By Dudley Foord and Rowland Croucher (First published in booklet form in the 1970s) According to the New Testament, the Church of Jesus Christ is a glorious Church.
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. He is continuing to build and
protect it. He walks in the midst of the golden lampstands. However, the glory of the Church has not always been reflected by the local churches in history. Since the New Testament has placed the local church in the centre of God's eternal purpose, it is crucial that we should attempt to diagnose the ills of our church and move it to health and spiritual renewal and growth. Church attendance in Australia is declining. The gap between the church and the vast bulk of the population is enormous and of the small percentage who attend, the majority probably has no clear concept of what the Church is all about. The local church's great need today for pastors who will be men and women of God, providing creative, courageous, dynamic, and positive leadership, inspiring the congregation to new life, new vision, new health, new outreach and new strategies. What is to be the new shape, the new style of the emerging church? It would appear that there are only two options open to the church today: One is to struggle to patch up the contemporary church, retaining all we can of traditional forms and patterns of life, resisting with all our might the forces that demand change. The other option is to accept the challenge of change and with unfailing confidence in the Lord Christ, who has declared that He will build His church, to work towards and expect God to renew the local church. At least three new attitudes will be essential if we are to experience new life in our churches. "CHURCH" - WHAT IS IT? The English word 'church' is derived from the Greek adjective kuriakos meaning 'the Lords'. The church has its origins in Christ's Words and He is its builder and protector (Matthew 16:18). "Ecclesia" occurs 112 times in the New Testament. Essentially it means a "meeting place" or an "assembly" of people. "Church" is our meeting together in the name of Jesus. The vital ideas of the fellowship, upbuilding caring and sharing are richly portrayed in various biblical metaphors, e.g. "flock" , "family", "bride", "body". In the New Testament (e.g. Ephesians) the church is portrayed as a dynamic new community, winsome and attractive with an eternal significance in the purpose of God. God planned the church. Christ gave Himself for the church. The spirit is building us together in the church. SO WE'RE ALL MINISTERS! In many churches, the spiritual vitality of a congregation is over-dependant upon the ministry of one man - the ordained clergyman. The laity have been lulled into believing that they have fulfilled their Christian duty so long as they perform the "three a's"- attend, agree and admire. It is a pathetic distortion of all the New Testament metaphors of the church to allow Christians to be content with attendance at a worship service on a Sunday for one hour once a week and nothing more. But this precisely the pattern which many churches establish. The idea that a church must hire a man who has many gifts and that his success is measured by how many "laymen" can be persuaded to attend his activities is unbiblical. The spirit gives to each Christian a unique grace-gift, and there are many different 'charismata' for the individual members of the body of Christ perform functions (1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 1 Peter 4:10, Romans 12:4-6). "The ministry" thus belongs to all the members of the body of Christ, and our structures must promote this inter-dependence. If all are encouraged to function according to their gifts (and yet within their limits), we will find emerging a new value placed on church membership. (Sociologist Hans Mol, among others, has observed that the weaker the hold of a denomination on its membership, the more its demand and functions will be regarded as optional.) ENCOURAGE YOUR PASTOR! As the first requisite, the renewal of the pastoral leader is crucial. Paul' s dictum to his young colleague Timothy - "Train yourself in godliness" (Timothy 4:7) - is fundamental. The present imperative gumnaze indicates that this activity is to be regular, continuous, disciplined, day-by -day, and to be pursued to the exclusion of other clamors for the pastor's time. He must follow the example of our Lord who "Withdrew himself and prayed" (Luke 5:16). Frances Schaeffer (True Spirituality) says pastors often unwittingly break the tenth commandment on covetousness. His personal sin is that he covets other pastors' successes or gifts and may be filled with resentment towards God for his own lack of gifts. To overcome such carnal and unspiritual covetousness, the pastor must develop his devotional and prayer life. Other pressing matters must be put aside if he is to become a man of God, a true spiritual leader, to lead a congregation under God to a renewal of spiritual life. This principle must also be clearly understood by the congregation. Their pastors must not become absorbed in all the areas of administration. Delegation to "faithful" assistants must be rigorously practised. Furthermore, time for reading and reflection, and true fellowship with other pastors must be recognised as a priority and they should be released for such opportunities to keep their spiritual life fresh and vital. (P.S. When did you last drop your pastor a note telling him you love him, and are supporting him?). AND PASTORS - "PREACH THE WORD" Why is preaching today sometimes regarded as a matter or little