We’re looking at some templates for running Christian assemblies. Here’s the second—a slight variation on the standard meeting that’s very suitable when the sermon naturally leads to confession, or when you have a wildcard or 14:26 item that you want to introduce closer to the start of the gathering. (‘14:26’ items are opportunities for congregation members to bring exhortation and encouragement to the whole gathering—as in 1 Corinthians 14:26.)
In a recent post on ‘Why we gather’, I suggested that there were three basic purposes for the Christian assembly: as testimony to Christ, for fellowship in Christ, and to build towards maturity in Christ. Or if you wanted a more catchy one-sentence summary, you could say that in our gatherings, we meet with Christ in each other’s presence as a testimony to the world and as a spur to godly living.
Now before you even think of quibbling with this definition, or asking how the ‘W’ word relates to it, that’s not the purpose of this post! Instead, I’d like to share a few examples of how a Sunday gathering might be structured if these were its theologically driven purposes. In this post (and over the next several), I’ll be sharing five ‘standard meeting templates’ that I’ve been working on and trialling over the past few years. Each one has a theological movement or trajectory to it, and they also strive to connect the various elements in a way that flows and makes sense.
I’m interested in your comments and feedback—especially if you are bold enough to give some of them a fly and see how they go!
It starts with trying to read the microwave instructions on the back of the packet in the kitchen, and having to move into some better light. Then you notice you’re habitually setting the zoom in Microsoft Word to 200 per cent. The crunch comes when it starts to affect the really important things: you’re some distance from the television and realize you can’t quite make out the score at the bottom of the screen.
Well we’re up to the last of our ten propositions about Christian ministry. They don’t say everything (of course). And they are all necessarily short and simple (being very abbreviated summaries of argument of the new book The Trellis and the Vine that I’ve just finished writing with Col Marshall). I hope they’ve been stimulating all the same, and that they’ve whetted some appetites to read and think and talk further.
The first nine were as follows:
The final proposition is less about the day-to-day life of congregations, and more about the generation-to-generation growth of the gospel.
We’re on the home stretch with our ten propositions about Christian ministry. The first eight were as follows:
The ninth is another counterintuitive thought: if you want to train people, don’t run a training event.
The Trellis and the Vine has just gone to printers in Singapore, and will be available (God-willing) in mid-October. In the meantime, our last three propositions start to zero in on some implications of this view of ministry. The first seven were:
How does this agenda relate to our regular church activities?
The first six propositions in our little list emphasize the ministry of the many. As follows, they are:
But where do pastors and teachers fit in?
Okay, we’re half way there. The first five propositions about church life and ministry (taken from the forthcoming Matthias Media title, The Trellis and the Vine) have been:
Number six is about how disciples become disciple-makers …
If you were a youngish Christian in the 1980s, it is almost certain that, at some point, someone would have pressed a copy of John White’s The Fight into your hands and urged you earnestly to read it. It was simply one of the standard Christian books of the era, and for several good reasons.
When we distributed a draft version of our ‘Gospel Convictions’ statement in our 21st birthday issue (in April this year), we hoped that our sharp-eyed, Bible-tuned Briefing community would help us improve the statement with their feedback. We haven’t been disappointed! Our sincere thanks to all who took the time and trouble to respond. (We’ve published all the responses on our website if you’re interested in wading through them 1) (more…)
There were only three of us in Bible study group the other morning, and the other two guys were both in sales—one in property and one in software. We were talking about how to encourage other people with the message of the Bible (whether Christian or non-Christian), about why we fail to do so, and so on. (more…)
Here’s the fifth of ten propositions about church life and ministry (taken from the forthcoming Matthias Media title, The Trellis and the Vine). The others have been:
Here’s the fourth of ten propositions about church life and ministry (taken from the forthcoming Matthias Media title, The Trellis and the Vine). Remember, the others have been:
The story so far: Col Marshall and I are just about to publish a book called The Trellis and the Vine. The final chapter contains ten propositions about church life and ministry that summarize the general argument of the book. I’m running a version of these ten propositions up the flagpole to see what the Sola Panel community makes of them.
So far, we’ve had:
Proposition 3 is about the heart of disciple-making.
The story so far: Col Marshall and I are just about to publish a book called The Trellis and the Vine. The final chapter contains ten propositions about church life and ministry that summarize the general argument of the book. I’m running a version of these ten propositions up the flagpole to see what the Sola Panel community makes of them.
Proposition 1 was: Our goal is to make disciples not church members.
Proposition 2 is about the inevitable drift of churches towards institutionalism.