By Pastor Jon
In a consumeristic culture, especially inside the post-Christian West, with a church culture drinking too readily at this not-so-well, it seems obvious that the answer is the people getting paid for that privilege.
Right? “You’re the Pastor! It is your job!” goes the normative reply.
One of the catch-cries of the Reformation was that the priestly class was, in fact, every one in Christ; every truly born-again Christian.
You are either a missionary or a mission field. There is no third option. [1]
This perspective was historically motivated through a renewed understanding of vocation. If you did not know, every Christian is in full-time service; whether builder; nurse; school teacher; scientist; public servant. Every Christian, in short. This is meant to relovutionise the way every Christian is to look at their time. This means the motivation to do an excellent job just rose to the Soli Deo Gloria level.
But, if this is the case, how should we frame those called to pastoral ministry? These words from J. D. Greear are helpful in underscoring the now-changed balance of power:
In the New Testament, the balance of ministry shifts away decidedly from speciali[s]ed leaders to ordinary people. Paul, in fact, said that God’s primary purpose for church leaders is equipping of the saints for the work of ministry. The saints, he said, do the work of the ministry; pastors and leaders are only there to equip! As I said earlier, I tell our church, tongue only slightly in cheek, that according to Paul, when I became a pastor I left the ministry. That means I should not be the first one from whom their neighbo[u]rs hear the gospel, nor should I be the first one to visit one of our members during a time of suffering. The congregation’s job is not merely to invite unbelievers to hear me preach, but to be the primary means by which God testifies to their friends. [2]
Too much of vocational church ministry easily becomes consumed with just the doing of core roles, instead of answering how these core roles are equipping and releasing the Body to rock dynamite in the world. The result between these two poles is more than vital.
What about you? What is your initial internal reaction to these recent words from Greear? I am serious. Please take note. If there is more internal frustration, resignation; even angst, than empowered excitement and missional propulsion, there is a problem.
These words should only further emphasize the RELOVUTIONARY church plant intentional emphasis. This life movement has been tuned to help your engine to more properly fire by His grace, in the mission, where God has sovereignly placed you.
What is next should only further illustrate the potential potency of this place:
Get this: Of the 40 miracles recorded in Acts, 39 happen outside the church walls. That’s 97.5 percent! You can safely conclude from this that the main place God wants to manifest his power is outside the church. Think about how foreign this is to most church members’ thinking! Ask most church-going Christians to describe a time when they saw or felt the power of God, and they will point to a moment in the sermon or the musical crescendo during the choir special. (And we should be thankful for Spirit-filled church services!) But most of what God wants to do in our society happens outside the church, facilitated by the hands of ordinary people. The one place you seem to be unable to find the apostles much in Acts is . . . well . . . in church! Like Jesus, his disciples went “outside the camp,” taking the power of the gospel into the lost wilderness of the world (Heb. 13: 12 –13). To know Jesus is to be sent. [3]
If that opening statistic has not internally sat-you-down for a thoughtful count, you may want to consider what your reaction says about your local church assumptions. It is time we took His mission as seriously as He took ours!
This is missional Gospel-centredness.
Remember the following collection of words from RELOVUTIONARY’s Cultural Values?
A RELOVUTIONARY Life is about the Extraordinary God, Empowering Ordinary People, through the Mundane of Days, in Ways that Can Only Be Divinely Scaled.
Therefore, the primary calling of the pastoral team is to set the scene and equip believers for the mission!
Of course, the nature of a plant means this can look a little more distinctive; you could say more fluid like the Book of Acts, which saw this Body-beautiful first unleashed. But still, if you want to be engaged in a distinctively intentional life manner; that will more quantifiably equip you to live a life worthy of His calling, then you have come to the right place.
We want to be about His business in your business. RELOVUTIONARY is intentionally purposeful.
Turning-up is not the point. Turning-on is. And this requires process:
Flourishing Demands Process. Programs and Moments have a Place, But Remain Additions, Not Foundations.
Process also takes time:
Life as Process Means Small Steps in the Same Direction over an Increasing Period of Time.
Therefore, there is not one moment to waste.
RELOVUTIONARY is not being birthed as just another church to add the buffet list.
Is God calling for your unreserved reservation?
Then do make contact.
No matter; stay on message, and get on mission!
For the Fame of His Name
*******
[1] J. D. Greear, Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send, page 95 [Zondervan, July 28th, 2015].
[2] J. D. Greear, Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send, page 94 [Zondervan, July 28th, 2015].
[3] J. D. Greear, Gaining by Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send, pages 94-95 [Zondervan, July 28th, 2015].