First Things First

There are some things that every church – to be a church – must do well.

By Howard Hendricks

Some time ago I visited a church that has an unusual strength in fellowship. I was so profoundly impressed I asked the pastor, “How in the world do you attract this many friendly couples to one church?”

He said, “It’s very simple. You can’t get in and out of this church without somebody inviting you to lunch.” Even though it’s massive, it’s the friendliest church on planet Earth, with a fellowship virus that has spread to everyone. Objectively, I wouldn’t say it was the greatest preaching center in the area, but it’s developed this one strength to an inspiring level.

At the beginning of any new ministry year a church must evaluate its last performance. I would use three questions:

1. What are we doing well? What are our strengths? If you don’t capitalize on your strengths, you tend to minister on a basis of weaknesses.

2. What are we doing that needs to be improved? You may be doing many things reasonably well, but how much can you improve them? We are embarrassed by our weaknesses and we excuse them rather than find ways to overcome them.

3. What are we not doing that we should be doing? Many churches tend to do what any other human organization can do, instead of what the church alone can do. In planning a new church year, church leaders must be aware of the unique contribution the church makes to the community-the spiritual contribution.

Yet a church can go overboard in emphasizing its strengths and neglect the many other necessary ministries that make up a church. There are some things that every church-to be a church-must do well. Chapter 2 of Acts gives the heart of a New Testament church. In this context four essential disciplines stand out: instruction, worship, service, and fellowship. Now, the context of the paragraph at the end of is evangelism. It begins with people being added to the church daily, and it ends the same way. If the church ever loses its evangelistic thrust in the process of teaching, worshiping, servicing, and fellowshipping, these disciplines will degenerate into ends, rather than means to an end.

Here are some thoughts on these four disciplines of the church, which every board should evaluate as it plans for the future.

Instruction

The pastor-teacher’s primary task is to be an equipper of the saints for their work of ministry. He’s committed to a ministry of multiplication, not addition. He’s not doing the work of ten men, he’s equipping ten men to do the work.

We have the idea that instruction has to take place within four walls. That might be one of the greatest barriers to learning. For example, I can teach for hours in a classroom, walk down to the snack shop, sit down with a student, and get involved in a conversation that will change his life. That doesn’t mean I should abandon classroom teaching, but some of my most effective teaching has been done in my office, over at the snack shop, and out of my home. You can impress people at a distance; you can only impact them up close. The general principle is: The closer the personal relationship, the greater the potential for impact.

For instance, the Lord Jesus sent his disciples out after he had carefully instructed them about how to minister. When they came back they were higher than a kite. The text says they rehearsed everything that had happened. And he was excited with them. On another occasion they went out on their own, and they struck out. Jesus bailed them out, performed the miracle they had blown, and the text says, “The disciples took him aside and privately asked, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘This kind comes out by prayer only.'” Prayer? What in the world does prayer have to do with it? They had cast out demons before and they had done it successfully. Now they were learning they had been spending too much time using their gift and not enough time developing the spiritual resources needed to maximize their gift.

In our retreats and board meetings, we need to spend more time praying, studying, and sharing.

Worship

Worship is a personal response to a divine revelation. You haven’t worshiped until you’ve responded.

Developing a higher level of worship among the people must start with the board. The board sets the pattern; they are the behavioral model given in Titus and Timothy. Unfortunately, we don’t worship very often in our board meetings. When I was being trained, professors would say, “Look, men, one of the problems you’ll face in your ministry is board meetings, spelled b-o-r-e-d. It’s a grim scene, but that’s part of the price you have to pay.”

This doesn’t need to be true. Board meetings can be a time of worship and celebration. I worked with a board where the members knew each other, loved each other, and confided in each other. As we faced difficult and complex issues, it was not uncommon for someone to say, “Pastor, I don’t think we have enough wisdom for this problem right now. Why don’t we pray?” We would bow our heads and pray around the room. More times than not, we would find the insights and wisdom we were seeking. Worship must start with the elders.

We should prepare our people for change. Individually, we are predestined to be changed, conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Corporately, the church should be the most revolutionary agency on earth. Too often, though, people come unglued because the service didn’t start with the Gloria Patri, or the Lord’s Prayer was in the wrong place. Board members, who are the opinion shapers, must set the worship pace and say to the people: “This is what we are going to do and this is why we are going to do it.”

Service

Service must be seen in a broad context. It’s easy to see it only in terms of our local church-what are we doing at Fourth and Main on Sunday morning in Sunday school. I see service as what goes on in the office or factory Monday through Friday. The average layperson has the idea that his or her vocation is a penalty. That’s what he or she does five days a week in order to “serve the Lord” on Sunday. Actually, what takes place on Sunday should equip someone for the service to be performed all week.

