Introductions

[biggyph00l]

Good Evening,

It was requested that I come around and introduce myself. My name is Jake, I am 24 years old, and I attend Xenos Christian Fellowship located in Columbus, OH. I have been a Christian for almost 3 years now, and came to Christ through living with 8 other Christian men in a fluke situation where I didn't have a place to live.

My favorite verse is James 3:5, because it (and most of James 3) gave me the inspiration to go into counseling.

Thanks for reading!
Jake

[BelieverInGod]

Re: Introductions

Good Evening,

It was requested that I come around and introduce myself. My name is Jake, I am 24 years old, and I attend Xenos Christian Fellowship located in Columbus, OH. I have been a Christian for almost 3 years now, and came to Christ through living with 8 other Christian men in a fluke situation where I didn't have a place to live.

My favorite verse is James 3:5, because it (and most of James 3) gave me the inspiration to go into counseling.

Thanks for reading!
Jake

Hmm..... let's see, the MSM calls you an evil cult, well that's a good sign. How did James 3:5 inspire you to go into counseling (as a counselor or a patient?)

[Wolverine]

Re: Introductions

Hi Jake, and welcome to the forums! You will find this to be quite the interesting place, I'm sure.

My favorite verse is James 3:5, because it (and most of James 3) gave me the inspiration to go into counseling.

I also love the book of James. It often serves as a much-needed reminder to keep me on track in my walk.

The Xenos Christian Fellowship sounds all right, from what little I've heard. I've always liked house churches, especially when they're operating in places that disallow them.

- "Wolverine"

[biggyph00l]

Re: Introductions

Hmm..... let's see, the MSM calls you an evil cult, well that's a good sign. How did James 3:5 inspire you to go into counseling (as a counselor or a patient?)

Thanks for the warm welcome, Believer. Yea, my church is very non-traditional, and calls on the believers that call it their home church to a high level of commitment, should they want to walk with God (somewhere to the tunes of 4+ meetings a week, sometimes more or less). All of them are optional, but a lot of people look at the devoted life style those in my church lives, and view it as a bit extreme.

That verse inspired me to go into counseling, I'm currently working on getting my masters in counseling through The Ohio State University.

[Lycia The Repentant]

Re: Introductions

Welcome to God's Favorite Forum Jake!

I was wondering if you could explain what exactly the Xenos Christian Fellowship is to me, the wickedpedia article wasn't very clear. I'm under the impression that its a loose confederation of something like "micro-churches" with varying beliefs. Am I right?

[biggyph00l]

Re: Introductions

Hi Jake, and welcome to the forums! You will find this to be quite the interesting place, I'm sure.



I also love the book of James. It often serves as a much-needed reminder to keep me on track in my walk.

The Xenos Christian Fellowship sounds all right, from what little I've heard. I've always liked house churches, especially when they're operating in places that disallow them.

- "Wolverine"

Thanks Wolverine! I'm glad to meet someone open minded to the idea of house churches, I imagined most people on here would be against the idea of a non-traditional church style. And I agree, Jame as a book is amazing, it really helps remind me of how we should be working to adorn the gospel.

Thanks again for the welcome!

[Wolverine]

Re: Introductions

I'm currently working on getting my masters in counseling through The Ohio State University.

OSU? *sigh* Well, okay, I guess that's fine. I hope a certain school manages to beat you in football this year though, or at least not get totally whipped.

[biggyph00l]

Re: Introductions

Welcome to God's Favorite Forum Jake!

I was wondering if you could explain what exactly the Xenos Christian Fellowship is to me, the wickedpedia article wasn't very clear. I'm under the impression that its a loose confederation of something like "micro-churches" with varying beliefs. Am I right?

Thanks for the welcome, Lycia! And thank you as well for the question. Xenos is a home church based fellowship with strong central corporate roots. While I personally belong to the Galeo home church, and my home church bible study is just with other members of Galeo, I attend the Xenos corporate meeting with other home church. While our home churches sometimes have variations in how they handle things, the core tenants of who we are and what we're about remain the same, those being:

1) We are devoted to the word of God, it's study, and the understanding of it.
2) Salvation is earned by faith in the death of Christ alone, and not through works of any form or variety.
3) We are called by Christ to go out and make disciples of all nations, and as such, we have a strong view on evangelism and personal ministry. Over 85% of those who attend Xenos came to Christ through our church, and almost all people come out through word of mouth.

