Inspiring and Challenging Dreamers

When Paul asked people to pray for him he asked them to pray that he would have boldness to preach the gospel (Ephesians 6.19-20).

That word “boldness” doesn’t mean yelling and screaming and sliding around – though there’s nothing wrong with a preacher doing that as long as you don’t mistake *that* for the anointing and the power of God.  The word “boldness” means to be honest and confident in what you are saying.

That’s what our generation needs – preachers who are honest and open about what they are saying.  People who are not just imparting doctrine, but teaching life that not just gives people truth but shows and reveals how those truths are worked out in life.  Not just teaching, but making disciples.

We need apostles who are planting churches openly – not stealing bricks from another man’s building to do so, not sneaking into other churches like wolves among sheep to rip people to pieces to get them in their church.  We need people who are going where they are sent and trusting God for the increase.

We need prophets who are upbuilding local churches, not cursing them.  Anyone can look at a valley of dead bones and go “thus saith the Lord, you are a bunch of dead, dry bones with no life and no spirit”.  But we need the prophets who stand up and say “Live!  Be filled with the Spirit!  Let bone connect with bone, let flesh appear, let life be!”

We need evangelists who are working with local churches not outside them.  We need people who are honest about their gospel, not relying on sales techniques, but the power and life of the Holy Spirit.

We need teachers who are teaching the Word not just to provoke and divide but to bring life and stability to people. Confident enough in their truths that they do not have to speak against other teachers and teachings to get their revelations to people.

And finally we need pastors who are bold.  Honest with their people about their walk.  More concerned about the dreams of others coming true, than using others as slaves to build their pyramids of prestige and power.

Let’s pray for every minister we know – pray for boldness.  Pray for them to be open and honest and real about the power that is in them.  So we may be equipped and furnished and mature.

Whatever you are doing this Christmas, have an awesome time.  I am going to have a holiday from posting until the first week in January.  Remember, you don’t stop influencing people just because you are at a party with them.  Be sober minded and gracious whatever you are doing.

Thanks for reading this blog, thanks for the comments – here’s to an awesome Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Grace and peace,

Benjamin

No matter whether your Christmas service this year is a tradtional nativity, involves children, has modern carols, has old carols, has no carols, has candles, has mulled wine, has anything like that – do yourself a favour and present the gospel of Christ during that service and give an altar call for people to accept Christ!

We are still looking at the requirements for an elder as listed in 1 Tim. 3 and we now come to the final word in 1 Tim. 3.2.

This word is translated “able to teach” in the KJV, but is one word in the Greek, the word didaktikos, which means skilful at teaching.

Now at first glance this is the exception in the list Paul has given Timothy – as all the other requirements are about character, this one seems to be about gifting.  However, as we dig deeper we find out that this requirement is not an exception and is, like the others, about character.

You see, Paul starts this description of the requirements for eldership with the comment that he who desires to be an elder desires a noble task.  That’s true – and it means anyone can be an elder.  It’s not like being a prophet or pastor or other fivefold minister where you have to be called by Jesus Himself, elders are appointed by pastors and apostles.  So anyone can be one.  If one of the requirements was a gift, then it would be not be about anyone – it would only be for the gifted.

So how can I say that “able to teach” is a character requirement.  Well, let’s look at that, reading Titus 1.9, part of a passage in which Titus as a pastor was given similar instructions to Timothy about leadership:

Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

Titus tells us that to be able to exhort and convince the elder had to hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught.  In other words, the kind of teaching that was expected of an elder was not and is not fresh-from-heaven preaching and teaching as expected from the fivefold, but in their ability to faithfully hold to and share what they have been taught.

And that is a character issue.  Elders who are teaching on the Wednesday night in their house should be listening to the message on Sunday morning in church.  So reliability and church attendance are keys to their teaching.  That goes back to character!  Elders have to be humble, and listen to what their pastors are teaching so they can reproduce it.  They have to have the grace not to share their personal pet doctrines but trust that their shepherds are leading them to still waters and green pastures.  That kind of humility and submission is a character issue.  Elders have to hold fast to the Word in their personal life.  So pastor preaches on healing, and sickness attacks them – they have to fight the sickness with the Word so that they can exhort and convince people.  That is character.

