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MentorNet # 31 Copyright
© May, 2005 by George Patterson and Galen Currah A church’s greatest weakness is its greatest strength
taken to excess. Garrison
(Church Planting Movements) has pointed out that reproductive
churches, however young they may be, enjoy good church health. However, a
church or organization that focuses excessively on the ministry that it does
best for its own members soon becomes in-grown and less effective. Over
200 years ago the popular Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards (Religious
Affections) pleaded in the verbose writing style of that era for balance
in a church body. Edwards’ greatest strength was his effective use of words;
he was a powerful speaker and writer. Thus, his greatest weakness, by his own
theory, would have been wordiness. Edwards’ warning to avoid over-emphasizing
what a church does best is still alarmingly accurate. How can we avoid a
subtly-damaging imbalance within a church body, a church planting team, a
denomination, a mission agency, or an educational program? How can
believers with different ministries work together as a body, keeping a
healthy balance? Here are six guidelines to keep a church body balanced: 1. Believers appreciate
the importance of the different ministries. The apostle Paul told Titus to name shepherding elders to take care of
what was lacking in the new churches in Crete (Titus 1:5). To do this, Titus
and the elders had to know what the essential truths and duties of a church
were, to discern what was still lacking. MentorNet
# 11 emphasized developing all of the pastoral ministries that the New
Testament requires, and provided a Pastoral Ministries Chart to help
leaders track the development of each ministry. The focus in this MentorNet
message is not on the development of these ministries, but on their
harmonization. Here is a brief summary of the essential ministries that have
to be coordinated: · Evangelism (witness for Christ, baptize, send workers to needy
areas near and far, etc.) · Prayer (intercede, have family devotions, do spiritual warfare,
etc.) · Stewardship (give, use time and property wisely, etc.) · Pastoral care (counsel, correct, encourage, strengthen marriages
and family life, etc.) · Teaching the Word (equip believers to serve, train leaders,
correct error) · Fellowship (loving interaction, social events, cooperating with
other churches) · Organizing and overseeing (enable all to use their God-given
gifts to serve, plan, etc.) · Build Christian character and virtues (transformation, holiness,
obedience to Christ, etc.) · Worship (Praise, Lord’s Supper, celebration of special events,
helping all to participate) Wise leaders
add special ministries that current or local conditions warrant. For example,
in a society where suicide is common, a church should develop counseling for
troubled people. Nothing
breeds failure as well as success in a limited area. Wise shepherds keep the
entire spectrum of vital ministries in mind and not only those ministries in
which they excel. They equip their flocks to do all of the vital ministries.
The outcome is that all ministries are strengthened, including the one that
previously received too much attention. For example, church planters that
combine church planting with other vital ministries normally plant more, and
healthier, churches than those who aim only to start churches. 2. Ministry team leaders cooperate with leaders of other ministries. The enemy of a healthy ministry balance is excessive
specialization in one ministry or in only a few. Ministry leaders should
recall how God scolded the tribe of Ephraim because it had become ‘a cake not
turned’ (Hosea 7:8). Churches easily become ‘half-baked’ when they focus only
on the side of their ministry that they do well. While coaching leaders,
mentors often encounter damage where churches, mission agencies and church
planting teams had over-emphasized a good thing. We who coach are not immune
to the same (the greatest weakness of us teachers is taking teaching to an
excess, neglecting other ministries that are equally important).
