Geoff Waugh
Vision
for Ministry
Geoff
Waugh is the editor of the Renewal Journal.
The job Jesus gave us is still the
same.
The context of that job keeps
changing.
Accelerating change is changing us
and the church. Already the one hour
(11 am to noon) hymn-sandwich church service held in a ‘typical’ church
building with wooden pews and an organ which stands empty most of the time, is
looking like ancient history – and very bad stewardship. It may not be wrong (and God can use
anything), but it’s not in the Bible, and it’s fading into history.
Nearly 2000 years ago Jesus gave us
our job: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, so go and
make people my disciples … and I am with you all the way even to the end of the
age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
His final promise told us how we
would do that: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you
and you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
That’s still our job, and we can
only do it by the power of the Holy Spirit – as Jesus did. However, the context and the way of doing
the job changes constantly.
There’s nothing there about
buildings, pews, spires, bells, organs, clerical garb, status (except
witnessing servants.
Change has changed. It is speeding up. We live in accelerating change.
Change changes our ministry, and us.
We think, feel and act differently from all previous generations. We perceive each day in new ways now. We plan and do more. Cars, phones, microwaves, TV and the
internet have changed us.
Church has changed. Church people walked to the services and
socialised together on Sundays for most of history; now millions drive cars,
and fill Sunday with many other activities.
Church life for most of history involved time with extended families;
now families are widely scattered.
1. Accelerating social change
Alvin Toffler wrote about the Third
Wave in sociology. He could find no
word adequate to encompass this current wave we live in, rejecting his own
earlier term, ‘super-industrial’, as too narrow. He wrote:
In
attempting so large-scale a synthesis, it has become necessary to simplify,
generalise, and compress. . . (so) this book divides civilisation into only
three parts - a First Wave agricultural phase, a Second Wave industrial
phase, and a Third Wave phase now beginning.
Humanity
faces a quantum leap forward. It faces
the deepest social upheaval and creative restructuring of all time. Without clearly recognising it, we are
engaged in building a remarkable new civilisation from the ground up. This is the meaning of the Third Wave.
Put
differently … we are the final generation of an old civilisation and the first
generation of a new one … [living] between the dying Second Wave civilisation
and the emergent Third Wave civilisation that is thundering in to take its
place.[1]
Think of church life during those
three waves.
1. Churches for most of 2000 years
of the First Wave agricultural phase were the village church with the
village priest (taught in a monastery) teaching the Bible to mostly illiterate
people, using Latin Bible parchments copied by hand for 1500 years. Worship involved chants without books or
music. These churches reflected rural
life, with feudal lords and peasants.
2. Churches in 500 years of the Second
Wave industrial phase (co-existing with the First Wave) became
denominational with many different churches in the towns as new denominations
emerged. Generations of families
belonged there all their life and read the printed Authorised (1511) version of
the Bible. They have been taught by
ministers trained in denominational theological colleges. Worship has involved organs used with hymns
and hymn books. These churches
reflected industrial town life, with bureaucracies such as denominations.
3. Churches in 50 years of the Third
Wave technological phase (co-existing with the Second Wave) are becoming
networks of independent churches and movements, among which people move
freely. They tend to be led by
charismatic, anointed, gifted, ‘apostolic’ servant-leaders, usually trained on
the job through local mentoring using part time courses in distance
education. Their people have a wide
range of Bible translations and use Bible tools in print, on CDs and on the
internet. Worship involves ministry
teams using instruments with overhead projection for songs and choruses. These churches reflect third wave
technological city life.
Some churches, of course, mix these
phases, especially now with the second wave receding and the third wave
swelling. For example, some
denominational churches, especially those ‘in renewal’, may have a gifted ‘lay’
senior pastor not trained in theological college. Some independent churches have theologically trained pastors with
doctoral degrees in ministry. Some
denominational churches function like independent churches in their leadership
and worship styles.
The huge changes we live through
now can be compared to a clock face representing the last 3,000 years, since
people recorded history, so each minute represents 50 years. On that scale the printing press came into
use about 10 minutes ago. About three
minutes ago, the telegraph, photograph and locomotive arrived. Two minutes ago the telephone, rotary press,
motion pictures, automobile, aeroplane, radio and emerged. Less than one minute ago television
appeared. Less than half a minute ago
the computer and then communication satellites became widely used, and the
laser beam seconds ago.[2]
A former General Secretary of the
United Nations, U Thant, noted that “it is no longer resources that limit
decisions. It is the decision that
makes the resources.”[3] He saw this as the fundamental revolutionary
change, the most revolutionary social change we have ever known.
