owen (1616–1683) was an English Puritan who served as vice-chancellor of Oxford University and pastor of congregations in Coggeshall and London. His complete works have been reprinted by Banner of Truth Trust.

Endorsement

“Everything Owen wrote is worth reading, but some of his books are more accessible than others. This little practical treatise is a great way to meet a great Christian mind as it deals with the most basic elements of the Christian’s life in his church. I have loved reading Owen for nearly thirty years now and return to him again and again, never without profit.  Enjoy this book. And learn from it.”  — Carl R. Trueman, Paul Woolley Professor of Church History, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia