A New York family bought a ranch out West where they intended to raise cattle. Friends visited and asked if the ranch had a name. “Well,” said the would-be rancher, “I wanted to name it the Bar-J. My wife favored Suzy Q. One son liked the Flying W, and the other wants Lazy Y. So we're calling it the Bar-J Suzy-Q Flying-W Lazy Y,”
“But where are all your cattle?” the friends asked.
“None survived the branding” (J. R. Love, Rushton, Louisiana).
Some churches are like that. They try to incorporate ideas from various people and then wonder why they fail.
On top of that, the Covid-19 Pandemic reduced the number of regular church goers in America from 34% of the population in 2019 to 28% of the population in 2021. But that only accelerated the decline, which has been going on for over two decades (Wendy Wang and Alysse Elhage, “Here’s Who Stopped Going to Church During the Pandemic,” Christianity Today, January 20, 2022).
We’ve seen a decline in our own church attendance from an average of 75 people in 2019 to 53 in 2021. To be sure, we have an increased online presence, averaging 78 livestream views each week last year. But that still raises the question: How do we build (or re-build) the church? How do we establish (or re-establish) a lasting, vibrant ministry that makes a difference for eternity?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 3, where the Apostle Paul shares how he built the church in a culture much like ours.
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (ESV).
If you want to build a lasting, vibrant ministry, then …
START WITH THE RIGHT FOUNDATION.
Begin with Jesus Christ. Establish the church on the Lord, not on personalities, programs or policies.
That’s what Paul did. He describes himself as an “master builder,” lit., an architect, who laid the only foundation that would last. When Paul planted the church in Corinth, he began with a focus on Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 2:2, Paul said, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Paul laid the foundation of Christ, because that is the only foundation that lasts.
Every architect knows that the foundation of a building is crucial. That’s because the foundation determines the size, shape, and strength of the structure itself.
If you’re ever inclined to go to San Francisco, the safest place to be is the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. Experts claim that it will withstand an earthquake of 9.0 on the Richter Scale. That’s because #1: it is flexible; and #2: every piece of metal, every piece of concrete, all the macadam and pavement, all of it relates one piece to another to two giant cables that come up to two great piers that go down into bedrock. While flexible, everything connects to an unmovable foundation, which cannot fail (Earl Palmer, "The Foolish and the Wise," Preaching Today, Tape No. 54; www.PreachingToday.com).
In the same way, if we want to build a lasting, vibrant ministry, we must build it on the bedrock of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ must be the foundation and focus of all we do.
Flexibility is important as times change and God provides different opportunities for ministry. For example, Covid moved us into an online, livestream ministry that none of us foresaw just 2½ years ago. However, Jesus remains the foundation and focal point of our ministry. While some methods have changed, the message remains the same. We preach Christ crucified and risen again! It is the bedrock of our church.
In 1912, medical missionary Dr. William Leslie went to live and minister to tribal people in a remote corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After 17 years he returned to the U.S. a discouraged man, believing he failed to make an impact for Christ. He died nine years after his return.
But in 2010 a team led by Eric Ramsey with Tom Cox World Ministries made a surprising discovery. They found a network of reproducing churches hidden like glittering diamonds in the dense jungle across the Kwilu River from Vanga, where Dr. Leslie lived and ministered.
Based on his previous research, Ramsey thought the Yansi in this remote area might have some exposure to the name of Jesus, but no real understanding of who He is. They were unprepared for their remarkable find. “When we got in there, we found a network of reproducing churches throughout the jungle,” Ramsey reports. “Each village had its own gospel choir, although they wouldn't call it that,” he notes. “They wrote their own songs and would have sing-offs from village to village.” They found a church in each of the eight villages they visited scattered across 34 miles. They also found a 1000-seat stone “cathedral” that often got so crowded in the 1980s—with many walking miles to attend—that a church planting movement began in the surrounding villages.