or no importance? Is it due to our spiritual apathy and slackness? Or the quality of contemporary sermons reached an all time low? "Why should I work at my preaching?" asks the pastor. "However hard I try, they won't listen." Why should I concentrate on sermons?" says the layman. "They're never much good." So the church languishes. The Comfortable Pew by the agnostic Pierre Berton has been described by someone as an attack, not on the comfortable pew but on the "luke-warm pulpit". The main reason for our churches' decline is that they've lost "the sure Word of the Lord". Biblical preaching is still God's way of powerfully confronting us with His Word and bringing us into the conformity with His will. History shows that preaching is a barometer of the life of the church. When preaching has been dynamic, the church has been strong; when it has been insipid, the church has been weak. P.T. Forsyth wrote in Positive Preaching and Modern Mind: "I will venture to say that with its preaching, Christianity stands or falls". And Emil Brunner (Revelation and Reason) has asserted that "Where there is true preaching, where, in the obedience of faith, the Word is proclaimed, there, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, the most important thing that ever happens upon this earth takes place." The major concern of the pulpit ministry will need to be a systematic unfolding of the whole counsel of God so that Christians will be led into a deeper understanding of the great provision of life and power available to them within the Body through the Spirit. The pastor's is essentially an equipping role: he's a "playing coach", one who inspires, teaches, encourages Christians to fulfil their God-given ministries. By this means, there will be growth to maturity (Ephesians 4:15). LET'S WORSHIP " EXPECTANTLY "! Sunday services in many places grind on unaltered and sacrosanct at 11.00 am and 7.00 p.m. Creative thought needs to be given to cause services to "come alive" so that people are attracted to an exciting celebration of worship where they are moved from the temporalities of life into the eternal dimension - an existential encounter with the Living God. Such a new approach to Sunday Worship will enthuse members to bring their friends along and a new expectancy will be generated. (This is probably one of the reasons why so many churches in Australia are small, as attempts to make the public worship more attractive fail simply because the numbers attending are too small. Good celebrations need plenty of people to generate dynamic life.) And room must be made for more members' active participation. A careful study of Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12-14 will be salutary and suggestive. Let us embark upon some careful and controlled experiments. Those who can read well may share in the reading of Scripture, others in the prayers. Occasionally the leader of some aspect of the church's life could briefly report on those activities or bring a brief testimony or some missionary news. Sometimes immediately following the sermon there could be a time of discussion and fellowship. It is quite amazing how such opportunities can engender natural relations between people which will lead on to a deeper koinonia. And let us remember that much of what goes on "in church" seems meaningless to the intelligent enquirer who may attend for the first time. We generally sing three or four Victorian hymns and the Bible may be read in Elizabethan English. Such archaic language gives rise to a sense of irrelevance. So should we blame him for being "turned off "? We have correctly emphasised the personal nature of salvation, but we have perhaps extended this individualistic aspect into our notion of the church as purely an assembly of individual believers. It was Augustine who used the term "amputated members" to describe Christians who mistakenly thought "lone wolf" Christianity was the norm. Our Sunday patterns ought to be revised to encourage members into new discoveries of what it means to belong to the family of Christians, and how to enjoy Christian fellowship and engage in the study of the Christian faith and life. (It is remarkable how few churches have introduced coffee after services, the wearing of nametags and the provision on Sunday morning of fellowship in small groups for discussion.) When a sufficient number of people come together, hungry to meet God, a special kind of worship experience can occur. In worship, the gathered people of God come into a new dimension. They come ". to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, with its thousands of angels, You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born sons whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, who is the judge of all mankind, and to the spirits of good people made perfect. You have to come to Jesus, who arranged the new covenant". (Heb. 22:24a) In that dimension we will be lifted out of the distractions of daily life and will pray, give thanks, sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord and hear and receive His promises. DEVELOP GROUP LIFE Our society operates according to the value systems of independence, privacy and possessions, but Christian values for the congregation reverse the secular ones to inter-dependence, community, sharing. Someone has said that the real menace to life in the world today is not the hydrogen bomb or I.C.B.M.'s "but the fact of proximity without community." Today a neglected area of the church life the use of the congregation as an instrument of therapy. The person with an emotional problem is often