Developing Ministry Teams: Equipping and Empowering God’s People for Ministry

1. Developing Ministry Teams:Equipping and Empowering God’s People for Ministry Facilitator: W. C. Dishon Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry Chaplain for Adult and Graduate Studies MVNU (Fall, 2002) Previous Pastoral Experience: Port Arthur, TX; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kansas City, Fort Wayne, Houston Prior Experience: Administrative Assistant, Dept. of Evangelism, Church of the Nazarene (3 years)

2. School of Theology and Philosophy

3. As a leading manufacturer of performance products for over 50 years, STP’s heritage has made it one of the most trusted names in automotive care. • Regular use of STP® products as part of basic maintenance can help your vehicle run better, last longer and be more fuel-efficient.

4. Reduces friction • Improves efficiency • Increases power

5. Good Theology does that in the Church! • Reduces friction • Improves efficiency • Increases power

6. EcclesiologyTheology of the Church Good ecclesiology frees the people of God, the Church, • to grow toward maturity as disciples of Jesus Christ and • to effectively serve, or minister, in the power of His Spirit, as channels of His love and grace.

7. Ecclesiology Good ecclesiology leads to-- “Building the Church by Being the Church”

8. Ecclesiology • Christ’s prophesy and promise: I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18). 1. The Church is Christ’s and is His doing. The ultimate responsibility for building the Church is His, not ours. 2. We are co-workers in that process. Our responsibility is to faithfully obey the Spirit of Jesus Christ as He works in and through us in the task of building His Church.

9. Ecclesiology 3. The Church will prevail. -Whatever the enemy does, he is doomed to fail. -While individual local churches may wither and even die, the Church will always survive. -Just as He called the Church into being by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Jesus Christ will continue building His Church through the work of His Spirit until it reaches completion and he returns to take his bride to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19, Eph. 5).

10. Ecclesiology • C. S. Lewis in ScrewtapeLetters: One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans” (p. 15).

11. Ecclesiology • The Church is a divine organism. The Church is neither an accident of human history nor the result of a master plan strategy concocted by the disciples to keep alive the memory of a great man, Jesus Christ. Instead, Scripture clearly portrays the Church as God’s doing. Called into being by the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost when his fiery presence freed those in the Upper Room from a carnal preoccupation with self, He fused them together with Jesus Christ and with one another into a new unity now characterized by genuine love for God and for one another. Symbolized by the sound of wind, the Spirit breathed life into this new unity and it became a living organism.

12. The Church • What is the purpose/mission of this divine organism, the church? • To build buildings? • To develop organizations? • To gather a crowd? • To make converts?

13. The Church • No, while any or all of those may be involved, the purpose/mission of the church is to make disciples! • By baptizing • By teaching • Matthew 28:19-20

14. Disciples are: • Fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ • People who are growing in Christ-likeness • People who increasingly ‘think like Jesus’

15. Disciples are: • To become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning to both God and neighbor. What follows from there is a journey which . . . never ends in this life, a journey of continually discovering new dimensions of loving God and neighbor (David Bosch, Transforming Mission).

16. Disciples are: • It is not our responsibility to make people “Christians” and get them baptized into a particular denomination, but rather to help people decide to follow Jesus and his radical message. Maybe this is why the New Testament writers only use “Christian” three times but “disciple” on 269 occasions! (Tom Getman, World Vision).

17. Disciples are: • It has become popular to preach a painless Christianity and automatic saintliness. It has become part of our “instant” culture. “Just pour a little water on it, stir mildly, pick up a gospel tract, and your are on your Christian way” (A. W. Tozer, Jesus, Author of Our Faith).

18. Disciples are: • A disciple is one who responds in faith and obedience to the gracious call of Jesus Christ. Being a disciple is a lifelong process of dying to self while allowing Jesus Christ to come alive in us (Greg Ogden, Discipleship Essentials).

19. Disciples are: • People who share Paul’s commitment: • For to me to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21). • I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20-21). • People who share Paul’s confidence: • Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6). • and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be (Rom. 5:2 LB).

20. The purpose/mission of the church is: • To make Christ-like disciples and to facilitate their growth toward Christ-likeness • To nurture disciples toward maturity in Christ-likeness: It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13).