Apparently, Dr. Leslie had traveled throughout this remote region, teaching the Bible and promoting literacy. For 17 years, he fought tropical illnesses, charging buffaloes, armies of ants, and leopard-infested jungles to bring the gospel into a remote area. He died feeling like he had failed, but instead his faithfulness and courage left a powerful legacy of vital churches (Mark Ellis, “Missionary died thinking he was a failure; 84 years later thriving churches found hidden in the jungle,” GodReports blog, 5-19-14; www.PreachingToday.com).
That’s the power of the gospel! Christ uses it to build His church against which even the gates of hell cannot prevail, much less illness, charging buffaloes, armies of ants and roaming leopards. If we establish our church on Christ, we will prevail no matter the hardship, Covid or otherwise.
If you want to build a lasting, vibrant ministry, start with a right foundation—Jesus Christ Himself. Then…
PUT A QUALITY STRUCTURE ON THAT FOUNDATION.
It wouldn’t do us any good to put a shack on a foundation equipped for a skyscraper, would it? No. If we want our church to last, we must add to the foundation of Christ fully devoted followers of Christ. We must build a structure ON Christ which is made of quality, first-rate disciples OF Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:12-13 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done (ESV).
There is nothing better than a fire to show the quality of the materials used in a building. Wood, hay and straw will burn quickly, but gold, silver and jewels will survive any fire.
Now, a lot of people use these verses to talk about what individual Christians build into their personal lives, but the context is talking about people who build churches. If we build the church with shallow Christians, it won’t last. But if we build the church with fully devoted followers of Christ, then it will survive any crisis.
In fact, the church will not only survive; it will thrive. It will be refined by the fire to become even more valuable and to shine even more brightly to the glory of God. That’s what happening among the Christian believers in Ukraine.
In late February (2022), right after Russian forces began their invasion, Raychynets (the Deputy General Secretary of Ukraine’s Bible Society) said that, as is often the case in challenging times, people in Ukraine are more open to the gospel than ever. Churches are filled with people wanting to pray, receive comfort and find community.
He said, “In our churches – whether it is Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical churches – there are more new people. Not only on Sundays or Saturdays, but also during the week. On evenings when we have a Bible study, new people are coming. They want to pray, to hear something that brings hope or comfort.”
Christians from different denominations have united together for prayer, gathering in some of the city’s largest cathedrals. An evangelical service in February drew more than 1000 attendees and a further 45,000 who watched on YouTube… (Kylie Beach, “Ukrainians Turn to God Under Threat of War,” Eternity News, February 23, 2022; www.eternitynews.com.au/world/ukrainians-turn-to-god-as-threat-of-war-increases).
Since then, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country and another 7 million have been internally displaced, but many believers have chosen to stay and minister to the millions of refugees pouring through their communities.
One of those believers is Fedya Minakov, professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at the Evangelical Reformed Seminary of Ukraine. He sent his wife and children to Holland, while he remained behind to use his apartment in western Ukraine as a temporary shelter for other Ukrainians fleeing the country. He also coordinates relief work with other Christians from his seminary and from his congregation in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine.
Such work isn’t new for believers: evangelicals were among those active in helping Ukrainians displaced after Russia’s invasion in the east in 2014. That experience has helped mobilize Christians to assist again, even as the number of displaced Ukrainians swells to over 11 million.
Minakov is preparing for seminary classes to resume online later this month. In the meantime, he grieves his separation from his family, mourns his country’s suffering, and hopes in the gospel. He says, “I believe the Lord is using this terrible situation to advance his gospel” (Jamie Dean, “Ukrainian Seminary Professor’s Plea—Please Don’t Tire of Praying,” The Gospel Coalition, April 12, 2022).
Another believer who chose to remain and minister is Alexander Boichenko. Last month (March 2022), he returned to the seaside city of Odessa after evacuating his family to continue serving in his church’s disaster relief center. In February, they were planning the June wedding of their daughter. Before she left, his wife whispered quietly, “Might this be forever?” Alexander says, “I smiled at her comfortably, but my soul burst into tears.”