Other writers focus on the problems
involved in accelerating change.
We live through problems never
experienced before. No nation and no
aspect of life can escape their pressure.
These include: the expansion of
population, the burst of technology, the discovery of new forms of energy, the
extension of knowledge, the rise of new nations, and
the world-wide rivalry of
ideologies.[4]
Accelerating change produces
uprooting which causes rootlessness in society through:
1.
the repeated moves of so many families (e.g. scattered relatives);
2.
the disruption of communities through urban sprawl (e.g. moving to new
churches) ;
3.
the increasing anonymity of urban life (e.g. the lonely crowd);
4.
the disruption of shift work (e.g. longer hours); and
5.
the fragmentation of the family (e.g. divorce now common).[5]
We live and minister in this revolutionary
‘post-modern’ era of rootlessness and changing values. This context gives us increasing
opportunities for loving, powerful witness and revival.
2. Accelerating church growth
Not only is the world population
exploding. So is the church. By 1960 the world population had passed 2.5
billion and in 30 years from then doubled to 5 billion. By 2000 it passed 6 billion. However, in most non-Western countries the
growth of the church already outstrips the population growth.
About 10% of Africa was Christian
in 1900. By 2000 it was about 50%
Christian in Africa south of the Sahara.
In 1900 Korea had few Christians.
Now over 40% of South Korea is Christian. By 1950 about 1 million in China were committed Christians. Now estimates range around 100 million.
Every week approximately one
thousand new churches are established in Asia and Africa alone. Places such as Korea, Ethiopia, China,
Central America, Indonesia and the Philippines are dramatic flash points of
growth.
What kind of church is
emerging? Over 500 million Christians
are pentecostal/charismatic.
The movement of the Holy Spirit
across the world in the twentieth century has far eclipsed the marvellous
beginning of that same movement in the early church. It continues to spread.
Churches change and grow in power – along with persecution.
Modern developments provide the
church with amazing resources. Already
reports of radio ministry into China and Russia tell how God uses this medium
powerfully, along with spontaneous expansion of the church through signs and
wonders. Preachers now reach into the
homes of people through television.
Millions are being won to Christ through The Jesus Film now
translated into over 500 languages.
Similarly, cassettes and video tapes proliferate, much of all this being
closely related to dynamic ministry in the power of the Spirit.
Some
fundamental principles now change how we function as a church. These dynamic changes recapture basic
biblical principles. They include:
Divine Headship –
from figurehead to functional head.
Servant Leadership –
from management to equipping
Church Membership –
from institutional to organic
Dynamic Networks –
from bureaucracy to relationships
Body Ministry –
from some to all
Spiritual Gifts –
from few to many
Obedient Mission –
from making decisions to making
disciples
Power Evangelism –
from programs to lifestyle
Kingdom Authority –
from words to deeds
- from figurehead to functional Head.
A Catholic prayer group in Texas realised that none of them had ever
obeyed Luke 14:12-14. They had not fed
and clothed the poor who could never repay them. A loving prophetic word from the Lord through a charismatically
gifted Sister called them to do that.
They all agreed it was from the Lord.
So they took enough food for 120 people working everyday (including
Christmas day) at the city garbage dump just over the river in Mexico, and they
all had Christmas dinner together there in the dump where the people were
working. Over 300 people turned up to
eat. The food multiplied. People brought relatives and everyone
ate. The eight carloads from the prayer
group ate. They had enough left over to take food to three orphanages.
Now a lively church exists there.
The sick are healed. Everyone at
the dump had TB originally. Within four years no one had it. Charismatic doctors see people healed
through medicine, prayer and miracles.
At regular meetings, not just on Sundays, people have more fun dancing
in church than in any dance hall. Their
worship involves everyone in singing, dancing, and praying for one another.[6]
If Jesus is really the functional head of his church, not just the
figurehead, how does that work?
Basically we listen to him, and just do what he says, in any group,
anywhere.
