Hi, thanks for coming to visit me at Kingdom Treasures. I have moved my blog (with the various categories and my history of blog posts, and all my teaching materials and resources) to a new website: alexanderventer.com
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If you’ve come to this blog looking for my teaching notes on “Exploring Membership with Following Jesus”, you may be wondering where Sessions 5 and 6 are. With the help of a generous techno friend of mine, I am migrating my Kingdom Treasures blog – and my other websites and teaching resources – to one single domain, alexanderventer.com
Please visit the new site… it’s not yet complete, but you will get an idea of what’s happening. The audios and notes of my Sunday teachings (including Exploring Membership) are all available weekly on the church website followingjesus.org.za
SESSION 4: MINISTRY FRAMEWORK – HOW WE DO CHURCH AND MEMBERSHIP
The Sociological Framework contrasted three models of ‘doing church’ and membership – we embrace the centered set with its values. We now examine the Ministry Framework through which we do church – key information for a responsible commitment to Following Jesus. We lay out our mission and vision; values, priorities and practices; leadership, structure and programs; and the specific expectations of belonging and membership (the content of the remaining 3 sessions). Much of this key information, including our Vineyard history, is on our website http://followingjesus.org.za
WHAT IS OUR MISSION STATEMENT? Our “being”
Our mission is our identity, our essential reason for existence, sense of calling, answering the question: Who are we? (or Who are we following? Identity is defined by who you relate to)
Our mission statement is based on Matthew 4:19 cf. 28:18-20, and Ephesians 5:2 (NIV)
Following Jesus and making followers of him…
Learning to live a life of love just as Jesus loved us
WHAT IS OUR VISION STATEMENT? Our “becoming”
Vision is a future-oriented picture of becoming – our broad-stroke goals. Vision gives us our direction, answering the question: Where are we going? (or What are we becoming?)
An interim goal, 2015 vision: To get our congregation into good health and growth in all aspects of leadership, community life, ministry and mission.
A medium-term goal, 2020 vision: For Following Jesus to be strong enough to a) fully develop the Vineyard Community Center (VCC) with a worship hall and other needed facilities, b) to equip and coach the next generation of leaders, and c) to be a resource to help existing churches, plant new churches, and be fully engaged in various missions in our community, city, country and beyond.
A long-term goal, 2025 vision: To responsibly and fully hand over the leadership of a vibrant worshipping, healing, equipping and missional church community, with a fully developed Vineyard Community Center, to the next generation of leading followers of Jesus.
WHAT ARE OUR VALUES? (From Session One – see the diagram: Following Jesus Framework)
Values are our core principles and non-negotiables. They answer the question Why? we do what we do to fulfill our calling (mission) as we work to achieve our goals (vision). We take our core values from Jesus’ generic call to follow him as he followed his Father (by his Spirit and Word, in his disciple-community). Based on Matt 4:19 (& 28:18-20) our three core values are:
Following God: Intimacy with God – the church exists for God, by God, through God.
Forming Community (be formed in): koinonia of the Spirit – we exist for each other as true family.
Fishing World: We exist for others – to impact our world with God’s saving presence and power, to make followers of Jesus and be agents of wholistic change at all levels of social and cosmic reality.
We add two other derived values (thus five values in total), based on Matt 3:17 cf. 22:37-40…
Fitting Context: We Follow, Form and Fish as Fits our personal, family, work and community Context.
Freeing Love: We Follow, Form and Fish with a view to being Free to be-loved, and thus to Love as God loves (to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and others as ourselves)
WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES AND PRACTICES? (Derived from our three core values)
Priorities and practices are what we actually do… what we do first, of most importance, before we do other things. They answer the question of What? we do, and How? we do them… i.e. our basic disciplines and skills that we learn to do and practice on a regular basis – in order to live out our core values, in pursuit of our vision, to fulfill our mission under God.
Each of our three core values has four priorities & practices (disciplines & skills), see the diagram
HOW DO WE FOLLOW GOD INTIMATELY? By prioritizing and practicing the disciplines of…
The Word of God: The Bible is the inspired record of God’s self-revelation, our final authority for faith and life. As Christ-followers we hold to his teachings as the truth that sets us free (John 8:31-32). We prioritize life-oriented teaching, equipping every Christ-follower to read and study, meditate and memorize, and more importantly to practice scripture – “to obey all I have commanded” (Matt 28:20).
