Church leaders love models
Pastors seem to be naturally drawn to the latest and greatest trends in ministry. Over the past twenty years, I’ve seen models come and go.
I can remember when “Flake’s formula” was the rage for growing Sunday Schools in Baptist churches. Arthur Flake was a department store salesman from Winona, Mississippi, who began to volunteer in his local church and developed a strategy for growing groups.
Although he never attended seminary or pastored a church, Flake became the first Director for Sunday School for Southern Baptists in 1920, and his five-point formula influenced churches all across North America and the Pacific. This was the model I was taught in seminary.
The evolution of church ministry models
After Flake came bus ministry. Walter Stuart Beebe was running a gas station in southern Florida when a young lady gave him a Gospel tract. He later came to faith in Christ and became a pastor. But he was best known as “Mr. Bus” because he began the bus ministry movement in the early 70s that spread like wildfire across the country.
In the 1980s came the “attractional model” that focused on seeker-sensitive worship experiences designed to attract the unchurched. Willow Creek and Saddleback were the trailblazers of that movement.
In the early 90s, the Pentecostal minister Carl George popularized the “meta church model,” emphasizing not large gatherings, but intimate, small home groups he called cells.
By the late 1990s to the early 2000s, a new trend was developing called “missional communities.” This model originated with St. Thomas’ Crookes Church in Sheffield, England, and proposed that churches should not concentrate on large attractive worship services or small home groups, but should instead serve the needs of the community.
The pursuit of the latest trends
Today, a whole new language circulates on church blogs and conferences using terms like “radical,” “relational,” “tribal,” “fundamental,” “emergent,” “reformed,” “egalitarian,” “complementarian,” “cessationist,” “charismatic,” and on it goes.
Church conferences are all about promoting the latest models and tribes. Mega church pastors take the stage like rock stars and talk about how many thousands of people attend their services and how many followers they have on Twitter.
All the while, the pastor in the seat, slugging it out in a struggling church, has two options: either he can leave discouraged (“I’ll never be as successful or as cool as he is. I guess I’m a failure.”) or leave envious (“I want what he’s got. I want to be just like him. I’ll mimic him so maybe I can be successful, too.”)
Either option is bad. In the meantime, the church at large is shrinking.
The forgotten model
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that church models or tribal distinctives are bad. In fact, each of the models I’ve mentioned has been used by God to advance the church and to reach people. I’m thankful for each of them.
But my concern is that somewhere in all the current dialogue about models, tribes, and trends, the model of Jesus is getting lost.
Misconceptions about Jesus’ ministry model
It is hard to believe, but not everyone is excited about using Jesus as the model for ministry. It truly baffles me that we look to Jesus for our salvation, we look to Jesus as an example in godly living, we look to Jesus as a source of wisdom in teaching, but we don’t look to Jesus as a model for ministry.
Some pastors I’ve talked to have been outright resistant to the thought. They are insulted by the idea. As I’ve listened to their complaints, I have heard some consistent misconceptions about Jesus’ ministry that need to be tackled head-on.
1. Misconception #1—Jesus didn’t have a strategic ministry plan
Many pastors don’t think that Jesus had an intentional plan of ministry. As they read the gospels, it looks like Jesus randomly flowed from one village to the next, performing miracles and teaching without any strategic forethought.
2. Misconception #2—Jesus was God in the flesh; I’m not
Another objection to following Jesus’ model goes like this: “Okay, Jesus may have had a plan, but he’s JESUS…I’m not. There is no way I can do what Jesus did.”
3. Misconception #3—The church age didn’t start until after Jesus’ resurrection
Some may suggest that Jesus couldn’t be the model for ministry because the church age didn’t begin until after Jesus’ resurrection on the day of Pentecost.
4. Misconception #4—Jesus lived in a different culture; it won’t work today
Some leaders reject the disciple-making ministry of Jesus as the model for the local church for purely pragmatic reasons. They just don’t think it will work.
5. Misconception #5—Jesus’ plan is too hard and it takes too long
This may be the most honest complaint yet. The others are often theological smoke screens to hide a deeper problem. The fact is, most pastors are looking for something easy and immediate.
A call back to Jesus’ model
So let’s put the excuses behind us. Let’s agree that Jesus has a plan for his church and we need to get on that plan and stop chasing the latest model. If you can agree with that, then you are ready for the next bold move.
This blog features an excerpt from one of our books, Bold Moves.