21. Developing Maturing Disciples What does a mature disciple look like? What are the qualities, traits that characterize a mature, Christ-like disciple?

22. Profile of Holistic DiscipleshipLower Lights Community Church of the Nazarene • Heart • (The core of your being) • 1) Motivated by a growing Love for God, others, self. • 2) A movement away from self-serving motives and • toward motives that are God-glorifying. • Desires to be totally pure (Christ-like) in motive of heart.

23. Profile of Holistic DiscipleshipLower Lights Community Church of the Nazarene Soul (Emotions, Will, and Thoughts) 1) You know and accept that God has forgiven your sins, you have forgiven yourself for your past sins, and have extended forgiveness to others who have sinned against you. When appropriate, you have attempted reconciliation. 2) Your identity is in Christ not in what you do or your vocation or your status. 3) Recognizes that emotions are healthy as long as they are handled or responded to in Christ-like ways.

24. Profile of Holistic DiscipleshipLower Lights Community Church of the Nazarene SOUL(cont.) 4) Worshipping regularly, both privately and corporately. 5) Practicing Spiritual Disciplines of scripture reading, prayer, fasting, meditation, journaling, etc. which leads to a growing understanding of God’s will. 6) A contributing part of the fellowship both socially and in ministry. 7) A growing confidence in God that leads to greater obedience. 8) Recognizes all is God’s and we are stewards of it. 9) Is involved with outreach to neighbors, family, co- workers.

25. Profile of Holistic DiscipleshipLower Lights Community Church of the Nazarene Strength (The physical body) 1) A Christian understanding of sexuality 2) Abstaining from substances that cause harm to the body and others (tobacco, alcohol, drugs) 3) Developing a lifestyle that is God-honoring and leads to health for the body.

26. Developing Maturing Disciples • It is essential for those involved in pastoral ministry to keep this purpose clearly in mind. • We should routinely evaluate our effectiveness. • Willowcreek--REVEAL

27. Ecclesiology • The Dominant N.T. Image for the Church– Body, a Divine Organism: • 1 Corinthians 12:12: The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. • Romans 12:4-5: Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body . . .

28. Ecclesiology • Organism vs. Organization: • Organization-An association of individuals and derives its power from those individuals. • Organism-Common life shared by individual members who derive power from the source of that life. • The life-giving, empowering presence of the Holy Spirit is essential to the existence and function of the Church as a divine organism.

29. Ecclesiology • Are “organism” and “organization” mutually exclusive? • Or is there a place for both in the life of the Church?

30. Ecclesiology • Christ is the Head of His Body, the Church: • Ephesians 1:22: And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. • Ephesians 4:15: Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ.

31. Ecclesiology • The Spirit Is the Giver of Life and Gifts. • Pentecost: • “The Holy Spirit has generated the Church. . . . This appears quite plainly in the story of Pentecost” (Kraemer, p. 126). • “Pentecost is more than the birth of the church; it is the indwelling power of the Spirit of Christ as the source of the church’s life and ministry” (Anderson, p. 111).

32. Ecclesiology • Without the Spirit’s presence and work, the Church is lifeless and dead. • Never true of the Church of Jesus Christ • May be true of individual local body of believers • May be true of individual member • 95% • There is no substitute!

33. Ecclesiology • Holy Spirit is the giver of gifts. • Each part of the body makes some contribution as enabled by the Spirit. • Primary scriptures: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 • Define: “Divine abilities distributed by the Holy Spirit to every believer according to God’s design and grace for the common good of the body of Christ” (Bugbee, 52).

34. Ecclesiology • How many and what are they? • Specific, fixed number? • Comprehensive lists? • Single or in clusters? • Infinite variety? • “There appear to be as many gifts available to the community as there are needs, with some highlighted in each community according to the ministry focus” (Anderson, The Soul of Ministry).

35. Ecclesiology • Points to emphasize: • All God’s children have gifts. • These gifts are intended for the common good. • As stewards of the grace of God, we will give account for the use of these gifts. • Therefore, each person who is part of the body is called to ministry.

