In light of modern cultural realities, here are three methodological shifts churches should consider to more effectively make disciples and reach our communities.
Consider scattering over gathering
Why not push more of the functions of church life to the periphery of church, including the amount of times we gather? I know this may sound counterintuitive and I don’t want to completely de-emphasize the large gathering. Gatherings are biblical.
But it would make more sense in our current context to do less gathering and more scattering. We are beyond the place where saying “Everyone come!” will bring unbelievers to a gathering. Churches need to have more of a “Let’s go!” mentality.
To be successful, leaders need to empower people. Church members need to be released as witnesses in their everyday lives—to be the “church scattered.”
In some cases, it’s helpful to empower small groups to have a broader functionality, even to the point of these groups functioning almost like little congregations. Some can be pre-church plants.
When ownership and responsibility is distributed, the more likely you are to have greater impact in a community.
Consider how to use pathways
We need a simple and regularly applied approach to what I call “pathways.” A pathways strategy is shown when a church moves people from sitting in rows to sitting in circles. This simple rearrangement is a means of changing members from consumers to participants. Rows tend to focus everyone on a single person. Circles tend to focus everyone on each other.
Pathways transitions people away from apathy into groups where they’ll provoke one another to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24). We need to help people live as agents of God’s mission.
Sometimes you have to stop doing good things to do the best things. That’s always a hard call, especially for churches. Churches that refuse to budge on inerrancy of Scripture should be commended. Churches that confuse inerrancy with methodology should be corrected.
That tendency can be applied to aspects of ministry that have outlived their usefulness. We need clearer systems and processes that lead people from passivity to activity in involvement in the mission of God and serving one another.
The declergification of ministry
Within our theological understanding of church and ordination, let’s de-emphasize the role of clergy. Ironically, many low church denominations are not a clergy-driven people, but we certainly function like a clergy people. Many low church congregations have a leadership culture that is essentially a hierarchical priesthood. There’s one man who is the only one who has the authority to interpret and teach the Bible. To them, the pastor functions almost as an intermediary priest.
If you are a Protestant, you probably agree clergification is a bad thing, even if you believe, as I do, that pastor is a biblical role. And, you probably agree the Protestant Reformation emphasis on direct access to God was a reflection of the biblical teaching that Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.
I want to see a declergification of ministry in evangelical churches where God’s people own the ministry collaboratively and corporately and pastors serve as equippers of the saints in accordance with Ephesians 4:11—to equip God’s people for works of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
In the new ministry environment, churches need to scatter more, develop better pathways to encourage active members, and combat clergification by equipping the entire body of Christ for service.