lonely and isolated, desperately needing to feel a sense of community with others. The congregation should have within it's structures the ability to heal his problem and answer the cry for help. Dr Howard Clinebell in his book The Mental Minister of the Local Church has observed: "The inspiration, fellowship and sense of belonging which comes from involvement in the life of a church where people are members one of another is an important source of psychological nourishment. This satisfaction of inner needs helps nurture mental health and prepares one to meet the needs of others". The Christian community is to be an environment that is a genuine, warm, loving, accepting fellowship enabling all to glorify God. The practical outworking of this principle will be the development of small face-to-face fellowship-support groups. The goal would be to ensure that every Christian is sharing in one such supportive fellowship. Ray Stedman says of the N.T. Church: "Christians would gather together in homes to instruct one another, study and pray together and share the ministry of spiritual gifts. Then they would go out into the world again to let the warmth and glow of their love-filled lives overflow into a spontaneous Christian witness that drew love-starved pagans like a candy-store draws little children." (Body Life, p.108) It is an established sociological fact that people communicate best within their affinity groups. Lyle Schaller calls these "fellowship circles". It is impossible for everybody to know one another in a church. It is this peer group where fellowship commences, although it does not end here. The development of such a network of mini-congregations, each with its own "pastor", ensures that members feel loved and wanted as if they were members of a tiny church. John Stott, in his excellent book One People states: "I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that small groups are indispensible for our growth into spiritual maturity." So let us rediscover " community". Let us build again a church, which will be the Church - Christ's body, a womb for nurturing relationships and ministries within which Christ can be formed in each and every member. Praying for each other in groups is, of course, a wonderful means of strengthening the love-bonds between Christians. Group members ought to commit themselves to praying each and everyday. Some groups form themselves into "prayer partners ", where two people keep in very close contact for an agreed period of time. (And in all this, let us not ignore family units. Have we been off target in devoting so much time to reaching children, rather than trying to reach the family unit? Something must be done to redress the family fragmentation, which is caused by so much of our activity. For example Sunday morning services ought to be characterised by the whole families being in the church together. Togetherness is important! Groups should regularly schedule picnics and "fun-events" to include the children.) TEACH AND TRAIN! Jesus preached to the crowds, counselled individuals privately and trained the twelve. He wrote no books, formed no institution. He just concentrated His life on those twelve men who would go and make disciples of all these peoples of the earth. This is still God's strategy - for pastor- teachers to train faithful, responsive men and women who will be able to teach others also (Timothy 2:2). Pastors, why not get your 'twelve' into a week-night group or Saturday morning "prayer breakfast" for fellowship, instruction, bible reading and prayer (and, as well, some form of "mission"). Further, many Christians have abysmally small understanding of Christian apologetics. They are often unable to deal with their contemporaries' questions. How are Christians to go out and penetrate the secular city with the gospel unless they are equipped? How many of our churches have held "Teach - Ins" on the various burning issues of today? As Hans-Ruedi Weber has put it: "The laity are not helpers of the clergy so that the clergy can do their job; but the clergy are the helpers of the whole people of God, so that the laity can be the church." In our Christian Education program we need some "remedial teaching" for adults which must be followed with a strong program of continuing education. (Remedial education becomes a necessity because much of what was learned by some of us must be unlearned.) One distressing factor arising from ineffective Christian education for adults, has been the failure of Christian parents to guide and establish their own children and families in a Christian life-style. One church polled showed that 96 percent of regular (i.e. Sunday by Sunday) Christian parents provided no opportunity for Christian instruction and sharing in their homes. The home must be seen as one of the vital centres of Christian education, wherein parents train, guide, discipline, lead and share real-life situations. SO . . . Each church ought to become an "equipping centre" or, as Elton Trueblood calls it, a "miniature theological seminary' - training people, bringing them to their full potential. (For example, are your small group leaders being adequately trained? Many of them may still operate on the old classroom teacher-pupil model rather than "workshop" model.) REACH OUT - WITH LOVE! The Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Coggan, wrote in his February 1976 Canterbury Diocesan Note: "The church, which is not constantly breaking out into the community with infectious evangelism, has the seeds of death". Surprisingly, the great burden of New Testament exhortation is