36. Developing Maturing Disciples Who Minister • Every Believer is a Minister. • Called to walk as Jesus walked: • Whoeverclaims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:6 • To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21 • Starts with a servant attitude. • Mark 10:43-45 • Philippians 2:1-8

37. Developing Maturing Disciples Who Minister • Impact of consumer mentality on church • “The roots of the church’s identity crisis are found in the consumer mentality so pervasive in our culture…. People flit about in search of what suits their taste at the moment…. People change congregations and preachers and even denominations as readily as they change banks or grocery stores…. Capitulating to consumerism has profound consequences for the church. It changes the very character of the church” (Colson and Vaughn, The Body).

38. Developing Maturing Disciples Who Minister • “It is hard to move people from a consumer mind-set to a servant lifestyle when so much in their world militates against this transition. Yet, it is exactly this transformation that will provide them with the greatest joy and maturity. To build an equipping culture in a sea of opposing forces requires bold prayer, careful strategy, and persistent, never-ending work.” (Mallory & Smith, Equipping Church Guidebook)

39. Every Believer is a Minister. • The Church’s goal: not a congregation of consumers, but an army of disciples. • Failure to move people from self-centered consumers to committed servants will undermine the very nature and function of the Church as the body of Christ. • The lack of willingness to serve one another within any local body of believers will render that church ineffective.

40. Every Believer is a Minister. • The Biblical Ideal: • Mark 10:45: “Diakonia” (serve, minister) • John 20:21: As the Father has sent me, even so send I you. • “The more we study the early Church the more we realize that it was a society of ministers” (Trueblood, Incendiary Fellowship). • “If you are a Christian, you are a minister…. Every layperson is called to ministry” (Garlow, Partners in Ministry).

41. Every Believer is a Minister. • Agree or Disagree? Why? “In our time it may well be that the greatest single bottleneck to the renewal and outreach of the church is the division of roles between clergy and laity that results in a hesitancy of the clergy to trust the laity with significant responsibility, and in turn a reluctance on the part of the laity to trust themselves as authentic ministers of Christ, either in the church or outside the church” (Robert Munger, quoted in The New Reformation).

42. Every Believer is a Minister. • The Church Gathered and Scattered: “The renewal of the Church will be in progress when it is seen as a fellowship of consciously inadequate persons who gather because they are weak, and scatter to serve because their unity with one another and with Christ has made them bold. This is the only kind of Christianity that can stand up to the challenge of the militant paganism and the fanaticism of the new Left. It will win, in the long run, because it is more revolutionary than they are” (Trueblood, Incendiary Fellowship).

43. Church Gathered and Scattered • Church Gathered: The Base • Hebrews 10:25 • Koinonia • Equipping • Church Scattered: The Field • Stevens, The Other Six Days • Refers tothe Church out in the world, between Sundays

44. Church Gathered and Scattered • Challenge: • To get beyond the sacred/secular split in one’s thinking and living • To avoid compartmentalizing one’s life and Christianity

45. Church Gathered and Scattered • Trueblood: “We gather in order to scatter! The Church is a particular fellowship of men and women involved in common life, sharing the life of Christ, who assemble with one another for the purpose of sending. Christians are perpetually being ‘sent out’” (Mark 6:7).

46. Church Gathered and Scattered • Slocum: “When I search for my place as part of the Church Scattered, I must get in touch with my own spiritual gifts—the special gift or gifts placed in my life by the Holy Spirit. These gifts are valid and active all week long. I must look at my vocation and ask, ‘What is God calling me to do?’ . . . I must ask what it means personally to follow Jesus Christ into my everyday world.”

47. Church Gathered and Scattered • Ephesians 4:11-16: It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

48. Church Gathered and Scattered • Issue 1: Who does the work of ministry? • Issue 2: Who does the equipping? • Issue 3: How do we understand “prepare?”

49. Church Gathered and Scattered • To Mend and Restore:* • Fix what is broken. • Bring back into proper alignment. • Supply what is lacking. • To Establish and Lay Foundations: • Jesus Christ, the True Foundation • The Word of God • Modeling, the Incarnational Way

50. Church Gathered and Scattered • To Prepare and Train: • A spiritual gifts-oriented church • A sense of call • Specialized training *Ogden, Greg. (2001). Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing.