Coombs on Leadership

A good father is not utilitarian. He doesn't use people, he invests in them! It is tragic to meet so many people in the church who feel they are being used. Deep down many people feel that they are appreciated and included by leadership only because of their gifting; that their acceptance is based on what they can do and not who they are. And when their usefulness is gone, then so is the relationship.

Packer on the Gospels

Finally, we could then correct the wooliness of view as to what Christian commitment involves, by stressing the need for constant meditation on the four gospels, over and above the rest of our Bible reading; for gospel study enables us both to keep our Lord in clear view and to hold before our minds the relational frame of discipleship to him. The doctrines on which our discipleship rests are clearest in the epistles, but the nature of discipleship itself is most vividly portrayed in the gospels. Some Christians seem to prefer the epistles to the gospels and talk of graduating from the gospels to the epistles as if this were a mark of growing up spiritually; but really this attitude is a very bad sign, suggesting that we are more interested in theological notions than in fellowship with the Lord Jesus in person. We should think, rather, of the theology of the epistles as preparing us to understand better the disciple relationship with Christ that is set forth in the gospels, and we should never let ourselves forget that the four gospels are, as has often and rightly been said, the most wonderful books on earth.

Chan on Discipleship

“A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the best thing he can do is be faithful to his Saviour in every aspect of his life, continually saying ‘thank you!’ to God. An obsessed person knows there can never be intimacy if he is always trying to pay God back or work hard enough to be worthy. He revels in his role as child and friend of God.”

“A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. Obsessed people know that true joy doesn’t depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God (James 1:2-4).”

“People who are obsessed with God have an intimate relationship with Him. They are nourished by God’s Word throughout the day because they know that forty minutes on Sunday is not enough to sustain them for a whole week, especially when they will encounter so many distractions and alternative messages.”

“People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures. Obsessed people don’t put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace.”

“A person who is obsessed is characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God, above and before every other thing and every other being.”

“A person who is obsessed thinks about heaven frequently. Obsessed people orient their lives around eternity; they are not fixed only on what is here in front of them.”

“People who are obsessed with God are known as givers, not takers. Obsessed people genuinely think that others matter as much as they do, and they are particularly aware of those who are poor around the world (James 2:14-26).”

“People who are obsessed with Jesus do not consider service a burden. Obsessed people take joy in loving God by loving His people (Matt 13:44; John 15:8)”

“A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be ‘humble enough,’ and so they seek to make themselves less known and Christ more known (Matt 5:16).”

“Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don’t always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth. As Martin Luther put it, ‘There are two days on my calendar: this day and that day’ (Luke 14:25-35; Matt 7:13-23; 8:18-22; Rev 3:1-6).”

“People who are obsessed with Jesus live lives that connect them with the poor in some way or another. Obsessed people believe that Jesus talked about money and the poor so often because it was really important to Him (1 John 2:4-6; Matt 16:24-26).”

“People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.”

Hesketh on Enthusiastic Dualism

Every Friday (or whatever day your church youth meet) and Sunday young people will lift hands in worship to God, sing the songs and do the “church thing”. Then on “none church” days do as their friends do smoking, drinking, swearing and be sexually active with people who are not their husbands or their wives. They do each with enthusiasm and see no problem; hence “enthusiastic dualism”. Now clearly this is a generalisation as there are lots of young people that live passionately for Jesus and do not engage in the same things as their friends but live counter-culturally to them. Enthusiastic dualism is not only evidenced in young people but adults as well…

As social networking gathers increasing pace such as Facebook, Twitter, Bebo etc they are one way in which I see this demonstrated which has prompted this post. As a local church pastor it is actually quite concerning to see what people who are Christians say and do on what is a great tool to keep in communication with people. The applications, language and status updates are a dead giveaway for those who are enthusiastically dualistic. Now again it is dangerous to make generalisations but it happens when there is a disconnect between the good news of Jesus and everyday life.

Why does it happen? I believe it happens most when people are entrenched in church tradition and not Jesus. When we understand who Jesus is and what he came to do we cannot fail to see our lives in light of this and his light exposes our darkeness. However. His exposure of our darkness enables us to see how far we have fallen from God’s original plan. Jesus is the answer to this problem and provides us a way out in and through Himself in the cross.