The disciples found it almost impossible to conceive of the kingdom of
God without equating it with the world’s kingdoms. So do we. We also find it
almost impossible to conceive of the church without equating it with our human
societies.
We tend to run the church according to social patterns. Church structures look like social
structures. The word ‘church’ often
refers to some social expression of the church, or to a building, neither of
which are biblical. So we have great
difficulty with the apparent lack of interest in the New Testament for
institutional models of the church.
The New Testament church grew, rapidly. It could be counted: 3,000; 5,000; and great multitudes. This was undoubtedly the church of Jesus
Christ, with all its faults. He lived
in the midst of his body.
The written and living word express the Lord’s headship in his church.
1. The Written Word
All scripture is the inspired word of God; God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16,17).
Scripture communicates the word of Christ to his church.
The headship of Christ in his church is eroded or denied when scripture
loses its authority. Conservative
churches including Charismatic and Pentecostal churches believe the Bible. They believe in miracles, then and now. They believe God answers prayers, then and
now. That does not make all they do or
say right, but it does preserve what’s right – God’s Word.
Although church structures and traditions vary, the Word of God
provides an anchor and an objective measure of faithfulness or aberration. Jesus was very clear in what he said!
Always there is the unexpected.
God’s purposes may be known, and yet are unknowable. We continually discover that we have missed
large slabs of the total picture. We
have the scriptures, as did the theologians of Jesus’ day, and like them we
often fail to see what is there. It
must be divinely revealed and illuminated to be known.
2. The Living Word
Scripture and prayer provide a means of communication with Christ our
head. Yet, like all means, they are a
vehicle of communication, not the communication itself.
Speak to Him thou, for He hears, and Spirit
with Spirit can meet -
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than
hands and feet.[7]
The body of Christ is a living body, just as the Head is a living
head.
Institutional forms and organisational expressions should yield to
that. The living body of the living
Christ must give substance to that reality.
Then the inward union with Christ finds expression in the outward
dimensions of church life.
Unless we grasp this, we will continue to secularise all we do,
including ministry. A secularised
church functions like any other secular society: voting, electing leaders,
keeping minutes, and running a bureaucracy.
That can easily bypass the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ, the living Head changes all that!
For example, obedience to the Great Commission comes not from mere
outward observance of the written word, but naturally from the dynamic life in
Christ.
The Living Word transforms the letter into life. “The words that I have spoken to you are
spirit and life,” said Jesus (John 6:63), and Paul added, “the letter of the
law kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor.
3:6).
Then the Bible comes alive, anointed and empowered by the Spirit who
inspired it. Preaching becomes
prophetic words from God as we wield the sharp two-edged sword of the
Spirit. Teaching lights fires in minds,
hearts and wills. Serving gives
Christ’s love and healing through his responsive body, the church. Prayer is transformed into intimate
communion and sensitive response to the Lord, our Head. Faith grows bold and strong. The church grows with unleashed power when
Christ is no longer the figurehead or absentee land-lord but sovereign Lord
with kingdom authority.
Carl Lawrence gives an outstanding example of this in his book The
Coming Influence of China.[8] A full account is reproduced in Renewal
Journal No. 12: Harvest. Two
teenage girls ‘just prayed and obeyed’ as they were led by the Lord. They established 30 churches in two years on
Hainan Island in China. The smallest
had 220 people, and the largest nearly 5,000 people.
That kind of radical obedience to Christ the Head of his church
produces a radical biblical kind of leadership in the church.
- from management to equipping
Leadership in the body of Christ, as in the kingdom of God, is very
different from all other leadership in human society. Authentic Christian leadership is Spirit-filled, Spirit-led and
Spirit-empowered, hidden and charismatic, yet manifested in power and visible
institutionally.
Bishop Stephen Neill notes:
There has been a great deal of talk in recent
years about the development of leadership ...
But is the idea of “leadership” biblical and Christian, and can we make use
of it without doing grave injury to the very cause that we wish to serve?
. .
.
How far is the conception of “leadership”
really one which we ought to encourage?
It is so hard to use it without being misled by the non-Christian
conception of leadership. It has been
truly said that our need is not for leaders, but for saints and servants. Unless this fact is held steadily in the
foreground, the whole idea of leadership training becomes dangerous.[9]
Jesus raised these issues also.
They touch on the fundamental dimensions of servanthood and equipping
for ministry.
