The Assembling of the Church

I loved the question that Jack (from “Flight Level Musings“) asked: “Where are the Equippers?” He gives a couple of good examples about what he means:

So, what is the best way to equip someone? An example would be my grandfather. He was a farmer. His father was a farmer. My great-grandfather equipped my grandfather to be a farmer. How did he do that? It happened as they went about their daily lives of planting crops, putting meat in the smokehouse, and vegetables in the cellar. My grandfather did not sit in the living room of his farm house and listen to three-point lectures on raising cotton, castrating calves, and smoking bacon. His father equipped him to be a farmer by providing him the practical skills and knowledge to be a farmer. It was one on one mentoring. I believe that was Jesus’ technique with his disciples.

Another example is when I was flight instructing. When I took on a new student I would spend hours with them. This included discussions or “ground” school on techniques, regulations, and navigation. This was followed by a flight lesson and then a debriefing of the flight. What’s amazing; is that on each flight, I actually let the student fly the airplane. Now you may say, “Of course, how would you learn to fly an airplane unless you were allowed to touch the controls?” Sure, that is self-evident, but apply that to your typical church life and the typical layperson sitting in a pew listening to a sermon every Sunday morning. Ask yourself, “When does he or she get to touch the controls?”

I think the equippers are there… part of the church… probably sitting in pews. Some of them are probably frustrated and don’t understand their role in the body. They can’t preach sermons and they can’t lead “worship”. So, what are they supposed to do? Aren’t those things most important?

What would happen if we told people that the most important thing for the church to do is to make disciples? What would happen if we admitted that preaching sermons and leading “worship” does very little to make disciples? What if we told them that they were responsible for helping one another and others live lives in a way that demonstrates their trust in God? What if we started equipping by example instead of by sermon only? Then, what would happen if we did allow other equippers to take part in the church gathering?

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Dave Black linked to a good article called “Should Pastors Be Salaried?” The author of the article (Darryl Merkel) covers all of the related passages of Scripture, even some that are not normally considered. He concludes that Scripture does not support paying a salary to a pastor/elder.

Since I agree with his position, I won’t say that I think he interprets the Scriptures well.

However, I do think he does a good job pointing out that the “honor,” “respect,” “sharing,” etc. that we see in Scripture is not synonymous with “paying  a salary.”

Also, this is a very important point that is often overlooked in these discussions:

If our churches truly implemented New Testament patterns of ministry, one wonders whether there would be any real need to support one, full-time pastor? If the local church had a functioning priesthood (as opposed to the passive, spectator event that is the mark of most churches) and an equally shared eldership, there simply would not be the urgency or necessity to hire someone on a full-time basis. This is because (1) leadership responsibilities would be shared; (2) one man and his gifts would not become the focal-point of the meeting; (3) corporate teaching would be shared and not left to one sole pastor; and (4) each member would actively participate and contribute to the meeting.

By the way, the paragraph above is absolutely true. I’ve seen it in practice.

What do you think about the article?

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My friend, Eric, at “A Pilgrim’s Progress,” wrote a post about helping a neighbor get his cat out of a tree. The post is called “Serving Isn’t Easy When the Cat is in the Tree.” Eric concludes with this:

I’m glad I could help my neighbor, but it was not easy. Service has a tendency to be difficult and dirty. It is also often inconvenient. Despite this, it is certainly worthwhile.

My neighbor is not a Christian. I’m hoping that this act of service will give me the opportunity to share the gospel with him. At least he knows we care.

Eric says some very important things here. Serving isn’t easy, and it’s often inconvenient. It can be dirty. In fact, we should rarely serve people in ways that we want to serve them. Instead, we should serve people in the way that they need to be served – which may not be what we want to do.

But, like Eric says, serving is always worthwhile. Always… even when, maybe especially when, it is hard, inconvenient, and dirty.

Yes, Eric’s neighbor knows that Eric cares, because Eric told him with his actions.

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In Philippians 1:5, Paul thanks God for those in Philippi who were partners with him in the task of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ! The word “partner” and the idea of “fellowship” (same word in this case) are very important to Paul and the other authors of the New Testament.

I’m planning to go to Ethiopia this summer as part of a group led by Dave and BeckyLynn Black. One of the things that I’ve been struggling with over the last few weeks in how to go to Ethiopia as a partner, not as a specialist. How can I go in a way that engenders mutual learning, fellowship, and discipleship?