Worship: Worship is our highest priority, our only adequate response to God’s self-revelation. Worship embraces our whole lives – it’s both an event and a lifestyle (Rom 12:1-2), it’s both praise/celebration and adoration/intimacy. Our goal is to encounter God in worship, and to equip every follower of Jesus to be a true worshipper of God in both personal and public worship (John 4:22-24).
Prayer: Prayer is the natural response or overflow of worship. Prayer is answering God in what he says to us through his Word and Worship. Prayer is relational interaction with God, the native breathe of our souls. We practice and encourage all forms of personal and corporate prayer and intercession.
Holy Spirit Ministry: The result of these three is a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led life and Church, where Jesus is the Head and the Spirit is the Administrator. We seek to honor and receive the ministry of the Spirit through equipping and releasing every Christ-follower to practice the Spirit’s enabling gifts, in the home, at Sunday services, in small groups, at work, on the streets – in all aspects of life.
Yesterday was a most interesting day for me! In my morning devotions I picked up an old book on spirituality written by Ronald Rolheiser and read a page or two here and there. He quoted Soren Kierkegaard, who said “purity of heart is to will one thing.” It struck me.
At midday while driving to the airport to receive a friend from Norway, I was listening to a recording of Dallas Willard and he said, “Soren Kierkegaard said ‘purity of heart is to will one thing'”. Wow! Again! Then late yesterday afternoon I scrolled through the tweets that come into my smart phone and Rick Warren had tweeted the exact same quote! WOW! Three times in one day!
What are the chances of that happening by chance – the same quote from three completely independent sources, via different media, on the same day, to the same person? God is trying to say something to me! As the scripture says, “in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established.” I thought: ‘this is REALLY serious, Lord I’m listening, help me to obey.’ As with Peter and Jesus’ dealings with him, things seem to happen to me in three’s. Maybe because I’m so ‘doff’ (hard of hearing) God has to repeat himself at least three times.
I realised that we ‘will’ way too many ‘things’; we desire, want, pursue, work for, give our attention to, etc, too many things, often completely conflicting things. Our focus in life is so fragmented and distracted and driven by different things – the needs and cares and wants and enjoyments of this life. Few of us have a clear focus, with clear eyes, where we see and pursue one thing, or THE most essential thing(s).
Soren Kierkegaard’s quote was in reference to Jesus’ beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God” (Matt 5:8). Jesus said the eye is the gate to the soul. If your eye is ‘single’ – another word of ‘pure’ (focused on God, the true treasure of willing HIS will) – then your whole body and life is filled with light. If your eye is ‘divided’ or ‘disparate’ (seeing/chasing after many things, the false treasure of the glitter of this life), your whole body and life is filled with darkness. That is being lost.
Pure of heart… seeing God… willing one thing. How we need to see God! As clearly and regularly as possible. We need to wash our eyes and hearts, and keep our focus on what REALLY matters in life, on what is of eternal consequence. The question is: how do we see God? And the controversial answer is (to today’s postmodern world): in the man Jesus of Nazareth. Let me leave that and conclude with a comment on “purity of heart.”
My three repeated messages from God made me think immediately of David and his prayer, “Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” (Ps 86:11). I wondered if Jesus got his beatitude from King David, especially when you read his other prayer: “And I – in righteousness I will see Your face; when I awake I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness” (Ps 17:15). Our hearts (‘eyes’, focus) are so divided and distracted on many apparently important things, so we don’t see clearly, let alone seeing God clearly. Hence we don’t fear God, we live as practical atheists, saying we believe in God denying his reality and existence in our daily lives. Above all, we deny his will… the ‘one thing’ that we should ‘will’ in our daily lives.
It also made me think of Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet, gazing up at him as she listened to his words of life. Jesus said of her, “Only ‘one thing’ is necessary, and Mary has chosen that better part, the ‘one thing’ of taking time to sit at God’s feet, gazing upon him, listening to his word…” (the RAP – Revised Alexander Paraphrase – on Luke 10:42).
