Developing a coherent ministry philosophy, one that’s rooted in Scripture, informed by Christian tradition, and embodied in a local congregation, does not happen overnight. Even in the earliest days of my church planting journey, I was vexed by a feeling that something was off. I was mimicking what I’d seen, but I was quickly losing confidence in everything I had seen. I felt like one of the multitudes of religious entrepreneurs across the United States, creating my own brand of church and marketing it to religious consumers.
I looked at the church of the New Testament and just saw a massive disconnect between it and the local church we were planting. I began to ask, perhaps for the first time, “How did the Apostles plant churches?“ I kind of assumed it would be impossible to answer that question, but oh how I underestimated the power and relevance of the Scriptures! J.D. Payne’s book, Apostolic Church Planting, helped point me to church planting pathways used in antiquity – pathways that began with evangelism and ended with the Church being planted among new people. New people came to faith and began living out that faith within a new community. New churches looked more like new families than new events. Understanding the church as a new community of faith helped me see the need for church gatherings that teach us how to live in this new community. The church service isn’t primarily for evangelism; the church service is primarily for Christian formation.
I began connecting the dots. The way these churches were started had a direct impact on the rest of their existence; missiology affects ecclesiology. The methods we use to plant and grow churches are of immediate theological and practical significance. The New Testament church seemed to exist on what we call a go & tell paradigm. Everyday believers shared the gospel, new people came to faith, and those new people took the gospel into their spheres of influence. Church planting was simple, reproducible, and relied on the gifts of everyday Christians. We, though, seemed to exist on a more professionalized come & see paradigm. Everyday believers came to see our brand of church then decide whether or not it satisfied their tastes. In 2016 we began transitioning to more of a go & tell paradigm. We began to think critically about worship, mission, and community. A myriad of changes began to take place. We implemented missional communities and began learning how to live as a family of missionary servants. We embraced a gospel-shaped liturgy. We began observing the Lord’s Supper far more frequently. We began dreaming of church planting that came not from transfer growth, but from genuine conversions. We began moving away from tribalism and towards catholicity. We’re less interested in what makes our church unique from other churches and more interested in what it fundamentally means to be a local, Christian church.
Over the next few posts, I will share some of the distinctives of our ministry philosophy. (Paradoxically, we hope they’re not “distinct” to us! We hope they’re more so universal distinctives of a healthy local church.) Unlike the 21 year-old Mason who had more answers than questions, I realize just how much I have yet to learn. I realize the cyber danger of grabbing authority that is not mine, and I humbly submit the following posts for your edification and encouragement. I hope, by God’s grace, that we’ve developed a less innovative and more ancient ministry philosophy. I believe we’re on the right track, but we are undoubtedly a work in progress. I believe God is calling all of us to be part of his mission, and local church involvement is a central part of that calling. I believe the Christian life is more than singing and preaching. I believe we’re in grave danger of winning people to our brand rather than the Kingdom. I believe the longing for a genuinely unified Church is a healthy longing.
I hope you’ll be encouraged by the forthcoming series of posts.
MB
