Moving forward in the shaking and shifting

Moving forward in the shaking and shifting

« Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken… »

When constructs, seasonal or generational, reach their limit, losing their utility as a platform for the forward movement of Kingdom expansion, shaking occurs under God then it’s time to re-examine our foundations. What we build on determines the longevity and therefore durability of the construction.

In seasons of change, the invitation is not necessarily to look for new methods or systems but to look at our foundations and establish whether they are built on relevance culturally or on a societal trend principle.

Renewal comes through a return to the source, to identify Kingdom core values and also the means that are inherent in the way Jesus and the apostles related to the Kingdom reality. It is not a face value adhering to principles, but a grasp of the inherent and underpinning truths that sustained Kingdom message, ministries and people. In other words it is not just about what Jesus said it is about ‘why’ and ‘how’. E.g., the question “What or how was Jesus seeing in someone or a situation that caused him to say or act in such a way?”

If we really want to be missional or any other categorized type of church, it can only flow from an understanding of how the Bible narrative or God Himself describes it.

Back to basics means orienting leadership, vision, ministry, teaching, training etc towards the recuperation of certain goals from the apostolic period that were key to exponential growth, defining leadership in practice and characterising ministry.

The unique growth of the apostolic period was characterised by a lack of human strategy, structure, consolidation or hierarchal organisation. The one in control was demonstrably the Sovereign Spirit of God. The apostles and other ‘missional’ believers were collaborators sensing the push outward and moving responsively as part of that. Historically when the church leaders in the 2^nd, 3rd century began to consult and structures put in place the first thing to go was the exponential growth factor. Whether we like it or not as leaders, there is a clear message for us if growth personally and corporately is truly at the heart of our vision and mission. 

Our structures and organisations can only be scaffolding to further Kingdom growth and extension. When God wants to take the scaffolding down and put another up at another part of the construction, if we cannot do that then we have become monument and institution. The irony of bearing the name and title but lacking the inherent nature is weighty, just a reflection of Herod’s temple construction in the days of Jesus.

If we are to recover some of the attributes characteristic of the apostolic era then as well as the above reflection some other key areas come to mind.

The witness mandate: what if in my church we began to see church as the « centre » and the place of « sending out » for every believer who was willing to accept the witness mandate. What if 50% of our congregations accepted to develop outside of church meetings, circles of contacts, friends; what if we cancelled that extra church meeting and invited church to spend a night a week with non-Christian friends and contacts – developing friendship. What if after 12 months each person had a circle of 5 friends, and began meeting regularly for chat, friendship; what if in time God questions began to arise out of conversation and the group of friends down the pub, or wherever, became a group discovering faith, led by their friend. What if we leaders led this by example... Imagine this multiplied over and over…

New Testament growth came not particularly through the apostle’s effort, but through people movements, (to name two: e.g., Stephen’s sermon persecution in Rome meant Christians were driven out all over the empire. From Cyprus some of these dispersed believers were inspired to go to Antioch and preach directly to the Greeks; what God did through them, because He is sovereign in mission, He had already begun leading the Jerusalem church and apostles to the same understanding and sense of mission).

This is not about evangelism or being an evangelist but about having something more of Jesus incarnate in us.

• It’s about seeing everyday as a day of mission, in some shape or form, those in our spheres of influence.
• It’s about the implicit as much as the explicit demonstration in word or act, preferably the latter!
•  It’s about letting people sense, see feel, hear… the difference of Jesus and Kingdom, allowing them to journey alongside you at their pace.
• It’s about the ordinary of daily life
• It’s not necessarily about giving testimony of conversion, but sowing seeds of your experiences, encouragements, disappointments, difficulties, God thoughts, etc out of the reality of your present day life and experience with Jesus.

Nervous leadership: the above for the organisational mind probably seems like a nightmare! It depends what questions we are asking.

The urge to want to control, organize, systemize, strategize is tempting. The danger we face is repetition of the same historical patterns that lean on the same principles that quenched the exponential growth of the apostolic period that we all yearn after. We are collaborating partners with the sovereign God who does know what He is doing, and as if we don’t know what Satan is doing – he’s either trembling because an army of Jesus followers have just been let loose and sent out, or if the former occurs, he’s probably quite smug and secure. In Gamaliel’s words, « if this is of God then you will not be able to overthrow it. »

Apostolic leadership is characterised in part by its relational, it’s network of invested head and heart connections, it’s « building up » (repairing and preparing) of the body of believers, it is non-hierarchal as being « over » but if anything « under » and at best « beside, within, around » the body, that is church.

Nature of ministry : if we look not at our structures but at those who have captured our heart, our message, our values and have integrated them, demonstrated them, and begun transmitting them – then this represents our ‘12 disciples.’ One critical message of growth is that it begins with the personal, committed and often sacrificial investment of yourself into a small handful that will produce the growth factor.

We cannot hanker after our own reputation, accomplishments, and glorious successes – to be seen and admired… it is a discreet pouring of self and of Christ in us into the lives of others – a characteristic of true Jesus modelled ministry.

The « going out, sending, out or driving out » that is a lost key to church (entrusted with Kingdom), has no prerequisite other that personal relationship and experience of Jesus in faith. We need to introduce the going out mission as an integral part of the faith journey from the very first steps (not after some long and drawn out initiation programme or ritual).  This makes ministry is less about instruction, more about communicating the necessary truths and practices that enable others. This means walking alongside others as they discover, integrate, demonstrate and transmit for themselves the truths and experiences made personally real in their own lives.

It is not about cloning, genetic reproduction, but bringing people into a personal and unique understanding of themselves and identifying the character of their God given ministry or leadership. Our historical pursuit of degrees of conformity in doctrine and practice will deeply hinder the mission and the growing of ministers (in the apostolic sense). After all we know that unity is based on relationship with the Father through Christ. There is a return to the broad spectrum of diversity (of gifting, ministering, working), a personalisation of leadership in form and foundation. Therefore, the same principles applied to church will produce a less generic expression but a refreshing individualised and personalised manifestation of a contextualised, localised church body.

Our churches as « centres » then have the focus of ministry that equips a congregation not in form but in the substance of faith and biblical teaching to engage in this vision. The sphere of influence for each one exists already it probably needs identified. Our circles of contacts and friends exist already, we just need to see them as God given and not be fearful of giving priority to engaging in them. In reality most believers have personal stories of faith to tell, why not share it? At the root is needed, a greater connecting individually to Jesus the head and source for all believers. There is a cruel lack of self-confidence, assurance, boldness, daring, initiative, that needs built up through ministries.

The thread that holds it all together: apostolically, Paul’s testimony to Timothy and Epaphroditus (Phil 2) demonstrates that they were intimately entwined in relationship with Paul, his teaching, mission and vision. He has an unreserved confidence and respect in them as friends and ministers. It is because of this he releases them unreservedly to minister into the wider network. The spider’s web of networking leadership is threaded throughout the book of Acts. Underpinning the whole concept is a deep sense of personal relationship. This is the platform for apostolic leadership and ministry. The releasing to multiply requires releasing of those we have invested in to « go out and reproduce. » As with grown kids leaving home they return at some point no longer as children but as independent adults, rather than being constrained, they are freely choosing to return – the only security to hold onto is found in the desire for relationship. In the same way, the expanding witness-discipler-leader network only appears coherent on this basis. We accept a large degree of subjectivity, knowing that in the transmission, if the values are intact, then something so much bigger than ourselves is growing, extending beyond our wildest imagination.