It’s not that dangerous though is it? Well actually I think it a dangerous virus that will kill the effectiveness of the church in the days ahead. As followers of Jesus we are called to be different and stand out to those who do not know Jesus. Those who claim to be Jesus followers yet do not stand out as his disciples cause confusion amongst those who do not know Jesus. If those who do not know Jesus do not see any difference in his supposed followers then why turn from living selfishly and for ones self?

Honeysett on Discipleship and Training

I find it so much easier to prioritise skills and activities in Christian leadership than to deliberately work at my heart. To watch doctrine more closely than life. For those of us who train others it is similarly easy to allow activity and skill to outweigh concentration on life and heart because it is easier to measure. We think it is much easier to teach someone to preach Isaiah than how to be a preacher who exemplifies humility and a spirit of forgiveness.

For the first years I ran preaching trainings they were almost exclusively dedicated to expository accuracy and skill. Because that is the result we want to produce, right? Accurate word handling is, of course, absolutely crucial. But with the eyes of hindsight I am shocked at what we didn’t teach our preachers. What we simply assumed.

We didn’t teach them:

* How to fast and pray over their preparation, worshipping over the Bible
* That understanding is for the purpose of close application to life which in turn is for the purpose of adoration
* How to have hearts that are steadfast in pursuing happiness in God
* How to be disciples who walk in repentance and faith when the subtle traps that are peculiar to preachers emerge to trip them up
* How to not put themselves on pedastals and to avoid the cover up that accompanies thinking that our job depends on an appearance of sinlessness
* How to lead out a heart of forgiveness
* How to marvel and wonder and adore. I taught that the Bible was for spiritual education rather than gospel transformation by the power of the Holy Spirit
* Most importantly I didn't prioritise training them in godly character

These days whenever I am training preachers and leaders we begin everything with how to live in the love of God, how to receive his grace, the importance of humble character and servanthood. These foundations subsequently undergird everything else we teach, all the way through, like letters running through a stick of rock. We want to train people to be preachers who are full of the Galatians 5 fruit of the Spirit, who radiate love.

You might think “well can you train in that?” Yes, you can because 2 Tim 3:16 says the word trains us in righteousness and Titus 2:12 says that grace teaches us to say “no” to all ungodliness.

I have a nasty suspicion that it led to John 5:39 Bible reading rather than Acts 17 Bible reading. “you diligently study the scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.” Rather than “receiving the message with great eagerness and examining the scriptures every day to see whether it is true.”

Here is the heart of the problem: we had taken a great means of grace and a critical support for life and faith and the crucial tool of our ministry – Bible understanding – and had turned it into the end, rather than the means to the end. We told ourselves we were mature Christians because we were educated rather than because we delighted ourselves in the Lord. We turned our devotions into comprehension exercises.

We thought we were good preachers because of knowledge and technique. Lack of knowledge and technique do not a good preacher make. However, knowledge and technique alone do not a good preacher make because they tempt us to do ministry in our own strength. When God says “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” We had stepped out of a God-centred spirituality into a man-centred one. When you train yourself and others to preach, can I ask whether you spend more time on your skills or on your love?

Honeysett on Leading Change

What do leaders bring to the table to help put the supremacy of God at the heart of all church life and church activities?

1. The leader's life. This is the big different and addition to secular leadership models. In the world we incentivise change with remuneration. In the church we do it with godly role modelling. Timothy and Epaphroditus are used in Philippians 2 as the examples of godly discipleship and behaviour. Paul is unafraid to say "follow me as I follow Christ." The most important element in what a change-bringing leader does is what is that leader like?

2. Aligning motives to Christ. Our identity is deeply rooted in Christ. "I no longer live but it is Christ who lives in me." Unless leaders and congregation are saying a whole-hearted amen to that then change to bring motives in line with Christ is impossible. There are two key elements in such aligning of motives:

(a) a clear view of Jesus in the Bible; of what he calls us to to do; a deep desire to humble ourselves and do what he does. Because a willingness to accept the cost of carrying the cross means we have already accepted the sacrifice that change requires

(b) a clear view of other people - especially leaders - who are sacrificially following Christ on whom we can model our discipleship

