Natural Church Development Update
Can any of you remember the banners around the parapet of the church and what they represent? Maybe you’ve glanced at them, read them, pondered on why they’re there or even totally ignored them. Whatever your reaction, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the purpose of those banners. They are intended to remind you each week, that those 8 principles are what we at Valley strive to achieve as the body of Christ. We are looking to grow in all of these characteristics, with emphasis on the adjective (describing word):
Passionate Spirituality
Inspiring Worship Services
Holistic Small Groups
Spiritual Gift Oriented Ministry
Empowering Leadership
Functional Structures
Need Oriented Evangelism
Loving Relationships
Over the next few issues, I am going to share some of the aspects covered by each principle, in the hope that we will get full understanding, participation and buy-in from members.
Passionate Spirituality:
Surprisingly, this characteristic has rated the lowest over the past three years. Remember that the rating arises from consolidated responses given by members of the church when completing annual questionnaires. Research has shown that it is not the style of spirituality (charismatic, liturgical, etc) but rather the level of passion at which faith is lived out among it’s members that grows churches. Regardless of styles, the key lies in how we make our Christian faith a holistic experience of a personal encounter with Christ. Whenever our personal relationship with Christ is enhanced, we discover that our spirituality is freed up through the power of the Holy Spirit active in our lives. We would do well to remember Romans 12: 11-12, which says “never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Some of the things we would do well to remember and or reflect upon are:
- As a leader in the church, are you curious to learn something new from God, or has much of your ministry become a dull routine? Do we expect God to “show up” in our church and perform miracles?
- Do we, as leaders set aside 2 consecutive days on a regular basis for prayer and fasting?
- Do we ask God for a new vision for our ministries and to increase our own faith?
- Do we pray that our church will be increasingly filled with Joy?
- Do we seek God’s wisdom in revealing what is necessary for spiritual growth in our church?
- Are we recognising the need for each member to be a pastor to others? This cannot be left up to the ministers alone, hence the importance of Cell groups.
We, the body of Christ, need to encourage people to become involved in using their spiritual gifts in their service within the church. Research has shown that people who are exercising their spiritual gifts in ministry are happier and this isn’t really surprising, is it? After all, Christians who serve God in areas of giftedness, will be able to fulfill their responsibilities better than someone who sees their service as a duty!
We need many prayer warriors to intercede for others and indeed each member needs to recognise their role in praying for our church. We need to share how God is responding to and answering prayer and that is why we often open up a time of sharing in services. We need strong counselling and pastoring teams, and most importantly, we need to develop our own prayer-life, bible study and spirital discipline.
As Christians we need to guard against the following:
- An attitude which says “I’ll do it if I like it”. Often we block authentic spiritual experience because we are not prepared to engage in something different or new.
- A belief that we earn our way into heaven
- A fate-like belief whereby we believe everything experienced is God sent and so we undermine the influence and role of the world and activity of sin that infiltrates our experience.
- Making members feel guilty. Participation in the life of the church must arise from a culture of appreciation i.e because of what God is doing in your life, you desire to please God by responding passionately in worship and service within the church.
So some food for thought. May I en- courage you to examine your own life and spirituality and prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those areas where you can be more faithful and passionate for God.
Terry Booysen