The Way the Church Should Operate
Introduction
A. Today we are going to examine and issue that has really struck me hard in the last couple of weeks
B. I have come to the realization that there are a lot of thing we do in the name of ministry and we forget the purpose of what they are for.
C. Today I would like to explain how the programs of the Church should run.
D. I have entitled today’s sermon “The Way The Church Should Operate”
I. Foundation
A. Explanation
1. Every thing that we do has to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
2. The finished work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection is the foundation which everything must be accomplished.
3. Our Religion is not a religion of psychology or sociology but Christology.
4. Our goal is not making people happy but of seeing them be joined with Christ.
B. Application
1. We need to make sure that everything we do must be based upon a person’s relationship with Christ.
2. We need to understand that Christ is truth, therefore we need to have a foundation of truth
3. Our goal needs to be to enhance or strengthen a Christian’s relationship with Christ.
4. The question that we must ask before, after, and even during our ministry is “In what way was this ministry founded in Christ? In what way was it based upon this person’s relationship with Christ? In what way did it enhance this person’s relationship with Christ? In what way did it evaluate truth based upon Christ?
C. Illustration
II. Fullness
A. Explanation
1. Ministry must be done in the fullness of the Holy Spirit
2. This is based on the fact that a Christian can only experience blessing in Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit
3. Ministry is tied directly into the work of he Holy Spirit (I Cor 12:3, 7)
B. Application
1. The Bible tells us how in Human ministries the Holy Spirit Works
a. Through His Selection of our Charismata and various ministries
b. In response to our prayer for ministry
c. Through our Words
d. Through His own demonstration of His power/miracles
2. Ministry in the fullness of the whole Spirit is not an option it is the only way, we can not turn to psychology, sociology etc.
3. Ministry in the power of the Sprit is the only way that Christians can experience their blessing in Christ.
4. To do anything else would be to build upon a foundation other than Christ using a material which will not last
C. Illustration (possible building illustration)
III. Function
A. Explanation
1. A function is a role or job that must be accomplished.
2. The Bible does give us some specific tasks that we commonly refer to as Biblical mandate
3. The Actual number of Mandates will very slightly depending on whom you talk to.
a. A normal list would include such things as:
1. Love Mandate
2. Great Commission Mandate
3. Disciple Making Mandate
4. Worship Mandate
5. The Prayer Mandate
6. There could be others that you could think of but these are the main ones
4. Functions of the Church are universal. Every church and every Christian need to carry out these functions
B. Application
1. Everything that we do must be trying to accomplish one of these functions
2. If we try to do something that has nothing to do with the functions it is useless.
3. Functions are what the Bible told us to do
IV. Forms
A. Explanation
1. A for is how a function is carried out.
2. No function is carried out without a form
3. Let me give you and example of how this works -- God tells us to make disciples. Does that mean that we have formal mentoring? Do we offer informal mentoring? Teaching Training Coaching? Does this take place on Thurs, wed, etc…
4. Forms are just ways to accomplish functions, they are not biblical
B. Application
1. We have a tendency to make forms functions
a. Some examples are Worship Times, Service Orders, Education process, Music, etc.
2. We have to be careful not to celebrate the form, but rather to celebrate the function.
3. The form is not important the function is.
Conclusion
A. So how do we know if we are using the correct form?
B. Our ministry needs to be evaluated by profitability, edification and Mastery
1. Profitability – Does it bring eternal benefit to the receivers and givers? Is it something which accomplish something positive for them?
a. The same form might be profitable for some people and not profitable for others. Example would be God’s will for us to preach the word, but preaching the word in the form of deep and profound sermons may not be beneficial for Christian who are immature.
b. A form that works in one area may not work in another area. For example. Having a New Years Day Golf outing in Florida would be great. Try doing that Here.
c. Time also effects forms. We live in a different society then the 40’s; therefore we have to use a different form.
2. Edification. The form must build the Christian up in his or her relationship with Christ, maturity in family and society, ministry in the Church and mastery over the flesh.
a. Some forms may actually be detrimental to this.
1. Emphasis on games in Children’s Ministries?
2. Over-emphasis on videos
3. Meaningless Choruses in Children’s ministries. What if we had the kid sing the “hooky pokey’ Will that build up a child?
3. Mastery. We should not allow any form in the Church, which may master those who receive it. Forms of ministry which become so powerful that the context is lost should be filtered out of church ministry
a. This happens when we go off to a conference and go back to our church and without any consideration we implement this program for our small rural church that worked in a large urban church.
b. The real task then is to take the foundation and apply a form that will work well with our unique church makeup.
C. We as a church always need to be evaluating our forms.
D. We need to make sure that we are we are using the best form for whatever ministry we are doing.
E. Remember forms change and should change, Functions, Fullness, and the foundation will never change.