3. Clear discernment. Leaders bring analysis of the situation that is readily graspable

4. A knowledge of the means at the churches disposal to bring change, and to bring it positively rather than negatively

5. Good communication of vision so that there is a growing sense of stakeholding and teamwork. This is hard when people have been allowed to join the congregation with no sense of team or purpose, no connection to vision and values

6. An ability to structurally organise the church around vision. It is no good for a church to have a great mission statement but assume that it just happens because we have a good mission statement. No, we have to organise around the mission statement for it to have any concrete reality

7. An ability to apply the consequences of vision to every area of church life, evaluating every area according to vision. This is usually the stumbling block because you have to introduce evaluative processes to an informal culture which isn't used to them. And you will need to stop doing things that don't meet the vision, but those things will be emotionally important to some people in the church

Honeysett on Training Leaders

Is your church a place where the following are normal expectations:

1. Leaders of all activities (especially home groups) being carefully and regularly nurtured and trained
2. That the Lord will regularly raise up future full time leaders who will initially be identified, encouraged, trained and released to exercise embryonic leadership gifts in your church
3. Evaluation of future possibilities for winning the lost and extending the kingdom in your area. Leaders and congregation praying for God to fulfil the needs exposed by your evaluation
4. Honouring and equipping embryonic leaders, through current leaders being freed to give enough time to their development

If the answer is no to most or all of the above you should anticipate that you will face a significant stall in the coming few years. There is every possibility that you will cease to be missional. Reasons for this may include:

1. Your congregation not valuing leadership or wanting to be led. This may indicate certain theological convictions about leadership, but is more likely to show that a majority of the congregation have moved into maintenance mode in which the meeting of their spiritual needs assumes a greater priority than making disciples
2. You will be very likely to search externally for your next pastor (or the one after that) only to find that traditionally reliable sources have dried up
3. You will discover that you have contextualised yourself in the past and refused to adapt to reach a different world. This makes your church inherently unattractive for potential next-generation leaders who are asking the question “where can I work with a congregation that wants to be equipped for building the church and winning the world?”
4. Your church culture assumes that wherever leaders come from, it isn’t your church. If you ever have an embryonic leader the governing paradigm is that you send them to be trained elsewhere and buy back in fully formed. Therefore you have lost any internal base of training and development skills. Therefore the emergence and development of leaders in your church for your church (and the wider church) becomes much more unlikely precisely because it is abnormal. God may have his hand on a person for leadership, but human obstacles may well prevent them from exploring his call
5. You, personally, didn’t make passing on leadership a priority

The foundational issue underlying the emerging leadership crisis in UK churches is one of mindset at a local church level:

1. The average local church is not producing any leaders
2. It is rare to find local churches freeing up significant amounts of leadership time for developing embryonic leaders
3. Only a tiny percentage of churches devote any time to training elders, deacons, home group leaders, evangelism facilitators or Sunday School teachers

Questions any leader should be asking:

1. Are you allowed to step back from being the all competent doer-of-everything, to take a strategic view and invest in key people for the future? If not, why?
2. Do you train elders, deacons and home group leaders in your church? If not, why?
3. What training and resources that you currently don’t have would make that a practical and achievable possibility for you?
4. Who are your 20 (or 10, or 5) most likely potential leaders for 2020? What would you have to invest in them to allow their ministry to take off?
5. What would this require in terms of time, energy and resources? Why are the necessary resources not devoted to this in your church? What else would you have to sacrifice to make it possible? Would your congregation allow you to make the necessary sacrifices? If not, why?

At this moment in evangelicalism in the UK, the development of missional leaders in our churches for our churches is the number one key priority for the health of the church nationally. Neglecting it is an unaffordable luxury. Devoting energy elsewhere while neglecting this is likely to prove a terrible false economy, because if our churches lack biblical leaders in 15 years time – and at current rates of progress very many will – then at that point all other ministries of the local church that depend on biblical leadership will also take a fatal blow.

Cole on Church

I want to lower the bar of how church is done so that anyone can do it, and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple so that they will do it.

Cole on Discipleship

If you can’t reproduce disciples, you’ll never reproduce leaders. If you can’t reproduce leaders, you’ll never reproduce churches. If you can’t reproduce churches, you’ll never see a movement.

