THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH - TURNING DISCIPLESHIP RIGHT-SIDE-UP

TURNING DISCIPLESHIP RIGHT-SIDE-UP (Michael W. Niva)

My last post dealt with the necessity of changing the Church's paradigm from one of coming to a fixed location at a fixed time to be ministered to by a fixed group of people into that of going into the world (as Jesus directed) ministering life to anyone at any time and in any place. This is no small feat after centuries of building-based and teaching-driven approaches to ministry. Let's take this concept to the next level; to the place where we could potentially eradicate the problem by focusing on people first, not programs, events, meetings and teaching strategies.

REVIEW - TEACHING, TRAINING, EQUIPPING

I want to refresh your memory for just a moment. Institutional churches have largely focused on teaching (teaching concentrates on content) as their main tool of personal spiritual transformation. While useful and necessary, teaching is often over-stressed to the point of downplaying or totally eliminating the concepts of training (focusing on tasks) and equipping (focusing on the person). Apostolic ministry, that of making disiples of the nations according to Jesus' instructions in Matthew 28, must choose to focus (in this writer's opinion) on the person first, the task next and the teaching last. Our approach has largely been opposite of this and has prevented us (again, my opinion) from successfully reaching to the depth of training and equipping necessary for the multiplication of effective followers of Jesus.

The human family makes a perfect illustration of this principle. Infants (ideally) are first exposed to love, nurture and encouragement, mingled with age-appropriate methods of correction. Secondly, parenting moves on to simple, daily tasks (picking up toys, making beds, clearing dishes from the table, etc.) Only then does heavily structured teaching begin, as children attend schools learning according to their age and personal ability. Each child is also a unique individual. Because of this, while love and nurture tend to be universal and unconditional, training and teaching are more customized to the needs, abilities and interests of each child. Children are more adept at different tasks, and drawn to the study of different subjects, but all crave and need love, nurture and constant encouragement.

ADVICE FROM A WISE MASTER-BUILDER

The Apostle Paul says, in Ephesians 4:11-15, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head - Christ . . "

Before we press ahead to examine the meaning of the word equipping in this passage, it is important to note that Paul places equipping at the top (not the bottom) of the list for the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and yes, even the teacher. In other words, the collective responsibility of this group of Christ's representatives is to first "equip" (the person) before focusing on the "work of the ministry," (the task). The need for unified faith here is placed before knowledge (what is gained through instruction), while doctrine (what is taught) is portrayed as a potentially divisive wind, a tool wielded by crafty and cunning people for their own selfish purposes. The whole idea in the above passage is that of effectively helping the entire Church to mature into the full stature of Christ, no longer being blown off course by deception, no longer bogged down in meaningless and controversial theological arguments, but rather, dealing with one another lovingly and truthfully, endeavoring to help one another to truly grow up into our place within the Body. Later in the passage, Paul places before us all the hope that, should we be able to get our priorities turned right-side-up, the Body will organically multiply itself in love, each person functioning and contributing according to their unique giftedness.

NOT MANY FATHERS - NOT MANY CHILDREN

In 1 Corinthians 4:15, Paul highlights an age-old problem which seems to yet plague the Church today: "For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel."

Teachers, whether in the school system or the Church, are largely responsible for delivering content to their students on a particular subject and subsequently testing their knowledge to ascertain whether or not they have absorbed the material. In contrast, fathers and mothers live with those same students at home on a daily basis, focusing on everything that it takes for a young man or woman to grow into maturity and succeed in life. Why were there "not many fathers" in Paul's day? Was it not because there were "ten thousand instructors," ten thousand willing to teach, but not to father, not to train and equip?

It is much less time intensive to settle for being a teacher in the Body of Christ rather than to become a real father or mother in the faith. Once again, we can clock in at church, teach our material and clock out into the real world. However, the real difficulties that young believers will face will not occur on Sunday morning between 10:00 am and noon, but on Monday through Saturday in the real world. As long as we focus on teaching as our main methodology for making disciples, it is my opinion that this problem will never go away. Teachers will produce students. Fathers and mothers produce mature men and women of faith.

EQUIPPING 101 - RECOVERY AND DISCOVERY

The word equipping in Ephesians 4 is translated from the Greek word katartismos/complete furnishing or equipping. That is the simple definition. At a deeper level, katartismos springs from a medical background and refers to the proper setting of a broken bone. Keep in mind that Paul is going to stress in just a few verses how the Body needs to fit and function together, like the human skeletal system working as one unit. Equipping, properly understood, has two levels of meaning, both of which are left untouched by either teaching or training:

1.) RECOVERED WHOLENESS

2.) DISCOVERED FUNCTION

Teaching (what someone may need to know) and training (what someone may need to do) must logically follow from equipping (what someone may potentially become). You will get little or no classroom participation or work out of someone who is both broken by life's difficulties and insecure as to their real role or place in life. This is as true within the Body of Christ as it is in any other life venue. Until the restoration of human wholeness occurs and a person grasps some personal security as to their part to play, everything else will be largely unsuccessful and in addition, incredibly frustrating to discipler and disciple alike. Let's take an honest look at turning our mandate to make disciples right-side-up. We simply must put people's wholeness and confidence in their roles in the Kingdom first. Until we do, we will continue to produce thousands or millions of instructors, but not many fathers or mothers. Tell me what you think!

