In our churches there is a proper searching for the best and right resources to help Christians grow to maturity.

This is a proper and right search because God saves people from all sorts of backgrounds, conditions and issues, but he is also moving each person to the same goal: to be just like Jesus when He returns (1 John 3:2).

So I ask congregation members how they determine which resources to use and what resources they employ. The responses have fallen into three camps. Firstly there are those who do not trust any resources produced by others and so their church develops resources from the ground up. The second group look at what is available in the marketplace and decide by what looks best. The third group don’t have any plan and just use whatever comes their way.

My response to those who always develop their own resources is that it is a great blessing to be able to do so, but the choice to do this costs other ministries that may be done. That said, the decision to do this is a valid one. However occasionally I see a problem in our churches where it is assumed that we must always create our own resources because we don’t trust others, or that the ministry team consider it sub Christian or poor pastoring to not produce everything. These ways of thinking need to be challenged.

I have problems with the third method. Those responsible for shepherding the flock do have a responsibility to help others by ensuring right ways of thinking are used when it comes to helping others to maturity. To not do this stunts Christian growth.

What does the Bible say about resources?
As I have read the Bible over the years I have been watching for anything God says about resources. As a result, I have found five resources that God uses to bring us to maturity, although there may well be more.

They are:

1. His Word. This is God’s authorised means of making Himself known. You cannot short circuit growth in maturity by avoiding interacting with God’s Word.
2. His Spirit. The Word remains ink spots on a page unless God, by His Spirit should take them and have the reader see them not as the words of men, but as they are truly are – the words of God. God’ Spirit enables us to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
3. Each other. Relationships are never accidental. They are God given for the purpose of seeing us all grow towards maturity.
4. Renewed mind. By the work of the Word, the Spirit and our brothers and sisters, God is at work renewing our minds so that we perceive the world God’s way.
5. The circumstances of life. God is sovereignly good, and so he gives our circumstances, both those we are good and those we think are bad that we might grow more like His Son.

If this is the case; then by all means continue to use and develop other resources, but we must not do so at the expense of losing or ignoring these fundamental resources that God gives.

We will focus our ministry on people, not structures. We will read the Scriptures with each other. We will pray for each other that God, by His Spirit will change people. We will recognize that each person’s circumstances are different and apply the renewed mind to work within them.

These are the hallmarks of leadership in discipleship.