Christianity Today reports, “His work is not in vain. Ukrainian sources are all clinging to God, [and] the significant damage does not deter them.”
Sergey Rakhuba, president of Mission Eurasia, adds, “The most important task for the church right now is to continue preaching. Churches have become a lighthouse of hope.”
This is despite the “brutal and inhumane” aggression of the Russian army… Ukrainian pastor Igor Bandura, says, “But we pray and work—with hope and faith—that God will prevail and reveal his glory in Ukraine” (Jayson Casper, “Ministries Evacuate as Russians Reach Irpin, the Evangelical Hub of Ukraine,” Christianity Today, March 7, 2022).
Indeed, that’s exactly what God will do, because the fire of adversity has never stopped such people fully committed to Jesus Christ. On the contrary, that fire only increases the impact of the church as Christ shines through them even more brightly.
The church, if it’s going to survive and thrive, must be made of fully devoted followers of Christ, people like these Ukrainian believers who are completely sold out to Him.
Bill Self put it well when he said to a group of church leaders, “Somehow we have to make disciples instead of inspiration junkies” (Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 1; www.PreachingToday.com).
The church that equips people to follow Christ will last a whole lot longer than a church which just makes people feel good.
Look at verse 14. Speaking of one who builds a church…
1 Corinthians 3:14-15 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire (ESV).
I don’t know about you, but I want what I do for Christ to count for eternity. I don’t want to come to the end of my ministry and have nothing to show for it.
Leroy Eims, the man who wrote a classic work on making disciples, tells about visiting a foreign mission field and talking with a veteran missionary.
“He told me a story that still haunts me,” Leroy Eims said. “I can’t get it out of my mind. He had gone overseas some 15 years before we met and began the usual programs. About the time he arrived on the field, he met a young man named Johnny, who was involved in something quite different.
“Johnny was a committed disciple of Jesus Christ, but he was going about his ministry in all the wrong ways according to the “book.” In contrast to the typical missionary approach, Johnny was spending the bulk of his time meeting with a few young men in that country. The veteran missionary tried to get Johnny straightened out, but the young man kept on with his ‘different’ approach. The years passed, and the veteran missionary now had to leave the country of his service due to new visa restrictions.
“As he sat across the coffee table from me in his home, he told me, ‘Leroy, I’ve got little to show for my time here. Oh, there is a group of people who meet in our assembly, but I wonder what will happen to them when I leave. They are not disciples. They have been faithful in listening to my sermons, but they do not witness. Few of them know how to lead another person to Christ. They know nothing about discipling others. And now that I am leaving, I can see I’ve all but wasted my time here.
“Then I look at what has come out of Johnny’s life. One of the men he worked with is now a professor at the university. This man is mightily used of God to reach and train scores of university students. Another is leading a witnessing and discipling team of about 40 young men and women. Another is in a nearby city with a group of 35 growing disciples around him. Three have gone to other countries as missionaries and are now leading teams who are multiplying disciples. God is blessing their work. I see the contrast between my life and Johnny’s, and it is tragic. I was so sure I was right. What he was doing seemed so insignificant, but now I look at the results, and they are staggering’” (Billy Hanks and William Shell, eds., Discipleship: Great Insights form the Most Experienced Disciple Makers, 1993, pp.73-74; www.PreachingToday.com).
You don’t get lasting results by filling pews. You get lasting results by making disciples. So, if you want to build a church that lasts, then 1st, start with the right foundation—Jesus Christ. 2nd, put a quality structure on that foundation—build up fully devoted followers of Christ. & 3rd…
MAINTAIN THE CHURCH.
Preserve it against destructive forces. Keep it from ruin. Specifically…
Maintain the church with unity. Prevent dissension and division from vandalizing it.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple (ESV).
