THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, ". . . for such a time as this" (Est. 4:14b)

Introduction

As the world economic situation continues to escalate, it behooves us to investigate its impact on the Church so that the Church impact on the world might be maximized. The modern trend of living beyond our means has been extrapolated from the individual to business and to the government. Businesses operating on a line of credit have become commonplace, and individuals have gone from mortgages on their homes to borrowing to purchase cars to becoming enslaved to credit card debt. Churches have not been immune to such practices with a great percentage of churches financing some part of their facilities.

The scriptural injunction to "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:" (Rom. 13:8a) seems to have become passé, with some churches carrying a heavy debt load in addition to extensive overhead. It has become common practice to create paid positions for ministry that were formerly the role of lay personnel. All of this can be justified in an expanding economy, but a contracting economy rapidly creates chaos such as we are experiencing to some degree presently.



Those churches with large overheads and major indebtedness are already beginning to feel the pinch. Not only will adjustments have to be made to deal with the economic aspects but also to minister effectively to those of the membership and community who are suffering adversity. It is a certainty that such ministry cannot be confined to paid staff, and the vast majority of churches have not trained their populations via discipleship to step into the breach. In fact, scriptural discipleship has been all but missing from the modern day church. Therefore, it must be instituted swiftly with little in the way of precedent on which to base such training. It will amount to a paradigm shift in ministry to meet the possibly overwhelming need. Though few churches have implemented such ministry, Grace Fellowship International has pioneered an approach to discipleship/counseling which would ideally be accomplished as a key ministry in all local churches. There is nothing to be developed or proven as all of this is history; the materials and methodology can be transferred directly to the Church where God intended for it to be. The rationale for doing so is the purpose of this article.

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

With the way the country and the world are beginning to shape up from an economic standpoint, it is the part of wisdom that we calculate the corresponding impact on the Church and how it must comport itself to be able not only to minister in the world but to be able to have a positive impact on it. To bury our heads in the sand and wait until the effects are upon us, will be foolhardy to say the least and could bury us alive in the wake of its economic tidal wave. Though we cannot escape the impact, we can take some proactive measures to lessen it and to trust God for a strategy to minister effectively in an adverse set of circumstances with which we have not had to deal heretofore. I am afraid that the 'good life' has been an enemy of the spiritual life, with little in the way of sacrifice required; from this point on, there are likely to be sacrifices on the part of many who are lacking in that experience! Few who went through the Great Depression of the 1930's are alive to recount the deprivation which was rampant at that time.

As the recession begins to take its toll, the local church will be in the forefront due to its dependence upon contributions which is already beginning to be felt. In fact, a recent Barna poll said that the contribution shortage is already in the billions. Of course, those infrequent churches which are debt free will not be affected as drastically as those which have fallen prey to the pervasive trend of living beyond our means. Almost all churches which build or buy facilities think nothing of first seeking a loan with some taking advantage of all assets and giving patterns to enable them to secure a loan of sufficient size to build the size building that is desired, whether or not actually needed. In fact, it is the unusual church which pays as it goes in a building program. Again, in an expanding economy, this has been a way to utilize facilities while paying for them. A large plant, with some the size of a city block, requires a staff commensurate with the ample facilities. The creeping growth usually does not take into account the maximum use of unpaid staff but expands the overhead to take advantage of possible ministry outreaches, including family life facilities with various sports opportunities from walking to swimming to various athletic activities. While there is nothing wrong with any of these, continued expansion and diversification involves continually increasing overhead.

In such a scenario, it is necessary for the pastor to become a CEO or to hire an administrative pastor who fulfills such responsibilities which may tend to detract from the spiritual ministry for which the church was founded. With all of this expansion, the worship center is but a part of the mammoth plant rather than being part and parcel of the mission of the church. Formerly, the non-worship activities took place in homes or in community buildings; but the church facility has expanded to become all inclusive with some even adding restaurants and coffee shops. Coping with the economic situation taking place in our society is inescapable, and reducing the ministry of paid personnel is much more difficult than the happy prospect of adding them! Releasing beloved brethren, when jobs are hard to come by, can be heart-wrenching. Also, it may be that reduction in pay scales will make it impossible for them to maintain the same housing accommodations and standard of living in other ways.

Since many churches will have to reduce the ministry staff, there will have to be a corresponding increase in filling such voids by laity. Also, it will be necessary to rethink the approach to ministry, not only to take up the slack but also to render the ministry more effective and efficient while at the same time not sacrificing the spiritual content.


Concomitant with the decrease in paid staff will, in all likelihood, be a drastic increase in human need requiring ministry, both inside and outside the church. The major material needs created by unemployment and underemployment, along with possible scaling back of salary levels, combine to create massive needs on the part of many who have been able to handle their own families and even to help others.