Dave Kraft on Leaders

A Christian leader is a humble, God-dependent, team-playing servant of God who is called by God to shepherd, develop, equip, and empower a specific group of believers to accomplish an agreed upon vision from God.

Garrett Wishall on Ministry

Based on my observations from these various vantage points, here’s what I would do if I wanted to “blow up” a church.

1. Begin my ministry as a teacher and refuse to be a learner. Seminary does this to us sometimes: we spend three or more years learning, and we are ready to use all of that knowledge in the first few weeks of a new ministry. What we fail to do is listen to the people, get to know them and understand their culture. Consequently, we are viewed more as an outsider than a pastor, and the fault most often lies with us.

2. Assume that the “honeymoon period” as a church leader is the time to make as many changes as possible. Some churches may, in fact, offer no such honeymoon period. Others do need immediate attention, but even those churches do not want to be trampled under significant change. Still others fired the previous pastor for making changes too quickly; in that case, how wise is it to follow the same pattern?

3. Expect to fix everything overnight. We who have grown up in a microwave world assume that everything can be changed quickly — but that is not the case. Most of the church problems that we inherit are long-term issues with roots that run deep in the church. Emotions surround these issues, and we should not expect that such problems will be rooted out and changed quickly.

4. Teach a theological system more than the Bible. Particularly if our theological system is new and fresh for us, we often cannot wait to bring others into our camp. We become more concerned about leading church members to become “____________ists” (you fill in the blank) than we are about leading them to follow Jesus.

5. Study always and seldom “hang out” with people. Study matters, and we cannot neglect our time to focus on God and His Word. At the same time, though, our church members deserve our time and attention. If we only study and set aside no time to develop relationships with members, we will be viewed as distant and uncaring.

6. Blame undiscipled members for acting like believers who have never been discipled. This story is repeated in church after church: its members (including its leaders) have never truly been discipled. They have not been taught how to read the Word, pray without ceasing, reject temptation and tell others about Jesus. They have not learned even basic doctrines simply because no one ever addressed that need. We can either blame them, or we can invest in them and help ground them in the faith.

7. Pray reactively rather than proactively. Most pastors do their best, pray briefly out of habit and more earnestly pray only when they face a situation they cannot solve. Such reactive prayer often shows that we are operating in our own power most of the time. This reality may not necessarily “blow up” the church, but it may leave the church in mediocrity — which may be even worse.

Obviously, our goal is not to blow up the church. Here’s one suggestion to avoid doing so: love the church before you try to change the church. Gain people’s love and respect first by ministering to them, guiding them, praying for them and consistently preaching the Word to them. When they know that you have their best spiritual interests at heart, the church will be much more willing to follow you.

Review of Trellis and the Vine

Some points from a Matthias review of Payne and Marshall's book:

The vine of Christian ministry is people; the trellis is the various organizational structures that exist for the health of the vine. So vine work is “the work of watering and planting and helping people to grow in Christ”, while trellis work has to do with “rosters, property and building issues, committees, finances, budgets, overseeing the church office, planning and running events” (p. 9). The warning the authors offer repeat­edly is that our tendency in Christian ministry is to let the trellis work take over the vine work (p. 9).

Marshall and Payne add that the habit of many churches is maintaining and improving the trellis—to the point where this sort of work ends up eclipsing vine work. But our goal should be “to grow the vine, not the trellis” (p. 14). Furthermore, since “structures don't grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines”, many of our churches need to make “a conscious shift—away from erecting and maintaining structures, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ” (p. 17).

It's this basic: “Christian ministry is really not very complicated. It is simply the making and nurturing of genuine followers of the Lord Jesus Christ through prayerful, Spirit-backed proclamation of the word of God. It's disciple-making.” (p. 151). Simple though it may be, the authors have this final warning: “Churches inevitably drift towards institutionalism and secularization. The focus shifts from the vine to the trellis—from seeing people grow as disciples to organizing and maintaining activities and programs” (p. 152). The continuing challenge is to keep your focus on vine work.

Tim Chester on Gospel Living

Christians are united by faith with Christ in his death and resurrection. This is the basis of our salvation: his death is our death that he bears in our place and his new life is our new life. But this union with Christ in his death and resurrection is also the basis for the way we live our lives as Christians.