Think about it: purity (or unity) of heart is to will one thing. How do we unite our hearts… wrestle our lives down to the bare essentials of God and his love and his word and his work in the world? THE most important ‘thing’ is to will the will of God.
A quick explanation regarding the audio teachings (MP3s) that accompany the notes of Exploring Membership with Following Jesus. I’ve received numerous requests for the audios. Our church is in process of changing the audio upload from the old website (http://valleyvcf.org.za) to the new one (http://followingjesus.org.za). Hopefully it will be operational next week.
The first three talks are on the old website, under the tab “Sermons”. This past Sunday we had a ‘recording failure’ – with no backup! (from now on we’ll have two instruments recording!!) So we have uploaded a previous lecture that I’ve done on the same teaching material… look for Alexander Venter Lecture 2 Part 2 on valleyvcf.org.za. I apologise for this failure, and for all the changes. Hopefully we’ll be up and running soon… I’ll let you know!
SESSION 3: MODELS OF (LOCAL) CHURCH AND MEMBERSHIP
We’ve looked at a) Jesus and his disciple-community (following Jesus meant joining his community), and b) at belonging and ‘membership’ in the Early Church. What does this mean for our church? In answer to the question we examine different models of “doing church” and what membership means
1. IN ASSOCIATION OF VINEYARD CHURCHES OF SA (AVC SA)
1.1. As a Vineyard church, Following Jesus holds to the core vision and values (or ‘Philosophy of Ministry’) as articulated in Alexander Venter’s book Doing Church (VIP, 2000).
1.2. We embrace the Vineyard Statement of Faith (on our website http://followingjesus.org.za), distinctively based on, and articulated through, the biblical theology of the Kingdom of God.
1.3. We also explain how we ‘do church’ and membership via a ‘Sociological Framework’ (this session) and a ‘Ministry Framework’ (next session)
2. CONTRASTING THREE SOCIOLOGICAL MODELS OF ‘DOING CHURCH’ AND MEMBERSHIP
Summarizing the characteristics and values of the Bounded Set:
Summarizing the characteristics and values undergirding the Centered Set:
THEREFORE… Belonging and membership in the Centered Set model is…
What is the cause of the unbelievable levels of violence in South Africa – specially in terms of rape and murder – what men do to women and children in our country? Our society and the public media, including the government, is debating what’s behind this, trying to isolate the cause of this pandemic of violence. What are your comments?
17 year old Anene Booysen’s recent savage gang rape, disembowelment and murder, hit the international headlines – similar to the gang rape of the young woman on a bus in New Delhi, India. The hardened policemen who attended to the grissly scene of Anene’s murder were so traumatised that they needed counselling therapy. Since then, more brutal gang rapes and murders have been reported in SA. What rage drives men in SA to do these demonic acts of evil?
Another SA tragedy made world headlines this weekend: the alleged murder of beautiful Reeva Steenkamp by her lover, the internationally celebrated para-olympian Oscar Pistorious. Shock and horror! Disbelief! Everyone is asking, “WHY?” An insightful report from journalist David O’Sullivan points to alleged patterns of anger outbursts, see @702David. po.st/4ePbnn. Why this alleged brutal murder by such a successful man – a celebrity with the world at his feet?
Our ANC government says rape and violence is a serious social problem. Their answer is: men must be educated to respect women and children, to treat them properly. Many people are saying many things, trying to make sense of this orgy of rage, offering all sorts of explanations and solutions – from stricter gun control to castration for perpetrators of rape.
Will that address this social crisis? Superficial diagnosis leads to superficial solutions, radical diagnosis cuts to the root of the problem, leading to radical healing and long-lasting solutions.
2000 years ago a young Jewish rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, gave an incisive diagnosis to this particular issue, and to the human condition in general. He taught that anger, if not resolved, leads to contempt and even hatred, which in turn results in rage, violence and murder (see Matthew 5:21-26). In his teachings on being human – on living life as God’s image bearers – Jesus FIRST addresses the issue of anger and forgiveness (reconciliation), in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’. It’s THE foremost issue in human relationships – in personal morality and social reality. Just think of it: if all the unresolved anger were taken out of human relationships the world would be an entirely different place.
