What is the Church?

God’s plan for the welfare of the human race Jeremiah 29:7 “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare ”

Why do we do what we do?

 “Why we do what we do” – this is called philosophy.

 There are three things that affect our actions or method of behaviour  We call this our philosophy of ministry

Three factors that have determined our ministry philosophy?

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Scriptural principles – Our hermeneutics or method of interpreting the Bible History – How the gospel came to us as Vietnamese, our Roman Catholic and Christian Missionary Alliance influence Culture – This is shaped by our mentality and how we think as Vietnamese people

Vietnam has a rich Christian history?

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Jesuit missionary Alexander de Rhodes laboured in North and South Vietnam from 1591-1660.

The North Vietnamese were the most responsive. By 1545 de Rhodes reported 300,000 Christians in North Vietnam who zealously witnessed to their own.

Two rules of Vietnamese culture made the people very responsive; 1.

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The first rule prohibited going to Court with one’s relative The second prevented the appointment of a Governor of a province from the province in which he had been born In addition to these two rules, the people of Vietnam had an acute sensitivity to what was good, and this made them very receptive to the gospel and the teachings of Jesus. De Rhodes preached 5-6 times every day in the Vietnamese language such was the hunger of the people.

These three factors have influenced the way we do Church.

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Christian mission language says that these three factors have influenced how the Vietnamese Evangelical Church has established itself in the context of Vietnamese/Kiwi society This contextualisation process has resulted in the forms, patterns, organisation, structure and methods we use in our Vietnamese Evangelical Church

How does the Church change with the times?

One factor of the 3 factors of our ministry philosophy stays the same, the other two can change.

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Scriptural principles remain the same.

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Our history and culture are changing and we must recognise that and change with the changing context.

Churches that die….do so because they….fixated… They would not change their form, patterns of organisation to meet the changing context.

In the Vietnamese Evangelical Church 15 years ago the members were almost all new immigrants speaking Vietnamese as your first language and from a CMA background that was very conservative and scared of the Holy Spirit. This a common problem among people converted from an ancestral worship background.

Now you are different and your youth and future leaders are Kiwi/Vietnamese

Your changing Context

     From new immigrants to Kiwi/Vietnamese You can never deny your anthropological origin You will always look Vietnamese But your Christian form will become Kiwi/Vietnamese as your children and new converts take leadership in the Church This an important process of change you must go through to adapt to the context

The context changes but the scriptural principles remain the same.

What then are the key scriptural concepts of what the Church is?

The measure of the Church?

In the books of Acts we see the Church growing rapidly. How did they do it?

The early church was like an extended family that is willing to embrace strangers Leviticus 19:34, Exodus22:21, Jeremiah 22:3.

What forms and structures need to change in your Church?

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Consider the ways you do things in your Church? Are there things that could be changed without weakening the Church?

How does the leadership function? What changes are needed to make the Church more effective in its ministry?

Are then any practices in your Church that you think are not Biblical?

The Measure of the Church?

A brief overview of the scriptural principles of the early Church are as follows; 1.

The Head of the Church is Christ – they sought to follow Him in all things and bring His kingdom into their communities 2.

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They were Kingdom centred not denomination, or organisation centred. They preached the holistic gospel of the kingdom of God, not just salvation.

They had three primary motivations; Faith, hope and love. Eph 1:15,18; Col 1:3-5; I Thess 1:2-3; II Thess 1:3-4.

Their primary mission was to make disciples of all nations. Matt 28:18-20

These four motivations translated into Christ-like actions     Their work was the work of faith, trusting Christ to work through them His purposes The labour was a labour of love, ministering and giving to each other generously of the gifts they had received.

They were steadfast in their hope that was based on Jesus Christ the “chief cornerstone of the church”.

They were dynamic and inclusive in their growth both numerically and in spiritual maturity

The Apostle Paul made an example of the Corinthian Church’s faults…      The Corinthians were; Impatient Unkind Angry Immoral   Proud Selfish  Self-obsessed This behaviour was influenced by their culture and background      Jesus Christ was; Patient Kind and loving Self-controlled Pure in his motives   Humble Unselfish  A disciple-maker The Spirit of God in Christ made Him a reflection of the Divine image God intended in creation

Write a Letter about your Church to the Apostle Paul…    Tonight before you go to bed I want you to write a brief letter to the Apostle Paul about your church. Its successes and difficulties.