We also need to recognize that within the church many of our people are overworked and undertrained. I find more and more people who do not enjoy church work, they endure it. When the focus is ministry activity to the exclusion of the individual’s spiritual life, then burnout is inevitable. A typical example is the person who pulls back and says, “I don’t want to get involved.” This is one reason why a lot of people like to go to a big church and get lost in the crowd. I think we’re asking people to minister when we’ve never sufficiently ministered to them. You can’t minister out of a spiritual vacuum.

My goal for a local church would be to help every member serve Christ in at least one way, outside as well as inside the church. The average layperson isn’t serving in that way because he’s not trained to do it; but once he’s properly trained, it’s amazing how he will begin to enjoy it and become comfortable with it. When a person serves within the borders of his spiritual gifts he will enjoy the work of the Lord.

I saw a church go from about 34 percent participation, which is very high, to 93 percent. They committed themselves to the idea that everyone in the church was going to have a responsibility. No exceptions. They matched person with job and began to develop a realistic training program, which was hands-on. They learned to teach, for example, by teaching. I like the idea of apprenticeship.

To evaluate the way your church works with its laity, I recommend asking two questions:

1. How are current members functioning?

2. What potential resources do new people represent?

You work on it correctively by recruiting people who are already members but not serving. You work on it preventively by recruiting new people who are just coming into the church.

We enlisted a neurosurgeon to serve in our college department in this manner. Three of us made an appointment and went to see him. When he saw us he said, “Good grief, what is this?”

“Well,” we said, “we have a challenge for you.” Before we could continue, he called his nurse and told her not to disturb him for any reason. We described the task as clearly as we could, and then very straightforwardly told him, “Doc, it will take everything you have and then some, but we think you’re our man.” That night he couldn’t sleep. His wife asked, “What’s the matter?” He replied, “I have to make an important decision.” “What, are we going to leave Dallas?” “No.” “Are you going to sell the practice?” “No, I’m struggling with the fact that three Spirit-led men came to my office and said, ‘We feel that God would have us approach you about the possibility of taking the college class.’ How can I view that lightly?”

And most of all, laypeople need simple encouragement to continue their service. I was walking through town with a well-known pastor when we met one of his members. Calling her by name he said, “I was going over the Sunday school reports and I saw the names of the kids you led to Christ this year. I want you to know that you are engaged in a significant ministry.”

That’s how to build up lay leaders.

Fellowship

The tendency of leadership is to stifle fellowship-which means, “to share in common”-by gravitating toward vertical rather than horizontal relationships; professor and student, teacher and disciple, pastor and parishioner. We need more horizontal relationships that are developed around commitment to the same goals. Regardless of our station in life, all of us are in the process of learning and maturing.

Also, the average layperson doesn’t think that his vocation has spiritual importance. Most physicians, salespersons, and business managers think their “secular” tasks are unrelated to the body of Christ. Our faith commitment to each other should be the great equalizer. Because we are members of the same family, it’s very important to me, the pastor, for Jim, an elder in our congregation, to do good work at the local television station. I am going to pray for him and support him in his work.

One day I was at Dick Halverson’s church and he said, “Howie, how would you like to make a call with me?” We went out to a junior high school where one of Dick’s members was the principal. He was expecting us and had some sandwiches brought up from the cafeteria. After lunch, we studied the Word and spent some time praying together. Just before we left Dick said, “Let’s take a walk.” So the three of us walked all the way around the block. After we had returned to the front door, Dick said, “Okay, let’s pray and claim this place as your center of ministry.”

Dick was as concerned about this man’s ministry as he was about his own. He sought to help equip him to function as a Christian leader in society. That’s how you develop fellowship.

Which brings me back to the four disciplines. If I’m right that God has called us to make the church a center for instruction, worship, service, and fellowship, all in the context of evangelism, you can expect powerful things to happen. You will impact the community. You won’t have to stir up trouble; it will come to you. When the Holy Spirit begins to convict, convince, and rebuke, hang on, for resistance is on the way. And not just outside resistance, but internal resistance as well. You’ll know when you’re on target because that’s when opposition always comes.

When you are doing what Jesus Christ has called you to do, you can count on two things: You will possess spiritual power because you have the presence of Christ, and you’ll experience opposition because the devil does not concentrate on secondary targets. He never majors on the minors.

Even in our planning, it’s critical to remember what Paul said in Ephesians: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood.”

From the book Renewing Your Church Through Vision and Planning, copyright  © 1997