Transcript No Slide Title

Natural Church
Development
8 Quality Characteristics
of a healthy and growing
church.
NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT
The Eight Quality Characteristics of a
Healthy/Growing Church
• 1. Empowering Leadership
• 2. Gift-oriented Ministry
• 3. Passionate Spirituality
• 4. Functional Structures
• 5. Inspiring Worship Services
• 6. Holistic Small Groups
• 7. Need-oriented Evangelism
• 8. Loving Relationships
Empowering Leadership
And the things which you have heard
from me in the presence of many
witnesses, these entrust to faithful
men, who will be able to
teach others also.
2 Tim. 2:2
Empowering Leadership
• For the equipping of the saints for the
work of service, to the building up of
the body of Christ.
Eph. 4:12
Empowering Leadership
• “In labouring where there are already some in the
faith, the minister should at first seek not so much
to convert unbelievers, as to train the church
members for acceptable co-operation. Let him
labour for them individually, endeavouring to
arouse them to seek a deeper experience
themselves, and to work for others. When they are
prepared to sustain the minister by their prayers
and labours, greater success will attend his
efforts.”
Gospel Workers, p. 196
Empowering Leadership
• “Every church should be a training school for
Christian workers … There should not only
be teaching, but actual work under
experienced instructors. Let the teachers lead
the way in working among the people, and
others, uniting with them, will learn from
their example. One example is worth more
than many precepts.”
Ministry of Healing, p. 149
Empowering Leadership
• “Ministers should not do the work which
belongs to the church, thus wearying
themselves and preventing others from
performing their duty. They should
teach the members how to labour in the
church and in the community.”
Historical Sketches of the Foreign Mission of the
Seventh-day Adventists, p. 291
Gift-Oriented Ministry
• As each one has received a special
gift, employ it in serving one
another, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God.
1 Peter 4:10
Gift-Oriented Ministry
• And God has appointed in the church,
first apostles, second prophets, third
teachers, then miracles, then gifts of
healings, helps, administrations, various
kind of tongues.
1 Cor. 12:28
Gift-Oriented Ministry
• “The greatest cause of our spiritual feebleness as a
people is the lack of real faith in spiritual gifts. If
they all received this kind of testimony in full
faith, they would put from them those things
which displease God, and would everywhere stand
in union and in strength. And three-fourths of the
ministerial labour now expended to help the
churches could then be spared to the work of
raising up churches in new fields.”
Review and Herald, January 14, 1868
Gift-Oriented Ministry
• “Let the hand of God work the clay for
His own service. He knows just what
kind of vessel He wants. To every man
He has given his work. God knows what
place he is best fitted for. Many are
working contrary to the will of God, and
they spoil the web.”
Lift Him Up, p. 65
Passionate Spirituality
• And you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30
Passionate Spirituality
• And they said to one another, Were
not our hearts burning within us
while He was speaking to us on the
road, while He was explaining the
Scripture to us?
Luke 24:32
Passionate Spirituality
• “To honour Christ, to become
like Him, to work for Him, is
… life’s highest ambition and
its greatest joy.”
The Faith I Live By, p. 166
Passionate Spirituality
• And above all things have fervent
charity among yourselves.
1 Peter 4:8
• Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I
say, “Rejoice”.
Philippians 4:4
Passionate Spirituality
• “Who has the heart?
• With whom are our thoughts? Of whom do we
love to converse? Who has our warmest
affections and our best energies?
• If we are Christ’s our thoughts are with Him, and
our sweetest thoughts are of Him. All we have
and are is consecrated to Him.
• We long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do
His will, and please Him in all things.”
Steps to Christ, p. 58
Passionate Spirituality
“But prayer will be no task to the soul
that loves God; it will be a pleasure, a
source of strength. Our hearts will be
stayed on God and we shall say by our
daily life, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sin of the world.’”
Review and Herald, May 13, 1884
Functional Structures
• But let all things be done properly and in
an orderly manner.
1 Cor. 14:40
• For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and
to us to lay upon you no greater burden
than these essentials.
Acts 15:28
Functional Structures
GARFIELD WAS
DISCIPLING NERMAL
ON THE ART OF
CLIMBING TREES.
Functional Structures
“As our numbers increased, it was evident that
without some form of organisation there would be
great confusion, and the work would not be
carried forward successfully. To provide for the
support of the ministry, for carrying the work in
new fields, for protecting both the churches and
the ministry from unworthy members, for holding
church property, for the publication of the truth
through the press, and for many other objects,
organisation was indispensable.”
Testimonies to Ministers, p. 26
TRADITION
• A form of structure that can be destructive! It
sometimes is obvious, sometimes less obvious.
• OBVIOUS: We do it like this, we always do it like
this, we will continue to do it like this, (even dare
I say it, we will continue to do the things we don’t
even do very well, because that is what we have
always done!…..)
• LESS OBVIOUS (perhaps even ignorance): We
will do what other churches do, because that is the
way SdA church should be done!
• Etc. etc. etc.
Functional Structures
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 4, p. 602
“Satan is ever working to have the
service of God degenerate into dull
form and become powerless to save
souls….