Tomorrow morning we will get a few people to read their letters?

The Holy Spirit did this to 7 Churches in Revelation 1:10 – 3:22. Concerning 2 churches the Holy Spirit had no complaint – amazing – which churches were these?

How to grow a mature Church?

There are four vital experiences each Church needs to mature 1.

Biblical teaching and an acceptance by all members that the Bible is the authority for the ministry practice of the Church.

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Develop a loving caring relational community that disciples all members and helps them grow to maturity

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Members have witnessing experiences with non-Christians, and live lives that attract non-believers to investigate the person of Jesus Christ. They have integrated their faith into every aspect of their lives, a biblical holism.

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The Church leadership are elders with pastoral experience who share with the Church a Mission focus that leads them to plant churches in their local context and in other places outside their context. This will move the church from a mono-cultural to multicultural mission.

For the Church to grow it needs good leadership The church is a nursery for its own leadership needs..

The new believer is nurtured, and then discipled, becomes a deacon leading a house fellowship, shows proven ability to pastor and care for new believers, and then becomes an elder overseeing several house fellowships, and then prepares to plant new churches locally and internationally by building a ministry team, resulting in the elder becoming a bishop and then an apostle.

Every new believer is a potential leader… The leadership training place is the home…

Biblical leadership qualifications?

 The Apostle Paul gave a clear pattern for the development of Church leadership in Romans 5 and 12, and 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 2 Corinthians 12: 7-17, and Ephesians 4.  A Church that does not follow the Biblical pattern for leadership development does so at its own peril.

How does spiritual growth occur? How can we help new believers grow to maturity?

There are five key elements where we can partner with the Holy Spirit in developing spiritual growth through discipleship; 1.

Teaching the new believer how to pray 2.

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Applying the teaching of Scripture to their lives – revealing the will of God to them, by answering their questions in a Biblical way and from our experience of what God has done in our lives Helping them develop positive relationships community and the Church through friendship and reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5 v 17-19.

with their family, 4.

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Service of others in the Church and the community. Eph 4 verse 12 Teaching them to experience the presence of God through worship, meditation on God’s word and prayer. Acts 2 v 42-47

In this process of growth believers pass through stages of development  The Apostle John and Paul described the process of discipleship through the concept of human development; Stage 1 Babies – 1 Corinthians 3 verse 1 Stage 2 Children – 1 John 1 verses 12 Stage 3 Young persons – 1 John 1 v 13 Stage 4 Fathers – 1 John 1 v 13-14

These stages of human development are likened to…

1. Babes – Those in need of intensive care - Feeding every four hours Cleaning every time they soil themselves Sleeping all the time – no work just demands, and needs and intensive care Why do we do it; We love the baby because it is a reflection of ourselves. This intense care will only last for a season then the joy of childhood will come.

2. Children – Those learning to talk, walk, eat and clean themselves Children know their sins are forgiven, they experience the joy of God’s unconditional forgiveness in Christ They know and recognise the Father’s voice, His will and His love.

3. Young persons – Those who learning competency in running, playing the game of life, being fruitful and productive, choice in decision making between good and bad, and obedience to God, parents and teachers, and building positive relationships with God, family and the community. Dependency broken. Young persons become strong, abide in God’s word, are fruitful in disciple-making, and know how to overcome the evil one.

4. Fathers – They know God intimately This came about through years of experience in discipleship, testing, hardship and trials. The Apostle Paul says this process produces great faith and great hope – Romans 5:1-5.

Fathers have learned the lessons of nurturing children to adulthood Fathers have been faithful in marriage, and faithful in their relationship with God. This process of faithfulness and constantly applying the principles of reconciliation has produced humility and an authority born out of servanthood Fathers have moved from delight in power, to delight in the intimacy of loving faithfulness.

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Another way of looking at spiritual growth is through the seasons of nature… Summer – moving on to maturity, harvest, strength in the heat, energy, long hours of sunlight.