Jesus Christ puts teachers in the body of Christ to teach His Word.  He puts pastors in the body of Christ to feed His sheep.  Pastors put elders in place to take that teaching and exhort and convince others.  Their role is to take what they have been given and share it.  Being an elder is like being a disciple feeding the 5000.  You take the bread from Jesus and distribute it to those around you in your living church, watching everyone get fed and there is always plenty left over.

But if you go – well, that bread only came from a little boy, our pastor is not that wise, he doesn’t get this and that, he hasn’t got the life experience I have, the wisdom I have, and you replace the bread with your own dish – no matter how tasty and yummy that dish is – you are bringing something that hasn’t been blessed by Jesus.  It will not feed everyone.

This is not just a character issue – this is the key character issue.  When appointing elders – you have one question you must ask – can they reproduce what I am teaching as the pastor, or are they looking for a way to bring their teaching into the church and have a group to influence?  When you are being appointed as an elder, can you hold on to what is taught.  If you can’t, politely decline because you cannot feed people if you are not feeding them the bread blessed by Jesus.  If you can’t see beyond the humanity of your pastor, see beyond the small boy’s packed lunch, and realize that every Sunday a miracle is happening that you are being invited to be part of – then don’t accept the role of elder.

Pastor – visit your groups!  Speak to the people in them.  Are they being fed fresh bread from heaven or cakes from the elder’s cupboard?

Hillsong used to have song called “I will never be the same again”.  The refrain was:

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas

Whatever you want to do Lord, do in me

It was a beautiful song and although it’s not been one I’ve sung in a long time, I was thinking about it this morning.  In November, I always start planning and preparing for the New Year and start praying and asking God for wisdom and direction.

I want to lead Tree of Life Dagenham, and the entire network forward into everything God has for it.  I start making a calendar, I check up on the preaching calendar, I look at everyone in leadership and consider whether they are in the best place and how I can develop them in the year.  It’s a great time of preparation and planning.

I am 100% for preparation and planning.  I am all for programmes and for organization.  I believe the Holy Spirit is a planner, the Father is a designer and Jesus is a person who loves order and structure.  I believe you can prove that from the Bible fairly easily.

However, this morning as I have been looking at budgets, planning for “reasonable” growth, and projecting what will happen next year, I just felt God tell me that there are higher heights.  That He is capable and willing to do more than we can ever ask or imagine.  Not that God was saying not to plan, just that He was saying “Hold the Plans loose, because I am about to do something that you can’t plan for because it is beyond your wildest imagination”

This year – plan for the next.  But hold your plans loosely because God wants to do something you can’t plan for, because you can’t even imagine it.  Something so good that only He could get the glory.

The next qualification for ministry is that an elder should be “given to hospitality”.  The Greek word is xenophile which means a lover of foreigners. Elders should be able to show hospitality, welcome and kindness to people no matter their background.

In the Tree of Life Network, all our elders have to open their houses once a week and show kindness to people –  worship with them, pray with them, encourage them, challenge them, inspire them, disciple them.  Why?  Because that is part of being a leader.  If you are not taking people with you on the journey, you are not a leader – you are just someone going for a walk.

So all elders have to be able to show hospitality.  But the word goes deeper than that – it means given to hospitality for foreigners – people from different backgrounds, ages, cultures, nationalities.  Some churches divide their small groups up on cultural lines or national lines – but how are people going to learn wisdom if they only hang around people just like them?  It’s crazy!  It’s like getting a splinter in your foot and trying to get it out with your other foot!  You need a body part that is different to solve the problems you cannot solve.  You need people who are older, younger, from different backgrounds, genders and cultures in the church so that we can learn from each other!  So we can develop.

The problem is that which is different can scare us, and in our arrogance we can think anything different has to be worse – because of course we are doing it right, and everyone else is doing it wrong.  We need to be free from fear and prideful prejudice to be an elder in the church – because the church is so so so much bigger than people just like us!

7.  Start with a good ice-breaker

6.  Ensure that everyone is free to contribute

5.  Ensure that no-one is forced to contribute

4.  Sing together.

3.  Read the Bible together

2.  Pray for each other’s needs

1.  Green tea.  Hot green tea.

5. Local newspaper – take out an ad.  Best to do this for a particular service and not Sundays in general.  People will see an advert for church and intend to go one day.  Invite people for a special service and they will make the effort to come.