1. Servanthood
The radical nature of Jesus’ leadership, what he demanded of his
followers, is best expressed in his words:
In Matthew 20:25-28, in response to the request of James and John for
leadership or prominence in the coming kingdom and in answer to the other
disciples’ reaction to this
request, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant - and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of
Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many.”
Jesus insists that the world’s concept of leadership must not operate
in his church: “Not so with you.” Leadership is not about position or
hierarchy or authority; it is a question of function and of service. The greatness of a Christian is not in
status but in servanthood.
Jesus underscored his revolutionary teaching: greatness comes not
through being served, but through serving.
In God’s kingdom the standard of achievement is found not in exercising
power over others, but in ministering to them and empowering them.
Jesus dramatically illustrated this teaching by washing his disciples’
feet. Then he told them to do just what
he had done: “If I, your Lord and
Master, have washed your feet, so you must also wash one another’s feet”
(John 13:14). That lesson was so
important that he gave it to them a final act of love just before he died.
Jesus rejected both political and religious authority. He established Kingdom authority - serving
others. His rejection of earthly power
is so revolutionary that his disciples continually missed it. So do we.
What pain we could save ‘the church’ and what awful church-split sins
we could avoid if we understood and obeyed this basic biblical principle! Church splits don’t happen where people
love, serve, and truly forgive one another.
You may be ‘right’ (in theology or practice) but if you split the church
then you are very wrong.
Where would Jesus fit in our traditional church patterns today? Would he savagely attack the political power
plays and status seeking leadership?
Would he call our divisions sin?
Would he denounce in scathing terms the religious pomp and
ceremony? Would he absolutely reject
hierarchical positions, titles, and garb.
Once he did.
Even more fundamental to the nature of the kingdom and the ministry of
the church are other questions. Would
he disturb the meetings? Would he cast
out demons? Would he heal? Would his preaching so provoke his hearers
that they would oppose him? Would he be
more at home outside our religious systems than within them? Would he so threaten our systems that we
would denounce, expel or ignore him?
Leaders in many persecuted churches, where the church grows powerfully,
face all that now. That’s where you see
servant leadership most clearly!
“Who serves?” is a very different question from “Who leads?”
Does this do away with leadership?
Yes and no. It does away with
the world’s kind of leadership. It
requires the Kingdom’s kind of leadership, which is servant leadership led by
the Spirit of God.
Terry Fulham (in Miracle at Darien) demonstrated that kind of
Kingdom leadership in an Episcopal church in America. He accepted ‘leadership’ on the basis that no decision would ever
be made by the elders (or board) until they were in total unity in the
Spirit. No vote would ever be
needed. They believed Jesus could lead
his church. So they required
unity. If unity could not be attained,
they waited and prayed till it was.
The New Testament regards all Christians as ministers and
servants. Body ministry must be servant
ministry. If leadership is a
legitimate term for kingdom life and body ministry, it must be servant
leadership.
It is both a radical leadership style among other styles and also the
life-style of every Christian. It is
the ministry of every member of Christ’s body.
The great leaders in the Kingdom may be the least obvious – humbly and
courageously serving others, unnoticed.
2. Equipping for Ministry
Some servant leaders are called and anointed to equip others for
ministry.
In one sense we are all called and anointed to do that. Some as parents, raising children. Some as carers, showing others how to
care. Some as team leaders, serving and
inspiring the team and empowering them for service also.
Among spiritual gifts there are different ministries including
leadership and administration. Our
problem is that those words carry so much political and hierarchical freight
that we can hardly use them without distorting them.
Leadership in Christ’s body means service, ministry, and being least or
last, not greatest or first. The first
shall be last, and the last first, Jesus said.
Leadership is a spiritual function of serving and empowering, dependent
on spiritual giftedness, not just on human ability.
Jesus Christ, not personality or achievement, makes leaders. The Ephesians 4 passage is a clear statement
of that kind of giftedness. He
appoints some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in
his body to equip (by serving) the members of that body for their
ministry.
Michael Harper summarises their function as:
Let my people go - the apostolic function of the Church
Let my people hear - the prophetic function of the Church
Let my people grow - the evangelistic function of the Church
Let my people care - the pastoral function of the Church
Let my people know - the
teaching function of the Church
Go to my people
Speak to my people
Reach my people
Care for my people
Teach my people.[10]
Leadership gifts in the body of Christ equip that body for
ministry. Again, using such loaded
terms, it needs to be stressed that this is quite different from mere human
ability to lead; it is spiritual giftedness.