Autumn – beautiful colours, a process of dying, pruning, the leaves drop off the maximise the light of the sun in winter. We distribute seed from our fruit Winter – little reliance on one’s own strength, an appearance of death, internal life, pruning, buds form, the promise of new growth. Our seed is planted and getting ready to emerge in the next spring.

Spring – new birth, rapid new growth from infancy.

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Four seasons of growth in our lives and ministry……

Security – We become members of a new happy family. We experience new ways of having fun and celebrating.

Commitment become disciples or disciplined leaders in groups with authority to minister reconciliation, healing and deliverance. We bear fruit and start a second generation.

Quality – Through committed relationships we – Through experience, testing, and trials, we become mature quality leaders, delegating ministries to others while mentoring and supervising a number of groups. A third generation is birthed. (We now have spiritual grandchildren).

Calling – Apostolic and prophetic roles enable us to serve others in pioneering and establishing their ministries. Multiple families, as great grandchildren are birthed….See pages 168-180 “Cry of the Urban Poor”

Which stage of growth are you in?

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Seeking security by belonging to a loving caring group that meets your needs?

Ready to make a commitment to service and community in a loving caring group?

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Looking to develop a strong walk with God that can endure hardship and difficulties, while ministering to others?

A leader who is constantly looking to help others become effective in their ministry?

Take a few minutes to discuss this with a small group of three or four people who know you?

Collating these ideas together in a matrix….

 Human Seasons in Seasons in groups, nature families/ communities Babes Spring Security Children Summer Commitment Youth Autumn Quality Fathers Winter Calling

Another way of looking at this leadership development is…  An unbeliever encounters a believer and is impacted by their life and testimony  The unbeliever becomes a new babe in Christ  The new believer is discipled  The discipled believer becomes a deacon  As a deacon they start a small nurturing group and disciple new believers and unbelievers proving the pastoral care skills

   After a proven pastoral ministry in a small group they become an elder responsible for the oversight of several deacons and their small groups – a mentoring role After a proven ministry of eldership they are sent out to pioneer a new church with their selected ministry team – wisdom in leadership enables them to select gifted people After this they move into cross-cultural church planting in other nations – an apostolic team ministry

The home is the proving ground for all Biblical Leadership..

 I Timothy 3 verse 4 - 5, “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity…but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God…. Verse 11…and women likewise…” This is a strong case for a house based church movement where the order of the house is observed by those people the deacon is pastoring, proving himself worthy to be an elder.

      The Church experiences a shift in its ministry…….

From Sunday based meetings in a hall - spectators To house based small groups – participators reaching people in the community…entry for unbelievers is through the small group These small groups can be meeting daily if they are based around an economic activity… I will explain this idea later.

The more frequent the meeting together that more rapid the growth…as in Acts Sundays become teaching with preaching and drama and corporate worship and prayer experiences for members – skill formation in applying the word of God to daily life.

Re-focus the prayer life of the church through Sunday prayer where everyone prays in the church meeting.

Through the house based group we are able to build up one another..

        Ephesians 4 verses 11-16 Members one of another Devoted to one another Honour one another Be of the same mind with one another Accept one another Admonish one another Greet one another

As our sense of community develops we are able to Love one another …     John 13 verses 34-35 A new commandment I give to you, love one another As I have loved you, so you must love one another All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another

Romans 12:10, 1 Cor 14:1, Eph 4:2, Col 2:2, 1 Thess 3:12, Heb 13:1, James 2:8, 1Peter 4:8

Our ministry to each other Encourages one another…  Hebrews 10 verse 25 “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..” Acts 11 verses 22-24 “They sent Barnabas to Antioch, when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.”

Our gathering together facilitates Praying for one another..

 This is the most powerful act of corporate worship we can do as a Church.

 When the early Church prayed in the upper room, then the Holy Spirit fell on them…Acts 1 verse 14. Pentecost came and transformed fearful men into men bold as Lions.

Inside and outside the group we Serve one another…         Galatians 5:13 – 6:10 Serve one in love, 5:13 Freedom to serve, 5:13 Serving in the Spirit, 5:16-18 Servants of righteousness, 5:19-26 The true test of servanthood, 6:1-3 Serving through our money, 6:4-8 Servant of All, 6:9-10

How do we effectively impact the wider community as a church..?

