Pensees: Quote of the Week

This book has affected my approach to pastoral ministry as much as any I have read. Very good. I believe (and hope) that there is a renewed emphasis in fundamental churches on the “decentralization of ministry” that is taught in passages like Eph. 4:11-12 & II Timothy 2:2 and that is reflected in quotes like Hull’s. Very, very good. I’ll try to get back later with some similar quotes from the same book and some others. Thanks, Bob.

It is a good book. I read it first a number of years ago and am now perusing it again, enjoying the highlights and notes that I marked in previous readings.

Chris,

No question - The decentralized approach is so important for so many reasons. I will soon be presenting some thoughts on this in a public forum. Chris, it’s refreshing to have you on the right side of an issue - make this a habit my friend! :)

Joel Tetreau

Joel,

You’re funny. I’m usually on the “right” side of the issue. Whether I’m usually correct is open to debate, though I believe the right side is usually the right side. Speaking of rightness, I believe that your post (albeit shorter than most) had no spelling errors. NONE! I commend you. “Make this a habit my friend.”

Regarding every-member ministry, it’s been a passion of mine since TCBC was planted 7+ years ago. I’ve preached on it, made it part of our Orientation, included it in our purpose statement, proclaimed it in every bulletin, etc. The kicker is, it’s easier to preach on it than actually accomplish it. I just had a conversation today with our new Assistant Pastor regarding that very issue. Among the many contributions he brings, I believe that he’ll be able to help us administrate our ministry in such a way that our philosophy becomes more apparent in our practice. I’m thrilled about it. The Lord is good.

A discussion of practical ways to see this kind of thing happen more consistently would be helpful. We’re progressing, but there’s still much to be done. BTW, good “Bible Church polity” helps. :-)

Chris

Here are some of the challenging quotations I mentioned:

Augustus Strong: “That minister is most successful who gets the whole body to move, and who renders the church independent of himself. The test of his work is not while he is with them, but after he leaves them. Then it can be seen whether he has taught them to follow him, or to follow Christ; whether he has led them to the formation of habits of independent Christian activity, or whether he has made them passively dependent upon himself.” (Systematic Theology, p. 908)

C.H. Spurgeon: “Every man, woman or child who is in our churches should be set to work for the Lord.” (The Soul Winner, p. 129)

Bill Hull: “The most sacred duty of the pastor is to get the work of the ministry done through others.” (Disciple Making Pastor, p. 88)

Note: Though I loved this book, I really didn’t appreciate The Disciple Making Church. It seemed so program-ish. I know, I know: that’s the kind of practical help I probably lack. Maybe it deserves another read, but I was underwhelmed the first time.

One more thing: I stated earlier that Ephesians 4:11-12 is crucial to a right philosophy of pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, few translations do justice to the change in prepositions that is so crucial to understanding the purpose of pastoral ministry. The American Standard Version of 1901 is a happy exception:

“…for (pros) the perfecting of the saints, unto (eis) the work of ministering, unto (eis) the building up of the body of Christ.”

Sorry to write so much. You hit a nerve.

Chris

Chris,

Good nerve! I had the same impression of the “disciple-making church.” Seemed like the necessary sequel to the original. But it didn’t do much for me.

My recent dust-up with a large church seemed to confirm to me that too many churches in the US are simply too large. They cannot practically do what a local church is supposed to do for an individual. John Gill made the interesting point that a church should not be larger than what can meet under one roof at the same time… Of course, that was before PA systems! But his point seemed to be that the pastoral/lay interaction would be harmed by too large a crowd.

Rambling, but the local church has a special part of my heart too.

bob

Chris,

Good thoughts. It is possible to have a plurality of elders and still hold to a Baptist Polity. But I laugh - We have been accused of being a Bible church on a few occasions.

Here are a few practical ways to allow a decentralized approach to ministry:

1. Spread the ministry load around the congregation to coincide with believer’s gifts or SHAPE.

2. Allow the congregation to really minister. Make it your buisness to find a ministry for every mature believer in the congregation.

3. If your the Senior Pastor - don’t make every service a time for “preacher talk!” Let others preach and teach. Share the pulpit!

4. If your the pastor, look for elders who may be coming up in the ranks of the church membership. It makes NT sense that leadership is often (no always - but often) best grown from within than brought in from “without.”

5. Consider Small Group ministries. The early NT Church meet in the large settings as well as the small ones in the early church. There are 30 some odd “one-another” responsibilities found in the NT - how many of those can really be fulfilled in the large Sunday meeting?

6. Allow Decision-making to happen on all levels. Why not allow the individual with the gifts and abilities and responsibility of that ministry to make the bulk of the decisions for that ministry? Do we always have to micro-manage the Lord’s work? Sure if they head in a dangerous direction we should be there to warn and then help.

7. Why organize so that all of the ministry happens within the walls of one’s church building. Why not organize to allow ministry to happen “out there.”

8. Another way to encourage decentralization is to encourage members to have “ministry time” with their unsaved and unchurched neighbors and friends. Why not once or twice a quarter not meet for an evening service - or not meet for a Mid-Week service and challenge the folks to use that time to build redemptive relationship. Remind them that some of those “ministry occasions” can accomplish more ministry than the official “time-slots” for ministry!

9. Why not open ministry planning up to the congregation?

10. Why not ask folks for their suggestions for real-life ministry?

11. Why not have ministry-wide occasions when you can review SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats?

12. Here’s one for a few churches out there - Why not have an open book policy so that giving memeber of the congregation can see how the ministry money is being spent? I would love to say more here - I will resist for the time.

These are just a few ways we decentralize. There are more…

Thanks Chris! Blessings Bob!

Joel Tetreau

Great thoughts, Joel. Your suggestions should provide for some profitable discussion with Joe (my friend & our new asst. pastor) & the godly elders the Lord has raised up here. Thanks.

Funny how much we agree on these things: we start a small group ministry January 8th, and we’ve kicked around the idea of having an outreach night on the 5th Sunday night of a month. Whether or not we’ll still be considered fundamental at that point may be a matter for future discussion. ;-)

Thanks for the profitable discussion, guys.

Chris

p.s. I try not to bring much attention to our people’s SHAPEs. What’s that about?

And yes, I know of several Baptist churches with biblical polity. :-D

Chris,

Thrilled to hear of your direction into small groups - We are just about ready to start our 12th. We have 11 that meet at various times and days. They are a major blessing the congregation. Here is another benefit from small groups - we have 11 leaders and most of those groups have ass’t leaders - that means theoretically we have 20 leaders being tranined in the art of leadership.

SHAPE stands for the following:

S - spiritual gifts. Everyone has at least one - most have more than one. Every believer gets these in some form at the “new birth.”

H - heart - everyone is passionate about something in ministry - we try to find out what that is.

A - Abilities - these are natural abilities we picked up from the “gene pool.” They also come from God and should be considered when determining placement within the ministry structure of a congregation.

P - Personaltiy - we all have one. Leaders, followers, agressive, passive, etc….Also a roll in ministry.

E - Experiences - Vocational, Educational, Ministry, Family, even Painful - All of these are ordained - 100% ordained to create the believers SHAPE - Then we take that SHAPE and plug it into ministry. Chris, When an entire body is ministering according to their God-given SHAPE - Wow - that’s powerful.

Blessings Bro!

Joel

PS - I know you’re not really worried about the opinion of the “brethren!” We all believe that Church Health is far more important!

You guys have a Great Christmas!