This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This makes a start on the fourth forgotten way.
Everything that happens in life depends on its surroundings, and that can have a big impact. Any gardener will tell you that some plants need plenty of sun and a freely draining soil, others need moist and shady conditions, and yet others only grow in acid soils. And of course almost nothing grows in a desert.
Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.
Discuss or consider – What do you think an apostle is? What does an apostle do? Don’t worry if you are vague about the work of apostles; church in the West has had little to say about them for a very long time.
Gifts of service
People with an apostolic gift draw the church back to its essential task, guiding it into reaching and changing the world. This work of mission has been forgotten again and again throughout church history. Not only that, apostles stir us up into developing our own gifts and callings.
These people care for the gospel and remind us of its eternal purpose. They pioneer new forms of mission and church, they take care that all six forgotten ways are present and active. They keep things on track, and they offer a nurturing home where other essential gifts can work to good effect. In the list below, each gift produces a suitable environment for the next one.
Work of an Apostle > Work of a Prophet > Work of an Evangelist > Work of
a Shepherd > Work of a Teacher – (APEST).
These are all gifts of service; the purpose of the gifts is for the building up of the church so that we can all become mature (Ephesians 4:11-16). Throughout the long history of the Western church, the apostolic and some other service gifts have been overlooked and only those of pastor (shepherd) and teacher have been widely used. The results have been ineffective and short on impact. There is no space in this section to detail the other gifts, but they’re all covered in Part 9, The APEST gifts.
We’ll look at the five main activities of apostles (A – pioneering mission, B – activating the forgotten ways, C – identifying purpose, D – growing the gifts, and E – making connections). See if you can spot people like this in your own group; they’re almost certainly there. Help them to become active, value them, encourage them. And why not try for yourself? Anyone can do apostolic things at some level, but people with an apostolic gift will revel in them and excel.
Great places to look for inspiring examples are Acts and the New Testament letters. Paul is a wonderful example of the gift of apostle. Read Journeys to Significance for more about Paul. And don’t forget that Jesus reveals in himself all of the gifts from apostle right through to teacher, so look for powerful examples in the gospels too.
Discuss or consider – Can you find at least one or two examples of of each of the five apostolic activities in the New Testament? If you’re stuck, come back to the question after completing the rest of this part of JDMC.
A – Pioneering mission
Releasing new communities is a healthy thing to do, so always have new projects on the go. Dream, pray, form teams, and make a start (Luke 9:1-6). Apostolic stimulation and guidance are needed for this to happen, and it can’t be rushed. Close supervision and micromanagement are very unhelpful.
Try lots of new ideas even if they seem risky: see failure as a chance to learn. It’s useful to think about Christianity as always pioneering things; there are plenty of biblical examples of this; find them and study them. Make and cheer on some heroes (people who will go out and try new things). See how quickly Paul seized an opportunity in Athens (Acts 17:16-34).
Implant the idea of mission in the heart of the community. Tell stories about the early church and the church in China. Suggest everyone reads books like The Starfish and the Spider. Get everyone to consider how to make church simple and reproducible.
Map out the process needed and get people to work through it. Often, the map will emerge later and can be written down when it’s clear.
Discuss or consider – Are you at a stage where you can begin to spawn off new communities? Even if you are a very new group yourselves, you can dream about it, pray about it and talk about it. If you’ve been together for more than a year, ask yourselves, ‘What is holding us back?’
B – Activating the forgotten ways
1 – Thinking it through – This is all about a culture and a way of life. Encourage people to work through JDMC and read The Forgotten Ways; help them understand the ideas they contain. It may not be clear to people at first; parts of it have been forgotten for a long time and are not part of normal church life in the West. Clarify thinking about the entire system, not just the six parts individually. Active mission helps us live out Jesus’ calling. Apostolic people will help a group absorb these ideas by explaining their value and guiding their development.
As a group, think about Father’s work in redeeming his creation through the Son (Revelation 21:5). Read and explore the Bible on this, go to conferences together, listen to recorded teaching, share books and articles about going out and going deep. Retelling stories of success is an inspiring thing to do. It will help you see how you’ve been used, remind you of your calling and make the future clearer. Write down your most exciting stories, ask people for memories, keep photos and make slide shows, interview people and collect the stories in a book.
Here’s the theory – by watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice. Demonstrate Jesus’ love and grace to the people around you. To do it you will need to live a life that’s deeply integrated in the local culture.
Discuss or consider – Even if you are a new group, it’s likely you have at least a few stories to tell. Re-share them and write them down now, before they are forgotten. They’ll be useful later!
See also:
- Forgotten Ways, The – Alan Hirsch
- Journeys to Significance – Neil Cole
More sections of JDMC
Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it
Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways
Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3
Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3
Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2
Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2
Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2
More sections will appear here…
The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help
Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests
Last words – The end can also be the beginning
< Previous | Index | Next >
Read the book
This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk
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