Like other spiritual gifts, it may find expression in and through
natural ability, but it is then natural ability anointed in Spirit-led
power.
The amazingly diverse, flexible nature of spiritual leadership needs
emphasis. No one model has it all, even
though we all are called to be servant leaders.
Paul’s way of developing leaders was to recognise and encourage the
special gift and role of each person, especially elders. Paul was undoubtedly a leader, a servant
leader in the strong sense of the term.
He served with his apostolic gifts.
He equipped the body for ministry.
The term servant leader recaptures essential dimensions of the
equipping ministry. So long as
‘leader’ is understood charismatically as spiritual giftedness, it becomes
stronger than ever. Christ, head of his
body, gives that kind of equipping leadership to members of his body. Enormous authority is vested in that
understanding of servant leadership, precisely because those leaders serve
others, and equip others for ministry.
This specific equipping ministry in the body applies especially to
leadership of large churches. As a
church grows larger, it is vital that the pastor be an equipper. The ministry will be done by the whole body,
not just the ‘leader’. No one person
can do it all.
Body ministry requires leadership which is both humble and powerful, leading
by serving. All spiritual gifts need to
function this way, especially leadership gifts. Powerful leadership grows from humble service.
- from institutional to organic
We are members of Christ’s church; that sounds institutional.
We are members of Christ’s body; that sounds organic.
In fact, the two can be one!
The church must find its expression in human society, so it must have
institutional characteristics. They may
be as simple as a home group gathering regularly together, or as complex as a
multi-million dollar denominational agency.
As the institutional forms grow more complex, their vested interests
become more binding and conformity to the world usually increases.
The Holy Spirit cannot be confined by institutionalisation. He never has been. He continually breaks free of human limitations and blows where
he will. Christ, by the power of his Spirit
is building his church.
Instead of a dictatorship or a democracy, God has chosen to make the
Body of Christ an organism with Christ as the head and each member functioning
with spiritual gifts. Understanding
spiritual gifts, then is the key to understanding the true organisation of the
church.
The charismatic nature of the church as Christ’s body will be expressed
through the spiritual gifts of its members.
So both the charismatic dimension and the institutional dimension
co-exist in the church; the former being its essence, the latter its cultural
or social expression.
1. The Organism
The body of Christ is an organism, a community, with interpersonal
relationships, mutuality and interdependence.
It is flexible and leaves room for a high degree of spontaneity. The Bible gives us this model for the
church: the human body (1 Corinthians 12).
The charismatic dimension in both ministry and organisation does not do
away with professional abilities and functions but fills them with the active,
powerful presence of Christ by his Spirit and so transforms them from being
merely professional to being charismatically gifted as well as professionally
competent.
For example, a professional counsellor may be less effective than a
non-professional friend who ministers love and care in the power of the Spirit
of God. The dynamic power of
charismatic ministry lies in the active presence of God’s Spirit filling that
ministry or at least guiding it.
However, a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led professional counsellor draws
powerfully on both gifting and training.
Implications for church organisation are enormous. Although the professional tasks and
organisations will probably continue, the ministry of the whole body will
require very flexible forms which allow and intentionally foster body
ministry. Counselling, teaching,
preaching, social care and evangelism are all transformed by the Holy Spirit
guiding and empowering those activities.
Charismatic Anglican David Watson gives an example of this from his own
experience. As the church he pastored
in York grew into fuller expressions of charismatic life it needed
restructuring to provide adequate pastoral care through elders who were
charismatically gifted as pastors not just elected to fill an institutional
role of leadership. They cared for area
groups, especially mentoring the group leaders.[11]
Watson emphasises that where Christ is central and head of his body, he
will provide charismatic leadership through gifted elders who in turn lead or
care for the whole body, especially through pastoring and teaching gifts in the
small groups or cells of the body. An
organic model of the church expresses the real headship of Christ in his body
and his ministry through the spiritual gifts of his people in body ministry.
Revival in Bogotá (see article in this issue) tells that kind of story
dramatically in 2001.
