I need your help. I’m beginning a new series on Voices called “Brotherly Advice.” A few weeks ago, one of our regular commenters wrote anonymously to ask our advice on a situation in his church. We had a pretty good discussion of the issues he faced, and he received, I think, some helpful advice.
I want to share an issue with you from my own ministry, and ask for your insight and opinions. And, in the future, if you want to ask a question to the blogging world, feel free to contact me. I will post your situation, anonymously or not. Struggling with a difficult member? Trying to decide whether to stay or go? Need insight on a new ministry? Why don’t you let some other folks weigh in on it?
Today’s “Brotherly Advice” Situation
I am trying to lead my church to refocus on its biblical mission and purposes. I have taught them the Great Commission, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:42 and other passages that deal with the nature and purposes of the church.
I have tried to line out the “mandates” of the church. What are the things that a church MUST do to be a faithful and obedient church? I have identified seven of them, based on the passages I referenced above. I want to share the seven mandates I have seen are incumbent in the church.
So, here are my questions:
1) Do you agree that these are mandates?
2) Are there any mandates I have ignored?
The seven statements in bold below are the actual mandate statements. The bullet points are either biblical support and reasoning, or applicational thoughts.
The Church’s Biblical Mandates
We believe that God has assigned certain tasks to Southern Hills Baptist Church which are essential for our existence as a faithful and obedient church. They are based primarily on Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8, and Acts 2:42-47.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
First Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by evangelizing Siouxland.
(FYI – “Siouxland” is a term that describes the three Sioux Citys – in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota – and all the surrounding small towns.)
- Matthew 28:19 says that we make disciples by “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 1:8 says “…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem.”
- From these scriptures, we recognize that God has commanded us to spread the gospel in a systematic way throughout our entire region.
- We accept the mandate to develop an effective and comprehensive plan to bring the gospel to all of Siouxland!
Second Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by teaching its people the full counsel of God’s Word.
- Matthew 28:20 says, “…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” In Acts 2:42, we are told that the Jerusalem church “…devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching.” Those teachings formed the basis of the New Testament.
- We recognize that if God’s people are going to obey all that Jesus commanded, they must know the Word of God fully.
- We accept the mandate to develop a systematic program of Bible teaching for this church.
Third Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by maintaining a close fellowship.
- Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to…the fellowship.”
- We understand fellowship to mean a shared life of encouragement, support, sacrifice and exhortation between those believers whom God has led to be a part of this local fellowship.
- We understand that there is also a call to fellowship with the greater Christian world, but affirm that our primary focus is on the fellowship of this local church.
- We believe that unity of the Body of Christ is of the highest importance.
- We believe that fellowship demands sacrifice, humility, love and forgiveness from each person toward the others in the church.
- We accept the mandate to develop and maintain a deep fellowship at SHBC.
Fourth Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by worshiping the Crucified and Risen Christ in spirit and in truth.
- Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to…the breaking of bread.”
- We understand the breaking of bread to refer primarily to the Lord’s Supper, which is a time of deep worship focusing of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- We understand that worship involves more than just singing. It is the act of giving glory to God and surrendering completely to Him in the light of who He is.
- We accept the mandate to worship passionately, both in our personal lives and in our public church services.
Fifth Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by fervent prayer.
- Acts 2:42 says, “They devoted themselves to…prayer.”
- We recognize nothing we attempt will be successful without the power of God. Luke 18:27 adds, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” John 15:5 gives the other side of this. “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
- We affirm that prayer is our source of intimacy with God and of spiritual power.
- We accept the mandate to develop an organized strategy of fervent prayer that seeks God’s presence and power in all we do.
Sixth Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by participation in a program of worldwide missions.
- Acts 1:8 says, “You shall be witnesses…in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.”
- We recognize that we must have a focus on the spiritual needs of the entire world.
- We affirm our commitment to participation in the Southern Baptist world missions program by giving a percentage of our undesignated gifts through the Cooperative Program, by supporting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, the Hyde State Missions Offering and other denominational missions causes as we are led.
- We affirm the freedom of this church to support other missions causes not aligned with our denomination, as long as they are faithful to the gospel and in basic agreement with our doctrine and practice.
- We will pray for missions and for our missionaries.
- We will actively participate in world missions through mission trips both in the US and around the world.
- We accept our mandate to be an active part of a worldwide missions program.
