- Leg joke
- Many different leadership styles in many churches, book of acts shines a light on God’s purpose in ch 6 and ch 20 for Church leaders
- Early chapters of acts about the birth and growth of body of Christ and the strategy of satan to smother it
- Chief actor 1 and 2 holy spirit, 3-6 chief actor satan
- 3 tactics of satan, physical violence, moral compromise, social distraction, persecution, corruption, distraction, still in same old rut
Acts 6 v 1-7, An every member ministry
- Church is growing, but quarrel between Greek and Hebrews over the widows’ breaks out, danger that the apostles were getting bogged down in administration and neglecting the ministry of the word.
- They did a wise thing, they didn’t impose a solution, they called a meeting, they sought wisdom from the body, not be right to neglect ministry of word for waiting of tables, it is not beneath them, it was not their calling, they were called by God to be apostles.
- Suggestion- delegate to those “full of spirit and wisdom”, the 12 to the 7, they would stick to preaching and prayer, without prayer the seeds sown may not be fruitful
- Church agreed, 7 were appointed, commissioned and authorized, vital principle everybody cannot do everything, indeed everybody is not called to do everything
- 1. God calls all his people to ministry (diakonia)
- 2 God calls different people to different ministries
- 3. God expects those he calls to ministry of the word to on no account be distracted by social administration
- Both the work of the 12 and the 7 is diakonia, ministry, neither inferior to the other, both are ways of serving God, both require spirit filled people, both can be full time ministries, the only difference is that they are different, the pastorate is not “the ministry”
- Diakonia is the generic word for ministry or service, it is not specific, in Romans 13:4 the magistrates of the state are known as the servants of God, which could be applied to pastors or other servants of the church.
- So in this passage it is clear that all Christians are called to ministry, because we are followers of him who said he did not come to be served but to serve, it is inconceivable that we should spend our lives in any other way than ministry (service), but there is a wide diversity of gifts, callings and ministries, we have to discover ours and help others discover theirs.
- When the apostles delegated, and concentrated on their calling the word of God spread and the number of disciples increased rapidly! Logical
- It is vital for us as a church to learn this lesson! I am not an apostle, but my job is to expound what they teach what they have left, that is first and foremost my ministry, too often we let pastors get bogged down in all sorts of other stuff
- Often it is the pastor’s fault, power hungry they want to keep hold of everything and delegate nothing, but it can also be the people of God’s fault, where the general rule is well we pay him, let him get on with it!, in either case it spells disaster! Standards of preaching decline, and people do not get an opportunity to use their gifts, the church falls sick!
- We need a basic biblical recognition that God calls different people to different ministries, the people have to set the pastor free from the unnecessary and the pastor ensures the people can exercise their gifts, if this happens the church will flourish!
- The spiritual gifts that God gives to us all are for the common good of the church, to build up the body of Christ, we need to hold on to the every member ministry of the body of Christ.
The pastoral ministry
- there is a role for pastoral ministry, this is what we think of as the minister, or priest or pastor, but what are they meant to be? Are they needed if everyone has a ministry?
- Acts 20 Paul and the Ephesians, pastoral oversight, feeding the flock, a teaching ministry, how do they feed, well they don’t they lead to good pastures to feed themselves
- Plural oversight, it is not a one man band, Paul always relied on others, there is a need for a leadership team in every church, with every part of that leadership playing it’s part.
- With the pastoral and plural parts of leadership vital to churches, Paul develops a metaphor in Acts 20 that is helpful for us to not, he describes himself and the elders as shepherd, secondly he warns of false teachers and thirdly he affirms the value of the people, who are God’s sheep.
The example of the Shepherd
-Paul speaks of his thoroughness, in his teaching the themes of the gospel, in his outreach, in his methods, he taught publicly and privately, day and night, nothing could stop him, he shared all possible truth with all possible people by all possible means, the whole gospel to the whole city with his whole heart. He was an inspiration to the Ephesians as he should be to us today
The invasion of wolves
-wolves were and in some cases still are the chief threat to the sheep, shepherd could never relax, Paul calls Churches to be on their guard, a double task, to feed the sheep and rout the wolves, unpopular to speak against false teaching today, but both Jesus and the apostles told us we must, to often we get sensitive and say nothing when we should speak out if we say and do nothing we are like the hired hand who cares not for the sheep.