not evangelism but rather to each believer's role on the body - his responsibility to his brothers in the Lord and their mutual interdependence. Evangelism is something that is happening all the time when the church is truly community, truly in fellowship, truly renewed and renewing. Too many Christians presume that it is the pastor's responsibility alone to evangelize. However, when a congregation is spiritually healthy, evangelism will occur spontaneously. The Commission on Evangelism in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Move in for Action, reported: "The warmth of the corporate experience of Christian people seems to be a crucial factor in evangelism. Sympathetic understanding and unjudging fellowship is the context of some of the most fruitful work. It appears that few things are so attractive as the true fellowship of real Christians." Professor K. Latourette in his seven-volume work The Expansion of Christianity reminds us that "The chief agents in the expansion of Christianity appear not have been those who made it a profession or made it a major part of their occupation, but men and woman who carried on their livelihood in some purely secular manner and spoke of their faith to those they met in this natural fashion." Yet the overwhelming impression of the picture presented by most churches is of an inward-looking self-sufficient group insensitive to the gulf which separates them from the unchurched. However any organisation that places primary emphasis on "pushing its product" rather than on meeting the needs of its clientele tends to go out of business. Jesus met human needs. Clearly the church must address itself to the needs of the community. People will not support programs for programs' sake. The provision of counselling ministries is a necessity to cope with the increasing number of troubled people with emotional, marital and family problems. It was Karl Menninger, who observed "religion has been the world's psychiatrist throughout the centuries." Let us develop 'evangelistic expectancy" - a belief that God will bare His saving power, a belief that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that God will bring more and more people to vital saving faith. BE INVOLVED IN WORLD-WIDE MISSION! "The gospel keeps bringing blessings and is spreading throughout the world, just as it has among you ever since the day you first heard about the grace of God and came to know it as it really is" (Colossians 1:6) A congregational survey discovered these attitudes to missionary work: Missions are peripheral importance to many churches, and it's a sad fact that many congregations seem to develop a propensity towards self-centredness. Each local congregation of believers has been called to make disciples of all nations. The congregation cannot escape its calling to be a missionary church. Congregations, which are not obedient to this Biblical pattern of deep commitment to God's strategy to reach the nations, will suffer a loss of spiritual life. God has only one program: "the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations " (Luke 24:47). Mission experts tell us that with the world population at just over 4,000 million people; nearly 3,000 million have never heard the gospel once. Each church should, therefore, be afire with enthusiasm for the greatest possible personal involvement in taking the Good News to those who have never heard. And let us not forget that two out of three human beings have not enough to eat at the moment. The small white "Christian " and western minority is rich and growing richer. It makes up not more than twenty percent of the world's people. But it consumes some seventy-five percent of the world's income. This imbalance must generate within the poor two-thirds of the world an enormous potential for hatred and resentment. Many astute observers believe this will be the trigger-point of the next global war. Many people in our churches would not think of themselves as wealthy, although by any standards from the Third World they are extremely well-off. Our mission involves a moral and spiritual responsibility both to our near and far neighbours. Christians discover that Jesus puts this responsibility under perennial scrutiny. Dare I buy an extra suit when a "neighbour sleeps hungry in a Calcutta gutter? SO SET SOME GOALS! "Whoever aims nowhere is bound to hit the mark!" If a survey asked your regular members what was the purpose of their church, the basic goals towards which their church was moving and what were the dreams and visions and hopes for the future of their church, how would they answer? Goals may be suggested initially by Whether such goals emanate from the "the ground up" or "sideways", or "from the top down", the whole congregation ought to feel they "own" them. And don't forget to evaluate! Unless we can establish self-evaluation processes our churches will be vulnerable to the usual institutional pressures to be place a higher priority on survival than ministry, and to put institutional maintenance ahead of serving people and their needs. Self-evaluation aims to focus on purposes, goals and programs, and must be built in as follows- A decade ago Bishop Stephen Neill wrote: "It well may be that we are just on the edge of one of those great epochs in which in unexpected ways God releases forces for the renewal of His Church and sends it out on a new and untried ways." It is my conviction that a new understanding of the biblical doctrine of the Church can and will fire a Christian with a new enthusiasm for and commitment to the local congregation. We all need to grasp afresh this glorious biblical vision of who that people of God are meant to be. Our thinking and practices need to be reshaped. For every Christian this means a determination to take his local church seriously. It means deep involvement, seeking to formulate structures, objectives, goals and contemporary strategies so that the local church may become the real Church-glorious, healthy and growing. The building of such churches matters more than anything else. Finally, To reinforce a balanced approach to worship, fellowship, nurture and mission, the congregation could be invited to be a member of the "Company of the Committed" by signing a commitment such as the following: " I HAVE A DREAM" I HAVE A DREAM of a church in...