Seventh Mandate: SHBC must make disciples by providing administrative support so that we operate all our ministries effectively, efficiently, and legally.”
- 1 Corinthians 14:40 says, “But all things should be done decently and in order.” Matthew 22:21 says, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
- We recognize our responsibility to see that the church operates its ministries legally, ethically and in an orderly fashion.
- Unless there is a conflict with biblical principles, we will seek to operate in accord with all the laws of the land and standard business and accounting practices.
- We understand that administrative support is crucial to the proper operation of ministries, but also understand that our primary task is ministry, not the maintenance of our buildings, programs or administrative structure.
- We accept our mandate to provide proper organizational and administrative support for our ministries.
******
So, there it is – the seven biblical mandates I see for the church. Tell me what you think.
If possible, could we NOT address Ezell on this comment stream? And, CB, could we avoid, as much as is possible, the discussion of football?
Dave, Forgive me for responding, but I would like to add one comment. If there are no cuts, why is my state convention losing church planters because of this GCR. Money is being redirected—that is a cut to those who are losing it. email me off list @ jthomas899@yahoo.com.
Look Monkey Boy Dave,
Your blasphemy is becoming a problem. I did not put you into a worthless FOOTBALL NATION. Living there is your choice.
So, let me give you the first piece of “brotherly advice” for your consideration.
Move to a better FOOTBALL NATION. It will do wonders for your depression and improve your theology greatly. Maybe your ecclesiology will even clear up.
You, sir, are incorrigible!
Dave,
You are right. I am incorrigible. But like the Bear said, “I know a winner when I see one.”
Now as to the substance of your post:
I think Bob has touched on something worth your consideration. Also, I think Mandate 5 should become mandate number one and mandate number 4 should become mandate number 2.
I think mandate 5 in its becoming mandate 1 is the only mandate you should focus on until the church comes away saying “we” have seven mandates from the Lord. The mandates need to become “a ‘we’ received this from God” thing.
Well,
Good grief, CB. Are you the new and improved Baptist gadfly?
Lefty is back. LOL
With that, I am…
Peter
Hello Peter,
How are you doing. Sorry I could not make our date for me to remove your teeth in Atlanta. I told Tim Rogers to give you my best wishes and let you know why I could not make our appointment in the Lobby.
I will try to get with you and re-design your posture on another date. 🙂
Until that time, as you probably know by now, I am having some down time, so I have been hanging out here at Voices trying to bring comfort to folks like Monkey Boy Dave Miller and SelahV. 🙂
If you get down this way soon, give me a call. I always have the coffee on and a sandwich available.
And seriously, give me a call if you get a chance. I sure do hate I did not get to hook up with you guys at the conference.
Please pardon a comment from the pew, here.
If you’re preaching the whole counsel of God, and these goals are Biblical, they should already be mandates felt by every member. But, stating them as “our mandates”, to a certain extent, leaves out the individual member, and makes them look for a way to “fit into” what this goal is. I believe in the opposite angle, as it were .. namely, what God has gifted in the people whom He has sent to you. I think those giftednesses, when you apply scripture to them, will determine the task of the church; we say God enables us to do what He commands us to do, and in the context of the local body, one ought to look at what He’s gifted the body to do.
I’m all for the cooperative outreach thing denominations do, but I do think the most important thing for the local body to do is to put into practice the gifts of the members. And that’s pretty much up to the pastor to bring about.
I am talking about what Southern Hills Baptist Church must do to be a biblical and obedient church. The document we will be producing here is designed to be a guide for the church in its corporate dealings.
We have emphasized the fact that the church is actually made up of individuals and so whatever we decide is incumbent on all.
Here’s the thing – I’m not trying to impose new rules or demands on anyone, but discern what Christ demands. What does the Bible order a church to do?
By the way, Bob, no more of that “from the pew” and “from the pulpit” thing, young man!
If you are part of the divine family by grace, have the Holy Spirit indwelling and a Bible in your hand, your insight counts.
I think you knew that, didn’t you…
Yeah, Dave, I knew it. But let me tell you why I usually say that.
There are too many people in the pews, so to speak, who seem to think that guys with the letters after their names are the ones who count. The ones who have something to say. Well, I’m a college flunkout and if by chance, I have something of importance to contribute, maybe some other folks in the pew will read it and think to themselves that they, too, have something of importance to say.