Paul was clear on this. Within
the body of Christ apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor- teachers equip
the body for ministry so that the body members, using their spiritual gifts,
can do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4).
Paul’s three main passages on the church as the body of Christ give
basic lists of spiritual gifts for charismatic ministry. Others could be added. The Ephesians 4:11-12 list refers
specifically to charismatic leadership in the church, given by Christ, the
risen and ascended conqueror, to equip the members of his body for the work of
ministry. Aspects of that equipment are
included in the various lists of spiritual gifts. Each passage emphasises the importance of ministering in love and
unity.
2. The Organisation
In times of accelerating change and exploding church growth, the
institutional model of the church needs to be flexible and responsive to its
environment. Further, if it is to allow
a truly charismatic ministry to function with strong spiritual gifts, it must
be sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit, all the time.
The early church gives a startlingly clear picture of such a flexible
institutional model. They were
constantly led and empowered by the Spirit.
They were very human, with typical faults and problems. The New Testament authors wrote mostly to
fix those problems, especially in the epistles.
They met in many house churches, still as the one church in one place,
inter-related. It was extremely
flexible, needed everyone’s involvement, and could multiply anywhere. The church in China today, and in African
villages, and in Latin American communities, uses this same organisation.
The institutional model of the church then was a house church
model. That model has been repeated all
through history, and in many parts of the world today is the means of flexible
rapid church growth. Most large
churches use this model in home groups.
Organisational membership often involves attending the meetings, paying
the dues, abiding by the rules, and possibly being elected or appointed to office. Any society can do that. Most do.
Organic membership of the body, however, functions by living in Christ
and ministering in spiritual gifts.
These two kinds of membership need to be differentiated when discussing
church membership. Usually “church
membership” means club membership; it is an institutional expression of the
church. Usually “body membership” means
the organic functioning of the members of Christ’s body, and its members being
united by the Spirit of God in the one body, the church.
Organisational habits can reverse their meaning over years. Calvin in Geneva, for example, refused to
identify with clerical pomp and wore the poor man’s cloak when preaching, but
in time that turned into the Geneva gown, a clerical institution. Francis of Assisi also wore a poor man’s
cloak, which has now become a religious uniform quite unrelated to what the
poor now wear.
Those quirks are minor compared with the massive maintenance programs
of large religious institutions.
Denominations which came into being for mission, often breaking away
from hardened institutional forms, in turn become maintenance-oriented and lose
the very vision which gave them birth.
The organisational form of the church needs to be continually
responsive to the Head of the church, or it becomes secularised and the Spirit
of God is quenched. Leadership in the
church must be especially responsive to the Spirit to avoid this.
Organisational life in the church can remain flexible and responsive to
the Head of the church as it keeps its organic life alive in the power of the
Spirit.
-from bureaucracy to relational
groups
Networks of groups increasingly
replace bureaucracy. Short term task
groups replace committees. Networks of
independent churches and groups are replacing historic denominations.
Spirit-filled groups or communities
give one simple example, now affecting multiplied millions of people. People relate in home groups, house
churches, mission groups, independent churches, and renewal or revival movements
everywhere. So your home group may have
people who were Catholic, or Anglican, or Methodist, or Baptist, or Hindu, or
New Age.
Second Wave churches, for example,
in earlier days could insist on loyalty to the denominational bureaucracy and
policy lines. Now people choose from
networks of the ecclesiastical smorgasbord.
Television, mobility and education all shift our consciousness and
increase our awareness and choices, including church life. That is how renewal and revival have been
spreading.
A current example is the grassroots
spread of charismatic renewal and revival.
In First Wave rural villages with
little outside influence, little change occurred - “We’ve always done it this
way.”
In Second Wave town churches
‘renewal’ could be kept outside the denomination by being banished to another
bureaucracy, and therefore ignored - “Join the pentecostals and don’t rock the
boat.”
Third Wave society opens new
networks of information and experience.
Our increasing mobility brings us into contact with renewal and
revival. Our extended education opens
our minds to these new insights. Our
television portrays the power of God in healing and our worldview begins to shift. Our friends give us paperbacks to read or
cassettes to hear and videos to see, and conviction or hope grows within
us. Our visitors or home group leaders
tell of their experiences and we seek what they’ve found. Our friends pray for us and God releases his
Spirit more fully in our lives. Yet all
of this happens outside the denominational bureaucracy; or it may do so.