The auto industry is presently planning on reducing salary scales to make Detroit competitive with imports, and this could signal such reductions as a ripple effect across the country. In some cases, parents will have to open their homes to married children with families which will involve increased stress on everyone. Interpersonal conflict due to several people being confined in close quarters will contribute toward the massive increase in counseling needs throughout the church at a time when most counseling is referred outside. Since family and church budgets will already be strained, it will be necessary to handle it in-house which will require a paradigm shift in the ministry of most churches.

While it is not insurmountable and the training may easily be done, there will have to be the commitment on the part of leadership to gear up for such an eventuality. Waiting until it is upon us is not wise, since those who will be trained to render such ministry must have time to learn and mature in order to discharge such responsibility. The training would be in the nature of discipleship or sanctification which has been all but missing in the ministry of the modern church, whether among staff or laity. Though long term discipleship will be required, most will require individual discipleship or counseling before being assimilated in a group for long term follow up. Individual or clinical discipleship would have the nature of leading a believer to understand the full impact of being crucified with Christ which is the beginning or entry into discipleship, according to Luke 14:27. Though some may live such a life, few have been trained to teach others to embark on such a spiritual journey. All believers are on a spiritual journey, and a few will be at a point of extreme need where understanding this aspect of the Cross will be not only desirable but absolutely necessary!

After it is revealed reality by the Holy Spirit, it will be necessary to learn to walk in such truth before being effective in sharing it with others. Then, there will be a period of time of personal sharing or ministry before being able to train others to do the same. Although it is not a complicated process, it is contrary to most church practice today, which makes it sound like a foreign concept. It is tried and proven over 4 decades, but the Church has not been forced to embrace such ministry because of needs which cannot be outsourced.

Once the need cannot be denied, and the human need must be squarely faced with no referrals as an alternative, it will be necessary to 'hunker down' and prepare for the long haul. A conference on the material content and a workshop on the basic methodology can be done in as little as ten (10) days, once the church is firmly committed to a thorough discipling of its congregation. Believers with less than a high school education have been trained, so formal education in counseling, education, psychology or theology is not a requirement. It is spiritual ministry which has been neglected for most of the last century and will require some crash training to fill the void and to give discipleship or sanctification an equal footing with justification. However, even in the matter of justification, its inculcation in evangelism has largely become a spectator sport with professionals being emplaced rather than major equipping of the saints. While evangelism, or soul winning, is taught in many evangelical churches, it is safe to say that the majority of Christians have never led anyone to Christ.



Then, those who are most proficient in evangelism have led few, if any, believers to the Cross for sanctification or discipleship. In fact, it is not accorded a place in the curriculum of most seminaries or Bible schools. This means that the whole Christian community is lacking in this vital aspect of ministry which, in all likelihood, will become front and center as the most needed emphasis in the Christian Church. It is a very simple approach to implement and can be done speedily with all necessary materials, methods, and message readily available. The only lack at this point is the distribution system for the materials/media which have been proven in a number of languages and cultures over the past 4 decades with approximately a dozen books published to support such study/training. It is a simple matter of publicity, logistics, and finance that are required to implement the approach widely and witness the Holy Spirit's transforming lives to the glory of God. Each life so transformed experiences revival or renewal which can easily spread from church to church as the message of the Cross is clearly taught from the pulpit and translated into the pew by means of one on one discipleship.

Summary



The discipleship herein described and commended has been the major need of the Church in recent decades, but there has not been the 'open nerve' to necessitate its inception. As a result, those needing a deeper walk with the Lord to resolve inner and interpersonal difficulties have been unhesitatingly outsourced to world system developments in psychology, with much of this being taught in our seminaries. That being the case, pastors have largely bought into the notion that counseling is a specialty which requires advanced education, so neither they nor their staff usually minister to such living needs, most of which should be the domain of clinical discipleship [Christ-centered counseling].

This mindset must be reversed so that the average church member will be equipped to live and share the Cross in a meaningful way and see the lives of other believers transformed. Those who have matured in their walk, where the experienced Cross is reality, will find that learning to share it with others in the Spirit is a simple matter. Hurting believers, as well as unbelievers, could then turn to the Church and get an answer rather than a referral! Though such ministry is presently not even on the horizon, much less in the comfort zone of the average church, the basic training could be done in as little as ten (10) days if pastor and people had a mind to do so. Such a church could have a whole new lease on ministry with a vision for the Holy Spirit to be regularly transforming lives and releasing such believers for ministry according to their spiritual gifting.

While there are a number of exceptional churches which are implementing the above to one degree or another, Dr. Phil Jones at First Baptist of Powell, TN has done the most thorough integration into the ministry of the church. In doing so, he has developed TELL (Teaching Exchanged Life Living) material for use in the local church; all who desire to unite with the church participate in such teaching. This was the project for his doctorate at Southern Seminary in Louisville KY. www.FBCPowell.com