OK. Soap box back in storage.
🙂
I think you make some very good points. Overall, it seems this will be a very effective teaching tool to remind your church about the focus and priority of ministry. I just have a couple of suggestions. I’d add Matthew 22:37 as a primary supporting scripture. It is definitely prescriptive. I think is much more important than your 7th mandate. As well, I think most hold Acts 2:42-47 as a model but I’m not sure I could say it is prescriptive.
I guess my theory is that if the Early Church was “devoted” to these things, they are probably a pretty good model for us as well. The question whether they are prescriptive is legitimate.
I guess that in my mind the “Great Commandments” passage you referenced would be part of the Fellowship mandate. It would be a good addition to the document as a support scripture. In fact, it may magically appear above due to the wonders of editing.
Would you think it is a separate mandate?
Dave,
I would first ask “Who came up with this list?” That is not an implication that it is incorrect or lacking, but its source and the process by which it was composed are components in how it will be received and hopefully implimented. My concern is that if it is something you wrote, then no matter how Biblical and correct it is, there will be a number of people in the pews who have little to no ownership of it. I am niot talking about a congregational vote; it is easy for a congregation to vote on something “preacherish” or “ministerial,” but such a vote is a small part of the whole issue. Of course, there will always be those who will enthusiastically support it, as well as those who give it lip service, but my concern would be whether the first group will exceed the 20% of most church congregations that do 80% of the work. In order to exceed that 20%, then more than 20% of the congregation will have to have ownership of the solution, these “mandates” that is. Your immediate task then is less how well justified Biblically and stylistically these mandates are and more how do you get people to “buy” into it and run with it, because unless you are very different from me, you cannot be the moving force behind all the work, nor the “glue” which holds it all together. Of course, your personality, the collective personality of the congregation, and the style of leadership they are used to from you and respond to will play out their part as well.
If you provided leadership in leading the congregation (or even a segment of the congregation) to come up with this list, then you are already ahead of the game, because the lay leaders who wrote it will carry much of the load of convincing others.
As for the specifics of the list, I would say it sounds good. I do have a conviction that God gives each congegation the means to accomplish His mission, given their unique setting and spiritual gifts. Consequently I wonder at what point the congregation will seek to dioscover the needs around them and the resources (by which I primarily mean personal resources, but perhaps financial also) available.
John
I did a series of sermons (a year or so ago), John, on Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, and Acts 2:42. I actually continued in Rev 2 and 3 where Jesus analyzed seven churches in Asia Minor.
These seven mandates came out of that study. In August this year we had a church forum every Wednesday night discussing these matters – our mission, our mandates, our core values, etc.
The teaching came from me, but I’m trying to get the church to own it and buy in.
My concern is that there might be something I’m missing that someone else could help me with.
Your last paragraph has echoes of Henry Blackaby (my hero).
I’m glad to hear that there was so much congregational involvement; but that also implies that it would be difficult to “add” to the list without recreating the process, which would be quite time-consuming, and quite possibly impossible to reproduce the dynamic. Most Southern Baptist literature on such subjects tends to be program-oriented, which I find ultimately lacks a way to involve large segments of the congregation besides the over-worked and over-extended core.
If my last paragraph has echoes of Blackaby, while I admire him, it is probably because he echoed folks like Lindgrin and Shawchuck, Lyle Schaller, Bob Dale (one of my heroes), and even Hans Kung, who were all moire istrumental in my background, specificially in my doctoral thesis.
In my (limited) experience, it is difficult to get many people excited about “mandates” and things like that; people get excited over concrete things, things they can “sink their teeth into.” In a troubled church, a model which (I think) came out of the Alban Institute is to gather as many of the congregation as possible for a group meeting. Have them name things the church does well as well as things they do poorly. Then have them name possible things the church could do–this is brainstorming, with no evaluation of the feasibility of the things. Then devise some way for them to select the two or three best of those without pressure (the Alban way is to give each participant two or three post-it notes and have them put them beside their choices).
I have done this with dysfunctional churches (my ministry from 1986 until 2004), and a variation of it where I am now ministering. It identifies specific ministries that people will support, and I suspect that your mandates could be presented so that brainstorming specifics grew out of them. It is time-consuming and “labor intensive” so to speak, but it involves the congregation in the continuing process.
Just my thoughts–best to you in this undertaking!
John