The Church as a Force
Text: Matthew 13:37-38, Ephesians 4:11-13
Theme: The church is people, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus' name.
What is the church? Why do you suppose so many people are warm to Jesus Christ but cold to the church?
Here’s a thought: “The mark of a great church is its sending capacity, not its seating capacity.” – Tyrone Daniel
What is the church? Why do you suppose so many people are warm to Jesus Christ but cold to the church?
In his book “Love, Acceptance & Forgiveness” (1979), Jerry Cook contrasts two perspectives on the church:
1. Church-as-a-field
2. Church-as-a-force
The Church as a Field
If you think of the church as a building or a particular location, you think of the church as a field. In the field concept, the organized church is where the people come to do the work of God. Like a farmer who does his work in the field, the church is seen by most as the place where the work of God is done.
Jesus explains one of His parables in Matthew 13:37-38:
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. NIV
Our understanding of where the work is done is crucial. In Matthew 13:38 Jesus tells us that "the field is the world.” If we begin to think that the work of Jesus and His church is not in the world we wander from His plan.
This dramatically affects our goals and direction. The church-as-a-field will emphasize:
Visibility. The building must be in a prominent spot and the church leaders take on a very significant public relations role.
Program and promotion. Activities are designed to attract people to the building and promotion must be strong to get the word out. The building is seen as where the action is.
The church-as-a-field has the following goals:
Attendance figures. Success is defined in the number of people that gather.
Budget. Yes, it takes money to run a church, but we can easily confuse the means and ends. We dare not focus on operating the church in order to get enough money to operate the church.
Facility. Ever-expanding facilities is seen as crucial to an ever-expanding ministry.
How does the church-as-a-field accomplish its ministry? It concentrates on getting people into the building, where the professional is the one who provides the service. As the numbers and demands grow more professionals are hired to do the work.
The arrows of the church-as-a-field all point inward. People are drawn out of the culture and into the church. The emphasis here is on seating capacity.
Positions within the congregation become important. A person's Christian service is validated by being referred to as "director of something."
What motivates the church-as-a-field? Basically, the motivation of the church-as-a-field is to get people in. We then rely on programming to keep them and subtle exploitation to get something out of them - money or service.
A field-motivated church begins to compete with family, school, television and the world. We have to keep them away from these activities to get them occupied with the church program.
Someone wasn’t proofreading well enough when these announcements appeared in church bulletins:
The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.
The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.
What are the dangers of this approach to church life?
The pastor's role is distorted and misdirected, so that he must become a superstar or a puppet.
The second generation, or second wave of people, in the church becomes comfortable and complacent.
The third generation deteriorates into mediocrity even more.
Church becomes a subculture in and of itself.
Contrast this with what Jesus said in Matthew 5:13:
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. NIV
Salt, to have any effect at all, must be mixed in with the substance which needs salt.
When you think of the church do you think of a time and place? When you think of serving God where and when do you think this mostly happens?
The Church as a Force
According to Sir Isaac Newton's second law of motion (http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/Newton/law2.html):
Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object).
Jerry Cook defines church as, "People, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus' name."
When we put these two ideas together, the church is called as a force to interact with the world and to bring change.
What does the church-as-a-force emphasize?
The field is the world, where the work is to be done. The emphases in the church-as-a-field are visibility, organization, program and promotion. The church-as-a-force emphases are worship, training and fellowship, because these are the things that produce Spirit-filled people who can meet others' needs in Jesus' name.
We need to direct the church away from professionals and into the hands of amateurs who do not know what they are doing. This prospect is both exciting and scary.
When we gather, we are not so much the church at work. The church is rested and restored in meetings so that we can work in the world all week long. When we get together the next time, we should share what's been happening out there.
What goals does the church-as-a-force set?
The church-as-a-field has goals expressed in numbers, budget and facility. The church-as-a-force has goals that are personal and individual: We want each member to come to wholeness, be equipped and be released into the world to minister.