-we cannot leave the flock of God defenceless, we need to protect it from error and establish the truth.
The value of the sheep
- we all must see the value of the sheep, v 28 is key here 28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.[a] Be shepherds of the church of God,[b] which he bought with his own blood.
- Implicit in this is three things; one the Church is God’s church, the church of god!
- Secondly it is bought with the blood of Christ
- Thirdly it is overseen by the Holy Spirit
- It belongs to the father, redeemed by the son, anointed by the Holy Spirit, it is not our Church, it is God’s church, this should humble us and inspire us, especially to love the sheep of God
- Now sheep at a distance are lovely to look at but up close they are dirty and full of beasts! They need to be dipped often, they are obstinate and unintelligent, are God’s sheep dirty, lousy and stupid? Let’s not stretch the metaphor too far………………
- Sheep can be a trial to a pastor, but the reverse is true also! How do we love that which we can find unlovable? By remembering how precious they are, when you are struggling to deal with a difficult person say “How precious you are in God’s sight, the father loves you, Jesus died for you, the Holy Spirit guides you, if the trinity care for your welfare, it is a privilege for me to serve you!
- To be the flock of God means to be in ministry together, to walk with God, stand against the devil and love one another, it is a great privilege to seek the will of God, to do the will of God and be in the place he has called you, can we continue to walk this walk together, into eternity?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
evangelism:through the local church
Evangelism: mission through the local church
- Decade of evangelism…. to evangelize “is to make known by word and deed the love of the crucified and risen Christ in the power of the holy spirit so that people will repent, believe and receive Christ as their Saviour and obediently serve him as their Lord in the fellowship of his Church.
- Not a modern idea, in 1571 Bishop John Jewel of Salisbury, “if any man be a Christian and not profess his faith he gives men occasion to doubt whether or not he has the grace of the holy spirit within him because he is tongue toed and doth not speak
Forms of evangelism
- It takes different forms, Jesus with the Samaritan woman and Philip with the Ethiopian this is Personal evangelism, which is still our duty today to share with those near to us who do not know Christ
- Mass evangelism, despite some American tv evangelists, this method has been blessed by God, Jesus spoke to the masses, Paul to the pagans of Lystra and the philosophers of Athens, Wesley, Whitefield, Bily Graham, millions have found faith and grown in their faith through their ministries.
- However local church evangelism can claim to be the most normal, natural and productive method of spreading the gospel today.
- 2 reasons for this, 1 argument from scripture, according to peter the church is a royal priesthood that is to offer spiritual sacrifices to God (worship) and a holy nation to spread God’s praises (witness), so every church is called by God to be a worshipping and witnessing community
- If we truly worship God, acknowledging him and adoring his worth, experiencing his presence and his pleasure, we find ourselves impelled to make him known to others, so they can worship him, so worship leads to witness and witness leads to worship, Perpetual cycle
- Example of Thessalonians, the message came to them, they welcomed it, the message rang out from you, every church must pass the gospel on, it is still God’s principal of evangelism, if all churches had been faithful to this, the world would long ago have been evangelized!
- 2nd reason, argument from strategy, every church is set in a certain place, it’s first mission is to the people who live there. Any political party would be hugely jealous of the resources we have in terms of buildings, personnel, we have so much that if it were fired up for local mission much of what we complain about wouldn’t happen because the Church would have stood in the breach.
- Bill Hybels, the local church is the hope for the world, Stott the local church is the primary agent for evangelism, but it must understand itself, organize itself, express itself and be itself
The church must understand itself: it’s theology
- many churches are sick because of a false self image, they do not know who they are or what they are called to be (identity and vocation), the importance of having an accurate self image is vital for mental health in humans, it is equally true of churches
- at least tow false images of the church today, the first is the religious club or introverted Christianity, like a golf club but God instead of golf, they enjoy doing religious things, pay their fees and so are entitled to certain privileges, in fact they concentrate on status and the advantages of being part of the club and forget the world
- William temple, the church is the only co operative society that exists for it’s non members, instead they are introverted, like an ingrown toenail, of course we have a responsibility to one another, the NT tells us this, but our main job is worship and witness for and to God.
