Why our churches need a radical change in mindset when it comes to the nature of Christian ministry.
by Phillip Jensen
What is the end point of the gospel as a ‘product’? This may seem a strange question, but it is a vitally important one for every church across the Diocese to consider.
Often we forget that, as a church, we are to be focused on evangelism and mission. Therefore, we tend to see the end point of ministry as the churchgoers – the committed Christians. We train our ministers to serve church members.
In fact, the end point of the gospel must be the whole community.
We need a shift in mindset for both the minister and the members of the congregation, so the minister is seen as helping and training the lay people to reach the community with the gospel.
This may be a huge change in the way that our ministers think about their task. It enables them to see the members of their church not simply as their ‘customers’, but as partners and colleagues in reaching the world with the gospel. Every member must be seen as a minister.
But church members often need to have this huge shift in mindset. It keeps them from being self-centred and demanding of the minister’s time and energies, expecting the minister to serve them. Rather, they can see the minister as their coach in the job that they are doing: reaching their community with the gospel. That’s one of the changes that we need to make if we are going to reach the initial ten per cent goal of the Mission.
When the congregation is seen as the end-point of ministry, they become people who are dependent on their minister. We lose sight of our capabilities and capacities to do anything – sometimes we ministers don’t want to see our regular members as capable, lest they no longer depend on us!
Though a false view of ministry, it is easy to fall into this pattern of co-dependency: the minister seeing the congregation as dependent people, who then need to depend on the minister.
Once you make the crucial shift to see that the gospel’s end point is the entire population, then the people in the congregation become co-workers. Ministers start to look for what the congregation can do; they will actually go and find those things among church members because they are looking with different eyes, seeing the richness of the gifts that God has given to his people.
Every-member ministry: New Testament principles
The Bible teaches that every Christian has a gift for ministry. Our job is to find it and use it – never to doubt that it’s there. Personally I have never found anybody who only has one gift. But if you don’t have the mindset of looking for it, expecting it and helping it to develop, you’ll never see it. Whenever a minister says, “Our people can’t do very much,” there’s a problem with the mindset of the minister, rather than with the reality of the people.
In the New Testament, there were several ‘elders’ in each congregation who were drawn from within – the older men of the congregation, appointed by Timothy and Titus.
But who were Timothy and Titus? They were actually missionaries. They weren’t locals; Paul sent them to different locations, where they became the professional Bible teachers. The professional Bible teacher is a missionary who goes to a certain place for a given period of time, to help the locals do their ministry.
In the church today, we have taken the title of ‘elders’ as a reference to paid ministry. We don’t see our ministers as missionaries, even though most of them don’t come from within the church, live in rented accommodation in the suburb, and have no intention of ever retiring in the area.
Once we understand that ministers are not the same as the elders of the local church but are in fact missionaries, then our view of their role changes. The rector is seen as the ‘outsider’, brought in as a specialist to help the local church do the job of reaching the public with the gospel.
So where does this start? It starts from a better under-standing of what the Bible teaches about gifts and ministry.
How can you become involved?
The best way to get involved in this process is simply by volunteering for ministry and asking to be trained.
Do not attach pride or status to the ministry. Volunteer to clean up, or to welcome newcomers, or to visit the shut-ins, or to do anything! Do not attach your self-identity to your ministry. Your self-identity is found in Jesus Christ. If you are onside with the cause of the gospel, you will be willing to help in any way that’s needed.
Do not wait until someone asks you to minister; go and volunteer! One of the great bottlenecks of ministry in parishes is that people will use the excuse, ‘It’s always nice to be asked to do something.’ We have to get rid of that attitude. It’s a cultural problem. We need a new way of thinking – an attitudinal change.
Do not go to church in order to be filled up or to be loved. Go to church to love others, and to fill others. As you go to church every week, think: ‘Who can I speak to about the Lord Jesus Christ?’; ‘Who can I help?’; ‘Where will I find a newcomer that I can make feel welcome?’ Drive to church praying for opportunities to serve people.
If you are already doing ministry, keep doing it, and train others. Where you can, do not minister by yourself. Gather a friend to come with you. Often we don’t think this way, but it is such a simple concept. When this happens, you not only multiply your ministry, but you model how to serve others.
Dean Phillip Jensen is Director of Ministry Training and Development for the Diocese of Sydney.