Over-emphasizing a ministry that believers perform with excellence often
leads to neglecting other vital ministries. Here are some common areas of
one-sided emphasis and remedies. · Teaching. Many churches become spiritually inert because their
pastors are such eloquent teachers that the body neglects other areas of
church life. Members become ‘hearers only.’ Leaders fail to counsel believers
with marital problems, unruly children, alcohol or drug problems and other
bad habits. To bring balance, teachers should have a servant’s role, working
closely with those who give compassionate member care, care for the needy, reach
out to those who need Christ and any other ministry that might be neglected. · Building relationships. Some church’s members love each other passionately and
enjoy frequent, happy social events, but do little else to serve God or
people. To bring balance, a church body should aim to develop leaders of the
neglected ministries. · Prophetic utterances,
interpreting tongues and other demonstrations of power. Some believers so eagerly seek ‘signs’ that they overlook
the greater reality that the signs signify. Those who have these spiritual
gifts should make sure that they balance their experiences with practical
ministry, bringing the Holy Spirit’s power to bear in an edifying,
transforming way on people with definite needs, restoring broken family relationships,
bringing friends and relatives to Jesus, healing bruised emotions, sickness
and demonic oppression, and serving needy and rejected people. · Campaigning for social
justice. Some churches and missionary
teams focus so exclusively on Jesus’ command to love our neighbor in a
practical way, that they neglect his parallel command to make disciples who
obey all things that He commanded. To assure balance, they must work
more closely with evangelists, disciple makers and biblical teachers. 3. Shepherds serve in close harmony with other workers. A wise leader avoids serving as a lone worker. Many
churches and organizations have discovered the value of having a team of two
or more leaders, with one of them serving as their coordinator. The New
Testament churches had shepherding ‘elders’ (always plural). The ‘church’ in
a city at that time was a cluster of very closely-knit small groups, or what
some would call cells or house churches. The New
Testament shows that the interactive, ‘one another’ church body life is to be
practiced not only within congregations but between them. Workers who
are strong in a particular ministry go and help other groups that are weak in
that ministry. This kind of interchange among congregations and cells greatly
improves their balance. Pray that God will enable those whom you shepherd,
train or coach to build a balanced church body. 4. Cell or house church
leaders keep groups small enough to be
functional. Many churches have grown very
big by staying very small. They multiply cell groups or house churches. A
small group enables people to interact. Balance requires a group effort and
God is part of the group. The
apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 13 compared a healthy
church body to the human body. Members use their God-given gifts to serve one
another in the same way that our body’s organs work together. This harmony is
strong evidence of the powerful working of the Holy Spirit. He puts into us
the gifts, the power to use them, and the love needed to harmonize our work with
others who have different gifts. Without this love born of God, a believer
strives to develop his ministry to a point of excellence with little regard
for others’ ministries. Only
God can turn a group of believers into a true ‘body.’ Our task as leaders is
to let Him do so, by helping the members of the body to use their spiritual
gifts freely, serving one another in love. A good leader lets this loving,
edifying interaction take place, which easily happens in small groups. It
seldom happens well in large gatherings led only by paid staff members. 5. Church planters start
several churches as soon as possible in an area. This enables the
congregations to encourage and serve one another. A single church in an area
often becomes defensive, with an unhealthy, in-grown focus. The believers
also think that the church planters owe all their time and attention to that
one church. Loving interaction between new churches enables better balance. 6. Teachers teach theology in a relational way and with a specific
application. Bring balance to your
teaching like the apostle Paul did in his pastoral letters. Remind students
that God loves balance. All creation demonstrates it—the stars, atoms,
plants, animals and the many systems within nature. Scripture reveals harmonious
balance within God Himself. The Bible calls Jesus both ‘the Lion’ and ‘the
Lamb,’ both Son of God and Son of Man. God spans the spectrum between
omnipotence and weakness, glory and humility, justice and mercy. Jesus yearns
for a balanced body, whether it is a church, a cell, a ministry team, a
mission agency or an alliance of churches that work together. Let us
learn balance from the Trinity. Ministry that transforms lives does so by
balancing three different aspects of the Christian life. These three aspects
correspond roughly to the roles of the three Persons of the Trinity. Baptism
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit points new
believers toward a close, balanced relationship with each person of the
Trinity, Matthew 28:18-20. · The three persons of the Trinity
are one; they are never separated and always work in loving harmony. Jesus
said that we are to be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father, and
that all believers in Him are to be one, just as He is one with the Father
(John 17:20-23). As we become transformed into Christ’s image we will share
the balance that exists between the Persons of the Trinity, by harmonizing
the three corresponding dimensions of discipleship. The Holy Trinity models
the following three essential aspects of balanced discipling: · Dimension #1: Relationships
with loving authority —God the Father. · Dimension #2: The Word made
flesh in loving submission—God the Son. · Discipleship Dimension #3:
Serving with power from on high—God the Spirit. To find mentoring tools and sites, visit <http://www.MentorAndMultiply.com>. To obtain information on Train & Multiply® (pastoral
training combined with church planting) To obtain information on how to obtain T&M®,
visit <http://www.TrainAndMultiply.com>. To obtain free, reproducible training materials for new leaders &
missionaries, To download or purchase “Come, Let Us Disciple the Nations” (CD-ROM),
To order Church Multiplication Guide visit <http://www.WCLbooks.com>
or a book shop. To subscribe to MentorNet or download earlier MentorNet messages,
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