So Wagner’s “third wave” of renewal
is carried on Toffler’s Third Wave of social change into all church
structures. Our friendship networks
become ‘the bridges of God’ into our churches and out into the lives of
others. Significantly, no pastor or
minister may be involved. People
witness to people. People now have the
Bible tools, education, and friendships to check it out.
Those changes catapult us into new
expressions of ministry.
- from some to all.
Body Ministry involves the biblical pattern of ministry in the church,
the body of Christ.
Body Ministry is the ministry of the whole body of Christ. It functions through the use of spiritual
gifts in all the members of the body.
The unity of the Spirit of God finds expression in the incredible
diversity of spiritual gifts and ministries.
The Reformation rediscovered the authority of the Bible and the
wonderful gift of God’s grace in providing salvation by faith in Jesus. Unfortunately it failed to free the church
from the rule of the priest or pastor, so carried that form of leadership into
the Protestant church, producing a drastic clergy-laity division. Spiritual gifts in the whole body of Christ
were largely ignored.
Body ministry, then, is not limited to church meetings, although the
meetings need to express body life as well. That ministry is total. It finds
expression in all of life.
Ray Stedman popularised the term “body life” in his book by that name
thirty years ago. He used body life
services in which people could share needs or testimonies. Bodylife becomes body ministry as people
apply their spiritual gifts to those needs in the church and in society in
ministry.
Body Life teaching opened the way for a fuller apprehension and use of
spiritual gifts in shared life and ministry. That in turn has opened the way
for a fuller discovery of the dynamic power of body ministry in Kingdom
authority.
- from few to many
Body ministry requires spiritual gifts. The body of Christ ministers charismatically. There is no other way it can minister as the
living body of the living Christ. He
ministers in and through his body, by the gifts of his Spirit.
Charismatic gifts of the Spirit differ from natural talents. We can do much through dedicated human
talent, but that is not body ministry through spiritual gifts. Natural talents do need to be committed to
God and used for his glory. They can be
channels of spiritual gifts, but may not be.
Spiritual gifts constantly surprise us. God uses whom he chooses, and chooses whom he will. Spiritual gifts often show up with great
power in unlikely people and in unlikely ways.
A common misunderstanding, for instance, is that those with an
effective healing ministry must be especially holy people. They may not be. Gifts of the Spirit are given by grace, not earned by
consecration. Young, immature Christians
may have powerful spiritual ministries, as they discover and use their
spiritual gifts. Many do. That is no proof of consecration or
maturity, even though to please God we need to offer ourselves to him in full
commitment.
Romans Chapter 12 gives a surprising example of this. The well known first two verses challenge us
to offer ourselves fully to God and so discover his will for our lives. Paul then explains that knowing God’s will
involves being realistic about ourselves and our gifts. If we know and use our God-given gifts, we
fulfil God’s will for our lives.
Body ministry, then, depends on the use of spiritual gifts, not just
the use of natural talents dedicated to God.
Both are vital for committed Christian living, and both will be present
in the church. However, the church is
not built on committed natural talent, even though churches often seem to
operate that way. Body ministry
involves the use of spiritual gifts.
For example two people may have the talent of beautiful singing
voices. Both will sing in worship and
even on the platform in ministry. One,
however, may be anointed with a prophetic gift in song, and the other may not
be. That gifting will move hearts and
wills in the power of God’s Spirit.
Christ gives those gifts - we don’t create them. Some of these gifts of God’s Spirit,
received for ministry, will be blessed in ministry in and through natural
talent as well, but the key to body ministry is not the talent. It is the spiritual gift.
Similarly, spiritual gifts are not Christian roles or tasks. All Christians witness, but only some are
gifted in evangelism. Every Christian
has faith, but some have a gift of faith as well. All must exercise hospitality, but some are gifted in
hospitality. Prayer is for all of us,
but some are gifted in intercession.
Spiritual gifts operate in unity with diversity.
1. Unity
Paul’s passages on spiritual gifts all emphasise unity expressed in
diversity (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4).
Without that unity expressed in love, the diversity destroys the body’s
ministry causing chaos, division, sectarianism, and impotence. This is Paul’s theme in 1 Corinthians 12-14.
