ECCLESIOLOGY Part 3 - STRUCTURE

 Ecclesiology is the study of the Church. There are three vital sources from which we can draw to do ecclesiology: (i) the Scriptures; (ii) theology; and, (iii) the history of the Church. In referencing the universal Church of all ages, locations, and distinctions, a first letter capital is used: Church. In referencing a particular church in a particular location at a particular time, no capital letter is used. Thus, I have served as a pastor, I have served four churches, but Jesus the Christ is the Chief Shepherd over the Church (1Pet. 5:4). Because a local church is an expression of the Church, and it is biblically described metaphorically as a human body (1Cor. 12), the body of Christ (Eph. 5:23), a family (“household” Eph. 2:19), and a building (Eph. 2:20-22), it is necessarily structured. This structure, like its metaphors, means that its composite is greater than the sum of its parts. Structure therefore means that it is organised, and ordered. This has two profound implications for any church: firstly, a local church is to be structured so that it has orderly leadership (Titus 1:5); and, secondly, that every local church should be in relationship with the Church as represented by leaders outside of itself (as evidenced in Acts 15 for example). Here is a reflection on church structure for your consideration and profit.  

THE ROLE OF A SHEPHERD

The language of the New Testament to describe a leader of a local church is drawn upon the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament. The prophets described GOD as a ‘shepherd’ who leads and cares for His people as it they were His flock (Isa. 40:10-11). GOD expected His priests and princes to similarly care for His people on His behalf as they too were shepherds. By the time of  Jeremiah, these leaders were denounced as not being true shepherds (Jer. 6:3; 10:11; 12:10; 23:1-2). God then declared that the day would come (when the New Covenant was instigated) that He would send true shepherds to truly care for His people-

¶ “ ‘And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

JEREMIAH 3:15

"I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD."

 JEREMIAH 23:4

A shepherd “watches over” his sheep. In a similar way, GOD the Son has appointed shepherds to watch over those who gather as a local community of believers. The description of a church as a ‘household’ gives us an understanding the that earliest apostles understood that a church bore some resemblance to the structure of a Greco-Roman household, where the householder served as the overseer. 

The householder provided for, protected, accommodated, and gave identity to each member of the household. This presents a beautiful and challenging picture to pastor, elders, ministers, today of their enormous responsibility within a local church.

A wise pastor will lead his pastoral charge by setting the direction of the church, developing other leaders, guarding doctrine so that it accords with Scripture, and bringing various levels of corrective discipline as required (2Tim. 4:1-2). 

While a local church may have a plurality of leaders, but it is biblical and appropriate for them to recognise a first among equals which exhibits humility, accountability, and authority. Such a recognition should be supported by an obvious sense of God’s call upon, and gifting of, that person.

ECCLESIOLOGY Part 2 - ECCLESIOLOGY HAS A PURPOSE

I have pioneered a church (Williamstown, Victoria). I have also served as a state church-planting director for the Tasmanian Assemblies of God. But over time I became increasingly concerned with helping existing churches. My last pastorate, where I was a senior pastor for twenty-nine years, had had two previous senior pastors. I finished up my time there with the intention of making sure it was ready for its fourth senior pastor. Since concluding my charge at Legana, I am now doing what I can to help other pastors who take on an established church. This is something I have been concerned about for some time. While there are challenges in pioneering a church, there are different challenges involved in taking on an established church — both for its new pastor, and its congregation (and especially for its staff). I admire church-planters; but, I really admire pastors who succeed another pastor and lead that church into sustained growth. After years of observing pastors who have successfully taken on an established church, I have noticed that there is always certain things they do which make it even more successful. While some denominational leaders are calling for increased church-planting, I’m calling for church-regeneration!

This is why ecclesiology is important because if someone is going to attempt to pastor and lead an established church, it is important to have an understanding of biblical ecclesiology. That is, it is important to understand what the church is - based on how the bible describes it. Here are the foundational points of ecclesiology that are essential for revitalising an established church:

Priority #1.  Refocus the church’s existence to give God glory. It does this through gathering together to offer worship together, to give heed to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word - the Bible. (Eph. 3:21)

Priority #2. Restructure the church as a body so that each part of the body functions accordingly. This requires that it be led by those who are gifted to do so. Just as a body is organised with each organ connected appropriately to function together as a whole, so it is with a church. Some believers are gifted to lead. Other believers are gifted to teach, or serve, or give, or encourage, or administrate, or show hospitality. Every believer should be able to contribute their gift or serve in some capacity (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23; 1Peter 2:5).  

Priority #3. Re-envisage the church as a functional family. The pastor has a fatherly duty to accept responsibility for creating a community of believers where people are known to each other, enabled to offer care to each other, and, to pray for and with each other. This necessarily involves having meals together in each others homes, and, together as a church family. When it meets together, children are safe, women are protected, and men are encouraged to be virtuous. Paul told Timothy that he should teach people how to treat older men and women, and younger women in particular - all with the respect (1Tim. 5:2; James 2:15). That is, people within a church should treat each other as family — as if they were brothers and sisters. The result of this re-envisaging will increasingly make the church attractive to people outside of the church who have no experience of family. This feeds into Priority #4. 

