My family and I came to Dallas in June of 1967 to attend Dallas Seminary. We immediately were led of God to fellowship at Believers Chapel. This church had a profound impact on my life and ministry. During my seminary years I taught at the Chapel on various occasions, and after graduation I was involved full time in the ministry of this church, along with others. It was with the encouragement and assistance of the elders of Believers Chapel that I and other men from the Chapel set out to establish a church plant. Just before we left Believers Chapel, the elders encouraged me to teach a series on the New Testament church which highlighted some of the distinctives of what we then called ?the new work.? These manuscripts contain the series which I taught in 1976 while at Believers Chapel, and they still describe (with minor changes over the years) the principles which guide and govern Community Bible Chapel (?the new work?) some 22 years later.