Jesus deals with the problem of anger ahead of lust – lust as in sexual sin and brokenness – the use and abuse of others for our gratification (see Matt 5:27-30). Rape is not about sexual lust per se. It’s about violence due to unresolved anger, stemming mostly from deeply broken masculinity in terms of disempowerment or powerlessness. Rape is one of the oldest weapons in human history – along with murder – used by so-called men to humiliate, punish and destroy, for feelings (and reasons) of power and control.
Anger is not the problem. Anger is a God given emotion, a ‘neutral’ feeling that tells us something has gone wrong, something has upset us. It’s what we do with anger that becomes moral – right or wrong. We can choose to:
a) respond to anger by disclosing it and resolving what caused it, as Jesus taught (called ‘forgiveness and reconciliation’), or…
b) we can react to anger by suppressing it and eventually imploding (called ‘unforgiveness and bitterness’), and/or…
c) we can react to anger by venting it and exploding (called ‘contempt, rage and violence’).
Both b) and c) are sinful because they damage human beings, ourselves included. The ‘s-word’ has become politically incorrect. But SIN is not an irrelevant religious category by an oppressive pedantic god. Whatever undermines and destroys human dignity is sin because it violates God’s image in the name of self-serving power and control. At root it is the human presumption that we can live life without God – we don’t need him – we can control our own lives and “do it my way” (as Frank Sinatra sang). The root problem in SA is that we’ve rejected God in the name of postmodern liberal political correctness. We’re paying an enormous price for it.
Unresolved anger is extremely dangerous the longer it’s left to itself. It’s an open invitation to demons – yes, literal evil spirits – to invest and torment the person, driving them beyond all rational self control in moments of lust and rage. The result? Rape and murder. Our society is increasingly at the mercy of demons driving men to do more and more evil.
What’s the solution? Personally, I’m ashamed to be a man in SA today. My gender associates me with all the so-called men who violate women and children every 28 seconds – from molestation to rape, from psycho-emotional violence to physical murder. We men – ALL of us men – need to do what the young rabbi from Nazareth repeatedly called for wherever he went, in every village, town and city: REPENT. That is the root of the remedy in SA. Repentance is not an outdated religious concept aimed at oppressing people with feelings of guilt. It’s actually a matter of life and death, of the future survival or destruction of our nation. The choice is ours.
To REPENT is to humble oneself before God and all others, openly acknowledging our profound spiritual bankruptcy and broken masculinity as men, turning from our wicked ways, crying out to God for mercy, as we beg for forgiveness from the women and children of this nation. We have to face the fact that something has gone wrong deep in the male psyche and ultimately only God can help us. Denial has to be broken. Why must it take incidences as Anene Booysens and Reeva Steenkamp to get the attention of the nation? What about the 100 000s of other women and children who did not get to the national headlines, let alone make international news?
Just imagine what would happen if the first or leading male in SA, our President Jacob Zuma (who was tried on a rape charge, but was acquitted), stood up by kneeling down before God and the nation, putting on sack-cloth and ashes, because of the crying shame of what men do to women and children in his (our) country. Imagine if he called all men to do the same, on a set day of confession of male sins against women and children, a chosen day of public humiliation and repentance, of fasting and prayer. It just might be that God would listen and have mercy and intervene and help turn men from their sins, heal their broken masculinity – their perverse need for position, power, control – and restore our land to safety and security and peace and harmony (it is no wonder to me that more and more opposition parties are led by women, including Mamphela Ramphela’s new opposition party. What is this saying, symbolically, to our nation?)
And if our President won’t do it, then who will? Whether he does it or not, all men who say they follow Jesus must lead the way. We must repent before the nation, publicly if possible, crying out to God for mercy, asking the women and children for forgiveness, calling ALL men to repentance and healing by God’s intervening grace.
May God indeed have mercy on me, Alexander Venter, on Oscar Pistorious, on the young men who raped and murdered Anene Booysens, on all of us men in this beautiful rainbow nation called South Africa. God bless Africa.