1. Suffering followed by glory

‘Then [Paul and Barnabas] returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.’ (Acts 14:21-22)

‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’ (Romans 8:17-18)

In this present life we follow the way of the cross. Jesus said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’ (Luke 9:23) Everywhere you look in the New Testament the cross of Jesus (more than the life of Jesus) defines what it means to live as Christ. It can be summarised with five Ss:

•sacrifice
•submission
•self-denial
•service
•suffering
Reflection
The way of cross impacts both our big life choices and our small daily actions: from martyrdom to washing up. Identify what the way of the cross will mean for you in the next five minutes? Five hours? Five days? Five months? Five years?


We follow the way of the cross because it leads to resurrection glory. We live sacrificially because we are living for a glorious inheritance kept in heaven for us. (See Matthew 6:19-21 and Hebrews 11:24-26 and 12:1-3.)


In the meantime we cannot expect glory without the cross (see Mark 10:35-45).

Peter concludes his first letter by saying that he has written ‘encouraging you and testifying that this is the true grace of God’ (5:12). What is this true grace of God? ‘And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Peter 5:10-11) The true grace of God, the grace that makes him ‘the God of all grace’, consists of this: he has called to eternal glory after we have suffered a little while. Suffering followed by glory. The pattern of suffering and glory in the experience of Christ (1:11) is the experience of all believers (1:6-7; 4:13; 5:1-6, 10).

Peter needs to write to confirm that this is the true grace of God, because there are false versions of grace. There are versions of grace that promise glory without suffering.

Summit Church on Small Groups

This year we have collectively taken up two prayers as small group leaders for each of our small groups here at the Summit in 2010. They are:

1.Every group would witness at least one person come to know Christ in 2010.
2.Every group would plant a new small group by the end of the year.
These are not ministry “goals,” these are our expressions of God’s mandate to the church: make disciples.

I imagine this not being received all that well, but the scriptures are clear. Jesus looked at his disciples after he conquered death and commissioned them to one thing: make disciples. So this is what we will aim for in 2010, making disciples.

If we are honest and really pray these prayers, some of us and some in our groups are going to start getting uncomfortable as God begins to put non-christians increasingly in our path that we can tell them the great news of the gospel. But when the group actually walks alongside someone who comes from death to life, I promise the joy of sharing Christ will become infectious in that group. I believe a big reason our people don’t share Christ is because they don’t actually believe God will bring salvation to those they know. We are fickle in our humanity in that way. But when we see God go to work on an atheist and turn him into a worshipper of Jesus, our own faith is bolstered and we share with renewed boldness.

On the other prayer, we don’t just want to make converts, but make disciples. And disciples are ones who make other disciples. That means the community of the local church, when healthy, is ever growing. So if we want people in our small groups to become “disciples” and not get stuck at “convert” we want to empower them to make disciples. That means encouraging their own evangelism and opening our church community to those people. Again this will be uncomfortable to some who’ve become more inward focused than they realize. But once the leader guides the group over that awkward hurdle, a fresh flame of disciple making will have room to grow into a white hot disciple making movement in our church!

Marcus Honeysett on Church

Here are some highlights to whet your appetite ?

1. The church forgets who we are and what we are for ? When we forget that we are the community of disciples for declaring God?s greatness and making disciples, mission quickly becomes just one among many activities rather than the defining vision of who we are as a community.

2. The majority of believers are no longer thrilled with the Lord and what he is doing in their lives. When questions like ?What is God doing with you at the moment?? cease to be common currency, it is a sure sign of creeping spiritual mediocrity.

3. ? In my view, the single biggest cause of stalled churches in the UK is the belief that material comfort can be normative for Christians. It is the opposite of radical commitment to Christ.

4. When [Christians] see church as one among many leisure activities, usually low down the priority list. They are unlikely to see the Christian community as God?s great hope for the world and unlikely to put commitment above self-interest.

5. ? Where people take no personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth a stalled church becomes more likely.

6. ? When preaching, teaching and Bible study become ends in themselves rather than means to an end, something is badly wrong.

7. A church becomes afraid to ask radical questions ? The danger is that people start to equate serving the church with living out the gospel. Few churches regularly evaluate every aspect of church life against their core vision.