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE EMERGING KINGDOM

(Michael W. Niva)

We live in an age in which Christianity is struggling to keep pace with the growth of the world's population and that of other religious ideologies. Churches everywhere, especially in the western world, are taxed in every way; praying, seeking, strategizing, fund-raising, outreaching and head scratching their way into a rather uncertain future. Most sincere Christian leaders merely want to see the faith of their own community be effectual in the present world culture. For all of our best efforts, westerners from the ages of 18-24 barely appear on the radar screen of church attendance. Most recent statistics place their involvement between 5-20% depending upon whose figures you consult. Is it merely spiritual indifference, or is there within these troubling statistics a call of sorts for a wide-reaching reformation of the way in which we practice our faith? Is there a way to capture the millenial generation and its vibrant excitement for living life to the fullest?

BACK TO THE FUTURE

I want to propose that it is time for us to reach backward to the very roots of Christianity in order to gain insight that leads us to the greater fruits of our Christianity. I firmly believe that a return to the simplicity and pracitcality of first-century Christianity is the answer for a floundering 21st century faith.

Most institutional churches (my own included in much of the past), have focused largely on teaching. Teaching tends to focus almost entirely on content; i.e. knowing the right answers, understanding basic church doctrines, etc. This applies from kindergarten all the way through to adult Bible studies.

INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH - TEACHING - CONTENT

The ministry of Jesus, early apostles and the first-century church also had a focus on teaching. However, their teaching was only a part of the equation and not necessarily the most important part. In our quest for doctrinal purity or accuracy, we put teaching at the forefront of almost all of our efforts. I'm sure that most of you who have been involved in church for any length of time would admit that this is true. Jesus, His disciples and the early church focused on all of the following:

JESUS, HIS 12, THE EARLY OR APOSTOLIC CHURCH

TEACHING - FOCUSING ON CONTENT

TRAINING - FOCUSING ON TASKS

EQUIPPING - FOCUSING ON THE PERSON

Before proceeding any further, it is important to note that churches centered on buildings create severe limitations upon the training and equipping aspects of raising up mature Christians, if we allow the church's location to define the scope of its ministry. These limitations are easily seen;

SPECIAL LOCATIONS - SPECIAL TIMES - SPECIAL PEOPLE

In sharp contrast, the apostolic or Kingdom-oriented church is either much less concerned with buildings and locations, or does not rely upon them at all. The word apostle literally means "sent one." From this observation alone, we see that apostolic or Kingdom ministry thrives upon going into the world, not upon coming to a fixed location at a certain time. If a church's location ceases to be a place where there is a gathering that has been enlarged upon throughout the week by going, it will probably soon stagnate and more closely resemble a very private organization than a life-giving, world-changing organism. the apostolic or Kingdom church, one which focuses on going before coming will be freed to live in a perspective of:

ANY PLACE - ANY TIME - ANY PERSON

A paradigm of special time, place and people creates a more or less top down approach to ministering life. We have a relatively small team of special people serving the rest of the body in a special place at a special time. A Kingdom perspective frees us to see the world as our church, our mission field, our place of service. In this way, entire bodies of Christains can be freed to serve their world on Monday through Saturday, coming together on Sunday to celebrate the results of a week lived for Christ and for others, if they have a Sunday meeting time and place at all.

WE COME NOT TO BE SERVED BUT TO SERVE

Scripture tells us that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Since Christian literally means "little Christ," our mindset ought to be similar. In order to produce mature Christians who serve out of love for Christ, it is imperative to add training and equipping to the teaching that we have become so adept at doing. It is impossible to do this while remaining fixated on a building and a once-a-week service as our platform. We must move into an any time, any place any person mentality.

WHERE WORLDS COLLIDE

The illustration at the beginning of this article will hopefully serve to show that we as Christians really belong, like Jesus, at the intersections of society, not just in the sanctuaries or parking lots of our churches. The power and glory, the love, compassion and mercy of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are made most real and available at the place where Kingdom, world and church meet.

Let's move out from special places, special times and special people in order to lovingly engage the world as servants: any place, any time, any person. By the grace of God, I will meet you there!