Priority #4,  Re-open hearts, minds, and hands, for the benefit of those outside of their church.  In 1944, Archbishop William Temple, famously said, “The church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.” Archbishop Temple was only partly correct. The first three priorities are for the benefit of a local church. This fourth priority will be the most challenging for any church a new pastor is attempting to revitalise. It will take the greatest amount of time to achieve - especially if the first three higher priorities are ignored. A wise new pastor will lovingly exercise his shepherd’s authority to gently broadcast to his congregation that together, they should pray for God to bring new attendees into their church. And when God answers their prayers, and visitors begin to come to their church, they should warmly welcome them. Similarly, a wise pastor will describe what a warm welcome looks like - and doesn't look like. 

One of the challenges that a new pastor and an established church will inevitably face in welcoming visitors to their church will be their self-perception. Many churches are comprised of friends. The challenge for such churches is to recognise that a church of friends is not necessarily a friendly church. Perhaps the best way for those who attend a church, where everyone is a friend, to recognise this, is for them to go and visit another church and experience what it is like to be a visitor to a church.

THE PURPOSES OF A LOCAL CHURCH

I have written here about the purposes of a local church [READ]. In the meantime, I trust that you can see from these 4 turn-around priorities for a church, that it is not simply to: “evangelise the lost”. But it certainly does include this, yet it may not be the sole purpose for a church every time they gather each Sunday. A great place to start in developing a biblically solid ecclesiology is Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. It is divided into six chapters and addresses six key relationships (one for each chapter) that are important for any local church. Over the next few instalments of this blog I will continue to expound on the implications of developing a such a sound ecclesiology by every senior pastor, and every congregation.

Dr. Andrew Corbett.

BUILDING A MOODY CHURCH

 

The three things that make the Christian life exciting and enthralling are the same three things that enable a believer to develop a closer relationship with God. The combination of these supernatural gifts gives the child of God an awareness that there is more, much more, to this world than we can see, touch, taste or feel. When the Christian’s faith is grounded and buttressed in God’s Word, godly prayer, and God’s house he or she flourishes. But there are forces at play that are determined to stop the believer from reaching their spiritual destiny. While we might think these enemy forces only use the fiery darts of doubt to hinder the believer’s journey to glory, there is something that they successfully use far more often: our mood. This is why, for any church to be successful, it must discover how to build a moody church.

¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13

 There are three things essential for any Christian to have in their spiritual foundation with Christ as their cornerstone (Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20). Firstly, a devotion to know, understand, and apply God’s Word. Secondly, a devotion to prayer – to know, obey, and love God. Thirdly, a devotion to a Christ-centred, Spirit-filled, Word-based, church. The enemy of our soul continually seeks to undermine each of these foundational sources of our spiritual strength. This undermining is nearly always done subtly and barely without the believer even noticing what is happening.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.
First Peter 5:8-9a

THE ROLE OF FAITH FOR A CHRISTIAN

The Apostle Peter told the young Christians of Bithynia to “stand firm in your faith” (1Pet. 5:9a). Some critics of Christianity assert that faith is “believing things that are not true.” You either have facts or you must have faith, they claim. But this is not true. Faith, including the Christian faith, is not mere wishful or fanciful thinking. As if J.M. Barry’s famous line from Peter Pan – “I do believe in fairies” – could ever make the existence of fairies reasonable.
Faith is always grounded in reasonable evidence. Faith is trusting that evidence. Life is therefore not possible without faith. We have faith that the road we have driven over hundreds of times – or on the road we have never driven over but others have driven over hundreds of times – will not collapse under us as we drive over it. We have faith that when we sit on our favourite chair it will hold us. This functional faith is grounded in good reasons and so is Christian faith.
The Apostle Paul described Christian faith as being based on facts and good evidence – particularly for the physical resurrection of Jesus the Christ. If Christ was not raised from the dead then there is no salvation from sin for anyone. If this was the case, then life itself would be meaningless (“vain”). This is how he stated it:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
First Corinthians 15:13-17

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, that if someone was not persuaded by the evidence for Christ and His resurrection, then they should not accept Christianity:

“Now just the same thing happens about Christianity. I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it. That is not the point at which Faith comes in.”
Mere Christianity 2017 (1942), pg. 140

Perhaps surprisingly, C.S. Lewis states that even the person who has become convinced by the evidence for the truthfulness of the Christian message is still susceptible to fall away if something separates them from the three essential faith-sustainers. You would be forgiven for thinking that he is referring to the devil. After all, Lewis was very aware of the devil and his schemes to undermine the believer’s faith because he wrote a book about it, The Screwtape Letters. But he is not talking about the devil’s direct attacks as the most dangerous peril to be faced. Rather, Lewis describes our moods as our greatest peril to being established and flourishing in our faith in Christ.