While I’m continuing to work out these issues, I was excited to read Dave Black’s latest essay called “Missions as Partnership.” Here is one paragraph:

Becky and I view our relationship with the Ethiopian churches as a partnership. Indeed, partnership is a very important word to us. Daniel Rickett, in his book Building Strategic Relationships: A Practical Guide to Partnering with Non-Western Missions (p. 1), defines partnership as “a complementary relationship driven by a common purpose and sustained by a willingness to learn and grow together in obedience to God.” Such is our desire everywhere we go in Ethiopia. Our goal is to establish partnerships between autonomous bodies in the U.S. and Ethiopia. This is one reason we prefer to work at the local church level rather than at the denominational level. A parallel commitment of ours is to develop a sense of interdependence among the churches we work with both in the States and in the Horn of Africa. We might call our work a joint venture between full partners.

This is very much in line with my study of mutuality. I am very excited about partnering together with brothers and sisters in Ethiopia. Not only do I hope and expect to help the churches of Alaba, Ethiopia, I also expect the churches of Alaba, Ethiopia to help me and the churches in my area. It’s a partnership.

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I was greatly encouraged by a post written by Jason as “Spend and Be Spent.” The post is called “Maybe we should…” Here is the main point of his post:

And that’s when I said it…”maybe we could cancel Sunday night services, and encourage our people to be ‘with’ non-believers at this time intentionally.” And of course, the idea is not to dedicate more time to a one-night a week program, but to engender a lifestyle that loves non-believers enough to build relationships with them and take down barriers for them and be able to share a gospel witness…all the time.

In response, I commented:

Several years ago, I realized that I had filled my time doing good things to such an extent that I never had time for the opportunities that God placed before me (the better things, if you will). I was working full time and attending various church activities almost every night of the week. So, when was I able to spend time with my neighbors? When was I able to serve needy people in my community? When was I able to practice hospitality by inviting people into my home? The answer? I didn’t have the time because my time was filled with good church activities.

Sometimes, it is better to forgo “good things” in order to have time to do the better things.

Don’t fill your life with good activities to such an extent that you don’t have room for the better opportunities that God brings your way.

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Steven at “Biblically Speaking” has written a post called “Words defined that effect how we function in the body of Christ.” He gives definitions of some of the ways that Scripture says we should speak to one another when we meet together as brothers and sisters in Christ:

ADMONISH: to caution, advise, or counsel against something. 2. To reprove or scold, 3. to urge to duty; remind

BUILD UP: a process of growth, strengthening; development. A process of preparation. An increase, as in potential, intensity, pressure or the like. Encouragement.

EDIFY: to build up or increase the faith.

EXHORT: to urge, advise, or caution earnestly, admonish urgently.

EXHORTATION: an utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendations

REBUKE: to express sharp stern disapproval of; reprove, reprimand

STIR: to incite, instigate, or prompt , to affect strongly; rouse, foment, arouse, provoke, stimulate, goad, spur.

WARN: to give notice, or intimidation (to a person or group) of danger, impending evil, possible harm or anything else unfavorable

WARNING: the act of utterance of one who warns

Are we speaking to one another in scriptural ways when we meet together?

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Since I’m planning to travel to Ethiopia this summer with a group of believers with a goal of helping the church there (as well as learning from my Ethiopian brothers and sisters), I found this quote very timely and interesting:

“The continued presence of a foreigner seems to me to produce an evil effect. The native genius is cramped by his presence, and cannot work with him. The Christians tend to sit still and let him do everything for them, denying all responsibility…I should feel disposed to group all foreigners together in one place to avoid having them reside in more places than can be helped. A visit of two or three months stirs up the Church. Long continued residence stifles it.”
Roland Allen ‘USPG: Africa and Asia’, Vol II, 1902.