   The Church must be attractive to the community…a church that is a joy-filled community is attractive to the community.

The Church needs to have an holistic worldview to effectively impact the community The missing links in our spiritual worldview are economics and justice (our concern for injustice)

How do we as a church make the shift in our worldview to biblical holism?

    By creating economically viable joy-filled communities that are just Work with our church members who have business and entrepreneurial skills Create businesses that use peoples creative talents, making artistic handmade products that will appeal to the rich Advocate for justice in our communities

Building a joy-filled community…

     Most Christians when talking about holism still ignore four vital elements of a holistic gospel; 1. The economic factors – money is seen as evil and secular.

2. Sustainability and viability – what we do must be viable and sustainable otherwise it will not last 3. Creativity – God made us to be creative. We experience the most satisfaction or joy when we are using these creative talents.

4. Advocacy for justice – responding to injustice

Every aspect of redeemed human life was intended to be part of church life…      We are to be naturally spiritual To be truly spiritual is to be truly human as God intended.

We have created a dichotomy (separation) between the natural and the spiritual that God never intended.

The church is still the church when in the workplace. The workplace should reflect that level of spirituality.

Workplaces can become joy-filled communities and we can have a five day a week church rather than a one.

The Church is a community

   A Church is not created by helping individuals to become economically self sufficient.

Members of a Church must value their experience of learning, caring and working together.

Helping one another to acquire skills to live and bless others is essential for a joy filled community (Church).

What makes a healthy community?

There are four key principles; 1. It must be economically viable or it will not last 2. It must attract and develop capable leadership – this may well involve very difficult sacrifices in time and money to educate and skill the potential leaders 3. It must seek to integrate itself into the wider city systems for transport, water, power, healthcare, rubbish removal, policing and local politics 4. It must teach its members to practice “Kingdom values” in all aspects of their daily lives.

The Vietnamese Bakeries……

  The Vietnamese community has partially captured this idea in the way it has helped each other purchase a bakery by each family pooling resources and helping another family Its weakness has been that it is usually limited to just one family making money until they can pay back the loans and then release another family to work hard and make money to pay back loans… there is a limited creativity and joy in this process until the long hours of hard work has been done?

Can we re-think this strategy?

 A more creative activity?

 A less demanding occupation?

 A wider and more inclusive work force with a greater potential for evangelism?

 A greater transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor?

 A more just working environment?

Do you have any suggestions?

       Ideas for a creative activity?

How could it be implemented?

What could be the result?

How would the blessings be shared?

What would it cost to start a pilot project?

When could we start?

Who has the entrepreneurial skill to lead it?

The impact of these Kingdom values were demonstrated in the Acts 2 Church

The Acts 2 v 42-47 pattern

 They continually devoted themselves to prayer, teaching, fellowship and breaking bread.

 They had a sense of awe at the amazing things God was doing amongst them.

 They had all things in common.

 They shared their possessions – they had a shared economic activity

 They were meeting  together daily.

They were of one mind (unity).

 They were eating together.

 They were daily worshipping God together.

 They were glad (joy-filled).

 They were sincere in their heart and relationships with one another

A work based model of a joy-filled community…     Develop business activities that will; Form interdependent communities that meet together every working day.

Teaches skills, creates income, teaches kingdom values and attitudes, prays and praises together.

Is fair and just and shows the love and goodness of God for all members of the community.

Is there a precedent in mission history?

     Yes, there is… Count Von Zinzendorf and the Moravians and the Swiss Basel Mission They discovered many new products and processes such as cocoa and chocolate They found that the more creative and unique the product and process the greater the economic return and sustainability of the business and greater was the joy for the community working in that activity.

Churches were planted in many lands from this holistic worldview.

Christians can reform unjust work practices in societies….

 This holistic approach to the Church and the planting of joy-filled communities has the potential to reform unjust labour practices in societies  This approach has the ability to redistribute wealth without creating a violent revolution  It is very attractive to non-believers

What creative ideas do you have that Church members develop into a viable business?

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What would it take to commence your idea?

How would this idea affect the Church’s sense of community?

What impact would it have on the wider community?