While some home groups may have differing views on millennialism, Calvinism vs Arminianism, dispensationalism vs covenantalism, our core tenants remain closely guarded and watched by our churches leaders and elders.

Does that answer your question?

[biggyph00l]

Re: Introductions

OSU? *sigh* Well, okay, I guess that's fine. I hope a certain school manages to beat you in football this year though, or at least not get totally whipped.

I should have guessed by your user name. I still care for you as a brother in christ, in spite of your poor decision making on which team to stand behind.

[Wolverine]

Re: Introductions

1) We are devoted to the word of God, it's study, and the understanding of it.
2) Salvation is earned by faith in the death of Christ alone, and not through works of any form or variety.
3) We are called by Christ to go out and make disciples of all nations, and as such, we have a strong view on evangelism and personal ministry. Over 85% of those who attend Xenos came to Christ through our church, and almost all people come out through word of mouth.

Number 2 is likely to disagree with some members of these forums, from what I've seen. Just a heads-up.

This sounds like an interesting group, to be sure.

Lycia, I get the strange feeling you don't care for "wickedpedia".

[Lycia The Repentant]

Re: Introductions

Thanks for the welcome, Lycia! And thank you as well for the question. Xenos is a home church based fellowship with strong central corporate roots. While I personally belong to the Galeo home church, and my home church bible study is just with other members of Galeo, I attend the Xenos corporate meeting with other home church. While our home churches sometimes have variations in how they handle things, the core tenants of who we are and what we're about remain the same, those being:

1) We are devoted to the word of God, it's study, and the understanding of it.
2) Salvation is earned by faith in the death of Christ alone, and not through works of any form or variety.
3) We are called by Christ to go out and make disciples of all nations, and as such, we have a strong view on evangelism and personal ministry. Over 85% of those who attend Xenos came to Christ through our church, and almost all people come out through word of mouth.

While some home groups may have differing views on millennialism, Calvinism vs Arminianism, dispensationalism vs covenantalism, our core tenants remain closely guarded and watched by our churches leaders and elders.

Does that answer your question?

I believe it does Jake, and might I add that it is quite refreshing to see a new member who is obviously quite intelligent. I do have a few more quick questions, if you do not mind.

1. Does the Xenos Christian Fellowship use a specific translation of the Bible as a whole, or is that up to the home churches? At this forum we only follow the KJV 1611 translation.

2. How rigorously do your church leaders and elders "police" the home churches to make sure they are upholding your core tenants?

Thanks for taking the time to clear this up for me.

Number 2 is likely to disagree with some members of these forums, from what I've seen. Just a heads-up.

This sounds like an interesting group, to be sure.

Lycia, I get the strange feeling you don't care for "wickedpedia".

Its true, I do not. Most of the people here don't put much faith in it either. While it can be useful at times, I think you have to be wary of an encyclopedia that can be edited by any idiot who got their information from a documentary they saw on TV last month.

[Wolverine]

Re: Introductions

While it can be useful at times, I think you have to be wary of an encyclopedia that can be edited by any idiot who got their information from a documentary they saw on TV last month.

Very true. This is why one should always verify the in-text source citations and consider the content before posting anything from Wikipedia as fact.

Jake, don't worry; if you are indeed a brother in Christ, you are okay with me regardless of what university you attend.

[biggyph00l]

Re: Introductions

I believe it does Jake, and might I add that it is quite refreshing to see a new member who is obviously quite intelligent. I do have a few more quick questions, if you do not mind.

1. Does the Xenos Christian Fellowship use a specific translation of the Bible as a whole, or is that up to the home churches? At this forum we only follow the KJV 1611 translation.

2. How rigorously do your church leaders and elders "police" the home churches to make sure they are upholding your core tenants?

Thanks for taking the time to clear this up for me.