While the energy, earnestness and
efficiency of the workers become
deadened by the efforts to have
everything so systematic, the taxing
labour that must be done by our
ministers to keep this complicated
machinery in motion engrosses so
much time that the spiritual work is
neglected.
And with so many things to run,
this work requires so large an
amount of means that other
branches of the work will wither
and die for want of due
attention.”
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 4, p. 602
Inspiring Worship Service
• I was glad
when they said
to me, “Let us
go to the house
of the Lord.”
Ps. 122:1
Inspiring Worship Service
• Is the worship service an ‘inspiring
experience’ for the participants?
• Seeker Services, contemporary
music etc. are good methods in
evangelism They might be
inspiring, but they are not the secret
of making worship inspiring. A
seeker service could be just as
boring as a more traditional form of
worship.
Inspiring Worship Service
• The twenty-four elders will fall down before Him
who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who
lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, “Worthy art Thou, our
Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and
power; for Thou didst create all things, and
because of Thy will they existed, and were
created.”
Rev. 4:10, 11
Inspiring Worship Service
• A dictionary definition of
‘inspiring’:
– To stimulate or impel to a
particular feeling or
action.
– ACTION…
– Note the quote on this
next slide by Ellen White.
Inspiring Worship Service
• “True worship consists in working
together with Christ. Prayers,
exhortation, and talk are cheap fruits,
which are frequently tied on; but fruits
that are manifested in good works, in
caring for the needy, the fatherless,
and widows, are genuine fruits and
grow naturally upon a good tree.”
Christian Service, p,96
Inspiring Worship Service
• “Ardent, active piety should characterise the
worshipers … The lifeless attitude of the
worshipers in the house of God is one
great reason why the ministry is not more
productive of good. The melody of song,
poured forth from many hearts in clear distinct
utterance, is one of God’s instrumentalities in the
work of saving souls. All the service should be
conducted with solemnity and awe, as if in the
visible presence of the Master of assemblies.”
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 492, 493
Inspiring Worship Service
“In the meetings held, let a number be
chosen to take part in the song service. And
let the singing be accompanied with
musical instruments skilfully handled. We
are not to oppose the use of instruments of
music in our work. This part of the service
is to be carefully conducted; for it is the
praise of God in song. The singing is not
always to be done by a few. As often as
possible, let the entire congregation join.”
Gospel Workers, pp. 357, 358
Holistic Small Groups
• So then, those who had received his
word were baptised; and there were
added that day about three thousand
souls. And they were continually
devoting themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:41,42
Holistic Small Groups
• And day by day continuing with
one mind in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to
house, they were taking their
meals together with gladness and
sincerity of heart.
Acts 2:46
Holistic Small Groups
• “The formation of small companies as a
basis of Christian effort has been
presented to me by One who cannot err …
Let them keep their bond of union
unbroken, pressing together in love and
unity, encouraging one another to
advance, each gaining courage and
strength from the assistance of others.”
Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 7, p. 21
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• “To the weak I became weak, that I
might win the weak; I have become all
things to all men, that I may by all
means save some.”
1 Cor. 9:22
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• ‘And both the Pharisees and the scribes
began to grumble, saying, “This man
receives sinners and eats with them”’
Luke 15:2
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• “He reached the hearts
of the people by going
among them as one
who desired their
good.”
Desire of Ages, p. 151
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• “We are not to renounce social
communion. We should not seclude
ourselves from others. In order to
reach all classes, we must meet
them where they are.”
Desires of Ages, p. 152
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• “He met them at
their daily
vocations, and
manifested an
interest in their
secular affairs.”
Desire of Ages, p. 151
Need-Oriented Evangelism
• “Let them see
that our religion
does not make us
unsympathetic or
exacting.”
Desire of Ages, p. 152
Loving Relationships
LOVE:
the distinguishing mark of Christ’s
followers.
• By this all men will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one
another.
John 13:35
Loving Relationships
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
give preference to one another in honour.
Rom. 12:10
• For this is the message which you have
heard from the beginning, that we should
love one another.
1 John 3:11
Loving Relationships
“The golden chain of love binding the hearts
of the believers in unity, in bonds of
fellowship and love, and in oneness with
Christ, and the Father, makes the connection
perfect, and bears to the world a testimony of
the power of Christianity that cannot be
controverted …”
God’s Amazing Grace, p. 237
Loving Relationships
“The strongest
argument in favour
of the gospel is a
loving and
loveable
Christian.”
Counsels on Sabbath School
Work, p. 100
Loving Relationships
“If we would humble ourselves
before God, and be kind and
courteous and tender-hearted and
pitiful, there would be one hundred
conversions to the truth where now
there is only one.”
Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 9, p. 189
NATURAL CHURCH DEVELOPMENT
A healthy church!
The Eight Quality Characteristics of a Healthy/Growing Church
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•
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•
•
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PASSIONATE SPIRITUALITY
FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURES
INSPIRING WORSHIP
LOVING RELATIONSHIPS
EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP
HOLISTIC SMALL GROUPS
NEED-ORIENTED EVANGELISM
GIFT-ORIENTED MINISTRY