Shared Ministry

          During my sabbatical I visited a church in Houston where the pastor told his congregation that they gathered weekly by the thousands and by the dozens.  He referenced Acts 2:41, 46 which reads,

Those who accepted his message were baptized,

and about three thousand were added to their number

that day ... Every day they continued to meet together

in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes

and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. (NIV)

           Taking their cue from the 3,000-plus member church in chapter 2 of Acts which met in the Jewish Temple for worship and in their homes for fellowship, instruction, and ministry, this Houston church has Sunday morning gatherings of several thousand believers and weekly "house church" meetings of 15 to 25 people.

          I found the concept encouraging.  Before visiting that particular church we shared with our CBC Church in Conference the idea of helping to catalyze a multiplication movement that would impact 5% of the population in the Rio Grande Valley.  The 2-page summary document is called 2020 Vision and you can download it here.

          We shared that the three primary expressions of CBC by the year 2020 would consist of:

1. Gathering by the hundreds/thousands for worship on campus
2. Groups of 20-35 people living in community and mission
3. Growing and training leaders through huddles and events

(Perhaps a 4th "G" should be "Going to make disciples" although that is implied in all three above).

         The first two expressions are very similar to what the Acts 2:41, 46 passage describes and to what many churches are doing to fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations.

          The concept of a large congregation with one identity and mission carrying it out its mission in smaller units is also seen in the early life of Israel.  Moses spent long days giving direct leadership and ministry to every single Israelite who inquired (Exodus 18:13-16).  When his father-in-law, Jethro, noticed this, he counseled Moses.  Jethro told Moses that if he kept this up he and the people would wear themselves out (Exodus 18:17-18).  Jethro's advice to Moses is as follows,

But select capable men from all the people--men

who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain--

and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds,

fifties and tens.  Have them serve as judges for the people

at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you;

the simple cases they can decide themselves.  That will

make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.

If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to

stand the strain, and all these people will go home

satisfied. (Exodus 18:21-23, NIV)

          The way to meet the needs of an entire nation was to organize them into smaller units down to fifties and tens.  Jethro points to the principle of this strategy: "they will share [the load] with you."  This is the principle of shared leadership and shared ministry.  The nation had an identity, a destiny and a leader but its success depended much on multiple leaders and shared ministry.

          The shared ministry principle is the principle that Baptists applied for many decades, especially in the twentieth century, calling it the Sunday School.  When I was a Sunday School consultant, I taught in conferences that the Sunday School was the church organized for mission.  (Sunday Schools were at their best when their purpose was outreach and evangelism through Bible study, fellowship and member care.  Sunday Schools lost their effectiveness when they minimized their purpose to instruction and in-reach).

          This is the principle that cell churches have used to grow and multiply.  (Although they also run the risk of losing the evangelism and multiplication focus and settling for Bible study and fellowship exclusively becoming inward focused).  And this principle of shared ministry is what we would like to apply as Calvary moves toward 2020.

          We want to see ABFs and ABF leaders share the ministry of the entire church.  ABFs should be a microcosm of the larger church body much as the early disciples experienced church life in their homes.  We want ABF leaders to be co-laborers, fellow ministers, and pastors to their group.

           The only way we can meet the needs of the people in Calvary and the people we want to reach as we make disciple-makers is to have strong groups that multiply.  For that we need to find, train and release more leaders to lead the church to be the church.

           At some point we may need to call our groups something other than ABFs.  At some point it will be necessary to have groups that meet away from campus and throughout the Upper Valley (and perhaps even beyond).  Whether they are called ABFs or missional communities or house churches or microchurches or families on mission the principle is the same: shared ministry through shared leadership that multiplies! (making disciple-makers).

          How is this true of your current group experience?  What needs to change?  What will your role be in this biblical strategy and vision?