Thank you for the compliment! To answer your questions:

1) There is no specific version of the bible suggested or enforced at Xenos. I, personally, prefer the NASB for inductive studies, and the ESV for lighter reading. I tend to not be interested in KJV for certain reasons. I have a feeling that speaking on the subject more than that is likely to incite some rather strong comments, and I'd prefer to make a separate thread for that when I have an entire day with not much to do, a pint of ice cream, and lots of patience.

2) It's sort of hard to answer that question. Because our group offers people the ability to be committed to it as much as they like, people find themselves in situations of deep accountability with others, so on a local level, theres a lot of transparency with sin, doctrinal beliefs, what have you. More over, as our church is very focused on one on one personal discipleship, and most people will meet up with their study buddy at least once a week to talk about their lives and get into the word, it's often the privilege of the more experienced brother or sister to help correct docternal issues, or bring up areas of sin in their lives. So, I suppose the answer to your question is, the leaders don't often need to police our core tenants.

[Brother Temperance]

Re: Introductions

Thanks for the welcome, Lycia! And thank you as well for the question. Xenos is a home church based fellowship with strong central corporate roots. While I personally belong to the Galeo home church, and my home church bible study is just with other members of Galeo, I attend the Xenos corporate meeting with other home church. While our home churches sometimes have variations in how they handle things, the core tenants of who we are and what we're about remain the same, those being:

1) We are devoted to the word of God, it's study, and the understanding of it.
2) Salvation is earned by faith in the death of Christ alone, and not through works of any form or variety.
3) We are called by Christ to go out and make disciples of all nations, and as such, we have a strong view on evangelism and personal ministry. Over 85% of those who attend Xenos came to Christ through our church, and almost all people come out through word of mouth.

While some home groups may have differing views on millennialism, Calvinism vs Arminianism, dispensationalism vs covenantalism, our core tenants remain closely guarded and watched by our churches leaders and elders.

Does that answer your question?

Friend, you seem sensible enough, but I'd be very wary of having fellowship with the unsaved. If it turns out that your federation contains churches with anti-Christian views on Calvinism, dispensationalism, or other such vital issues, they may rouse the Lord to wrath, in which case you'd be best off keeping well away from them.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

You seem like a good, dedicated Christian, so I'd hate for the Lord to end up smiting you because you were sat too near to a servant of Belial at one of your Xenos meetings.

Thank you for the compliment! To answer your questions:

1) There is no specific version of the bible suggested or enforced at Xenos. I, personally, prefer the NASB for inductive studies, and the ESV for lighter reading. I tend to not be interested in KJV for certain reasons. I have a feeling that speaking on the subject more than that is likely to incite some rather strong comments, and I'd prefer to make a separate thread for that when I have an entire day with not much to do, a pint of ice cream, and lots of patience.

Mmhhmm. Understandable. I'd advise you to discuss the subject sooner rather than later though. It's clear that you are grievously misled on this subject, and so I'd hate for you to enter the afterlife without ever having embraced God's True Word.

[Butch Dickerson]

Re: Introductions

Good Evening,

It was requested that I come around and introduce myself. My name is Jake, I am 24 years old, and I attend Xenos Christian Fellowship located in Columbus, OH. I have been a Christian for almost 3 years now, and came to Christ through living with 8 other Christian men in a fluke situation where I didn't have a place to live. My favorite verse is James 3:5, because it (and most of James 3) gave me the inspiration to go into counseling. Thanks for reading!
Jake

I can relate about not having a place to live, and maybe even bunking up with 8 other guys. I also have to go into counseling (Tuesdays 1:30pm to 2:00pm).

Are you sure Xenos isn't part of them scientologist? Do they check your thetans and tell you to enter the org with your credit card?

I like your desire to have "study buddies", and in my neighborhood "on a local level, theres a lot of transparency with sin, doctrinal beliefs, what have you." Yep, transparent sin is everywhere.

Do your Brother In Christ buddies workout with weights? Any dietary supplements required in your home church? Are you guys training to be warriors for Christ?

Oh, I forgot ... WELCOME!