- The opposite extreme the secular mission, or religionless Christianity, this really began in the 60’s were understandably Christians were exasperated with the self centered nature of the church, and so they exchanged the worship services for the secular city, no longer interested in worship services only worship service, worship was mission, love for God as neighbour, prayer to God as encounter with people.
- An over reaction undoubtedly, but they have a point, all this naval gazing the church does as the bible tells us sickens God, but we must never confuse mission with worship, there is overlap but they are not the same.
- There is a third way which combines the two, where we realise there is a duty to worship God and witness to the world, this is a double identity, incarnational Christianity, Holy worldliness, we are called out of the world, to be separate, but God calls us back to the world to let them know of Jesus.
- In the world but not of it, best example is of course Jesus, fully human, but never sacrificed or compromised his own unique identity, he was the perfect example of holy worldliness
- He sends us out as the father sent him, to enter into the worlds of others, their thinking, feeling, living, this is costly, but we do not pay with our integrity, we are called to maintain the standards of Jesus.
- Seldom has the church managed in history to maintain it’s God given double identity of holy worldliness, sometimes it has withdrawn, at other times conformed to the world, but to maintain it’s calling the church must faithfully hold both it’s holiness and worldliness in balance so the will of God is done.
- The bible shows us the way to go, and what to say but we have nothing to say if we are compromised by the world, but also we have no one to serve because we are insulated and cut off, be in the world but not of it, and we can only do that in the strength of Christ
The church must organize itself: It’s structures
- too often we are organized for holiness rather than worldliness, our church is not for itself it is built for others, the centre lies outside itself, too often we are a waiting church, waiting for people to come in and then conform them to the way we do things.
- If our structures are inflexible and self centered then we I believe are heretical, because we need to be in here to accommodate us going out there, if all we do is stay in here then we are living a lie.
- Too often our structures mean that we spend all our time in here, with meetings and business, with our church, our people, we become occupied with church when being a church actually means bearing witness to Christ in the world.
- Sometimes I wonder if we should simply meet on a Sunday for worship, fellowship and teaching, then scatter for the rest of the week to get our hands dirty for Jesus. Then we follow our double identity of holy worldliness
- How then can we organize ourselves, well should we not be conducting a survey, examining ourselves, testing ourselves to see if we are reflecting our identity our vision, of asking the hard questions. To see if we are organized for ourselves or do we serve God and the community
- In fact we should also have a community survey to see whether our church is penetrating the community for Christ (that is a job for outreach!)
- Ask questions like an outsider, what does our Church building look like? Chapels in France, keep out! Church services what are we saying to visitors, Church membership do we leave everything to the minister and a few others, or do we realize that the NT teaches everyone of us has a ministry church programme do we tie people down to do things or release them to be active for Christ in the community? Do we provide training? Do you get an idea and run with it or say what a shame no one has ever done that? What changes do we need to make, many many things have come out of our vision supper, but we need to keep casting the vision to let people know that Jesus is alive and they can find him here
- Let’s make the tough decisions to step out of our comfort zones so that others are with us in eternity.
The church must express itself: it’s message
- not enough to understand and organize, we need to articulate our message, evangelism means sharing the good news, the essence of which is Jesus Christ, Philip, Paul spoke of the good news of Jesus, we must speak of him, his death and resurrection
- How do we do this? Two extremes to avoid total fixity where you have a set talk and you cannot move from this and often the words you have make no sense
- Total fluidity where people just discover it by entering into a Christian event or service.
- Middle way we have to think, see everyone we meet as a person with a need to meet Jesus, but in the same way that Jesus treated everyone differently so do we, and some will believe and others will not, but that should never stop us from telling of the hope that we have in a sensitive and loving way.
The church must be itself: it’s life
- The church is God’s new society, a taste of what is to come, the good news seen, people learn by what they see and experience much more than they hear, people have to see that the gospel we preach has transformed us!
- It is people who communicate, not primarily words or ideas, authenticity. If our life contradicts, our evangelism will lack all credibility.