The Corinthians did not need teaching on the reality of spiritual gifts
nor on their diversity. They knew
that. In fact, they abused that. So Paul had to correct the fault by
emphasizing the unity of the body, bound together in love. Gifts are not to be a source of division and
strife, but an expression of unity and love.
Unless rooted and grounded in love, the gifts are counter-productive.
Unity in the body of Christ allows that body to function well, not be
crippled. No one has all the
gifts. We all need one another. No one should be conceited about any gift
that God has given. No one must think
his or her gift the most important, and magnify and exalt it at the expense of
others. All gifts must used in humility
and service. We do not compete. We minister in harmony and co-operation.
Paul’s great theme, “in Christ,” expresses the unity essential for body
ministry. In Christ we are one
body. In Christ we live and serve. Love lies at the heart of body
ministry. The body is one, bound in
love. The body builds itself up in love
(Eph. 4:16). That is why 1 Corinthians 13 is central to Paul’s passage on
spiritual gifts in the body of Christ.
“Make love your aim,” he insists, “and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts” (1 Corinthians 14:1).
Jesus insisted on love. “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another. By this
all mean will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”
(John 13:34-35).
Our unity is not based on doctrine, or methods. Our unity comes from who we are, the body of
Christ. Paul states this as a fact, not
a hope. We are one in Christ. We are one in the Spirit. God has made us one. That unity is expressed in body ministry.
It shows in our attitude - in humility, kingdom thinking, and
love. It smashes competition and
critical spirits, especially between different people and groups with different
gifts.
Breathtaking community transformations are now happening around the
world where we live this truth in united ministry. See articles in this issue of this Journal!
2. Diversity
That unity is expressed in the diversity of gifts. There is one Spirit; his gifts are
incredibly diverse.
The point is developed in all the body passages of Paul. Diversity is to be celebrated, not squashed;
encouraged, not smothered; developed, not ignored.
The church may be two or three, or two or three hundred, or two or
three thousand. Different sizes will
have different ministries or functions, such as cell, congregation or
celebration, but all are the church.
Christ is present in his body.
So are his gifts. Again,
different gifts will be appropriate for different expressions of that body’s
ministry, but it in one body.
Body ministry will use these gifts.
God’s Spirit moves among his people in power to meet needs and minister
effectively. Those gifts need to be
identified and used, and in the process, as in Jesus’ ministries, special
anointings will come.
Preaching, for example, will often become prophecy as it is anointed by
the Spirit of God. That prophetic
ministry may happen unexpectedly in the process of a sermon. It may also be given in preparation as a
word directly from the Lord.
Compassionate service and healing administrations will at times be
anointed powerfully by God’s presence in signs and wonders to heal. Role, gift and anointing then merge into
strongly focused spiritual ministry.
So role, spiritual gift, and anointings cannot be clearly divided. Indeed, as the Spirit of God moves in still
greater power among all members of the body of Christ, the ministry of that
body will be increasingly anointed.
Then the professional is swallowed up in the spiritual; natural ability
is suffused and flooded with supernatural life; the human is filled with the
divine.
Jesus lived this way. No one
need envy another’s gifts or ministry.
All are needed.
- from making decisions to
making disciples
Christ himself, head of his church, clearly stated the church’s
mission. He did so on many occasions
between his resurrection and ascension.
The powerful dimension of the Great Commission has often been
overlooked. Jesus himself emphasised
our mission couldn’t be done without the power of his Spirit. That is the point of all the power promises
in the Great Commission:
Matthew records it: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me
. .
. and lo, I am with you always,
to the close of the age” (Mt.
28:18-20).
Mark records it: “These signs will
accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will
speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink any deadly
thing it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they
will recover” (Mark 16:17-18).
Luke records it: “I send the
promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with
power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
John records it: “He breathed on
them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit ...’ (John 20:22).
Acts records it: “You shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses”
(Acts 1:8).
When empowered and led by the Holy Spirit (who is the Spirit of Jesus
and the Spirit of God, Gal. 4:6),
mission is powerful. Then we do not
make plans and execute them in human wisdom and strength, but seek divine
wisdom and strength.
Empowering by the Spirit of God and being led by the Spirit of God are central to obedient mission. We cannot claim obedience to the Great Commission when we do God’s work in our strength or our own ways