SESSION 2: THE EARLY CHURCH AND COMMITTED BELONGING
We looked at following Jesus, which meant joining his community: Following Jesus… in community… for others (one reality in three inseparable values). Jesus told them to “go, make followers…” How did the early church do this? What did belonging in community (‘church membership’) mean in this context?
1. HOW DID JESUS’ FOLLOWERS MAKE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS? (Working from Acts 2:37-47)
1.1. Theologians call it ‘Initiation into Christian (Messianic) faith’.
What did Christian initiation entail?
1.2. Repentance & faith: the moment of conversion, “repentance from dead works and faith toward God” (Heb 6:1f). Jesus preached it as we saw in Mark 1:14-16, and now Peter in Acts 2:38.
1.3. Baptism & laying on of hands: “Be baptized… and you will receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). This is the public act of sealing your faith in Messiah, burying your past life, entering new life in his community, and being empowered with the Spirit as Jesus was (Mark 1:9-11 cf. Heb 6:2).
1.4. This was initiation into the local church: Conversion and baptism involved belonging to the local church of Jesus. And this is where discipleship happened – not on your own – see Acts 2:40-42f.
1.5. There’s evidence of an immediate discipleship process or ‘catechism’: The baptismal confession in Galatians 3:38 gave the new followers a new identity in the one Body of Christ, where a ‘foundation of faith’ was laid: Jesus the cornerstone (1Cor 3:10) and his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (Matthew 5 to 7, an early church catechism), plus the ‘elementary principles’ in Heb 6:1-3. The ‘disciplined learning’ or apprenticeship to Jesus began at conversion and continued till death!
2. WHAT DID ‘CHURCH’ MEAN – WHAT WAS IT’S BIBLICAL UNDERSTANDING?
2.1. Many names/metaphors were used for the first followers/community of Jesus: Here are some…
2.2. ‘The Way’ of Jesus (Gr. Hodos, Acts 9:2 cf. John 14:6… Jesus’ way of living the Kingdom)
2.3. Christians (Kristianos or Messianics, Acts 11:26… Jesus’ disciples were called this by others)
2.4. God’s family & household (patria & oikos, Eph 3:15, 2:19, speaks of relational belonging)
2.5. Fellowship (koinonia, Phil 2:1f, speaks of sharing in a common life – God’s life in community)
2.6. The most common was ‘church’ (Ekklesia, Matt 16:18) – from secular Greek usage, “those called out to gather” to decide the affairs of the town/city. Jesus’ first followers used this word to describe those Jesus calls to gather to him to share in his Kingdom authority to transform the town/city. I.e. ‘church’ is a ‘community happening’ in (because of) God’s ruling presence!
Put another way: Jesus’ ekklesia (his calling to us – our ‘vocation’) is to Follow God, Form (be formed in) Community, to Fish the World for the Kingdom of God.
2.7. We have to get away from ‘church’ = meeting; or ‘church’ = the meeting place (the building).
3. CHURCH – AS GOD’S IDENTIFIABLE COMMUNITY – ‘HAPPENS’ AT VARIOUS LEVELS:
3.1. The way ekklesia is used reveals that it gathers/happens at six ‘levels’ (see diagram below)
3.2. One cannot claim to ‘belong’ at one level (e.g. “I’m part of the universal/invisible Church of Jesus Christ”) without tangible belonging at the levels of local gathering.
3.3. The most basic levels of church belonging is lived out in the two’s and three’s of deep friendship, in relational belonging in house-church (Rom 16) and the local gathered church (Acts 20:20).
4. WHEN IS A (LOCAL) CHURCH A (TRUE) CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST? (The Reformer’s ‘Five Marks or Characteristics of the Local Church’ as per the New Testament)
4.1. Where believers gather for fellowship (regular worship, prayer, ministry & mission, Acts 2:42f).
4.2. Where the Word of God is faithfully preached (Acts 2:42; 1Tim 3:15, 4:13, 2Tim 3:14f).
4.3. Where leadership, oversight and discipline are properly constituted (Heb 13:7, 17).
4.4. Where the ordinances (sacraments) of Christ are properly administered (Matt 26:26f, 28:18f), namely believers baptism and the Lord’s Supper (Communion).