These Corinthian Christians were at each other’s throats. They were fighting each other; and as a result, they were in danger of destroying each other. They were in danger of destroying God’s Temple, which is what they were.
God’s people, gathered together in local churches, are God’s Holy Temple, and woe to the one who desecrates that temple, woe to the one who vandalizes it. If you ruin God’s church with division and dissension, then God will ruin you. That’s what the Bible says.
I’ve seen it happen with several troublemakers in the church over the years. They demanded their own way and spread dissension. Then later, sometimes years later, their families fell apart, they lost their jobs, or they faced financial ruin. In every case, they became the most unhappy people I have ever met.
So be careful. Keep dissension far away from God’s Temple and maintain it with unity.
Also, maintain the church with godly wisdom. Run the church God’s way, not your way.
1 Corinthians 3:18-20 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile” (ESV).
This world’s wisdom is fruitless. It’s futile. It’s void of result. It has no lasting value.
I like the way Warren Wiersbe put it. He says, “You cannot manage a local church the same way you run a business. This does not mean we should not follow good business principles, but the operation is totally different. There is a wisdom of this world that works for the world, but it will not work for the church. The world depends on promotion, prestige, and the influence of money and important people. The church depends on prayer, the power of the Spirit, humility, sacrifice, and service. The church that imitates the world may seem to succeed in time, but it will turn to ashes in eternity” (Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary).
We must manage the church God’s way, not our way. We must seek His mind in prayer and depend on His Spirit. The world says, “Stand up for your own rights, assert yourself, and get all you can.” God says, “give up your rights, humble yourself, and give yourself in sacrificial service.” When we do church God’s way, we shine. But when we do church our way, we vandalize it, no matter how we dress our selfish motives up. So…
Maintain the church with unity. Maintain the church with godly wisdom. And finally, maintain the church with teamwork, and stay away from destructive comparisons.
1 Corinthians 3:21-23 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s (ESV).
You may have a personal preference when it comes to a particular leader, but don’t permit your personal preference to become a divisive prejudice. The fact is: the leader you enjoy the least may be the one you need the most.
God has given all his servants to the church. They have different gifts. They have different strengths and weaknesses, but they are ALL God’s gift to the church. So learn to appreciate each one, and give God the glory.
Retired Pro Basketball player, A. C. Green talks about his “glory years” in high school.
He says, “At Benson High School, in Portland, Oregon, I was a sports-minded, egotistical maniac.” He was the tallest guy on the team and could have broken scoring records, but Coach Gray wouldn't let him. Even with the brakes on, twice one year he scored 39 points, and in the season finale against Wilson he scored 40. Green averaged 27 points per game, but as a team they scored more than 100 points in seven games and averaged over 90. Green was voted the Oregonian's 1981 All-Metro area player of the year and joined the All-Metro team.
Green says, “Coach Gray wouldn't allow me to be a hotshot scorer because he was more interested in the final stat—number one. He knew the only way we could reach that championship level was for us to become team players.”
He says, “In basketball and in life, everyone starts out with a what's-in-it-for-me attitude. Children are selfish. That natural selfishness has to be broken to be a winner. You have to realize you can't do it all by yourself. You need the team. Coach Gray made me pass the ball and play unselfishly. Regardless of individual stats, we, the team, reached the top. We went all the way” (A. C. Green, Victory, Creation, 1994; www.Preaching Today.com).
Everybody on the team has a role to play. And when you elevate one above another, the team loses.
If you want to build a church that perseveres, if you want to build a lasting, vibrant ministry, then start with the right foundation—Jesus Christ. Build a quality structure on that foundation—build up fully devoted followers of Christ. And maintain that structure with unity, godly wisdom, and teamwork.
Rise up, O Men of God!
Have done with lesser things;
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.
Rise up, O sons of God!
The Church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task,
Rise up and make her great!
Lift high the cross of Christ,
Tread where His feet have trod;
As followers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O Church of God!
