I have been taking in some info again lately on Church leadership etc... and one thing that has come up is that the Church needs to do more than just pray, the leaders need to do more than just read their Bibles and such talk then ends with an encouragement towards strategic planning. Yet I am not convinced. Sure I agree with the logic of failing to plan is planning to fail, but maybe the modern Church movements are to concerned with their model upgrades, strategic planning and visionary goal setting. Not that it is wrong to move forward but I believe we are not spending enough time in taking the "Church" back to the Biblical model.
The Bible gives us plain teaching about the operating principles for the Church. Read the New Testament starting with Acts and look for how the Church did things, how leadership was trained up, how leaders were put in place, how the Church grew and was established and how multiplication of Churches occurred. You can see a pretty clear pattern of principles for the Church to operate by. Our Mission has not changed, we are to go and make disciples, baptising them and training them. The process of going through life and taking the testimony of the Gospel of Jesus with us is still to be how we live. The Church is to expand because we take the message of the Gospel to the lost world around us and as people respond to Jesus we form new local Church communities. In these new Church communities we train and equip the new believers until they are ready to move forward in an autonomous and yet interdependent way as a part of the greater Mission of the Kingdom.
So here is what I see taught plainly in the Bible as a strategy for the Church. If you are starting as a Church planter like the early Apostles, then begin by loving the community around you enough to share the Truth of a Biblical Gospel of repentance found in Jesus. Then take the new believers and begin to train them and baptise them and continue to train them so that they would be true Disciples of Jesus. Part of this training is to get everyone to serve with their gifts and abilities, to grow as leaders and to know how to go and make more Disciples of Jesus. This should lead to more Churches being established. Proper Biblical strategy replicates roles as well as abilities, we should not fear that we are training someone to take our role, we should enjoy that reality.
If you are starting in an existing Church situation then you have a harder job. You need to begin by helping your current Church get on board with the Biblical mission we have been given by our Lord Jesus. Then follow the same principles as above but they should be happening out of the team in your current Church, instead of the lone or small Church planting team.
The Biblical model allows for big Churches and small Churches but whether big or small, they are all to be "replicating" Churches. No Church should set a strategy based on a singular high calibre leader, rather the high calibre leader needs to do the hard work of replicating their ministry in others who are called to join them in it. Then as the Church grows it will be ready to replicate. Too many large Churches today have embraced a model that allows for the glorification of people by seeking to create larger and larger audiences for them to talk to or sing to etc... These types of paradigms create an attitude that it is better to listen to this particular person and so we will add another thousand seats to grow, or we will add three more satellite locations to grow. Instead they should be preparing other leaders to grow where new work is needed. This way the model can be replicated easily also it is a better fit for the way the Bible teaches us to grow Churches.
Believe me it can be a struggle, but more and more I am convinced that it is the road I must stay on. I must seek at all costs to follow the Biblical model. You can choose to join me in this, not by moving here and joining FFBC (although you are welcome) but by making a commitment to be Biblical as much as you can be and to be a part of helping your local Church to do the same.
Let us walk together
Pastor Bruce
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