The role of a pastor is to teach people how to walk right. If we only teach them how to think and how to feel our relationship with Christ, but not how to walk it, we are failing. My job is not to minister to every need in the church. My job is to teach everybody in the church how to minister.
The pastor's job description given in Ephesians 4:11-13 is foundational for the church-as-a-force:
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. NIV
Someone asked me, “How can I help you as lead elder of New Beginnings Church?” This is a good question and I have given it a lot of thought. While most church people see their role as giving and serving to help fulfill their leaders’ vision I would flip that way of thinking upside down. My role is to serve and give so I can equip you for the vision that God has given to you individually and to us as a church.
What is the ministry of the church-as-a-force?
The pastor becomes vulnerable and authentic and moves away from a vertical relationship with the people that is based on power.
In the church-as-a-force the pastoral leadership is constantly endeavouring to facilitate the ministry of the members. How would this shift work itself out in church life and specific opportunities for outreach?
The arrows of the church-as-a-field all point outward. People are sent out each time the church gathers to affect and influence the culture. The emphasis here is on sending capacity.
Tyrone Daniel has concluded, “The mark of a great church is its sending capacity, not its seating capacity.”
Priority time, energy and money are invested in developing leaders who will make disciples and who will pour into others. This is not a new idea, but one that preserved Moses’ sanity and helped the Jewish people grow and mature while they journeyed from Egypt to the Promised Land about 1500 B.C.
Moses was wearing himself out and limiting the growth and effectiveness of those around him when we listen in on this conversation in Exodus 18:17-23:
17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." NIV
From that day forward Moses built away from himself, spending more time listening to God, developing a leadership team that helped to shoulder the load and seeing more people’s needs being met in a meaningful way.
The Babylon Bee reports (www.babylonbee.com/news/visitor-silently-judges-church-bulletins-rampant-grammatical-errors):
Visitor Silently Judges Church Bulletin’s Rampant Grammatical Errors
January 3rd, 2017
Peterstown, Texas - An unidentified female visitor to Peterstown Methodist Church arrived early and reportedly spent the length of the service Sunday quietly judging the quality of the church based on the church’s bulletin, which, according to reports, was rife with grammatical errors.
The mistakes included several incorrect instances of the word “there,” two run-on sentences, a comma where a semicolon should be, and unnecessary apostrophes sprinkled throughout the program, sources confirmed.
The woman took several breaks from her piercing, silent judgment to voice her displeasure to her husband.
“This pastor guy’s pretty good,” the visitor was heard whispering. “But look at this invitation to attend the church’s upcoming youth night. They use the word ‘its’ five times—and every single one is wrong. How do you even do that?”
“I’m going to be sick,” she added.
Further, the visitor was seen giving exasperated looks to her husband as the church’s worship lyric slides and sermon point slides were displayed, containing a grand total of eleven errors, by her count.
The visiting couple reportedly scurried off immediately after service, later stating they wouldn’t feel right joining a body of Christ that couldn’t even make its pronouns agree.
What is the motivation of the church-as-a-force?
We are trying to bring healing to the whole person, to every area of a person's life, not to use or exploit people, as is the temptation of the church-as-a-field.
The church-as-a-force becomes a healing agency in the community, not a place of refuge from the community. We aim not to compete with the world for people's attention but to change their priorities so family, school, vocation, entertainment and the rest take their proper place
The church-as-a-force has some potential dangers:
The pastor loses control over what goes on and must be continually refining his efforts and priorities in light of what the Holy Spirit is doing among the people.
There is a continual clash with the church-as-a-field mentality as new people must be educated and trained.
The benefits of the church-as-a-force are numerous, including:
· Excited followers of Jesus.
· Disciples who serve in their places of ministry.
Where can you be the church? How can you serve the community where you live?
We can look at God’s people in one of two ways:
The Church as a Field
The Church as a Force
The church is people, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus' name.