- 1 john 4 :12, no one has seen God but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us
- The Lord is invisible………he is spirit, it is still a challenge for faith today, science has shaped our age, we will believe when we see him.
- How does God overcome this? The world shows his glory, he revealed himself in his son, the third way? He is seen in Christians, God is seen through the quality of our loving of one another, if we do not love one another we do not love God, that simple.
- Nothing so damaging as a church torn apart by jealously, rivalry, slander, malice or selfishness, a church like that needs to be renewed by love, or die, image of dry rot!
Conclusion
- Church must grasp double identity, organize itself developing a mission strategy to reflect being in the world but not of it, it must express verbally the gospel by being faithful to scripture and relevant to the world today and fourthly it must be itself, transformed into a community of love that makes the invisible God visible to the world
- Decade of evangelism…. to evangelize “is to make known by word and deed the love of the crucified and risen Christ in the power of the holy spirit so that people will repent, believe and receive Christ as their Saviour and obediently serve him as their Lord in the fellowship of his Church.
- Not a modern idea, in 1571 Bishop John Jewel of Salisbury, “if any man be a Christian and not profess his faith he gives men occasion to doubt whether or not he has the grace of the holy spirit within him because he is tongue toed and doth not speak
Forms of evangelism
- It takes different forms, Jesus with the Samaritan woman and Philip with the Ethiopian this is Personal evangelism, which is still our duty today to share with those near to us who do not know Christ
- Mass evangelism, despite some American tv evangelists, this method has been blessed by God, Jesus spoke to the masses, Paul to the pagans of Lystra and the philosophers of Athens, Wesley, Whitefield, Bily Graham, millions have found faith and grown in their faith through their ministries.
- However local church evangelism can claim to be the most normal, natural and productive method of spreading the gospel today.
- 2 reasons for this, 1 argument from scripture, according to peter the church is a royal priesthood that is to offer spiritual sacrifices to God (worship) and a holy nation to spread God’s praises (witness), so every church is called by God to be a worshipping and witnessing community
- If we truly worship God, acknowledging him and adoring his worth, experiencing his presence and his pleasure, we find ourselves impelled to make him known to others, so they can worship him, so worship leads to witness and witness leads to worship, Perpetual cycle
- Example of Thessalonians, the message came to them, they welcomed it, the message rang out from you, every church must pass the gospel on, it is still God’s principal of evangelism, if all churches had been faithful to this, the world would long ago have been evangelized!
- 2nd reason, argument from strategy, every church is set in a certain place, it’s first mission is to the people who live there. Any political party would be hugely jealous of the resources we have in terms of buildings, personnel, we have so much that if it were fired up for local mission much of what we complain about wouldn’t happen because the Church would have stood in the breach.
- Bill Hybels, the local church is the hope for the world, Stott the local church is the primary agent for evangelism, but it must understand itself, organize itself, express itself and be itself
The church must understand itself: it’s theology
- many churches are sick because of a false self image, they do not know who they are or what they are called to be (identity and vocation), the importance of having an accurate self image is vital for mental health in humans, it is equally true of churches
- at least tow false images of the church today, the first is the religious club or introverted Christianity, like a golf club but God instead of golf, they enjoy doing religious things, pay their fees and so are entitled to certain privileges, in fact they concentrate on status and the advantages of being part of the club and forget the world
- William temple, the church is the only co operative society that exists for it’s non members, instead they are introverted, like an ingrown toenail, of course we have a responsibility to one another, the NT tells us this, but our main job is worship and witness for and to God.
- The opposite extreme the secular mission, or religionless Christianity, this really began in the 60’s were understandably Christians were exasperated with the self centered nature of the church, and so they exchanged the worship services for the secular city, no longer interested in worship services only worship service, worship was mission, love for God as neighbour, prayer to God as encounter with people.
- An over reaction undoubtedly, but they have a point, all this naval gazing the church does as the bible tells us sickens God, but we must never confuse mission with worship, there is overlap but they are not the same.
- There is a third way which combines the two, where we realise there is a duty to worship God and witness to the world, this is a double identity, incarnational Christianity, Holy worldliness, we are called out of the world, to be separate, but God calls us back to the world to let them know of Jesus.