4. Radio News Boards.  Both Premier Radio and UCB Radio have free notice boards online.  You just tell them about a special event and put it in the boards.  Costs nothing, and people do read them!

3. A leaflet drop.  10000 leaflets costs a couple of hundred pounds and distributing them about the same.  Don’t skimp on design!  Again as per the local newspaper advert, advertise for a specific event.  We have found that in most places 1000 leaflets will bring 1 person to a service.

2. Facebook.  Facebook adverts are amazing.  You can target whatever people you want.  You can spend as much or as little as you want.  There is a power in social media that every church must tap into.

1. Word of Mouth.  There is no power like word of mouth power.  You can do this organically – just keep preaching the Word and loving people and they will eventually tell people about church.  You can also push it a bit by giving your church leaflets to the next big event and doing some teaching on why it is important to invite people.  There’s loads of ways to mobilize your church to becoming the best advert ever – you know your people, you know what will work.  Ask God for wisdom in this. There is nothing as powerful as this.  I still believe to use as many forms of advertising as possible, but never ever neglect this one – it’s the key!

We continue our study on the requirements of eldership with the phrase “of good behaviour”.  Elders should have good behaviour!

The Greek word translated good behaviour is kosmios, which means well ordered.  An elder should have a well ordered life.  I’m not talking about a showroom house, but if you are opening your house to people you are ministering to and loving, it should look tidy.  You should be on time for meetings – that’s a really good part of being well ordered.  Someone who is always late is not living a well ordered life.  You should have systems in your life for paying your bills, getting things done.  Your life should be orderly not chaotic.

One of the biggest lies that the charismatic church has fallen for hook, line and sinker is that spirituality and spiritual maturity has nothing to do with reliability.  The more flaky someone is, the more mature we think they are.  We defend these people with comments such as “well, you never know what God is going to do”, “don’t try and understand the intercessor”, “these people are so deep”.

No – spiritual maturity is grounded in reliability.  There are too many shooting stars in the body of Christ – you watch the fireworks, you watch the display and then you watch them crash into the ground.  We need the plodders!  Listen to me pastor – promote the plodders.  Those who seem to shoot up will be those who crash down.  We need the people who are kind to their children, the people who are romantic to their wife, the people who turn up on time week after week, who pick things up after themselves, whose financial affairs are in order, who are life long learners, who are stable and solid.

Spiritual maturity is NOT like sand.  It’s not moving all over the place.  It’s like a ROCK – it’s stable.  It’s well-ordered.  And a well-ordered person has a well-ordered life.

Elders should have good behaviour.  Selah!

One of the mistakes that people in your church will make is that because they know that you are their servant, they will assume that they are your master.

I’ve had people tell me what songs to sing on Sunday, what sermons to preach, how to preach, how to run the services, how to advertise certain things.  Now I am not above getting some advice, but I’m talking about people who seem to think that they are your master.

Jesus told us to go and serve the church, He gifted us as pastors to serve the church.  But you can never allow the church to become your master.

That truth seems difficult for people to grasp, so let me use an analogy.  Remember Batman?  Whether we are talking about the comic books, the 1960s TV series, the Tim Burton films or the new Christopher Nolan films, Bruce Wayne always has his loyal butler Alfred.

Now if you went to Wayne Manor to visit, Alfred would be your servant.  He would be there to meet your needs, help make you comfortable for the visit, and feed you.  He would be your servant.

But you are not his master.  Master Bruce is his Master.  If your requests contradict Master Bruce’s requests, if your requests would endanger the Wayne family or the Wayne house – then Alfred would (very politely – he is English) decline your request.

He would still be your servant.  He would still care for you and feed you.  But he would not ever take your orders when they contradict Master Bruce’s.

Pastors, you are the servants.  You go out there and feed the people.  You go out there and love the people.  Help them get comfortable on planet Earth.  Love, care, feed, pastor, make disciples, persuade, encourage, inspire, challenge.  Be their servant.

But never let them dictate where you go and what you do.  Master Jesus is your master and you have no other.  Don’t let your church be congregation led or deacon-possessed.  Don’t let fear of the people lead you.  Honour your Master in heaven above all earth!