(HT: Jeff at Until All Have Heard)

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I like this passage from Matthew McDill’s dissertation “The Authority of Church Elders in this New Testament” where he discusses the meaning of the phrase “keeping watch over your souls” from Hebrews 13:17:

Not only is this the reason given for the believers to submit to them, it describes the sphere in which they provided leadership (cf. 1 Thess 5:12, “those who lead you in the Lord”). Several helpful parallels may be observed in Acts 20:28–32 and 1 Pet 5:1–4. The elders in Acts and 1 Peter are responsible for caring for (ποιμαίνω) and watching over (ἐπίσκοπος, ἐπισκοπέω) God’s people. Jesus is the shepherd (ποιμήν) and overseer (ἐπίσκοπος) “of your souls” (τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν) (1 Pet 2:25) and is the chief shepherd who will appear and reward the elders for their shepherding (1 Pet 5:4). Believers were entrusted into the care (κλῆρος) of the elders (1 Pet 5:3). Caring for the church is not merely a charismatic function but is the specific responsibility and purpose of the Spirit’s appointment (Acts 20:28). That this is an assigned responsibility is also confirmed by the requirement to give an account (Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:4).

So, if I understand Matthew, then he is saying that the phrase “keeping watch over your souls” is simply another way of saying “shepherding” or “caring for.”

It’s interesting that the author of Hebrews doesn’t mention “elders.” Perhaps all leaders, and even all believers, were to care for one another?

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God has surrounded me with some great brothers and sisters! I thought I would introduce you to two of them through something they’ve written recently on their blogs.

Jason at “Fight the Good Fight” wrote about “The Importance of Meeting Together.” First, he tells about a man he knows named Manesh who lives in a section of India that is hostile to Christians. Then, Jason says,

On Sunday we spent our meeting time talking about a trip to Ethiopia that two of our members will be taking this summer. Our discussion led to the topic of community and the privilege of meeting together. Ryan commented on Bonhoeffer’s discussion of community and meeting together and how just the very fact that we are able to meet together as a body of believers is a privilege and a blessing. And it is only by the Holy Spirit that we are able to commune together as the body of Christ. Manesh, I think, fully understands the importance of meeting together, in his case, for the sake of the Gospel, and in many ways the same is true for us. Manesh earnestly prays for the meeting to be something that influences the people around him. Are we praying for, and conducting our meetings in such a way that honors Christ, shows desire for those around us to know Christ, and cherishes the privilege of meeting together?

Very important things to think about indeed!

Also, Jonathan (who hasn’t named his blog?) wrote a post called “Information vs People.” He writes in part:

Modernists place a higher priority on information than on people.  As the church has good reasons to reject post-modern sensibilities, it is also highly modern.  I think the best illustration of this is the advent of denominationalism.  New denominations form by a group of people leaving a denomination because that denomination has its facts about God and the Bible wrong.  In essence, they forsake all of the relationships they had built in order to maintain their loyalty to the correct information.  This point was made clear to me in my Baptist History class.  400 years of petty bickering and parting ways over who was more “right”.

hmmm…. loyalty to correct information. That’s a good way to put it.

I really appreciate both Jason and Jonathan and the many other people that God uses in my life every day!

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Felicity at “Simple Church” wrote a very succinct, but thought-provoking post called “The One Key Skill in Simple Church.” She begins with this:

One of the main paradigm shifts within this movement of simple churches is the belief that ordinary men and women hear God.  They can be entrusted with the affairs of the Kingdom.  It does not need specially trained people to manage the church.  The Holy Spirit is able to run the church by speaking directly to His people.   He will do a far better job of it than our organizations and denominations ever can.

Within simple church, we like to say that church is as simple as knowing God, hearing His voice and responding to what He tells us.  Jesus is head of His church, and if we believe that we are to take this literally, it means that both at an individual and at a corporate level, He desires to communicate with us.  It also presupposes that we have the ability to recognize His voice when He is speaking to us.

What Felicity is saying here is very similar to what I said in my post “Justification and the Church Meeting.” Those who have been saved, justified, indwelled, born again, etc. have everything necessary to be a functioning part of the church and even to take part (speaking and serving) in a church meeting.

In fact, most Christians would agree with what Felicity said… in theory. But, when it comes to practice, many feel that they must protect the church from themselves. That someone may say or do something wrong… unhelpful… selfish… heretical… etc. Therefore, only certain people are allowed to speak / serve when the church meets.

When I read Felicity’s post, I began asking myself these questions: Do I really trust God with his people and his church and his kingdom? Do I really believe that Jesus can build his church better than I can? Do I really believe that the Spirit can use any of God’s children to speak to or serve me and others in a way that helps me grow in maturity?

And finally this question: Is my life with my brothers and sisters in Christ demonstrating that I REALLY believe these things?

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