But supposing a man’s reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it. I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true.

Lewis was not dismissing the inevitable doubts that creep into a believer’s mind. He wrote, “Those have to be faced and that is a different matter. I am talking about moments when a mere mood rises up against it ” (140). He goes on to say that the way to tame our moods so that the enemy can not exploit them, is to tame them by disciplining them in the three essentials for the Christian journey: God’s Word, godly praying, and commitment to God’s House.

Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes…That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off,’ you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.

This is why a commitment to attending church is essential for maintaining a vibrant faith in Christ. Is it necessary for a Christian to attend church? When we understand just how influential our moods are to our walk with Christ, we might phrase this question differently. How does neglecting church effect our mood to continue in the three essentials for Christian growth? Lewis states:

“The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readings and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life.”
Pg. 141

For any church to grow and be healthy, it needs members who have learned to tame their moods, which Lewis describes as telling them “where to get off”! He states in very straightforward language why the believer needs to tell their mood to get used to the idea that they would now be going to church, rain, hail, or shine. “We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed” (141). 

A MOODY CHURCH

A church is comprised of those believers who have tamed their moods to delight in the things that Christ says are good for their souls. It is in the regular devotion to God’s Word that we are reminded of the truth. It is in regular devotion to praying that we are reminded of God’s presence. It is in regular devotion to church that we, encouraged by our worship, the ordinances of communion and baptism, and the ministry of God’s preached word that we are taught and encouraged in our understanding of and walk with Christ. This is what I mean by building a moody church. (And I apologise to all my brothers and sisters in Chicago who already attend “Moody Church” in honour of the great evangelist D.L. Moody.)

¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:13-18

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

The Church I C. E. O.

There's several trends happening in the contemporary church today. Depending on who you listen to, the church is either trending toward a house-church model, a mega-church model, a satellite-extension service model, a multi-campus model or an "Apostolic" model. But behind all this window dressing, two things are observable. Firstly, each model appears to bear some kind of fruit (taking 'fruit' to mean converts to Christ). Secondly, all of the models require a different style of leadership and structure to drive them. We might call this- a "C.E.O." style of leadership.

The C.E.O. leader is growth orientated. Expansion, extension, evangelism, expensive and excellence are all key words in the CEO leader's vocabulary. The CEO leader works through other leaders and demands loyalty, team-work, submission, commitment, and honour from them. If someone questions or challenges the CEO leader they dealt with swiftly and harshly and to varying degrees: publicly.

The CEO leader builds their organisation through focussing more on a younger audience, delivering excellent music, and hosting large conferences. Why do they do this? Because it "works". And like Paul in prison writing to his beloved Philippians, we too should rejoice that the miracle of Gospel transformation in a human soul takes place, and the name of Christ is promoted and honoured.

But there is another model of church which some may wish to explore. It is more of a pastoral model. It encourages community. It seeks to get people involved with whatever God has gifted them with. It is led by a pastoral leader who uses the unfolding of God's Word to direct, discipline, develop and doctrinally inform those he cares for. He doesn't allegorise the sacred text to say what he wants to say. He rarely claims that God told him.

This pastoral-model church looks like young and old living and worshiping together. When they meet, crying babies are present, fidgety youth file in, stressed out mums struggle into the meeting, and exhausted dads takes their seats. The music is good but not slick. The preacher is clean shaven and neatly dressed because he thinks he actually represents the God he is teaching about by more than just his words. When he preaches he knows what's going on in the lives of most of the people in front of him. He sees others in the church ministering in ways that he knows they are gifted in and is not threatened by this.
At more times than he cares to admit he wants to quit because he feels the enormity of the charge that God has called him to- but he goes on because he knows that despite his inadequacies he is indeed called.

This type of leader prays. He cares for his few people. He longs to see their unsaved husbands saved. He longs to see their wayward daughters return home reconciled. He longs to see these marriages harmonious and these children not disillusioned with Christ and His church. He prays that he will be a good example and when it counts most that he will be found faithful.
He doesn't demand devotion and unquestioned loyalty. In fact, he is often challenged over something he said and more often than not realises that he was indeed wrong. His people know that he is a humble man by the way he apologises to them when necessary. His children know this too.

He attends his denominational conferences and is told that he is not blessed by God because his church is not growing like it should if God were blessing it. He listens to the line-up of CEO leaders. He admires them. He wishes them well. He wonders if he should become more like them. But then in quiet reflection the church that he sees is fundamentally different. It uses ordinary people that don't necessarily look good on TV. His church is noisy. His church laughs (not necessarily because someone said something entertaining, but) because something funny just happened. His church eats together often. Prays together regularly. They long to see its community blessed and care about the welfare of everyone in it. They wish other churches well.

Perhaps this is the type of church model you see as well?