4.5. Where the (local) church is recognized by the broader Church.
5. WHAT THEN IS THE EARLY CHURCH IDEA OF BELONGING AND MEMBERSHIP? (Theologians talk about ‘The Tangible Signs of Koinonia’ in the Early Church)
5.1. Faith in Jesus and baptism and laying on of hands – what we call ‘Christian Initiation’ (above). This speaks of a clear point of (formal) commitment to Jesus and his (local) community.
5.2. The common meal (the Lord’s supper): ‘holy communion’, church love feasts (Jude 12), shared meals in homes, etc. This was a tangible sign of a deeper sharing of life or koinonia (‘common life’ or community), sharing material resources as in giving and receiving, seen in Acts 2:42f. Therefore belonging or membership was relational, functional, participatory, specific.
5.3. The ‘right hand of koinonia’ (Gal 2:9): receiving recognition of (local) family belonging
5.4. The ‘kiss of peace’ (Rom 16:16): it’s a ‘holy’ kiss of family… how’s that expressed in our culture?
5.5. Regular gathering together (Acts 2:42 cf. Heb 10:25) at both small group level (home churches) and in public celebrations (congregational level) – see Acts 2:46, 20:20; 1Cor 14:26.
The point of this session was to show that formal commitment and belonging (what we call membership) was present and practiced in the Early Church. How does this translate into our postmodern world and local church – and specifically our church Following Jesus? (Next session)
As promised, here are my notes from session one of Exploring Membership with Following Jesus. The audio will available this week on http://www.followingjesus.org.za (or check http://www.valleyvcf.org.za).
SESSION 1: INTRO TO FOLLOWING JESUS
What does following Jesus have to do with church belonging and membership?
To answer the question we begin with Jesus’ basic/generic call to all people, then we look at his commission to those who respond to his call, and then the experience and understanding of the early Christians as to following Jesus and church belonging. This will explain why we call our church Following Jesus, and why we believe in belonging to a local church in committed membership.
1.1.Jesus began his ministry by first proclaiming the Kingdom of God:
“The end has come, God’s rule is here defeating evil’s tyranny, liberating people into God’s reign of love. Therefore repent… and believe this good news!” (Mark 1:15 cf. Matthew 4:17)
1.2.Then he immediately called people into his Kingdom community – to experience God’s rule: “Come and Follow me, and I will Form you into Fishers of people” (Mark 1:16 cf. Matt 4:19). Jesus’ basic message (the Kingdom) and his call is applicable to all people in all generations.
1.3. Therefore, our life’s vocation (or ‘calling’… ‘to call’) is to Follow Jesus, by being Formed in his Community, in order to Fish the World for God’s Kingdom… just as Jesus did…
Jesus a) followed his Father (in intimate relationship through prayer and Torah obedience)
In b) community formation (forming and being formed in his little disciple community)
To c) save the world. His core values were: Following, Forming, Fishing!
Our calling is a whole-life and life-long journey… following Jesus… in community… for others.
1.4.An explanatory note on being a follower of Jesus:
A ‘disciple’ is a disciplined learner – pupil or apprentice – in a committed relationship with Jesus Messiah, learning from him how to live your particular life just as he would if he were you. Discipleship / Apprenticeship is ‘living with, to learn from, to become like…’
We ‘learn from Jesus’ (Matt 11:29-30) by coming under his yoke… the yoke of his Word (his teachings, see John 8:31-32), his Spirit, his Kingdom Community and Mission in the world.
1.5.A second explanatory note on Jesus and his community:
Following God, Forming (being formed in) Community, and Fishing World, happens…
1) in a context – as fits our particular life situation (Fitting Context)… and
2) with a view to growing into our identity as God’s beloved child(ren) (see Mark 1:11).
