“We have a lot of idea people but not many implementers.” “The vast majority of the work gets done by the very few.” “We’re not doing enough.”
We have all experienced this reality. If you have ever been a part of a school project where you had to work on a team, you know the frustration of a few pulling the weight of the whole team. Some just don’t seem to care or get it.
The church is the same. The church is a gathering of selfish sinners professing to know a gracious Savior and striving to serve Him and His kingdom purposes. Very often there are big ideas for ministry, but little in the way of the resource of active labor. What usually tends to happen is that the staff or leadership (because they want to see the church succeed) create ministries and press people to serve them.
What’s the problem with this? At it’s very root, it serves to appease the conscience of both staff/leadership and the member, but in reality creates several unhealthy products:
1. Can foster a divide between the leadership and the people they are called to serve.
Several years ago I planned an outreach event for our church. I wanted something unique that would be attractive to the community and to which our members could invite their unbelieving friends. Because I had successfully pulled off a crawfish boil at a college campus, I used the same event for the church.
The result was some of the folks in the church didn’t like crawfish and just weren’t going to show up. Also, a few friends were invited, but really not much effort was extended in outreach.
What happened? I was frustrated that the church members didn’t set aside their preferences for the outreach opportunity. I became bitter and self righteous against the church I was called to help shepherd blaming them for a lack of heart for the lost.
After several outreach type events, the church grows weary of yet another failed effort. Thus, the church quits trying and owns the phrase, “We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work.” So a divide can even be created between the church and any new leadership that later enters into that ministry and wants to implement outreach.
2. Can create a false pride.
If an event or ministry is successful it can create a pride in both the leadership and the participant.
If I, as a leader, can get a lot of people involved in a lot of different ministries then I look successful and the people feel spiritual because they are involved in ‘Christian’ activity. I can pat myself on the back and the people pat me on the back for a job well done. They can also pat themselves on the back and I can encourage them in a false sense of accomplishment.
This is what often happens is that we do ministry stuff for the sake of appeasing our consciences and boosting our egos rather than growing people in the grace of Jesus. Christian activity does not necessarily equal Christian growth to maturity! Scripture gives a warning against activity with a spiritual stamp but wrong motive in Matthew 7:22-23: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
3. Can stress outward appearance over inward transformation.
This is related to number two above. What’s our goal? Well, our goal should be the goal that Christ has for us. He has commissioned us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
What is a disciple? Colossians 1:9-10 shows us Paul’s goal for discipleship: “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Our goal ought to be to see inward transformation of people’s hearts with a love for Christ that moves outward in fruit-bearing ministry to others. Outward conforming is not the same as inward transformation! Matthew 7:17-18 reads, “So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.”
What is bad fruit? Fruit that comes from the motivation of self-service. Bad fruit leads to those things which are opposite of the fruits of the spirit: hatred, angst, divisiveness, harshness, quick-temperedness, evil, faithlessness, etc. Bad fruit wants to be seen as good fruit. In fact, this passage which speaks of bad fruit is the verse just prior to Matthew 7:22-23: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
So . . . now what? How else is ministry accomplished?
This is going to sound so ridiculously simple, but here goes. We encourage our members and help them grow in their knowledge and love of Christ, “because service flows from Christian growth and not growth from service” (The Trellis and the Vine, p.20).
This is the biblical ‘strategy’ of true Christian growth within the church. As our people fall more and more in love with Jesus as they are confronted with Him in the Scriptures, the outflow of that love will be works of service . . . good fruit. We will then not have to create ministry opportunities but hold on to our hats as ministry blows into and through the church body.
Acts 2:37-47
37 Now when they heard this (the gospel message) they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Okay, so this is not the norm, but the principle remains - the faithful proclamation and instruction in the gospel creates hearts of Christian growth. Study the structure of every letter written by Paul to encourage the church and you will see the same pattern. Paul tells first of our rootedness in Christ and the depth of the love of Christ for us. Then, and only after he has done this, does he exhort toward fruitfulness. It’s not a programmed ministry that motivates the churches he served. It is a relationship that motivates.
Paul understood that at the heart of every problem there is a gospel issue. If our church is not doing ministry, then there is a problem at the root of gospel proclamation and instruction. How well are we sitting down with our people and re-telling the love of Jesus to them so that they are enthralled with Jesus? Oh! that we would believe John 15:5! “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
So often leadership gets taken in by the trap of creating ministry for the people when their job is to point people to Jesus. It’s only when the leadership is convinced of the power of the gospel to change their own lives that they will have a revived heart to meet with the people they are to serve to, in turn, show them the power of the gospel in their lives. That’s when the theoretical will become practical.
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