- In the world but not of it, best example is of course Jesus, fully human, but never sacrificed or compromised his own unique identity, he was the perfect example of holy worldliness
- He sends us out as the father sent him, to enter into the worlds of others, their thinking, feeling, living, this is costly, but we do not pay with our integrity, we are called to maintain the standards of Jesus.
- Seldom has the church managed in history to maintain it’s God given double identity of holy worldliness, sometimes it has withdrawn, at other times conformed to the world, but to maintain it’s calling the church must faithfully hold both it’s holiness and worldliness in balance so the will of God is done.
- The bible shows us the way to go, and what to say but we have nothing to say if we are compromised by the world, but also we have no one to serve because we are insulated and cut off, be in the world but not of it, and we can only do that in the strength of Christ
The church must organize itself: It’s structures
- too often we are organized for holiness rather than worldliness, our church is not for itself it is built for others, the centre lies outside itself, too often we are a waiting church, waiting for people to come in and then conform them to the way we do things.
- If our structures are inflexible and self centered then we I believe are heretical, because we need to be in here to accommodate us going out there, if all we do is stay in here then we are living a lie.
- Too often our structures mean that we spend all our time in here, with meetings and business, with our church, our people, we become occupied with church when being a church actually means bearing witness to Christ in the world.
- Sometimes I wonder if we should simply meet on a Sunday for worship, fellowship and teaching, then scatter for the rest of the week to get our hands dirty for Jesus. Then we follow our double identity of holy worldliness
- How then can we organize ourselves, well should we not be conducting a survey, examining ourselves, testing ourselves to see if we are reflecting our identity our vision, of asking the hard questions. To see if we are organized for ourselves or do we serve God and the community
- In fact we should also have a community survey to see whether our church is penetrating the community for Christ (that is a job for outreach!)
- Ask questions like an outsider, what does our Church building look like? Chapels in France, keep out! Church services what are we saying to visitors, Church membership do we leave everything to the minister and a few others, or do we realize that the NT teaches everyone of us has a ministry church programme do we tie people down to do things or release them to be active for Christ in the community? Do we provide training? Do you get an idea and run with it or say what a shame no one has ever done that? What changes do we need to make, many many things have come out of our vision supper, but we need to keep casting the vision to let people know that Jesus is alive and they can find him here
- Let’s make the tough decisions to step out of our comfort zones so that others are with us in eternity.
The church must express itself: it’s message
- not enough to understand and organize, we need to articulate our message, evangelism means sharing the good news, the essence of which is Jesus Christ, Philip, Paul spoke of the good news of Jesus, we must speak of him, his death and resurrection
- How do we do this? Two extremes to avoid total fixity where you have a set talk and you cannot move from this and often the words you have make no sense
- Total fluidity where people just discover it by entering into a Christian event or service.
- Middle way we have to think, see everyone we meet as a person with a need to meet Jesus, but in the same way that Jesus treated everyone differently so do we, and some will believe and others will not, but that should never stop us from telling of the hope that we have in a sensitive and loving way.
The church must be itself: it’s life
- The church is God’s new society, a taste of what is to come, the good news seen, people learn by what they see and experience much more than they hear, people have to see that the gospel we preach has transformed us!
- It is people who communicate, not primarily words or ideas, authenticity. If our life contradicts, our evangelism will lack all credibility.
- 1 john 4 :12, no one has seen God but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us
- The Lord is invisible………he is spirit, it is still a challenge for faith today, science has shaped our age, we will believe when we see him.
- How does God overcome this? The world shows his glory, he revealed himself in his son, the third way? He is seen in Christians, God is seen through the quality of our loving of one another, if we do not love one another we do not love God, that simple.
- Nothing so damaging as a church torn apart by jealously, rivalry, slander, malice or selfishness, a church like that needs to be renewed by love, or die, image of dry rot!
Conclusion
- Church must grasp double identity, organize itself developing a mission strategy to reflect being in the world but not of it, it must express verbally the gospel by being faithful to scripture and relevant to the world today and fourthly it must be itself, transformed into a community of love that makes the invisible God visible to the world
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