(my town-suburb ) which is a BIBLICAL CHURCH. Which is loyal in every particular to the revelation of God in scripture Whose pastors expound Scripture with integrity and relevance and seek to present every person mature in Christ. Whose people love the word of God and eagerly attend each Lord's Day longing to hear and be taught its truths. Whose members frame their lives according to its precepts with an obedient and Christ-like life? Which is preserved from all unbiblical emphases. Whose life manifests the health and beauty of biblical balance. I have a dream of a BIBLICAL CHURCH. I HAVE A DREAM of a church in .which is a WORSHIPPING CHURCH Whose people come together to meet God and worship Him Who know God is always in their midst and bow down before Him in true humility Who regularly frequent the table of the Lord Jesus to celebrate His mighty act of redemption on the cross. Who enrich the worship with their musical skills Who believe in prayer and are developing daily habits of disciplined praying Whose worship is expressed not only on Sunday Services and prayer groups but also in their home-life and their weekday vocation. I have a dream of a WORSHIPPING CHURCH. I HAVE A DREAM of a church in .which is a CARING CHURCH. Whose congregation is drawn from many races, nations, ages and social backgrounds and exhibits the unity and diversity of the family of God. Whose fellowship is warm and welcoming and never marred by the bitterness, selfishness, jealously or pride. Whose members love one another with a pure heart fervently, forbearing one another, forgiving one another and bearing one another's burdens' Which offers friendship to the lonely, support to the weak, and acceptance to those who are despised and rejected by society. Whose love spills over to the world outside, attractive, infectious, irresistible- the love of God Himself. I have a dream of a CARING CHURCH. I HAVE A DREAM of a church .which is a SERVING CHURCH Which has seen Christ
as the servant and has heard His call to be a servant too Which is "turned inside
out" giving itself selflessly to the service of others Whose members obey Christ's
command to live in the world, to permeate secular society, to be salt of the
earth and the light of the world Whose people share the good news of Jesus simply,
naturally, sensitively and enthusiastically with their friends Which diligently
strives to meet the needs of residents in its community - workers and employers,
families and single people, nationals and immigrants, senior folk and little
children Which is alert to the challenging needs of society, sensitive and flexible
enough to keep adapting its program to serve more usefully Which has a global
missionary vision and is constantly challenging its young people to give their
lives for the world and is constantly sending its people out to serve. I have
a dream of a SERVING CHURCH. I HAVE A DREAM of a church in .which is an EXPECTANT CHURCH Whose members can never settle down in the material affluence or comfort because they remember that they are strangers and pilgrims on earth Which is all the more faithful and active because it is waiting and looking for its Lord to return Which keeps the flame of the Christian hope burning brightly in a dark, despairing world Which on the "day of Christ" will not shrink from Him in shame but rise joyfully to greet Him.. I have a dream of an EXPECTANT CHURCH. Such is my dream for the.church. May we all share it under GOD may it come true. FURTHER READING: Wagner, C.P., Your Church Can Grow ( Regal) Richards, L.O. A New Face For the Church (Zondervan) Moyes, G. How to Grow an Australian Church (Vital) Schaller, Lyle, Hey That's Our Church, and The Change Agent (Abingdon) Ortland, R. Lord Make My Life a Miracle (Regal) Stott, J.R.W., What Christ thinks of the Church (Tyndale) Watson, David, I Believe in the Church (Hodder) ~~~ The ideas here are meant to be "discussion starters". As you read them, write down the points which you find for reflection and discussion. You should find quite a few, relating to your own church situation. Why not use this material at a deacon's or leader's conference? Perhaps two or three topics can be studied in each session. These insights have been condensed from material originally written by Dudley Foord, who is senior minister of Christ Church, St Ives, in Sydney. He's an Anglican, yet I believe these principles are relevant to any evangelical congregation . Our prayer is that you will be encouraged and stimulated, and that our churches will be renewed as we catch something of the glorious vision Christ has for His Church! Rowland Croucher >From a Booklet "Your Church Can Come Alive" Dudley Foord, Rowland Croucher ISBN 085044 174 9 No 174 The Clifford Press (The Australian Baptist Board of Christian Education) 597 Burwood Road Hawthorn 3122
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