One Body with Many Members  (1 Corinthians 12:^12-27)

The Church is:

The Body of Christ

Together, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we become Christ in the world

Our mission is to carry on the mission of Jesus Christ
What does that mean?

Everything that Jesus did, we, collectively, are called to do

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God and that it was breaking into our reality

We should live as though we already live in the Kingdom

Showed us that those who lived like him would often be at odds with the surrounding culture

Not ourselves:  We exist for others

What are we supposed to do? or why does the Christian church exist?

Essential purposes of the church are contained in two passages:

The Great Commandment

The Great Commissioning

 ³⁶“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” ³⁷He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
 

The Great Commissioning: Matthew 28:^16-20

 ¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Celebration of God’s presence, Worship: Liturgia

 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

Demonstration of God’s love, Ministry, Work for Justice & Peace, Acts of compassion and stewardship: Diakonia

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Education of God’s people, Faith & Spiritual formation: Didache

 “…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Communication of God’s Word, Proclamation of the Good News: Kerygma

 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations....”

Formation of Community among the believers: Koinonia

 “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit….”
 

Discussion
 

• Which mark(s) does your congregation do well?
• Which mark(s) could use significant attention?

Why does our congregation exist? or Why are we here?

What is God calling this congregation to do?

⁷But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift…. ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

You will have a better idea of what God wants your congregation to do when you discern and articulate

• Core Values
• Motivating Vision

Shared values are the congregation’s fixed stake in the ground.  Core Values say,

• “This is what we stand for”
• “This is what we are all about”
• “This is who we are”
• “This is what we can offer you”
• Answer the question, “Why do we do what we do?”

Vision answers the question, “What are we going to do?”  Vision is not constructed by people, but is revealed to the people by God

Vision versus Values:

Every ministry needs to be Vision-focused and Values-driven

Vision functions like a telescope.  It brings the distant horizon, the destination, into clear view

Values drive the ministry, Propel the ministry toward the vision.  Values are the reason behind each decision made, each problem solved, each goal set.

A ministry will always have values, but it may not have vision

A vision focuses on the future; values look to the present or the past

Why am I here?  Does God have a plan for my life?  What is my purpose in life?

To equip the Saints for the work of ministry means that we are all called to ministry

Ministry personnel are not professional ministers.  Everyone is searching for something meaningful to which to give their life
The paradox of the Gospel is that only when you give your life away you will find it

"Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."

Shackleton’s 1913 advertisement:

MEN WANTED for hazardous journey.  Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.  5000 men applied!

From your own experience, share a time when you felt especially good about who you are and the contribution you are making.

Did your church have a role in that experience?

Why doesn’t what we used to do work anymore?

The society around us has changed.  What the church did before was NOT wrong  But we are at the end of Christendom (the concept of a society based on Christianity and Christian values).

The assumptions of Christendom

• Most everyone in Canada is Christian
• Home, School, Government and Church are in partnership
• Evangelism is irrelevant and seen as the property of “fringe” denominations
• Church’s purpose is to help make good citizens
• Member’s job was to pray and pay for the mission of the church
• Mission was done by professionals

• Christendom began eroding in early 1960’s
• Now the mission field is next door
• 50% of Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964) and 85% of Baby Busters (born 1965 to 1983) have never been inside a church in their adult lives.

• Lack of a unifying vision
• Board meetings that leave people frustrated
• More emphasis on reporting than visioning
• Difficulty in filling committees
• Requests that the minister visit more  often
• Lay people involved in very little hands- on ministry

• People coming to church for the 1st time who have no Christian memory
• One third of Baby Boomers and Busters work on the weekend
• Boomers and Busters have been taught to distrust institutions
• But Interest in all things spiritual at an all-time high (91% of Canadians profess to believing in God or a higher power)

Are you able to identify any Christendom assumptions still in use in your congregation?

The Faithful, Effective Church Today

Faithful, effective churches:

• offer multiple worship opportunities which provide an experience of the Holy for different generations
• create opportunities for every person to discern their God-given talents and gifts
• encourage, empower and equip everyone to use their gifts in the ministries to which they are called
• offer a clear process and expectation for every person, from newcomer to elder, to deepen and enrich their discipleship of Jesus Christ
• provide intentional opportunities for people to move on in their faith journey, not just hope it happen
• offer seeker classes
• have engaging Bible study (e.g. Disciple)
• have small groups for adult faith development
• begin their evangelism by accepting the fact that every person’s faith life is the foundation for fulfillment and joy in this life
• offer personal invitation, come and see evangelism
• provide small groups
• understand the Church is not a service club: It is the Body of Christ
• Live by a very different set of rules, treating and honouring one another just as we would treat and honour Jesus himself

Ministry, not meetings.

The most valuable thing people give you is their time: They must be freed up

Roper’s Survey of leisure time:  In 1973 we averaged 26.2 hrs a week of leisure time, but in 1987 our leisure time had been reduced to an average of 16.6 hrs a week
 

Ministry belongs to the Whole People of God, not just the ministry personnel.  The ministry personnel shouldn’t have all the fun!

We are all created for service

 “Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power.  Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it.”

Harold Kushner (When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough)

Ministry needs ministers.  No ministry begins without someone who feels called

Sunday morning is not enough. 1.5 hours a week is not enough to produce mature disciples of Jesus Christ.

Church leaders must have credibility.  Don’t try to fill leadership spaces with warm bodies.

Start by asking, “Where is God calling you to exercise your gifts?”  Identify those who have a genuine and credible faith life and ask them to take leadership roles.

Never, ever ask, “What is it going to cost?”  Instead ask, “Is this what God wants us to do?”  Money follows vision.  Trust.
If you do God’s work, God’s way, you will have God’s support

Changing Roles

• Ministry personnel give up “doing ministry” in favour of training, motivating and supporting lay people
• Lay people leave the administration to the staff in favour of doing ministry

• Everyone who claims the name of Christ is expected to take responsibility for acting in Christ-like ways
• For giving sacrificially of their time and talents
• For trusting that God is the one who calls all to new life

• Paradigm shift takes a while to get your head around
• Takes 5 to 7 years to implement this change after the church fully commits
• Takes 20 km to turn an oil tanker around

• No growth without change
• No change without loss
• No loss without pain

How Do We Get There From Here?

Church transformation ground rules

• Count on making mistakes
• Learn to fail quickly
• Don’t just talk about doing it, try it!
• Have fun with it!

• Encourage ministry personnel to do transformational ministry
• No church has transformed without the leadership of the ministry personnel: Free up the ministry personnel.  Ministry personnel must be freed up to spend 80% of their time on intentional transformation work
• Focus on adult faith formation: First step is to develop a cadre of committed and spiritually rooted lay people
• Prioritize the development of the core values and motivating vision

Before a congregation can progress to things like restructuring, multi-track worship, lay mobilization, missional opportunities… they have to know why they are doing what they are doing

 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”

Genesis 12:^1-3