8. Confusing Christian activities with discipleship ?

9. Not understanding how to release and encourage everyone in the church to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of the church ? There are two types of DNA in churches. One type of church says ?we exist to have our personal spiritual needs met?, the other ?we exist to impact our locality and the world with the gospel of the grace of God in Christ?. The first type is a stalled church.

10. ? No church was stalled at the point that it was founded. At the beginning all churches were adventures in faith and daring risk for God. No one actively decided for comfort over risk, but at some point the mindset shifted from uncomfortable faith and daring passion for the Lord to comfortable mediocrity ? The mantra of the maintenance mindset is ?if it ain?t broke don?t fix it?. But just like buying shoes for growing children, if structures don?t take account of future growth then fellowships end up stunted and deformed.

Peter Brain on Leadership

Great quote from George Carey (in Peter Brain "Going the Distance" p16):

Churches die when leaders die. Churches die from the top downward. Show me a growing church and you will show me a visionary leadership. It is leaders who make growth. When you have spiritual leaders, men of prayer, women of prayer - imaginative, alert, intelligent - there we have growth



I have three questions to pose from that:

1. are the leaders in your church given the time, resources and freedom to lead (pray, bring vision, develop strategy) as opposed to manage or keep all the activities running?

2. are the leaders in your church given the time, resources and freedom to bring on the next generation of leaders? If they are too rushed off their feet it will never happen

3. what are the main reasons why your church and its leaders don't develop more new leaders than they do, if there are possible candidates to work with?

Marcus North on Discipleship

Does your church actively train people individually or in groups to do any or all of the following:

?pray
?read, understand and apply the Bible for themselves
?give joyfully
?forgive
?fast
?sacrifice
?seek God for grace
?worship that involves the whole person, affections as well as mind
I guess the answer is likely to be some but not all of those things. If the answer is no to most then you don't currently give a great deal of emphasis to discipleship

Marcus North on Leadership

authentic Christian leadership is closely linked to:

?The nature and person of God
?The worship of Christ
?The Work of the Holy Spirit
?The mission of the church
?The nature of mature discipleship
?The character of Christ
?The nature of the body of Christ

Tim Chester Reviews "The Vine and the Trellis"

A summary of the book:

?Vine work is about the ministry of the Word of God, by the power of the Spirit. It is the ministry that sees people converted, changed, and made mature in Christ. Trellis work is all the other things we do in our churches that hopefully support that vine work, but which actually aren?t vine work in themselves.? The authors of this book don?t dismiss ?trellis work? ? all the institutional and structural stuff of church. But they argue we need a refocus onto ?vine work? ? making disciples.

There?s a lot of good stuff in this book. I particularly love the key principles elaborated of chapters 2 and 12:

Ministry mind-shifts

1. From running programs to building people

2. From running events to training people

3. From using people to growing people

4. From filling gaps to training new workers

5. From solving problems to helping people make progress

6. From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership

7. From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships

8. From relying on training institutions to establishing local training

9. From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion

10. From engaging in management to engaging in ministry

11. From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

Summary Propositions

1. Our goal is to make disciples

2. Churches tend towards institutionalism as sparks fly upwards

3. The heart of disciple-making is prayerful teaching

4. The goal of all ministry ? not just one-to-one work ? is to nurture disciples

5. To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker

6. Disciple-makers need to be trained and equipped in conviction, character and competence

7. There is only one class of disciples, regardless of different roles or responsibilities

8. The Great Commission, and its disciple-making imperative, needs to drive fresh thinking about our Sunday meetings and the place of training in congregational life

9. Training almost always starts small and grows by multiplying workers

10. We need to challenge and recruit the next generation of pastors, teachers and evangelists

Making a start

Step 1: Set the agenda on Sundays

Step 2: Work closely with your elders or parish council

Step 3: Start building a new team of co-workers

Step 4: Work out with you co-workers how disciple-making is going to grow in your context

Step 5: Run some training programs

Step 6: Keep an eye out for ?people worth watching?

Neil Cole on Discipleship

We should lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple. That is, if we can conceive and structure a church that is simple enough that anyone can do it, and is made up of people who follow Jesus at any cost, the result will be a movement that empowers the common Christian to do the uncommon works of God. In contrast it seems that many of our current practices run contrary to this - we make church complex and discipleship too easy.