I.e. the ultimate goal of following, forming and fishing, as fits our particular life context, is to be free to love as God loves (Freeing Love) – to love God and others as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31)
1.6.Therefore… see our basic framework/diagram showing the core values of Following Jesus
2. JESUS’ GENERIC UNIVERSAL COMMISSION TO HIS FOLLOWERS (DISCIPLES)
2.1.Before Jesus ascended into heaven he commissioned his faithful followers (disciples):
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:10-20 NIV)
2.2.As followers of Jesus we are commissioned to go and make followers of him… we can only make followers (true disciples) to the extent that we ourselves are followers (true disciples of Jesus)…
2.3.We make followers of him from people of all types, reconciling all cultures, nations, etc
2.4.We’re commissioned on the basis that Jesus – due to his death and resurrection – has been put in charge and given the say over everything in the heavens and the earth (Kingdom authority!)
2.5. How do we make followers (disciples) of Jesus?
By 1) plunging them into the Reality of the Trinitarian God… baptism is more than immersion into water to publicly symbolize joining Jesus and his community. Its deeper reality is being immersed into the Trinitarian Community of God’s Life and Love… incarnated on earth…
And 2) by teaching and training them to obey all that Jesus taught and commanded; i.e. to be (trans)formed into the kind of person that routinely obeys Jesus, that lives a life of love just as Jesus loved (all he commanded is summarized in the double love commandment, Mk 12:29f)
2.6. Therefore, the implications: 1) Jesus’ first followers (the Early Church) clearly followed him in community – join Jesus and you join his community; and 2) they made followers of the ascended Christ by baptism and teaching – baptism as a public initiation into the Trinitarian Community of the Father, Son, and Spirit, synonymous with joining God’s people/community. It was unthinkable that one can separate faith (following Jesus) from initiation into and accountable belonging in Jesus’ local specific community – called ‘church’.
The next session will examine what belonging and membership meant in the Early Church.
Please bare with me in a little foolish boasting (as Paul said and did!)
In God’s sovereign design I was privileged to work with John Wimber in 1982 for 8 months as a pastoral and research assistant. I researched and wrote the healing courses that John taught – now summarized in my book Doing Healing, and in the 2 Healing courses that I teach at VBI and VLI.
Perhaps more important was a 40 page document that I wrote with John, “Building from the bottom up: A 5 year plan for Church Growth”. It was a systematic explanation of John’s (the Vineyard’s) philosophy of ministry; i.e. how we do church, ministry and leadership, from a Kingdom of God paradigm – practically applied in the local church for health and growth.
When John died in 1997 my first thought was to put this most important of materials into book form (now called Doing Church). By God’s grace it has become a basic textbook for Vineyards – and some other churches – around the world, having been translated into many languages. I am humbled and honoured by this development.
Now VLI in the USA has asked me to teach a comprehensive course called Vision and Planning: Developing a 5 year plan for church growth – based on John’s philosophy of ministry as laid out in my book.
After 37 years in full-time paid ministry (as a church planter and pastor) I’ve concluded that many churches don’t grow simply due to a lack of vision and planned implementation. Leaders fail to envision their people with the Kingdom as a workable plan, and then to work the plan. Some say that’s unspiritual, “just pray and God will grow the church”, while others are so desperate for growth that they adopt the motivational and success ideology of business, the technology of push and pull, of performance and programs, to grow the church.
The course I will teach in early February is the radical middle between these approaches. It will be videoed for the VLI students in the US and internationally, AND IT WILL BE FOR FREE! Seriously, no payment – we will provide tea and coffee and YOU bring a lunch… to share!! And furthermore, I will offer my book Doing Church for R40 (my cost from the publisher, it retails at R85 to R95).
Why am I doing this, why this ‘long’ invite? I REALLY want you, and your leaders and people, to come – because I believe with all my heart that if we learn to do church, ministry and leadership as John taught us, we will see the Kingdom of God come with power. Therefore, invite your leaders and people – and feel free to send this invite far and wide, all are welcome from any church!
DATE: Friday 1ST FEB and Saturday 2nd Feb
TIME: Friday 19h00 – 21h00, Saturday 09h00 – 16h00 (four lectures in total with tea/coffee breaks and Q & A times)
VENUE: Vineyard Community Center, 379 Spionkop road, Northriding, Johannesburg.
Phone: 010-222-0582/6.
Email: office@followingjesus.org.za or office@valleyvcf.org.za
Website: www.followingjesus.org.za
FaceBook page: ifollowjesusvcc
Twitter: @ifollowjesusvcc
Kingdom Treasures 