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MentorNet #16 NINE FREEDOMS OF Common
to Church Planting Movements Copyright © 2003 George Patterson & Galen Currah As a mentor-coach or consultant, you will often
face church leaders who hold strongly to their denominational traditions. Most
traditions are good and very useful. Some are necessary to enable
congregations to do their ministries "decently and in order." Other
traditions, however, over time, come to be abused. Jesus warned against this
in Mark 7:6-13. Some leaders use traditions to bolster their authority at the
expense of effective evangelism and church reproduction. We see two main kinds of traditionalists in
Christian churches. One kind follows denominational traditions because that
is what they learned and is all they know. When these truly desire to win
souls and start churches, they readily accept what you teach from God's word.
The other kind clings to traditions at all costs, because they are hungry for
power and eager to settle in as the big duck on a small pond. In training workshops with traditional church
leaders, it can be both entertaining to them and a useful way of dealing with
inappropriate customs without offense, to have someone wear a funny hat or a
sign "MR. TRADITION." While you present guidelines for church
planting or other ministries, Mr. Tradition interrupts from time to
time to say, "No! No! Not that way!" and proclaims the tradition in
an exaggerated way. You, then, can ask the group unashamedly, "Now, is
that--what Mr. Tradition recommends--what Jesus and his apostles did?
Or is it a human tradition?" You can ask the participants to answer
"Mr. Tradition." Since it would be hard, perhaps confusing, to ask
traditional clergy to relinquish authority, your task is twofold. The first
task is to urge them to delegate their authority to those whom they choose,
train and supervise, allowing these co-shepherds to perform pastoral tasks as
their assistants. Point out that, according to Ephesians 4:11, God gives to
every church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. If we do
not recognize them and fail to let them do their ministry, then we stifle the
work of the Holy Spirit. These gifted people, if kept from doing what God has
gifted them to do, often become so frustrated that they leave a church,
sometimes taking other members away with them. The second task is to help traditionalists
envision their congregation as a mother church which, as a living organism,
should reproduce normally by spawning daughter churches. Traditionalists
often lead large congregations, or want their congregation to become bigger
and wealthier. A useful analogy is to compare churches to elephants and
rabbits. Elephants are strong and long-lived, but reproduce very slowly.
Rabbits, by comparison, are puny but they reproduce rapidly. We help
traditional leaders to develop both kinds of churches--a few elephant
churches that marshal their resources for big tasks, and many tiny rabbit
churches that can multiply rapidly throughout their city and region and take
Christ to far more people. When traditional church leaders are willing to
experiment with biblical liberty, you can help them to examine their
practices and to identify hindrances that keep their churches from winning
the lost and reproducing. Help them to find ways to delegate their authority,
so that their elephant churches can also reproduce rabbit churches. In order
to reproduce by the grace of God, churches must enjoy the freedoms that
Christ bought for them on the cross. Here are nine freedoms for churches that
reproduce.
What would Mr.
Tradition say about this? Perhaps something like this: "Our church
policies require that for a church to start another church, it must first apply
to our regional headquarters for approval, have a certain number of members
and years of maturity, and a substantial budget, at least enough for a
building and pastor's salary." To help new churches
start newer ones, assure their freedom to do the following:
Mr. Tradition may say something like this: "We must all follow the
same policies—those that I approve. Conformity ensures unity."
Mr. Tradition might argue, "Separate new believers immediately
from the bad influence of friends, relatives and culture! And let sinners
come to us at church if they want to be saved!"
Mr. Tradition might insist, "Baptism and the Lord’s supper are
performed only by ordained clergy, and baptismal candidates must first walk
on the water first."
Mr. Tradition might demand, "Do all things in decency and order.
And the order is what I say it is! Only educated clergy should lead
public meetings."
Mr.
Tradition might contend, "Our
church by-laws require ministers to be ordained. Our by-laws list 756
requirements that they must meet first. They must have the specified academic
agrees and receive the salary of a professional."
Mr. Tradition might dispute this. "God has ordained oratorical
preaching of the Word for this age. We need top quality and excellence in the
pulpit."
Mr.
Tradition might assert, "My training
program has a standard curriculum and every student studies the same thing,
starting in the same place and following the same path. What they learn is
for some future application."
If
"Mr. Tradition," is from a 'free'
church he might object, "We do not want any godless hierarchy or bishops
dictating to the churches what to believe and do. We hold to the autonomy of
the local church." If Mr. Tradition's
church is hierarchical he might protest, "I'm the Bishop named to
supervise this area, and I don't want any new coordinators exercising
authority in my area of jurisdiction, and I don't have time to coordinate any
new programs! So we will continue as we have been doing!" ***** Download mentored training programs from http://www.Paul-Timothy.net. To meet mentors experienced in a wide range of
ministries who will serve you, or to explore various applications of Christian
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